Why we (on the left) will likely never have the government we desire or deserve...

[NRaleighLiberal]

this thought came to me this morning as the morning fog lifted (aided by a good cup of coffee)....after reading through a few headline posts on DU (primarily Sanford's resurgence - how could it be?).

Most of us here realize that what faces us are complex issues - they are more gray, than black and white. We also are not paralyzed by fear - of the unknown, of getting blown up by terrorists, of other things whose likelihood is minuscule. We don't like, resonate with, need authoritarianism - either to follow, or to drive our desire - we prefer to lead (inspire) than direct (bludgeon).

Are we on a far end of a personality bell curve? I suspect we are. Why do such unabashed assholes from the right manage to get elected - especially in so many state legislatures? Sure, it is the flow of Koch, ALEC, Rove (probably synonyms) money. But the money only works because fear works on the targets. And the targets - voting public - who are kowtowed by fear and need the black and white, with us or against us debate - and can't work through more complex, grayer issues - outnumber us in this country.

sure, there are enough of us in cities, near universities, in progressive areas to get a Democratic president elected. But gerrymander things and play the fear card through the flow of money, and it makes things far more grim. And it also seems to influence how aggressive Democratic presidents govern as well - they aim for a non-existent "middle", which, in truth, is far more right than they realize (and therefore, wrong - for us, for the country).

Feeling pretty cynical and disillusioned this morning....which is nothing new for me (even though I am an optimist in most things!).

Happy Monday from rainy Raleigh....keep fighting the good fight - it is worth it.



(the most important word above, to me, is highlighted!)

[el_bryanto]

1. I don't know - we've had FDR

We've had some other periods of progress. For a time in the 60s it seemed like our ideals were more or less universal - even Nixon proposed a negative income tax. Things come and go in cycles.

If there is a real spanner in the works it isn't the people; it's the money. Members of both parties are bought and paid for by corporations. As such there is unlikely to be reforms in certain areas (particularly financial).

Bryant

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. agreed - but that was a different time - the 24 hour news cycle allows the money to feed the fear.

[HughBeaumont]

2. Another reason:

As long as 47-50% of the voters in this country identify with the likes of George W Bush or Mitt Romney as "Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires" than someone who wants to live and participate in a "WE" society, things are never going to change. It's the whole "I can get half of the working class to kill the other half" concept going on.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. agreed. n/t

[Scuba]

5. "We're good, they're evil, that's all you need to know" worked well for Bush.

The lazy public lapped that up.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. that describes many of my neighbors, for sure.

intellectually lazy, gullible, full of fear.

[southernyankeebelle]

7. Sadly I think your right. I wonder with Cantor pushing around taking overtime pay away

will jog any of these teapublicans that hey it's going to really effect your pockets and start waking up that they are being used.

[pipoman]

8. Throughout history in about every

culture there are liberal thinkers and conservative thinkers. There will never be a society of 300 million like minded people. Shown on a continuum there would be a few on the far right side and a few on the far left side. As you move toward the center the numbers would gradually increase with the largest portion in the middle. Elections and policy is directed as minor movement of the middle goes either left of center or right. Elections are always determined by movement of the center masses..

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. agreed - but the center masses, to me, are the ones most easily manipulated by money and fear

to go with the will of those who prey on them. And we know where that money and effort is coming from, for the most part.

[pipoman]

10. I believe that the line

is more fuzzy now than in the past...especially on the left. Democrats, in days gone by, were advocates for labor, elderly, immigrants, etc. Not so much any longer..sadly..both parties are screwing labor, both parties are screwing the elderly, the sick..etc. It comes down to the individual and their ability to move the masses..I think Dems in the '16 must have some fresh air after the reality of what the Obama administration promised vs. done..

[KoKo]

26. "fresh air..."

If nothing else...some kind of lesson will be learned from this. Don't know what it will be ...how it will turn out, though. Perhaps that we've become obsessed with image and entertainment over substance and conviction of principles in our political candidates.

Maybe our society has been so "info-tained" (is that a word?) for so many decades now that we can't distinguish between politicians and entertainers. Look at the antics of the Republicans. They behave like entertainers and increasingly like spoiled, entitled children.

Democrats on the other hand seem to have lost their way weaving down Wall Street...following the glow of Free Trade and Deregulation, happily allowing our jobs to leave the US so that we are part of the "Globalized Economy," while claiming to support Unions and the Average American.

It's a mess..and the whole enterprise is coming unglued. We shall see how it all works out.
But...agree "Fresh Air" after the last four decades.

[SoCalDem]

11. We are afraid to embrace the obvious..

There are some things that just have to be "nationalized"..

