Kelley wrote:
>
>
> I would say that it's not so much that people are atttracted to
> authoritarian politics, but that they are attracted to the sense of
> community and committment these places provide. It's social. They _like_
> going to church on Wednesday. They _like_ having a common basis for
> discussing things with other people -- some reason to strike up a conversation.
Indeed. Religion merely supplies the (temporary) glue. It could be many other things.
The point Kelley makes here has been close to the core of my political thinking for 40 years.
Of course people (as Miles noted) are terribly ignorant of the facts. They will remain ignorant as long as they are isolated individuals. Learning the facts comes _after_ being involved in a visible movment. The job of leftists is to create the visibility of that movement.
We'd still be faced with the fact that political change does follow the pattern of punctuated equilibrium, and that the punctuations can't be willed into existence. But only the continued existence of leftist _groups_ (not pundits) and the continual (mostly ineffectual) activity of those groups can provide the context for the unexpected occurrence of those punctuations and can provide experienced and knowledgeable core that can make the punctuation grow when it comes.
And damn it stop the caterwauling and turn to examining the fixtures of the terrain where we _can_, now, do our present work.
Carrol
The initial posts of Tommy Kelley and DSR remain central to all these various threads on rapture, 'white trash' etc.