>Yes yes yes. Why all the damned despair?
>
>Doug
[Because that is all pissing into the wind. There seems little likelihood those factors will influence US mass politics anytime soon, if ever. Chances are US society will remain driven by the atomism, selfishness and solipsism that have characterized it for many decades now. ]
I find the whole "character" assessment of America to be limited and kind of bizarre. And yes, for those who think that every Dem elected is the same as every Republican, they can see no connection between mass movements and electoral changes.
But on the broadest level, the religious right has broadly lost the fight on most cultural issues when the state of Texas is passing hate crimes laws protecting gays, the Bush administration is hiring open gays to lead its AIDS efforts, and rightwing politicians, once calling for the imprisonment of sodomites, are reduced to holding out against recognized marriage in favor of civil unions. There is a broad consenus for abortion rights, against sexual harassment, and so on.
On economic issues, the power of corporate lobbying may hold passage at bay, but support for expanding health care coverage is undisputed, the public overwhelmingly supports stronger environmental regulations, an increased minimum wage, and more spending on education and other areas.
In politics, progressives have steadily gained votes in this decade in Congress - a fact disguised by the defection of conservative Democrats to the GOP. But the deadlock in votes today is little different from 1993 when Clinton's tax and budget plan passed by only one vote in both chambers despite nominal Democratic majorities. And within the Democratic caucuses, there are now fewer conservatives and a greater proportion of progressive-allied legislators-- just note the fact that fast track was defeated where NAFTA was approved back in 1993. Roughly two-thirds to three quarters of Dems are solid votes against corporate trade deals, roughly half are solid votes for single payer style health care expansion, etc.
And at the local level, we just had an election in Los Angeles where conservatives were forced to rally around a liberal Democrat supported by 75% of black voters to defeat an even more progressive candidate, reflecting similar shifts to the left in San Francisco and the rest of California.
Again, not socialism, but significant results in areas where the mass movement has been most mobilized.
-- Nathan Newman