> Now that
> the working class left has disappeared, its traces having migrated to the
> campuses and other cultural institutions, I often think the reason for the
> left's contemporary distance from the Democrats has to do with precisely
> this factor: its distance from working class life and the everyday
> concerns faced by working people, especially those with young children.
Alternately, you could argue it has more to do with the Dems' increasing distance from the mass social movements of the New Deal, a.k.a. monopoly-era unionism and CP-style popular mobilization. Which can't be separated from the historical decline of the US Empire, of course -- all those micropolitical contradictions lead back to thorny geopolitical situations.
-- DRR