> I do not see any reason why a moderately progressive political party,
> such as Democrats, cannot pursue most if not all of them - provided
> they
> see enough popular support behind them. I hear a story about FDR
> replying to a lobby group "You convinced me about your proposal. Now
> make me implement it." I am positive that if there is enough popular
> support for a cause, Democrats will pursue it. If they do not pay too
> much attention to some of the left's positions, it is because the left
> is weak.
Exactly -- that's how the Dem Party operated in FDR's time, even with all of its corruption and racism. But there was the little matter of a huge depression at the time, which tended to concentrate a lot of workers' minds rather precisely on their economic interests. All we need to increase the left's power, again, is another nice depression, I guess.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt