>The question is why did the left fail to hold leadership in the party and
>move it further to the left???? If a simple electoral strategy would work
>to move the country onto a progressive course, this period offered the
>best possible chance, as Brad had already suggested.
Well McGovern *did* lose badly. We can come up with good reasons why he did, but that's a pretty weak base to start from. But the big money dudes were alarmed and immediately started pushing the party to the right. At the same time, or just a bit later, the U.S. ruling class in general moved to the right as well, a process that started bearing fruit by the late 1970s. The Watergate crisis, and the 1974 elections - which brought a bunch of leftish troublemakers to Cognress - temporarily obscured this underlying trend. But, returning to the question of the Dems, since the party is really a franchising operation and not a membership organization, there was little the base could do to stop it.
Try calling Dem HQ in DC and ask how to join. You can't. You can contribute money, but there's no such thing as party membership. The largest membership party in the U.S. is the Libertarian Party, followed by the Labor Party.
Doug