General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why is the American left not as effective as the European left? [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)1. I agree the country has liberal values, but there's no shortage of left-wing commenters who will loudly and angrily insist otherwise. There are even examples in this thread - look at the folks insisting that "there is no American left." This group finds it somehow personally vindicating to pretend they're voices in the wilderness, and to act as if this country is hostile to their values. Because that's a more ego-enhancing narrative than the reality: They're so ineffectual in advancing their own agenda that a multitude of people who agree with them on every tangible question, don't even know it. We've known about the right-wing cant of the corporate media for decades, but still somehow that's the excuse for why core left-wing values aren't communicated to the general public.
2. You've never seen left-wingers obsessing on symbols over substance, and feelings over logic? Because I've seen it in this very comment thread, repeatedly. If you can't spot the sucker at the table...
3. It's both corporate Dems and the left. Both of them have different motivations for conceding the moral definition of America to the right. The former because they're nihilistic and fear any moral definition as inherently aggressive, and the latter because, as mentioned, far too many people on the left feel vindicated by pretending that they're voices in the wilderness to cover for their lack of tangible results. In some cases, they clearly want a right-wing America where they're embattled and can focus on the simple task of berating the country for its sinfulness like a sermonizing priesthood, because it's easier than taking responsibility for leading the country to better results. The left shouldn't let itself be defined by that kind of mentality.
4. Feel free to talk about the legislative accomplishments you feel I'm discounting, that were further to the left than pragmatic Democrats preferred and yet were passed due to the diligence and political acumen of left-wing legislators.
5. We both know the difference between "criticism" and the way the left talks about Democratic Party accomplishments. The demented screeds we see so often are criticism like The Great Santini is a parenting guidebook. Criticism is objective, or at least intended to be helpful for the people or programs being criticized. There is criticism from the left for Democrats, but it often gets lost in a sea of drunken demonization and alternate-universe narratives that reduce the entire human species into two groups - 7 billion "right-wingers" vs. The One True Progressive, who is of course whatever idiot is talking.
6. Really? The left didn't seem too happy with the results of Dean's 50-state plan - a major increase in the number of Blue Dogs. Also didn't seem especially impressed with the legislative results of that plan, namely Obamacare and the 2009 stimulus package. And discussion of the 50-state plan is pretty unusual in left-wing conversation. A far more popular subject is what an awful betrayer Barack Obama is for signing the aforementioned legislation.
7. The problem is that the phrase "fighting to pass legislation" is purely rhetorical - you persuade other legislators to vote for legislation. Left-wing legislators in this country by and large fail to do that. They preach to empty committee rooms from their high horses, and then treat the fact that they're ignored by their peers as proof that they're morally superior. That's not moral principle, it's just incompetence. If someone's job is to pass legislation or at very least mount effective defenses against bad legislation, and they don't do that, they're not doing their job and should be replaced. But we never, ever mount primary challenges against left-wing Democrats from the left because the incumbent is inept and unaccomplished. Never. We demand absolutely nothing of them other than to act like trophy wives - look pretty and don't do anything.
The system does indeed favor inaction over action, but that doesn't explain why it also favors right-wing action over left-wing action. Right-wingers are fucking degenerate morons. There is simply no excuse for our collective failure to completely dominate them in politics. Our failure to do so is exactly that - our failure.
Yes, the right-wing has figured out how to game the system, but that's not an excuse either. We know that's what they do. We've known since the beginning of modern political thought. They are what they are, and do what they do. So we can choose to use their intransigence as an excuse to do nothing forever, or we can follow the example of centuries of progressives who accomplished great things despite far greater obstacles and just get on with it. Republicans, conservatives, etc. are not relevant. They do not determine what we do or limit what we can do. They are an environmental hazard, like swamps or wild animals. Letting them stop us is our fault.