There will always be room within such a system for special add-ons for the rich folks, but there needs to be a basic "floor" for the things we ALL need..

affordable/subsidized:

health care (NOT insurance...CARE)
banking services
phone services
electricity/gas services
water services
basic housing
food
public transportation
truly affordable education beyond high school
old age subsidies beyond SS
daycare/pre schools


As long as we fear "socialism", we relegate these necessary things to the vicissitudes of vulture capitalism, and we all get whacked..

The theme is that if these are regulated , the capitalists who now "provide" them will "go elsewhere".

Just where would that be? Europe? Asia? South America? Neptune?

Most would would laugh in their faces.. (not sure what Neptunians would do_)

[ellenfl]

12. i am hopeful that the idealism of the 60s is coming around again.

young people seem to be getting it.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. As time progresses,

the stark differences between regions, say CA compared with N. Carolina, have everything to do with why we can't move forward as a nation. The reality is the differences between regions is pretty much irreconcilable. Given that reality, and to answer your question, the only way we'll ever have representation is to achieve it regionally.

[marions ghost]

30. I don't know

while a regional strategy is of course the best way to go, what do you do about the urban/rural divide? Which seems to me The Biggie. Most of the progressive cities are surrounded by conservative rural zones. How will we achieve it regionally?

[Le Taz Hot]

31. Not everyone in even the more progressive regions

are going to adhere to a progressive agenda, of course, but I think a good place to start making inroads in rural areas is to quit insulting rural dwellers as being too stupid or too poor to live anywhere else. Democrats need to understand the rural culture and just because it isn't urban culture doesn't mean it's inferior, it's just different. The Democrats don't even try in California's rural areas. Hell, the CDP couldn't find California farmland with written directions and GPS. The Democratic Party doesn't seem at all interested in rural areas at all -- regardless of the area of the country. So if your party insults the residents and makes no attempt at establishing inroads, don't be surprised if they vote for people belonging to the party that doesn't insult them and has an outreach in their area.

[marions ghost]

32. I suppose it's worth a try

but with rightwing propaganda filling the ears of the rural population daily and Sundays, what hope have any Democrats got? We have been demonized. Until there is an alternative to the junk media fed to rural people, I don't know what you could do by way of outreach.

A lot of us living in cities do understand rural culture --have rural relatives. Some of the younger generation are approachable on some of these issues. But the divide is deep. I don't see people insulting the rural residents so much as I see people in cities appalled by the propaganda that is fed to them daily.

[Le Taz Hot]

33. Lots of things that can be done.

Have a presence at community activities. Hold Town Hall meetings. Sponsor a meet-and-greet. Go door-to-door and talk to people. Hear what they have to say. Listen to their concerns and respond. Let people see that we're just folk like everyone else and that liberals don't have horns and a tail. The problem is that there's NO presence. None. There was the beginnings of some presence during Dean's tenure as DNC Chair and his 50-state strategy but once his term was over, the Democrats went back to their usual 6-state strategy and rural areas were once again forgotten.

As for the insults, you see them regularly here on DU. Start a discussion on how to win over rural voters and they come out of the woodwork. It'll make your stomach turn.

[Puzzledtraveller]

14. Good post

I began working as a caseworker in 2009. The one thing I noticed right away was that our problems are complex and there are no easy solutions. We may think we have the panacea the other side does not but that is no more true than how the right believes they have the solution to everything.

[JaneyVee]

15. Also, Liberals & Progressives aren't best friends of corporations, so their campaign funds often

can't compete with big backed candidates who are beholden to corporations.

[pipoman]

19. They're not?

Maybe in years gone by...now, it seems, they are equally friendly with big business as the thugs..the party of the masses is dead...corporate desires are all that are met on every single issue which in days gone by would have been fought when the party of the working class still existed..

[marions ghost]

16. We are ghettoized, neutralized

and that was their plan. They know we have a hard time fighting them with money so they exploit every angle to tighten control. We are up against large numbers of pathological Narcissists. They believe that they deserve everything--ALL the power, all the riches, all the goodies, all the opportunities. They think that we deserve very little and they are not going to let us win if they can possibly help it. They enjoy thwarting our goals--if you make Liberals angry, you're doing something right, is how they see it. We are not living in a democracy where our voice carries much weight--politically speaking.

Even Liberals do not want to face this hijacking of the people, this internal coup by the 1%. But until we are willing to face the reality, which means admitting that we are victims of serial abusers--we can't begin to change anything. I'm not so down on Obama as he has tried in certain key areas, and he inherited a nightmare. But his administration tells us that you can't just flip these forces on their asses by electing a Democratic president. Not gonna do it.

The country is in a massive state of denial, struggling with the economic slashing and burning, downtrodden. Easy to get depressed. The system is broken IMO. It's a hard thing for the public to accept. Easier to look away and just believe it will get better. And I can even sympathize with the ostriches. WHY SHOULD WE have to fight tooth and nail for everything we get and then watch even these small successes get corrupted and demolished? WHY SHOULD WE have to put everything we worked for on hold to fight for the BASICS? WHY SHOULD WE have to keep up this extreme vigilance just to fight for crumbs? WHY SHOULD WE be in this situation of serfs supplicating the masters?

