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News & ArtsMonday, December 21, 2009
Politics The Left in the Age of Obama
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 1:26 PM
The progressive and radical left exist in a world that produces disappointment after disappointment...
Again and again, the left is left with one option: revolution, which Walter Benjamin described as pulling the emergency brakes on a train that's heading toward disaster (“Marx says that revolutions are the locomotives of history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise, perhaps revolutions are an attempt by passengers on this train—namely the human race—to activate the brake.”) Because the repeatedly pulled emergency cord doesn't work, and because the disaster is getting nearer and nearer, the left is left with one, all-consuming mood, pessimism. Even when the sun is out and spring is about, autumn persists in the heart of the radical and the progressive.
1
Go back and look at the sausage that was the initial Medicare law. The initial nuclear disarmament treaties? Yikes! Or go WAY BACK and look at the first incarnation of Social Security.
THEY ALL SUCK!!!
First (or maybe second) rule of progressive legislation: If a law doesn't exist, it can't be improved.
THEY ALL SUCK!!!
First (or maybe second) rule of progressive legislation: If a law doesn't exist, it can't be improved.
3
"Because one of the defining virtues of leftist politics is not to be uncompromising, inflexible, obdurate."
No, Charles, in fact it is a more likely you find that mindset on the Right, where Conservatism is about preserving status-quo, resisting progressive tendencies, believing in a monotheistic, bipolar, right/wrong paradigm, viewing the world in simplistic Us-or-Them clash of worlds rather than a much more nuanced, complex, and, yes, Liberal point of view.
What you describe is also a trait of an Idealist, regardless of Left or Right. It's someone on the Extreme side, inflexible, married to dogma rather than using is as a guidepost with the understanding that the Real World is, yes, much more complex than any single belief system or "manifesto" can not only describe but also prescribe how to deal with.
There are plenty of realistic, pragmatic folks who aren't so walled in by their Platforms or Bullet Points, but who still believe in the progressive and liberal ideas of the "Left," who aren't demoralized by Obama himself but rather shake their head with recognition that the system in which he was elected and now must try to rule is rife with political infighting, corruption, and constituencies who must be appeased in order to stay in power, who have a realistic understanding of aiming for the ideal but knowing what is real.
No, Charles, in fact it is a more likely you find that mindset on the Right, where Conservatism is about preserving status-quo, resisting progressive tendencies, believing in a monotheistic, bipolar, right/wrong paradigm, viewing the world in simplistic Us-or-Them clash of worlds rather than a much more nuanced, complex, and, yes, Liberal point of view.
What you describe is also a trait of an Idealist, regardless of Left or Right. It's someone on the Extreme side, inflexible, married to dogma rather than using is as a guidepost with the understanding that the Real World is, yes, much more complex than any single belief system or "manifesto" can not only describe but also prescribe how to deal with.
There are plenty of realistic, pragmatic folks who aren't so walled in by their Platforms or Bullet Points, but who still believe in the progressive and liberal ideas of the "Left," who aren't demoralized by Obama himself but rather shake their head with recognition that the system in which he was elected and now must try to rule is rife with political infighting, corruption, and constituencies who must be appeased in order to stay in power, who have a realistic understanding of aiming for the ideal but knowing what is real.
7
charles, get a brain. you sound like a right-winger who wants abortion all out banned, except you are spouting ultra left wing crap. it's still crap. Please realize that not everyone in this free country agrees with you, that compromise is a sign of civilization, and that this bill is far, far better than nothing. And please get a new job, because your writing is embarrassing as usual.
8
I sorta agree with Charles but not completely. Krugmann (?) had a piece in the NYT this weekend discussing how the health care fiasco demostrates that our system has some serious problems that are not going to simply go away.
What we need is something short of a full revolution and instead we need a full constitutional convention. But sadly we don't have the brain power in our nation such as James Madison and the others these days.
What we need is something short of a full revolution and instead we need a full constitutional convention. But sadly we don't have the brain power in our nation such as James Madison and the others these days.
9
Yeah, yeah, we know...the running jackals of imperialism have hijacked the Yankee dogs of the bourgeoisie. Blah blah blah.
Point is, Obama was a last ditch effort for rich liberals to save their party of privilege and power. Only right now, the approvals for their blunderbuss spending bills are heading towards 1/3rd!!
See you in 2010.
