>Hard to say, since pollsters never ask questions like that, and the U.S.
>public is so politically demobilized that most people don't even think in
>terms like that. Maybe 5% by your definition?
>
>But the very fact that you asked the question sets you apart from
>mainstream discourse. ....
Many thanks for the numbers, Doug.
And i'm sure that asking such a question does set me apart from mainstream discourse. That bothers me considerably, but what *really* bothers me is that it apparently also sets me apart from leftist-identified discourse!
We're so sectarian, and so ineffectual. You'd think that with so many Intellectuals in the Left, we'd have been able to learn from history that clan-based cultures hardly ever succeed against the nation-based. The clan-based cultures always do half their opponents' job by always having a little strength-sapping internecine conflict going on. A little tribal warfare, some betrayal, plenty snits and sulks, always a little something to take the edge off.
Lefties have always been in the forefront of trade-union movements. That's what being a Leftie is all about, after all, getting together to work for a common goal rather than tearing each other down for the sake of personal advantage. As Woodie's song goes 'the Union makes us strong'. Or, as someone moderately well-known once said, 'united we stand, divided we fall'.
So why aren't we doing it now? Have we really been so enervated that we can't get it together?
We're willing to argue bitterly with one another here over things we can't do one single thing about. Why aren't we clubbing together to create an All-Left Union? We could get up a saturation leafletting campaign to let people know that they're not alone in their vague discontents. Give them a focus for joining together: 'Tax Wealth, Not Paychecks!'; 'Throw The Bums Out!', 'Stop Insuring The Wealthy'...and so forth. Good psywar stuff, spread the discontent.
<semi-non-sequitur>
Everyone sneers at Jesse Ventura, but i suspect there's more to him than meets the eye. His comments about his education budget was fascinating. We hear some Republican officeholder saying code phrases about how Ventura's budget's a disappointment. Then there's Ventura with a little smile saying 'the Republicans don't like my budget, they want a tax cut. Well, all they have to do is come out and tell everyone where they want their tax cut to come from. Let them put it on the table so everyone can see, and then we'll talk about it.' And of course they're not going to do anything of the kind and he knows it.
Similarly, he commented about how he's underpaid, saying 'I make $125,000 a year...if I were running a corporation this size, I'd be making $125,000 a month'. I bet a lot of folk had the same reaction i did. My first thought was naw, he's got his sums wrong, 125K/month is outrageous! But i worked it out and that's only $1.5M p.a. and we know plenty CEOs make MUCH more. My next thought was Those buggers are *really* overpaid!! What the hell makes them worth that? So i bet that raised a little class consciousness.
</semi-non-sequitur>
The wealthy are putting out a constant message: greed is good and you have no other choice. Capitalism-as- the-Borg, in fact: resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. We need to put out a different message: fight back, together we're stronger than they are. Why aren't we talking about how to do that? Five percent is a lot of people!! There'd be some really good action if we could get 5% of the US mobilised and hooked up with the 10%-50% that probably exists everywhere else in the world except HongKong! We could do some serious stuff. Why aren't we talking about it?
le meas, =margaret