[lbo-talk] The STFU left

Michael Pugliese michael.098762001 at gmail.com
Mon May 23 08:50:27 PDT 2005


Chuck:
> There are plenty of signs that the left, generally speaking, is growing
> in the U.S. I think many of these people tend to shun labels or
> affiliations at this point.

From Kevin Coogan:
>...To me there is something phony about this essay.
("Leaving the left, I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity, " sent to me by the Texas ex-Trotskyist, M.P., source URL not known - Keith Thompson Sunday, May 22, 2005)

But he's right that the low-level nature of publications like the Nation and the gridlock on real debate in the left is driving many liberals into the center-right (which today is more right than center). In the 1960s, the left was doing almost the opposite as it had the innovative ideas and drove the center to the left by them. Now it's the opposite and it's been so for a long time.

I was telling a friend how amazing it is that even with all the Bush debacles in Iraq, the anti-war movement is actually far weaker today than it was before the war when groups like ANSWER were at their height. It's the virtual opposite of the experience in Vietnam. The anti-war types have made themselves even more fringy even as the unpopularity of the war grows with average Americans.

Pretty mind boggling stuff. -- Michael Pugliese



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