Yeah, yeah, we know...the running jackals of imperialism have hijacked the Yankee dogs of the bourgeoisie. Blah blah blah.
Point is, Obama was a last ditch effort for rich liberals to save their party of privilege and power. Only right now, the approvals for their blunderbuss spending bills are heading towards 1/3rd!!
See you in 2010.
10
Re #9: "Obama was a last ditch effort for rich liberals to save their party of privilege and power"
It's comic genius like this that keeps me from ever filtering out the unregistered comments like so many recommend.
It's comic genius like this that keeps me from ever filtering out the unregistered comments like so many recommend.
11
What would a leftist revolution look like? Would it be like a mass of people marching on Washington and handing over all their money and copies of their identification to the government?
12
Hmm.. I don't think people are getting this post.
I agree with Charles about disappointment and revolution, but in the other hand I think that there is no 'left' at all in this country, just two slightly different flavors of 'right'.
Two parties that give us the comfort of choice and prevent the nation to have a reason to seek alternatives like the 'revolution' Charles mentions, or a new political party, or who knows. In the end, both sides answer to the same boss: Whoever has the capital. Is the nature of capitalism, and we shouldn't be surprised by this outcome.
Isn't freedom wonderful?
I agree with Charles about disappointment and revolution, but in the other hand I think that there is no 'left' at all in this country, just two slightly different flavors of 'right'.
Two parties that give us the comfort of choice and prevent the nation to have a reason to seek alternatives like the 'revolution' Charles mentions, or a new political party, or who knows. In the end, both sides answer to the same boss: Whoever has the capital. Is the nature of capitalism, and we shouldn't be surprised by this outcome.
Isn't freedom wonderful?
13
Palin 2012 is pretty classic, failing to realize that approval for their proposals have started failing because they took out the public option, which some 60% of Americans wanted. Stick that in your teabagger pipe and smoke it, bitch.
That being said, both Charles and commenter Andy raised excellent points. I'd argue it's a fundamental component of the liberal ideology to be tolerant, self-questioning, open-minded and pragmatic: all of this leads to a heightened potential for compromise and hesitance to forcefully shove your ideas onto others.
It's not to say liberals can't fight or shouldn't, but that we generally want people to be free to make their own decisions and are averted to ramming things down people's throats. Which is part of why the right claims we ram things down their throats all the time - even though they know such a claim is never really true, it appeals to our weakness: a hope in humanity that we can work together. It also appeals to their strength: the fear that we cannot. If they're terrified something is getting rammed down their throats, they get fired up.
But the key distinction is that we're not as afraid of the idea that we - and the world we build - may not always be right. How you reconcile this calm level of understanding with meaningful action is, of course, the eternal question that all liberals of their time throughout history - from John Locke to the Founding Fathers to the Reconstructionists to Obama's movement - have struggled with immensely.
Ultimately, we must continue to build confidence in the strength of our ideals while not giving up that openness that is such an integral part of what makes them so strong in the first place. We must motivate others out of the hope for a better world built on those ideals rather than the fear of losing a world built on the liberal ideals of a previous generation.
More...
That being said, both Charles and commenter Andy raised excellent points. I'd argue it's a fundamental component of the liberal ideology to be tolerant, self-questioning, open-minded and pragmatic: all of this leads to a heightened potential for compromise and hesitance to forcefully shove your ideas onto others.
It's not to say liberals can't fight or shouldn't, but that we generally want people to be free to make their own decisions and are averted to ramming things down people's throats. Which is part of why the right claims we ram things down their throats all the time - even though they know such a claim is never really true, it appeals to our weakness: a hope in humanity that we can work together. It also appeals to their strength: the fear that we cannot. If they're terrified something is getting rammed down their throats, they get fired up.
But the key distinction is that we're not as afraid of the idea that we - and the world we build - may not always be right. How you reconcile this calm level of understanding with meaningful action is, of course, the eternal question that all liberals of their time throughout history - from John Locke to the Founding Fathers to the Reconstructionists to Obama's movement - have struggled with immensely.
Ultimately, we must continue to build confidence in the strength of our ideals while not giving up that openness that is such an integral part of what makes them so strong in the first place. We must motivate others out of the hope for a better world built on those ideals rather than the fear of losing a world built on the liberal ideals of a previous generation.
