[lbo-talk] Rethinking Liberalism

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Sun Apr 22 12:42:17 PDT 2007


Jason wrote:
> On 2007-04-22 02:37:39 +0100 Chuck <chuck at mutualaid.org> wrote:
>
>
>>Right. We should be spending our time selling the party newspaper on
>>the
>>streetcorner and at the factory gates.
>
>
> No, but putative leftists might want to identify some kind of useful
> programme for engagement with ordinary people - people with bills and
> real economic problems, not students and kids. The kind of people with
> neither the time nor the inclination to get involved in reclaim the
> streets or whatever the leftist mode du jour happens to be.

This implies that there is some significant chasm between the "putative leftists" and "ordinary people". I know this is a common trope of Faux News (latte sipping liberal elite and all that), but I just don't see it where I live. I'm a leftist; I have kids, economic challenges, bills up the wazoo, worries about neighborhood crime, etc, etc. Sure, I disagree with many of my neighbors about the benefits of socialism, but I'm already "engaged" with them at school meetings and neighborhood meetings and block parties. At least in my corner of the woods (Portland OR), there's no dramatic segregation of the leftists from "ordinary people" (however you define them). In fact, I'd go as far as saying that leftists are ordinary people.

Now, residential segregation based on race and social class is another story--

Miles



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