Chris Hedges begins: "The lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, which looks set to make sweeping gains in the midterm elections, is the direct result of a collapse of liberalism."
Mexican peasants belonging to the '400 Pueblos' group protest a lack of attention from US President Obama, 08/28/09. (photo: Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Two years to hold toes to the fire and reclaim the energy of left wing populism. Or kiss goodbye to of the, by the, for the.
Jump up, and jump in
The stupidity starts in the first paragraph:
"It is the product of bankrupt liberal institutions, including the press, the church, universities, labor unions, the arts and the Democratic Party."
Um, Mr. Hedges, the press is not and never has been a liberal institution. The "press," would, of course, include Fox News. Get a grip. The church -- which one???? -- is not a liberal institution. Labor unions are not part of what Hedges fails to define but calls the liberal elite. Elite steelworkers? The entire piece is nothing but a rant. It lacks facts and fails to provide substantiation.
Oh, I don't think it's coming from Hedges.
Come now Mr. Sullivan, certainly you have more to say than that.
The U.S. is headed for a similar experience to "the fall of France" in 1940; only, our Nazis will be a domestic eruption rather than a foreign invasion.
I thought I'd never say this but here goes: Conservatives: liars. Liberals: cowards. And there ya' have it.
The right can rape us to pieces and the left is going to wimper and behave like cowards...and the right got wise in figuring this out. They were right to. Damn! I'm a liberal, always have been and proud of it! And all my life I have witnessed streams of cowardice from the left. I read of the heroics of the early labor movement and the courage of people who struggled through the civil rights movement such as those college kids who were murdered in the south, and I look around me at the liberals I know and all I see is raw, naked cowardice!
And me? You don't really think we're going to all lie down and take it do you?
I feel so out of touch with America because I'm a socialist and a minimalist. Even the Democrats have everyone sold on this new "ownership society". Everyone preaches more, even Obama. More jobs, more success, higher standardized test scores, and even more money. I preach "less". Guess I'm an outcast - oh well...
You ARE. WE are. But don't worry. The numbers are growing. There is strengths in numbers and the outcasts are growing exponentially, not for the same reasons necessarily, but shared suffering has a way of galvanizing people. You'll see.
Yes, it is true that there is an elite in this country that thinks they can right the right-wings wrongs all by themselves. They have written off the working-class as untrustworthy.
yes, it is true that this liberal elite don't want to know just how bad things are for the poor.
But Mr. Hedges is reading into what is happening very same filter and frame the Republicans want him to use. There in fact is no loss of mission among the liberal elite. There is rather a lack of spine, a lack of moral vision, and a lack of motivation. It is a sad mix, but it is neither monolithic, nor essentialist in its reality.
For maybe not the first time, the media and the rich have allied themselves - perhaps unknowingly on the part of the media - to implement an adgenda of cynicism, economics-uber-alles, and the false premise of interclass disenchantment.
Bush should not have been permitted to enter the White House and Thomas, Scalia and the other 3 traitors should have been apprehended and put on trial. That's really when American freedom came to an end.
Obviously you do not remember people, one by one chaining themselves to the court houses, the university chancellors' offices, military buildings and other places in the sixties and 70's. They all got arrested, spent the night in jail, posted bail and USUALLY the judge dismissed the case as it is our right to peaceful assembly. THAT is what it will take...a group of liberals who are disenfranchised and/or fed-up with the system as a hole to protest at their elected representatives ' offices, both in the Capitol and when those elected come home to their states. When you get arrested you make news. And when you make news, someone wants to write about your story. Simple.
I will particularly agree with your last sentence. Because we did not stand up and fight then, when we do stand up and fight, and that fight will come, the price to be paid will be far, far greater. The question remains: Are liberals going to remain cowards forever? If so, I guess there's nothing to talk about.
...and some day it will bloody well wake up from it's slumber. Trust and believe.
What don't you understand? Yes, It's true. Liberals are at fault becuase they let conservatives stop them. That's exactly right.
That is exactly his point-everyone needs to get involved and make sure that corporate plutocracy disappears.
"the sins of Noam Chomsky are a minor footnote" He does not call out any sins of Chomsky-Hedges criticizes liberals for failing to embrace radical critiques and organizing in their complacency.
The press and "higher" ed are floating, belly up, in the sea of conformity, reinforcing the lies and distortions instead of seeking and challenging great truths.
The voting mass that sent Obama to the White House is too distracted by day-to-day life to be involved or active. They are a busy lot.
