The Problem with the Left

[richardf8]

Two Easters ago, morgan1 and I were attending a service at a very liberal baptist church in Minneapolis. That day's sermon was based on something Ghandi said: "worship without sacrifice is idolatry." The overall gist of the sermon was that if the dominant regime isn't shooting you, beating you, or driving tanks over you, you are somehow failing in your

Comments

[lordrunningclam]

First of all, you're allowing the wingnuts to control the parameters of the debate by controlling the language used. "Democrats" are to the left of the wingnuts, but still a hell of a long way from being "leftists." That aside, you're right about the anger thing, and I think that getting campaign advice from Carville is a great idea for Dean. Anger can mobilize voters, and if that is what it takes to defeat Bush, I'm all for it.

I strongly favor Dean but in the end, I'll vote for whichever Democrat finally runs against Bush.

[richardf8]

I don't know you mean by wingnut here, please define.

As for my use of terms like "Left" and "Leftist," I am using them deliberately. Bill Clinton is not a leftist. Wesley Clark is not a leftist. Gephardt is not a leftist. Nor is Lieberman. These people are centrists, aka weasels, and don't really stand for much of anything. They won't make the country worse, but they won't improve it either.

When I speak of leftists I mean people who hold old-school progressive values and champion things like universal single payer healthcare, a free college education for anyone who can maintain a GPA > 3.0, and a social safety net that keeps us from becoming a banana republic. I will not shy away from the term because the right pronounces it with a sneer -- letting them decide what is and is not a dirty word really lets them control the terms of debate. (Sorry to ramble, but this is a pet peeve of mine; if Ted Rall is content to call himself a lefty, well then, so am I

Re:

[lordrunningclam]

When I say "wingnut" I mean right-wing radio talk show types, either the host or his biggest fans. And of course, the entire Bush administration.

Regarding your definition of "leftist" that is my definition of "liberal." Unless you also favor the nationalization of all industries, to be put under the control of worker's committees then you aren't one. It also helps if you dress like Fidel and can at least hum The Internationale.

That you equate liberalism with leftism simply reinforces my point: that the language we are using keeps moving the perceived center to the right.

Let's hava a holy war!

[richardf8]

What you call leftism is in fact communism, and the fact that you equate leftism with communism attests to the success of the wingnuts who red-baited the left from Joe McCarthy right up through the Ann Coulter. If we continue to let the right demonize everything we call ourselves, pretty soon we'll be calling ourselves "moderates," and the wingnuts will be telling us how moderates want to kill all the CEO's and put companies in the care of workers committees. That's how they move the center to the right. (I have heard Rush accuse liberals of wanting to do these things; I've heard him accuse CLINTON of it for crying out loud!)

And are we really so susceptible to this red-baiting, that we will allow them to steal every bit of language from us. I am a leftist, and proud of it. You should be proud too!

***Hums the Internationale***

Oh, and BTW, while we're fighting about what we should be calling ourselves this week, they're raping our country -- all part of the grand plan to divide and conquer.