[lbo-talk] revealed: Obama really really is a socialist, really

[Somebody Somebody]

John Gulick: To pick up from a message I composed earlier, here's the problem (or one of them) as I see it. That portion of the electorate which is most likely to favor public healthcare and withdrawal from Afghanistan -- as well as gov't investment in green energy, the extension of GLBT rights, and so on -- is also the segment of the electorate most likely to equate activism (what you might otherwise call "pressure from below") with clicking "like" on a relevant facebook page, with posting a supportive message to a Youtube video of their favorite liberal celebrity, with volunteering for an "appealing" community service organization, or with (in 2008 at least) voting for Barack Obama. It's what Adolph Reed correctly bemoaned as "politics without politics" and left analysts ignore such cultural developments (or degeneration) at their peril. Culture matters, a lot. 

Somebody: I agree. Although sociologists have hammered away at the data behind Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone", I think the basic thesis is correct. Americans are much less involved in social groups of any kind in our age of 24/7 media and entertainment. There's too much to consume people's time with to be involved in political organizing. And I think this is increasingly true the world over. If you can live a rich and exciting life vicariously through entertainment, then you have yet one more investment in the status quo.