> The problem is that any Left position is mightily
> unpopular in the US (it is a Dog's country, after
> all) and those who are attracted to it are
> idealistic/culturalistic types, often with upper
> middle class background, who do not give two
> shits about how the real world really works.
If I were a less patient person I would find Wojtek's unrelenting misanthropy exasperating. He at least possesses the redeeming virtue that he is funny. In any case, he's also wrong: there is a large number of USers who are attracted to a left political perspective -- indeed, people whose "common sense" is markedly on the left. A successful progressive politics in this country will necessarily put the concerns of this portion of the population at the center of its project, in a way that will bring the rest of the country along. I am of course speaking of the black community, and what the Black Commentator has called "the Black Consensus":
http://www.blackcommentator.com/17_analysis.html
Wojtek is correct that there is also a mass base for reaction, even among people we would otherwise expect to be attracted to a left political perspective. This is almost always because of white supremacy. Our unenviable task is to further a vigorously progressive agenda and at the same time neutralize the right's ability to appeal to such people.
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!