And liberals and Democrats at best resemble a Three Stooges skit--slaps, bonks, and eye pokes as each tries to focus the herd.
It's the end of Vanilla America, so hang on--it's going to be a really wild ride!
Trust and believe!
Many of my friends give tirelessly to help liberals get elected. What more can they do? What is Mr. Hedges doing to help fixa broken political system?
It ain't over by a long shot.
An example is the so called "liberal" attempt to work with the corporations on a health care bill.
The result of this "liberal" legislation is nothing definable to average American. Couldn't they have simplified this legislation to make it definable to the folks down in the treches who the Dems so desperately need to win elections? My premiums have increased. My co-payments are higher-this is a real life example. Where is the liberal legislation to help the lower-middle or working classes? This was a blown opportunity and a definable example of liberal/democrat party absolute failure. How about expanded Medicare?-Eligibility at 55. Simple and effective. A logical first step for true health care reform.
Liberal ideology is capitalism "lite," dressed up with apologies and alibis. Now no one is even bothering with those, and so we're seeing the real character of the position. Liberalism *depends* upon capitalism, and now it's clearer.
I agree 100% Well stated.
So you're uninspired. What are you going to do about it? Care to try some "inspiring"?
I do find one comment strangely naive. "The very forces that co-opted the liberal class and are responsible for the impoverishment of the state will, ironically, reap benefits from the collapse." Ironic? Hardly. Calculated and deliberate.
Otherwise Mr. Hedges articulates quite well the frustrations many of us feel and calls out those who pretend to be our leaders. At this point I think it's clear that it has been a colossal mistake born of our own naiveté to place our future in the hands of those he aptly names as Liberal Opportunists. Corporatism and oligarchy cannot be fought by a slightly modified version of corporatism and oligarchy. Our hope lies now with ourselves and with each other, and the new forms of participatory democracy we have the courage to create.
1. Capitalism is an economic system, not a political system.
2. So many support the "tea party agenda" against their own interests because the "American Dream" has been subtly changed from being a member of the "middle class" to being a member of the "Billionaire class" I don't want to tax these people, because one day I will be one of them. This to me is the major battleground - we need to change the American dream back to what it was in order to reach it.
Like any problem, definition is the key to solution.
3. Change (power) comes about by influence. The chamber of commerce for example is a major influence on the republican side - they bring money and set the agenda.
The middle class has no such champions and therefore no influence - the money is disparate and not attributable.
We have the technology, thanks to the internet to try and fight this war. It is a matter of organization, grass roots, and a single voice. Politicians will never be that voice, but politicians will always be influenced by those with the power. Yes we must become middle class lobbyists using new tools to change the landscape.
I said "liberals" when I should have said "many liberal leaders"
He's saying that this situation (tea party as populists) would not be possible if MANY LIBERAL LEADERS had not been asleep at the wheel for 40 years; failing to defend our worldview with an effective narrative and then shockingly embracing immoral conservative economic doctrines under the guise of neo-liberal gibberish. When you add the fact that many so-called LIBERAL LEADERS enriched themselves like kings during this period while turning a blind eye to the fact that the policies that were enriching them were also destroying the economic foundations of working Americans, liberals look like traitors and idiots - so what's to be done? I'd love to talk to Hedges about that!!
I, too, would like to know what's to be done. Nice to point out that so much is wrong with the liberal class, I'm liberal, and I know it.
I also agree with Lee's statement that a lot of the fault lies with uninvolved citizens. Everyone likes to complain, but no one wants to step up. But who really would, considering that our society seems to be filled with people who want to vilify anyone who even tries?
History shows us that great leaders participated in the revolutions they talked about. They made it happen.
You have only to look back to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ghandi, Fidel Castro, Che Q, Mandela, and others. These were men at the forefront of their revolutions, that's what we need here.
I'm getting weary of all the rhetoric of those on the lecture circuits. It's time for you do work together to unite this country before it's too late.
You have the skills, knowledge and resources, we do not. If you lead we will follow.
If historical cycles are determinant, and they may not be, don't expect an immediate 3o year "progressive" era to take its place sometime this decade.
Usually, it takes (or at least *has taken*) a good 15-20 years to turn the predominant US ethos around...
like 1965-83 (from lib. to cons.)
and 1914-30 (from cons. to lib.)
Take some cheer, however, that the last "Robber Baron" era (1870s-1910s) was just another 30-yr. deal that did, eventually, bite the dust.
