Is there an implication that the US Left may not be very effective and it depends largely on the US elite?
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Yes, this is my belief.
It's the fundamental problem of the American Left which, with notable exceptions, believes in that vague dream of the future sometimes called 'the promise of America."
Taking the list as an example, we find a range of opinions on offer -- from fairly mainstream Democratic party ideas to anarcho-green. Arguments erupt over points of theory and belief but if you observe the Americans (myself included of course) carefully you'll note a base of commonality: everyone hopes to modify, to evolve, the present system peacefully into a more humane state.
This is perfectly natural since most of us, even if we've been so far spared the terrors of a revolutionary situation, have some idea that violent instability would be undesirable, bringing certain pain and uncertain results.
So we hope that we can change, through voting and protests and so forth, the prevailing order. Therein lies the dependence upon elites: if you are unwilling to contemplate violence (for perfectly legitimate and understandable reasons) then you are compelled to create strategies for negotiation with elites instead of planning for their elimination. If you are negotiating with someone you are in a dependent relationship with them even if you claim independence of thought and action.
The United States is a well disciplined, strong state which responds ruthlessly to even the smallest challenge to its power (perhaps the real lesson of events such as Ruby Ridge and Waco in which the FBI moved with lethal deliberateness against racialist seperatists). In addition to our distaste for violent action there is the practical problem of facing death if a truly powerful movement, aimed at deeply changing the political and economic order, were to arise.
I think everyone knows this, even if it's rarely spoken aloud, and this knowledge also influences what we consider to be the range of acceptable actions.
This leaves the American Left with what you could call a series of 'civil rights maneuvers' which I define as a Martin Luther King-esque appeal to Americans' (elites included) "better natures" and, as an addendum to this from what's considered to be the "far left", Chomskyist fact-finding projects to present the public with unpleasant facts and embarass elites.
But many people find these styles of action frustrating (yet, for reasons already listed, cannot sign on for more aggressive activities) which is why there's a certain enthusiasm, in some quarters, for deus ex machina events such as global warming or peak oil that will, it's hoped, create the revolutionary moment without anyone having to actually raise a finger.
.d.