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)I personally watched a campaign event in 2000 where Ralph Nader was asked by an audience member how he would feel about running when George W. Bush is in the White House and America is a dictatorship because of votes he lured away from Al Gore. He shrugged off the question like it was meaningless. And although he had no meaningful effect in 2004, he proved that he absolutely did not give a fuck about the consequences of his actions for the country by running that year and risking a repeat of 2000.
The left tolerates if not promotes the narrative that Democrats and Republicans are the same, that incumbent liberal leaders are invariably sellouts (FDR was a target of particularly ludicrous screeds from the left), that failure is noble and victory suspicious. It promotes the shittiest, most energy-sapping, most cynical possible attitude for anyone hoping to enact political change, and then rejects any measure of responsibility when change fails to occur. Its collective moral corruption is absolute, and the progressive pretenses it clings to while pushing paranoia, victim cultism, and Resistance Theater defeatism just puts the proverbial cherry on the shit sundae.
But I am not a perfect citizen or a perfect activist. I have plenty of excuses for that, but I don't give a fuck about my excuses - I simply accept that I have a share of responsibility for all things I can possibly affect in any way. I take responsibility for my decision to prioritize one thing over another, to ignore one thing and focus on something else, to do this much and no more. But I know this: The world would be the best possible place if the Left greedily sought every single scrap of responsibility it could take, and imposed on itself the highest possible standards of achievement instead of always excusing failure as someone else's fault. If it pushed itself more than it pushes others, instead of never pushing itself at all, and occasionally turned the eye inward that it so insufferably judges everyone around it with. If it even tried to meet the standards it cavalierly demands of everyone else, then a lot of things could be accomplished. But it doesn't.