I have to admit that after 10 or so years spent on this list I became very skeptical about the Left, or perhaps its US variety. It looks that a big chunk of the US left may have its own separate ideology, but otherwise shares the deep similarity to the discourse popular in right wing and religious corners of the US society and their penchant for bombastic demagoguery, finger pointing, scapegoat bashing and self-righteousness.
................................
So we often hear and it may be true.
But what I want to know is this: where in the world can we find a demagoguery-free Left? What styles of discourse and action are found in Italy, France, Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, etc?
I've read laments about the state of the Left as it manifests around the globe (too emotional or not emotional enough, too analytical or not analytical enough, too atheist or not atheist enough...and so on).
What national flavor of Left is effective in the way you long to see in the US?
What is your ideal Left? Perhaps a left-leaning technocracy? Vast and cool efficiency for the sake of socialism as opposed to a typically right wing efficiency built for militarism and surveillance.
Here's the point.
Leftists are not immune to whatever emotional obstacles, unproductive preoccupations and generally bad thinking habits afflict their societies - Yoshie had nothing but critical things to say about the state of the Japanese Left; friends in Old Blighty routinely make unflattering comments about the British situation (particularly post Blair); I won't even go into South Korea's Left.
Hopefully, you get the idea.
So it seems a bit, well, unhelpful, to suggest that the American Left is uniquely unfocused or undisciplined or what have you. If there is a superior model, let's hear about it and talk about what makes it sharper than its US counterpart.
.d.