What I hear form the radical left in the US, however, is the fetishization of social unrest and "revolution" which in the Old Left was a mere means to a clearly articulated end, but today became an end in itself. There are no constructive goals - whether attainable under the current political regime or not - just constant kvetching, blaming and finger pointing.
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The last time you wrote this -- and it was almost precisely this -- I replied that you were obviously looking in the wrong places and focusing on the most unfortunate elements of the broadly defined Left.
It would be much more profitable, I wrote (and it bears repeating) to seek out the best.
Who is doing the best work in environmentalism and the politics of technology? Who is doing the best work in analyzing the current state of and proposing alternatives to American styles of governance? Who is doing the best work in dissecting US foreign policy and offering a realistic, non-imperialist vision? Who has a clear view of the global system?
It's interesting you should post your lament only 10 minutes after Doug posted this:
Carbon Tax Center -- Getting real about stopping climate change
[the excellent Charlie Komanoff and his colleague Dan Rosenblum have started a Carbon Tax Center - I interviewed Charlie the other week - it's at
<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#070104>]
[...]
Rest of the post and link to Komanoff's site at -
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070122/001459.html>
Isn't this just the sort of constructive, forward looking idea you're seeking? The ideas are out there, you simply must stop fixating on the sorts of people you're clearly preoccupied with and seek out the best.
If the "radical left" is, as you say, so annoying and bereft of ideas, look to others who're out there doing superior work and jettison your complaints.
.d.
At this point, it's still not clear that intelligence and self-awareness are successful adaptations.
...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/