frank scott wrote:
>
> "... When have the Greens had a better chance than
> Camejo's?
>
> yes, if arianna weren't also in the race...once again, the progressive
> left shows its disorganized nature by running two candidates for one
> vote...sad.
>
The "progressive left" is not running Ariana. Ariana is running Ariana. The "progressive left" is not running Camejo. Camejo and/or the California Green Party (how large? what are its fundamental politics? how much can non-GP leftists influence it?) is running Camejo.
The events in California exhibits, as do the events in ______, that it is pointless at this time to speak of "The Left." What leftists need to talk about is not the weaknesses or errors of "The Left" but, rather, of how we might aim at bringing into existence a left that could be referred to in this way.
It's sad that we have not already achieved a socialist revolution. It is sad that there is still no cure for the common cold. It is sad that ____________.
What are the elments in the present that point towards some sort of left movement? How do we go about identifying and exploiting those elements? How can scattered leftists work individually towards the coming into existence of a left that can be discussed, acted in, and strengthend?
My own tentative belief is that, at present, "the left" (i.e., a potential source of developement of such a creature, exists in those people from the anti-war movement who are still participating in that movement. They represent a potential center or core from which we can build outwards when the next explosion (nature unpredictable) occurs that can create a constituency for us.
Leftists (in general and on this list) must achieve a clearer and less etherial concept of "the practical." By this I mean focusing sharply on (a) what would be "practical" if put in to effect and (b) what _is_ practical as (1) lying within the present power of leftists to effect and (2) pointing towards left growth in the future. (The left is _not_ going to grow _now_, and it is _not_ going to have any effect _now_, on public policy. Therefore policy suggestions, however abstractly practical and desirable if put into effect, are the sheerest wool-gathering because we cannot do anything at the present time to implement them.
Hence, .................?
Carrol