>Man, I'ver never been very giddy about the state of the US left, but
>your pessimism about it, which is no doubt related to your embrace of
>Iranian theocrats, is really excessive. I'd guess that 10-15% of the
>US pop has firmly left politics of some sort. It has influence in the
>media, the universities, and political activism, and in a bunch of
>towns and cities across the country. Lacking that minority, with all
>its divisions and ideological confusions, would make this a far more
>barbaric place than it already is.
I'm catching up after a road trip from Los Angeles to New Mexico and bring news of the minority Doug is talking about.
Unbeknownst to me, Devo was playing Albuquerque the night I arrived. I went and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. They played in a convention hall auditorium and the place was about two-thirds empty. But looking around at the crowd mouthing words, you got the idea that most people there knew every song by heart. And the band appreciated the crowd. They worked hard, sweating so much that by the middle of the show Mark Mothersbaugh's hair would stand up on its own when he ran his hands thorough it. They were graying, balding, and several pounds heavier, but they rocked.
And there was political commentary, such as "All you have to do is look in the White House to know that de-evolution is a solid theory" and, "We're here to put the fun back in fundamentalism."
It's moments like this that provide some hope when you're driving back through the Arizona desert, where Timothy McVeigh used to get high and set off homemade explosives.