It would be nice if the far left, for once, did some introspection. [View all]

[DanTex]

For the last 20 years or so, the far left has been lecturing the Democratic party. Embrace socialism! Kick out the blue dogs!

And then they complain. By their own words, they are utterly dissatisfied with everything that has happened policy-wise in this country since at least 1980, and probably earlier. Even Obama's historic progressive accomplishments, if you read about them on CounterPunch or CommonDreams or many other lefty outlets, are just corporate sellouts.

They are gleeful about the Dems' loss in 2016, arguing that we should turn hard left and abandon electoral losers like Joe Manchin in favor of electoral winners like Zephyr Teachout.

And, sure, after a disaster like 2016, I agree that the Dems should do some introspection. After all, we did get crushed. It was indeed a disaster. Despite running the most progressive campaign in recent memory, we lost to an idiot with historically low poll numbers.

But why doesn't the same standard apply to the lefties? Because, truthfully, the far left in this country has accomplished absolutely nothing for many decades. The Green party hasn't gotten anywhere close to 5% nationally, despite many attempts. Their crowning achievement was throwing the presidency to W in 2000. Nader predicted that a W presidency would usher in an era of progressivism, a prediction that rivaled Cheney's "they will meet us as liberators" in terms of being hopelessly wrong.

Does the far left ever look in the mirror and think, hey, maybe our strategy of helping elect Republicans in order to punish the Dems for not being pure enough, maybe that's not such a good idea? Do they ever think, hey, writing a bunch of articles falsely claiming that there's no difference between Dems and Reps, maybe that doesn't actually help forward any progressive policy goals?

The far left constantly complain. They are constantly dissatisfied. They never accomplish anything. Maybe it's time for them to try a different route. Maybe look at their past strategies and see where they have gone wrong, and change course. Like, you know, working with the Democratic Party instead of against it.