14
the left is left with one option: revolution
Har, that's a good one. You get right on that, Charles. Let me know how it turns out. Will I be seeing you downtown with a table stacked with leaflets, like the LaRouchies?
15
I'm a lefty and I'm not disappointed with Obama. On the contrary, his election was a revolution and proved democracy
works to make change.
works to make change.
16
@11 if history is any guide, it usually involves firing squads, gulags, your neighbors and kids becoming informants, and a final slow decent into a complete tyrannical kelptocracy.
If leftist/progressive canards are such morally superior and inherently better ideas, why does it so often take shooting large numbers of people in the back of the head to implement them?
If leftist/progressive canards are such morally superior and inherently better ideas, why does it so often take shooting large numbers of people in the back of the head to implement them?
17
#13: The classic alliances are this:
Rich Liberals give bread and circuses to the poor to keep the Middle class oppressed.
This is why Obama absconded with 2 trillion in tax money, wants impose a Climate Tax, wants to bilk us for a viaduct tunnel, wants to have welfare for doctors (health care bill).
#13: The classic alliances are this:
Rich Liberals give bread and circuses to the poor to keep the Middle class oppressed.
This is why Obama absconded with 2 trillion in tax money, wants impose a Climate Tax, wants to bilk us for a viaduct tunnel, wants to have welfare for doctors (health care bill).
18
Umm, look at those dreamy social-welfare states set up in Europe (and the more Scandinavian the better). They didn't have revolutions to get those.
Though you do raise a good point; a lock-step, organized right is likely to trample over a fractured, nuanced and varied left.
Though you do raise a good point; a lock-step, organized right is likely to trample over a fractured, nuanced and varied left.
19
I think the reason arguments like this get so muddled is because the 10,000 foot view of the social and economic pillars of right and left politics are:
left = social progressive + redistribution economics
right = social conservative + free-market economics
So Charles then takes the feel-good social progressive characteristics of freedom, compromise and acceptance and attempts to associate them with the economic policies of the left. Redistribution economics (such as the health care bill) involve force so it isn't fair to portray them in the same freedom-loving light of the social policies.
left = social progressive + redistribution economics
right = social conservative + free-market economics
So Charles then takes the feel-good social progressive characteristics of freedom, compromise and acceptance and attempts to associate them with the economic policies of the left. Redistribution economics (such as the health care bill) involve force so it isn't fair to portray them in the same freedom-loving light of the social policies.
20
i'm not disappointed. i'm a cynic, and i'm getting exactly what i expected from BHO. the senate fucking sucks, the GOP only retains ideological cretins, and the military has a death grip on our psyche & budget.
the ship is coming to center before bearing left, though, and we're just arguing whether it's turning fast enough. it will never turn fast enough.
the ship is coming to center before bearing left, though, and we're just arguing whether it's turning fast enough. it will never turn fast enough.
21
If I may simplify the argument:
- Being a Republican means never having to say you're sorry.
- Being a Democrat means always having to say you're sorry.
- Being a Republican means never having to say you're sorry.
- Being a Democrat means always having to say you're sorry.
22
Happy Winter Solstice Charles,
To be perfectly honest and respectful, I have no empathy if the Left is disappointed. The revolution will not take place as revolutions devour their children. This American Republic is exceptional because it has retained a Union at great expense but this Union has endured (it remains essentially the same representative democracy in 2009 as in 1789 (?) when Washington was sworn in as President). France by contrast, has had four republics. It is currently in it's fifth. Russia has had 3 revolutions in 100 years. Revolutions are a mixed bag. They usually arise in the wake of a war. I believe it is politics or the "art of compromise" that allows for a free government to flourish. Pres. Obama knows that. He is not going to get everything he wants. As for me, I believe revolutions are for ideologues and tops.
To be perfectly honest and respectful, I have no empathy if the Left is disappointed. The revolution will not take place as revolutions devour their children. This American Republic is exceptional because it has retained a Union at great expense but this Union has endured (it remains essentially the same representative democracy in 2009 as in 1789 (?) when Washington was sworn in as President). France by contrast, has had four republics. It is currently in it's fifth. Russia has had 3 revolutions in 100 years. Revolutions are a mixed bag. They usually arise in the wake of a war. I believe it is politics or the "art of compromise" that allows for a free government to flourish. Pres. Obama knows that. He is not going to get everything he wants. As for me, I believe revolutions are for ideologues and tops.
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