Reply #61: you are right

[Two Americas]

You are hitting a nerve here for many of us, but you are essentially correct.

Back in 1966, when there were a thousand serious political activists for every one hippy, I never could have imagined that the political movement would completely collapse, and the hippy movement would prevail. But that is exactly what happened.

I would like to see you younger people sharpen and refine your criticisms of us boomers, because if you do I think you will find that the majority of us are on your side about this.

The two key features of modern liberalism that have their origins in the hippy movement are individualism - much of modern liberalism is libertarianism with an "organic" label slapped on it - and spiritualization, which leads to people settling for being "right" rather than going for results.

The first flaw sabotages the left, the second sabotages politics of any kind.

Here is something I wrote the other day in a great discussion some of us old timers are having about the failures of the left and the causes of that:

People would rather be right than succeed - that is the chronic weakness of modern liberalism. Being right is the consolation prize in politics. People are consoling themselves with being right because they have abandoned any hope of real political effectiveness. Blaming the people fits right in with this - "we are right and if the people are too stupid to see that, oh well then it is their loss the stupid idiots."

After the left collapsed in the late 60's, there was a sudden shift in the viewpoint of many intellectuals and activists. It was an amazing thing to watch - it happened almost overnight and suddenly you heard many people all saying the same things. Modern people, especially educated people, want to think that they are independent free agents, but people move in herds and rugged individualism is largely a myth. They gave up, basically, but used a particular rationale as cover for that. One day people were saying "we need to organize and mobilize and overthrow the war machine" and the next day they were saying things like this:

- Politics is not really were the truth is. We need to change people spiritually.

- I am going to work on improving myself, that is the way to change the world.

- We need to take baby steps and do the little things that we can to make things better.

- We can work within the system, and gradually change it.

Those ideas are in place to this day and have a powerful grip on all political thinking. Challenge those, and people get very angry. Since that shift, the left has been getting weaker and weaker and the right wing stronger and stronger. Now we are teetering on the brink of total catastrophe, but still people cling tightly to this weak political philosophy of modern liberalism - New Age spirituality, individualistic approaches, charity and consumerist social activism, alternative lifestyle choices, compromise and compliance with the system. People use their politics to establish a personal identity rather than as a guideline for effective organizing for mass action. The personal identity that can be established by being a modern liberal is not one that appeals to, is available to, or is needed by the majority of people in the country, and never will be. Political effectiveness that requires as a prerequisite that people become "like us" before anything can happen will never be effective - will never even really be political at all.

It is not that any of those ideas, and the activism and organizations that promote them, are necessarily bad things. The problem is that they have come to replace real politics. People will deny this - "we can walk and chew gum at the same time and it is not an either/or." It need not be an either/or, that is true, but in practical and functional effect it is an either/or. That is because all modern liberal activism was designed as a replacement for politics, that is its utility, that is what attracts people to it.

Being right is the consolation prize. When you start out with the idea that only a few enlightened beautiful people know the truth and are therefore right and try to base a political movement on that, you are doomed to failure. Obviously, a political movement based on the elite few can never become a mass movement. People want to think of themselves as being among the elite few - more caring, smarter, better - and that is a club that we can't let just anyone join. Modern liberalism is set up to give individuals the opportunity to reinforce their self-image as being one of the superior ones. It is such an obvious set up for political failure.

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