Here's 17,000 words to keep you busy the next three days
Here's 17,000 words to keep you busy the next three days
So it looks like I won't be taking a long summer break as I've usually done in the five years of Attytood (that's what happens when you squander most of your "vacation" writing a book) but I will be gone for the next three days, if all goes according to plan. Y'all have shown you're very good at talking amongst yourselves, and I encourage you to do that in the space below. I'm sure there'll be several developments in the slow-moving socialist plot to destroy America from within.
Or read this piece on the present and future of liberalism from Eric Alterman -- it clocks in at 17,000 words, so you'll be finishing just as I get back!
Here's an excerpt:
Of course any sustained pressure on our politicians is going to require more pressure—and better organization—than progressives have been able to muster since the Obama administration came to power. Part of the problem is attributable to genuine political weakness. The right is wealthier than the left, which is as it should be. The Republicans are, after all, the party of capital. They are also far more populous and better organized to act as a movement. As the journalist Harold Meyerson rightly observes, thinking of both the New Deal and the civil rights reforms of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, "In America, major liberal reforms require not just liberal governments, but autonomous, vibrant mass movements, usually led by activists who stand at or beyond liberalism's left fringe." Many activists had great hopes for a partnership with the Obama administration after the election. Instead, as Michael Tomasky writes in the current issue of Democracy, "We've experienced the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s, and the only mass movement to emerge from that reality is a right-wing populist one."
You'll be quizzed on the entire 17,000 word article when I get back.
Comments (394)
Comment removed.
One of the problems with liberalism is that it takes liberals 17,000 words to explain what's going on with liberalism.— jmc
And Van Jones, the (new) Black Panthers, Code Pink, the nuts at SEIU, and Bill Ayers aren't activists? The Republicans, if they're smart, have started their own businesses -- hence why they may be "richer." But, don't forget how the Left makes it's money -- thru "helping people." What they really do is help themselves to our tax dollars. Yay Redistribution of Wealth!!!— Refounder- It's very simple conservatives make and liberals take. why do you need 17,000 words to state the obvious. Refounder has it right.— ease
- Comment removed.
The difference between the left and the right today is that the right (wingnuttia, libertarians and other assorted wackos) are more interested in voting for slogans and mascots. Just look at the fact that the Regressive leadership in America has little to no understanding (or interest in) policy today. Just read Mitt's "treatise" on the nuclear pact with Russia or Bohnnners take on the stimulus or Cantors position on just about anything. Simplistic, lacking in logic or fact and just sad. But this is what the nutty right wants, just slogans and mascots (Palin). Details and policy are just so socialistic. And hey, Hitler once worried about details too!— Les Ismore- Nope, it's nowhere near so simple. Liberal constituencies are the folks who work for their money - and not just work, but bust their humps. Conservative constituencies are the folks whose money works for them because they're fortunate enough to have it already. Yet both conservatism and liberalism at their best acknowledge the value of both types of people, albeit in their different ways. Liberalism at its worst blindly attacks the folks whose money works for them without acknowledging the jobs, the goods, and the services they provide. Conservatism at its worst accuses the folks who work for their money of NOT working for their money - without a shred of irony. If I'm a liberal in 2010, it's because the political spectrum as it exists today offers us a liberalism that is closer to its best and a conservatism that is closer to its worst.— Billy Ray Winthorpe
- Wow. The republicans have more money? Really? Where does this idiot get this from. Is George Soros a republican? What about Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs, or Warren Buffet, or 99% of Hollywood? What about Goldman Sachs, BP, and AIG? And Les, did you actually accuse conservatives of sloganeering????? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Slogans are the ONLY thing that liberals use because they cannot make or win a logical argument on anything. Liberals have been using slogans instead of logical arguments since the 60s. And you're last argument is childish and confusing. You claim that conservatives aren't concerned with details, and that details are socialistic. Then you say that Hitler worried about details too. Are you taking the side of Hitler to bolster your argument? Are you being sarcastic or facetious? It doesn't make any sense. And just so you know, Hitler was a socialist, and used a lot of slogans, so he is just like you and your ilk.— pete317
- "And hey, Hitler once worried about details too!" This obviously went way, way over your simplemind. Lets unpack everything Pete says..."Wow. The republicans have more money?" Not individually Pete, think as an organized group for political purposes. Oh wait, next sentence you are implying that corporations such as Goldman Sachs & BP are Democrats>?>>?? Pretty funny Pete, I do get the joke but others may think you are just dumb. And yes, the Republicans, by their own words admit as much as being a party of slogans with nothing to back it up. Why would Bohhnnnner get his lobbyist pals together to come up with "ideas" to inflict upon the American people. Why would people such as Bruce Bartlett and others say the Republicans are a party of slogans. And my favorite thing the Regressives do is compare anything to Hitler (but you missed the joke, hopefully next time we wont have explain it to you and your ilk).— Les Ismore
"But this is what the nutty right wants, just slogans"........Hope/Change.— bird11- Hmmm, campus speech codes, limits on campaign spending, handgun bans, not enforcing the Voting Rights Act against non-whites, affirmative action that discriminates against e.g., whites, Asians, refusing to name radical Islam as a source of terrorism. This is "liberalism?"— pj katauskas
- "The difference between the left and the right today is that the right (wingnuttia, libertarians and other assorted wackos)"... Way to hate America first, Les. The problem with most liberals is that while their heart is in the right place (they would like to see a society where there is no poverty, and everyone has a rewarding life), they fail to understand why the world isn't like that, and like to blame conservatives for it. We do need progressives as they help move the world forward in certain areas (environmental, social), and the world needs a balance of ideas. The problem is that when you have unbridled liberalism (as we have now), their tendency is to want to create the nanny welfare state, which ends up destroying the country (though progressives can't see that). Unbridled conservatism is equally bad, it just takes longer for the results to show.— IggleFan68
- Les, sounds like I hit a nerve. You really went on the attack. Not only did you resort to infantile name calling. You seem to have been so flustered that you forgot how to copy and paste. You say that "regressives" (meaning conservatives, I guess - very clever sloganeering there) tend to compare things to Hitler. The fact that liberals spent the last 8 years comparing Bush and anything related to conservatism Hitler makes your joke confusing and nonsensical. And you should really watch some news (even liberal news will suffice in this case). Goldman Sachs and BP (along with a slew of very rich corporations like Microsoft and Google) were very large Obama campaign donors. If they are indeed conservative, as you suggest, they were very confused during the last election. The whole rich corporate conservative thing is a myth.— pete317
- ===}}} I'm sure there'll be several developments in the slow-moving socialist plot to destroy America from within. {{{=== Heh! At this very minute, Beck in on the radio talking about a "coordinated effort" on the part of the left to "kill the oil industry in America."— Talking point sleuth
- If you actually bother to go read the article Will linked to, you will get a compelling explanation of how the right-wing MSM managed to get a stranglehold on the political agenda, and what Obama may plan to do in the course of an 8-year presidency to break it and move America forward constructively. I heartily recommend reading it.— yoda
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