The professional left changed millions of lives

[Prism]

How? This is how:

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This is the work of the LGBT community - a bunch of true professional lefties - and our allies who have stuck with us both when it was easy and when it was politically inconvenient for them. This is a massive social shift towards equality and civil rights for all over the span of a mere 20 years.

So when people ask you what the professional Left gets done, be sure to tell them.

This is what the "doom and gloomer" "never happy's" do for people. Change comes when people refuse to compromise their basic rights and dignity for the sake of political expedience.

[myrna minx]

1. K&R. This is a wonderful day.

:grouphug:

[QC]

9. It certainly is. n/t

[unpossibles]

2. and have been doing so for generations

fight the good fight, I say.

[Forkboy]

3. K&R

[xchrom]

4. we're not happy about the issues we go to work on -- but we go to work on them.

reminds me of the shakers -- and um -- no reference to that rather obvious chart -- hands to work, hearts to god.

[JoePhilly]

5. I've been one of your allies for years ... and I'm not part of the professional left

I don't think Obama is anything like Bush.

I think much of the attacks against Obama on DU, and other sites, from the left, are over the top.

So where does that put me with you?

You use the phrase "a mere 20 years" in your post. That suggests to me that you know how difficult changing attitudes of an entire country can be.

Gibbs' comment about the "professional left" does not mention the LGBT community, or its allies. It does not mention those who demand we leave Afghanistan yesterday, or those who call Obama a corporatist.

Can we stop fighting us? The GOP is going to eat our lunch if we keep bickering. Its counter productive, and it is exactly what the GOP was intending through its endless obstruction.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. You know what? The professional left doesn't think that Obama = Bush either.

That was merely a slander by the DLC, doing what they've been doing since the 80s - attacking real liberals with false accusations to attract a few disaffected republicans.

But you just keep right on catapulting the propaganda.

[JoePhilly]

7. I love your "real liberals" meme.

Look, you feel free to be a "real liberal" and at the same time, get nothing done.

I heard Alan Grayson on Stephanie Miller today. He said that he voted FOR the HCR bill, even though there was no public option, because he did not consider that a deal breaker. Is Grayson is "real liberal" or a "propagandist"?

Drop the issue by issue litmus test, unless you plan to be a party of one.

[Prism]

16. It depends where you stand on equality.

And I don't mean platitudinous support of equality, I mean real action when it's not as easy as screaming at a Republican administration.

When the LGBT community is pressuring the Obama administration to do the right thing, are you standing in solidarity with us, or are you finding excuses for why President Obama is never responsible and totally powerless to effect change? Did you cry "Civil rights now!" when Republicans held the reins of power, but now find yourself with a thousand reasons for why Democrats haven't the responsibility or the ability?

Changing attitudes does take time, but in many cases with the current administration, the attitudes are already in place. What's lacking is political will and political courage. DADT repeal has an absurd level of popular support. The Public Option had large support. I'm pretty sure giving $12 trillion in taxpayer guarantees to Wall Street was not the public's idea of sound policy in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Change isn't merely an ideal, and liberal policies aren't bits and pieces of purism to be adhered to. Change is vital for the very survival of the American state. Things cannot continue on as they have been. Dissolution of civil liberties isn't acceptable. Economic collapse while Wall Street loots the Treasury is not a structure for national economic health. Health insurance reform will not fix the problem with lack of access to needed care.

We cannot keep doing what we have been doing. A Democratic President, in this day and age, on the day of a great victory, should not be galloping around telling people how much he opposes gay marriage.

This stuff isn't acceptable anymore. And not just because it's illiberal, but because it continues the erosion of our country's foundation for future prosperity, our liberties, and our economy. Republican policies are failures. Too many of the President's policies are Republican boxes with a Democratic bow.

At some point, you have to realize three steps backwards, one step back isn't incremental at all. It's total madness given the crises that can gut this nation in the next twenty years unless our politicians wise up because we've made them wise up.

[QC]

8. Kick!

:kick:

[FrenchieCat]

10. But that is not the same Professional Left that equates Obama with Bush....

Oh...but don't let details stand in the way....kind of like fox news.

[Starry Messenger]

11. k & r

[QC]

12. KICK!

[amborin]

13. K&R

[KittyWampus]

14. they sure as hell didn't do it by bitching incessantly on the internets.

[Sapphocrat]

18. Oh, really now?

How do you think a thousand demonstrators come together on two days' notice? Telepathy?

How do you think boycotts happen these days?

How do you think people even buy protest buttons and T-shirts? I haven't seen any racks of "Fuck NOM" buttons in my local Safeway lately -- have you?

My, my, how you underestimate the power of the Internet.

I suppose calls to email one's elected representatives, sign petitions, and even DU polls are perfectly worthless as well?

"Bitching incessantly on the internets" has connected me with more activists, more legal eagles, more researchers, and more people saying "Thank you for writing XYZ -- I thought I was the only one who thought/felt/wondered..." than I can count.

I'm sorry to hear modern technology has not served you as well.


P.S. A hearty K&R for the OP on behalf of all of us out, proud, card-carrying members of the professional left.

[City Lights]

15. K&R.

:thumbsup:

[nightrain]

17. knr. professional lefties lead by example every day! It's called "integrity".

[JoeyT]

19. You're assuming that the rights of gay people

are important to this administration. This isn't a very safe bet, since he's admitted he thinks gay marriage is wrong.