Doug Henwood wrote:
> [People on the left often don't take right-wing thought seriously
> enough. Yeah, Reagan was an airhead, but he was onto something,
> something that those who are discouting his importance, or find him
> the continuation of Jimmy Carter, miss. Sometimes it seems like the
> left has taken up the pessimism that Reagan excised from Burkean
> conservatism.]
This reflects what has been a serious weakness on the left ever since I first became involved in politics -- the obsession with what can't be changed and the indifference to what can be. There are 10s of millions of people out there who are _not_ under the influence of right-wing thought and which leftists can and should focus on. But it's more fun I guess to agonize over Reagan and Bush lovers, though they won't pay attention to us no matter how much attention we pay to them.
In the '60s this kind of obsession was an important factor both in the ultra-leftism of the Weatherman tendency and in the loss of nerve by the Clean-for-Gene tendency.
Carrol