I'm waiting for the rest of America to get as angry as we are. It could unite the low end Right and the Left. And whatever remains of "The Middle." Actually I don't believe much in a Middle--most people either swing right or left.

I think the Middle has become Moderate Left vs Moderate Right. (The extreme Left is largely fiction. The extreme Right is not fiction). But I think we have more support for Liberalism than we realize from those who used to be the Middle. That is my reason to keep fighting. We must continue to show by example. We can't lecture & pontificate. We can't just fling poo. We must show by example.

So I do have hope, but it's not really in the system responding. The system is NOT responding.

Face it America. Only by seeing the reality of our oppression can we overcome.

[pipoman]

20. Completely disagree with

this..throughout history and societies I believe there have always been near equal far right and far left. In the US historically the majority are in the middle. The middle shifts left or right depending on many factors..policy of circumstances, economics, news of the day, etc. Those farther left of center will always support the left, those farther right of the center will always pull right, those on the bubble are who determine elections. If the far right was so much more heavily weighted than those on the far left, the elections wouldn't be close.

[marions ghost]

25. I don't think the middle shifts left or right as a whole--

--but that's the fallacy we tend to operate under. Maybe it was true once, but not in these polarized times. Cannot be compared with the historical. The pressures are very different. Brave New World now. Unprecedented.

The middle today is diverse--made up of leftish and rightish--it doesn't operate like a single entity that gets pulled sideways by the extremes. It's a melange. less predictable, and I believe more favorable to Liberalism than we typically think.

There is no extreme left with any real political power in America. Only the extreme right has political power. America is a very conservative country. Elections are close for many reasons having nothing to do with views of left, right, center as voting blocs. Doesn't work anymore. The situation is less rigid now, which I think is a good thing potentially.

Thanks for your post.

[randome]

17. There are some signs that things are changing.

'Bush' is considered a toxic name.
Gay rights are inevitably moving mainstream.
Rush Limbaugh is losing money and is also toxic.

It's not much, I know, but tides turn slowly. We can still become a more progressive nation.

[Recursion]

18. Nobody does

Everybody is dissatisfied.

The process of governing is complex and disappointing by nature.

[pinboy3niner]

21. Rainy Days And Mondays...

And I remember an old Alan Sherman song about a letter from Camp Granada...

[KoKo]

35. This delay of warm weather and the cold rains up and down the SouthEast Coast...

well...it's definitely something none of us have had to deal with it before. And lots of agriculture comes from this area.

It's tough...and it's been the strangest year I've ever seen "weatherwise."

[Ron Green]

22. I agree with you.

Fear is easy, 'cause it resides in the lower brain and responds to a simple message of a threat. Love is hard, requiring cerebral processing of tolerance, negotiation, forgiveness, sharing and so on.

In the numbers game for votes and consensus, fear always wins.

[LeftInTX]

29. I agree

Walter Cronkite and ethical journalists knew this.

[galileoreloaded]

23. I find DU as being highly fearful. in fact

one of the most fearful places i post.

[marions ghost]

28. We have much to fear in this country

re. internal politics. The smart people in this country realize it, and I appreciate the fact that at DU they air their fears and concerns (eg. the OP).

[KoKo]

34. I think that we on DU still use the Repugs and their Ops as Boogyman.....FEAR

so ...I think the OP picked up something...and some of us see it as going further than he wanted to go...and I see the FEAR.... It's all about the RW/Gunners/Rapists/Terrorists.

It's all there...but, it's done as FEAR... And, yes, indeed, we've been AFRAID OF REPUGS since they STOLE ...Election 2000.... So..they know how to play us on both the Right and the Left.

And instead of discussion we get Murder, Rape,Guns, Devastation...and stuff that makes us AFRAID! FEAR!

I think the OP hit on something many of us don't want to "confront." But, then...that's just my humble opinion.

[LeftInTX]

24. I've noticed this too

It seems to be a RW media/Republican/propaganda thing.

Liberals have a harder time fear-mongering. We can try to stress how important a social program is, but it is hard to fear-monger it. For example: Even though people are more likely to die from lack of health care, it is much easier to fear-monger terrorism. Watching people gradually die from lack of health care does not create the same adrenalin rush as watching irate throngs of Middle Easterners - bombs being thrown & the Benghazi consulate burning.

I agree, the RW are pros in the fear business.

[marions ghost]

27. Good point

Rethugs always are more likely to use fear and social manipulation as tools. And they know just how to suck in their constituency.

Anything that comes across as dramatizing or stressing fearful aspects from the Liberal perspective will be painted as Far Left, even when it is rational and based on facts. It is not as an effective a tool for us, though Michael Moore makes it work.