> I agree the Cde Cox can be untethered from reality, but
> you're talking about different things here. The bourgies can
> get away with these things because the US public is massively
> demobilized and passive. If that public ever resisted in an
> organized way - a long shot, but not impossible, someday,
> maybe - then the big boys would definitely be scared shitless.
Not exactly, if the emphasis is on the qualifier "organized." If the public was organized in the ordinary meaning of the word - i.e. being engaged in a national political institution capable of forming a government and winning elections at least from time to time - there would not be "big boys" to begin with, scared shitless or otherwise.
Stated differently, I have been arguing all the way that the only way for the left to become a noticeable (if not major) political force in this country is to start building major national political and cultural instituions representing its view point - starting with the available institutional resources: unions, Democrats, liberal civil society organizations, left leaning organized religion, etc. - even is they seem inadequate in a long run. This is what the Repugs did and won. The "traditional" forms of left "activistism" - clowning in the streets, cursing at the officials whom you want to take your side, shocking people or insulting their common sense, smashing windows, or rioting may add a feather or two to the caps of the more macho "activistists" - but it is totally counterproductive form of "organizing." IMHO, it is the main reason why the Left is so unpopular today - it grossly overplayed the "in your face" card and was caught with their pants down while the world around them changed profoundly. But hey, I am a cream puff, a wussy social democrat, I have no taste for machismo bombast and bravado in any form.
In short I am all for popular mobilization and activism but of the right kind - in legitimate political and social instituions, as opposed to ad hoc mobs of people venting their frustrations in the streets or muscling their point of view. Your friend Fitch makes the same point about the unions, no? Sectarianism, mobster tactic, riots, violence and assasinations did not serve them well, no matter how progressive their ideals were.
Wojtek