General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The "extreme left" didn't give us Trump. The path to hell was paved by [View all]pat_k
(9,313 posts)... I need to do a better job of "inoculating" my arguments. I may have avoided some of the flaming if I had made it clearer that I am not taking the ridiculous position that the failures in leadership I describe are the ONLY reason we are seeing such an incredible level of support for an extreme Authoritarian/Reactionary/Racist ideology. Obviously, as a number of posters pointed out, there are other factors, like the Republican noise machine -- FOX, RW radio, "think" tanks, etc.
But, if we look at what's happening and say "It's their fault, not ours" what we are saying is "We are outmatched. There is nothing we can do to stop the rise of the right-wing radicals." If that's our position, were done. We're at the mercy of outside forces. Full stop.
If we aren't ready to throw in the towel, there is only one choice. Look at ourselves. There are many, many questions we need to be asking ourselves. For example: Are we clear about our principles and goals? Are we failing to convey our principles and goals? Are people rejecting our principles and goals? Are there things we should have fought for that we didn't? Are there things we should be fighting for that we are not? Are we doing a lousy job of exposing how wrong and immoral "their" conduct and agenda is? Are we doing a lousy job of defending against their demonization of us and our proposals? Are we enabling them in some way? Who perceives us positively? Negatively? Do we know why?
If we can't identity any shortcomings or failures, there is nothing to fix. We're just outmatched and will keep losing ground.
For me, every failure we identify is a ray of hope that begets action. It's something we can work on changing. Maybe we aren't able to bring about the necessary change, or maybe our diagnosis is wrong and the change doesn't shift the balance in the right direction, but trying and failing is better than feeling helpless in the face of forces beyond our control.
We are up against some powerful forces, but I see no purpose in affixing blame for our predicament on "them." We must study "them" and the forces against us, but solely for the purpose of identifying ways to counter those forces, or shut them down.
Another thing I should have done is make it clear that the "hell" I'm talking about is not just the election of DT. in my view, we entered hell when polls indicated that the number likely voters who had gone over the extremist cliff was VERY close to the number on the reasonable part of the spectrum. If Clinton had won by a big margin, proving the polling wrong, I would have been relieved that things weren't quite as bad as they looked. If she had won by a small margin, we would still be facing a hellish political landscape. Voter suppression helped tip the election to DT. If all Stein voters had voted for Clinton it would have tipped the election to Clinton. I didn't address those things because the "hell' I was talking about was a political landscape that made a DT president possible, not the election itself.
I am not wedded to my diagnosis. If somebody thinks something I've identified as a failure was the right thing to do, lets talk. I welcome any opportunity to listen to and debate other people's diagnoses. Some posters added problems/shortcomings to the list, but no one argued that the leadership was right to suppress efforts to impeach Reagan and Bush, or that their refusal to object to the Florida electors was the right move. it surprised me a bit that nobody hit me with any of the 'conventional wisdom" rationalizations for inaction.
Some of the negative responses are understandable. They were pissed because I left out causative factors. Those don't bother me. The posts that do bother me are the ones that attacked me for having the temerity to describe failures. These posters appear to believe that identifying problems is bashing, and bashing must be silenced.
I've been trying to get my head around that perspective and just havent been able to. I have trouble believing that they really think the party can do no wrong. Perhaps its just that we are supposed to keep our thoughts to ourselves? I dont know. Logically, from that perspective, the only things we are are allowed to do is curse the other side, applaud what Dems do, and if what they do is not enough, we are left to watch helplessly as we descend further into hell.
I am not good at helplessness. Not my style.
Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence! Forgive me for rattling on. One thing that is very gratifying is that the OP got more than 140 recs. The type of dialog I come here for is still possible.