Has the Left Surrendered? - BillMoyers.com

[supernova]

31. There is are separate groups here

rather than just an amorphous "left."

We need to make a distinction between

1) The Left (TM) - what Reed refers to has the leadership class. People who's jobs revolve around government: running for and being elected to office, policy makers, and various levels of staffers who run their offices and sit on committees for them. Those folks have indeed moved right ever since, oh I'd say 1968. The career folks are on the MOR center-right track for all the reasons we've named over the years: the perceived badness, no-win aura of "identity politics," be perceived as weak on crime and other ne'er do well abusers of our (ever smaller) social safety net. Being perceived as weak internationally (the ever popular Jimmy Carter tag). These things are all designed to counter the name-called coming from the political right. They've become obsessed with winning The Game at the expense of representing us.

2) The Left (or The Rest of US) out here in the hinterlands. We are all as left as we have always been: going to peace vigils that sometimes turn into marches. Some of us worked for US PIRG and yes ACORN. Some of us go to inclusive churches like the UUs, and The Society of Friends. Some of us work at animal shelters, others do social work. Most every liberal that I know tries in some way to be of service in his or her community. Some of us are Democrats. Some of us are Anarchists, Some of us want want a democracy dipped in various flavors of Social Democracy as represented by European countries.

The problem is The professional class 1) is ignoring the voters 2). And we have given them the impression that's OK, desirable even. It's time to change that dynamic. It's time for us to vote them out. All of them and purposely start running and voting for more leftist candidates. It really does hurt us there is no third party from the left in this country. Without that, the national debate will not change to include more leftist concepts being voiced. I love Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but they are only two people.