Here is a clear view of why the liberals are satisfied with things as they are now: http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001705.html
"Democrats And The Iron Law Of Institutions"
When they started shipping jobs overseas to save a buck, you cheered along, saying you were giving those poor dark-skinned fellas oversea a chance towards self-destiny. You could have stopped the pilfering of American export wealth if you weren't too busy trying to "save the world" in the most unsustainable of ways.
When your party days and your propaganda couldn't pay the bills, to retreated into the wealth-generating arms of the corporations you swore and oath to defeat. You had your chance to leave a lasting scar in corporate and banking interests in a way that would make Andrew Jackson blush. But hey, at least you get to call whoever disagrees with you "racist" right? That's cool and shit.
When they stopped printing the M3 in May of 2005, you were too busy whining about Bush.
(cont)
When they tried to hand over a blank check to the banks with 4 pages of justification, it wasn't the Left that came to the rescue. It was pissed off Republicans who practically threatened to kill their representatives if they passed it.
When the revised the bailout came out a week later, your Messiah embraced it, which in turns meant you embraced it. $700 billion to the banks who "held on" to the money (See: invested it overseas) When they justified the act as "profitable" you clapped along just so you can have cheerleader points for your Messiah.
What you don't see is that you have let loose the most devastating flood of capitalism ever created. State coffers now have permanent access for internationalis t neoliberal venture capitalism. Remember, "it was profitable!!!" And if your Messiah demands it... YOU.... WILL.... FALL.... IN..... LINE.
The Left has a long history of being susceptible to short-sighted altruism.. the easiest temperament to exploit and twist. The lesson, even in your sunset period, the one that baffles you to this dat is a simple one: Those who cannot control their heartstrings have it pulled for them. you have still failed to learn.
Begone, Baby Boomers, and make room for the Ultracapitalist s already. Your resistance is boring, moot, symbolic at best, and at worst, algorithmic.
The rise of the lunatic, fascist Right is based in the collapse of any popular people's movement on the Left.
And I distinguish the Left, radicals and revolutionaries , of course, from Liberals; progressives from Democrats.
Capitalism, even in it's current death throes, retains the power to enchant and seduce and to extinguish all dissent and critique.
No one anymore speaks of the inescapable dynamics of Class. The language and discourse that would begin to describe the times we're in is absent; expunged, in place of Glee, Family Guy, and countless shows on murder, fashion and sports.
We are entertaining ourselves to death while any remnant of an Opposition has disappeared.
This is his argument.
So called "liberals" continue being complicit against the very economic and political interests of the majority of the people. And they are too blind, I might add, in continuing to root for a bankrupt party and do nothing presidency( except for empty words and much BS) equally as co-opted as the other party.
"Unions, organizations formerly steeped in the doctrine of class warfare and filled with those who sought broad social and political rights for the working class, have been transformed into domesticated junior partners of the capitalist class."
But that's nothing new. Remember that the AFL/CIO supported Nixon in the late 60's. I think history demonstrates, as socialist Michael Harrington showed, that the working class and labor aren't necessary progressive. They essentially just want a decent deal in our society. Unions are basically advocacy groups for their own members, not social change.
I think the crisis we're facing now in America isn't about class but about our illusions about ourselves as a people. We were economically dominant after WW II because we were the only functioning industrial economy left. But that's not the world we live in anymore. People like the Tea Partiers think it still is.
I think most importantly, we have to face our declining position in the world. Learn to give up our military interventions abroad and clean up our own house. It may take awhile for us to face that, but we have to eventually.
I am a liberal (as defined before the spinners redefined it) and proud of it. It seems to be the only way we can have a peaceful, just, fair and humane society and world, in which the government isn't controlled by the elites who exploit most of the people.
I'm 81 and lived through a period in which the common folks in the US had the most freedom and growth of almost any other group in history because of the liberal politicians who were on the people's side. It's not a dirty word to me.
Ask any Democrat who is to blame: Ralph Nader.
Oh, I understand that the Clintons are billionaires.
Look I'll pick something at random... the BP oil spill, and you can explain how Obama handled it any different than Bush would have. Remember his pronouncement that essentially all the oil was gone! Magically.
Obama has been a big disappointment to most of the folks who voted for him. And it has not been the elite voters fault that Obama has been inexorably leaning right and dissing progressives and the left who wished him well.
RSS feed for comments to this post.