C. Liu,
When I wrote:
"> The problem is that once a society has taken on the dialectically
> important parts of a party philosophy, that political party is essentially
> superfluous. The "correction" complete, what do we need with the old
guard?"
I meant that now that society has taken on the *capitalist* ideology of the Reagan/Thatcher revolution there is no more need for the hard right wing. I see the capitalist dialectic as only recently matured with true finance capitalism coming to dominate the society. Once that happens the hard right/religious trends among the Tories and Republicans are dead weight. Now your "fifth column" of liberal capitalists who are not associated with an unpleasant social agenda are taking up the mantle of power. They have no social agenda besides capitalism. However, I think you are wrong to associate Max S. with folks like Clinton and Blair. The present liberal power structure has no social conscience while Max S. clearly does.
The split in the traditional left-of-center parties into "third way" and progressives is a positive trend, ultimately. First, it separates those who care about social issues because they have a larger, progressive idea of where society should go from those who care about social issues simply because it softens and sells their pro-capitalist politics. Clinton, Blair, Jospin and Schroeder are quite clear on that: They believe in social justice because eases the hurt of capitalism. That is their concern and their reason to be. For the most part the progressives are a disunited patchwork of the politically correct with different special interest. For the most part they are not class conscious and if they are they tend to be hopelessly naive. It's easy to be naive when almost nobody cares what you think.
As the period the left has been ignored adds more decades, more people will jump the progressive ship for the ship of third way fools. The politically correct will satisfy themselves with things like environmentalism, an important but structurally reformist agenda. Then the crash will come and they will learn how little capitalists care for reform and how little reform actually does.
Mind you, I'm all for reform. After moving to the Pacific Northwest it does my heart good to see the efforts being undertaken to save the salmon, for example. Saving salmon is a good idea and welcome but nobody will give a damn for salmon when Amazon.Com implodes and Microsoft and Boeing start laying off workers in earnest. I will be happy to fish for the returning salmon with my commie pals (strictly catch and release) while unfinished mansions rot and slide into the Puget Sound and Internet bankrupts throw themselves off Snoqualmie Falls. I fear, however, that the downturn will be hardest on those who have no portfolios to lose. The left's dedication to the life and health of aquatic ecosystems, however laudable on its own terms, will not impress unemployed machinists, software testers and office workers. Then again, they had no use for the left in *our* lean years.
peace