> I agree that calling someone "stupid" is a bad way to try to
> win her over to your side ("tragically misinformed" is so much
> nicer LOL).
The right wing gets away with calling liberals, radicals and progressives elitist because that how we come across. The opposition to George Bush has centered around calling him an "idiot." How do you think that plays in the ears of Jane Citizen? "George W. makes sense to me, yet those liberals say he is an idiot. They must think I'm an idiot too." Of course, liberals also believe in stupid things like "liberals do good things for people" and are similarly arrogant and ignorant. The American left has really itself to blame in its rhetorical strategies against Bush. We are relying on the same failed strategies that re-elected Reagan in 1984: this misguided belief that people will vote against some leader because he says dumb things. People are awfully forgiving, so any passive strategy that relies on people "seeing the light" will fail time and time again.
> However, even if the left drops the epithet
> "racist," the fact remains Republicans and conservatives will
> steer clear because of the racial agenda promoted by the
> left. Part of their allegiance to rich Republicans comes from
> wanting to support and perpetuate white power.
Racism transcends party affiliation. The Republicans are the more crass when it comes to using racism, but the Democrats are bad in their own way. What did Al Sharpton say to the Democrats about not taking the black vote for granted? How many people of color have the Democrats nominated for the office of president or vice-president.
The argument that the Republicans are the real racists would suggest that the Democrats are going to nominate a person of color for the vice presidnet slot?
> Whites left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican
> Party over the issue of race (which Lyndon Johnson had
> predicted). Whatever commonalities they might recognize
> in the area of class struggle will not trump their racism.
> Only by deracinating itself and its message can the left hope
> to work with a significant number of these people on the
> basis of class struggle.
Whites and people of color have left the Democratic party for many reasons. Saying that this shift rlies mostly on race is just narrow.
We can talk about this stuff, but what are some practical strategies for fighting the left and right wings of capital?
Chuck0