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Weakness of the 'Left' in America
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27-07-2010 01:25PM#1Hey everyone, first post on this forum as I didn't know it existed until now
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Just wondering does everyone think the 'left' is extremely weak in the US at the minute and has been for the last 30 years or so. If you compare the radicalism of the sixties and seventies (Black Panthers, anti-war movement, student sit ins at Columbia, civil rights movement, hippies etc etc) to what is considered left wing today ( a centre right Democrat party by European standards) I have to wonder what happened??
Was it simply a case that the left wingers wn all their struggles and faded from obscurity? Or was it a case that there was a conservative backlash in the eighties against the left that has continued to the present day??
I'd be interested in everyones views
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HavingCrack wrote: »Hey everyone, first post on this forum as I didn't know it existed until now.
Just wondering does everyone think the 'left' is extremely weak in the US at the minute and has been for the last 30 years or so. If you compare the radicalism of the sixties and seventies (Black Panthers, anti-war movement, student sit ins at Columbia, civil rights movement, hippies etc etc) to what is considered left wing today ( a centre right Democrat party by European standards) I have to wonder what happened??
Was it simply a case that the left wingers wn all their struggles and faded from obscurity? Or was it a case that there was a conservative backlash in the eighties against the left that has continued to the present day??
I'd be interested in everyones views.
The United States was founded on Enlightenment thought, most notably that of John Locke. It was not founded on the teachings of Karl Marx. Communism is anathema to authentic American thought, culture and politics. Not only must the American Left be weakened, but ultimately destroyed, if America is to remain a great nation.0 -
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HavingCrack wrote: »Hey everyone, first post on this forum as I didn't know it existed until now.
Just wondering does everyone think the 'left' is extremely weak in the US at the minute and has been for the last 30 years or so. If you compare the radicalism of the sixties and seventies (Black Panthers, anti-war movement, student sit ins at Columbia, civil rights movement, hippies etc etc) to what is considered left wing today ( a centre right Democrat party by European standards) I have to wonder what happened??
Was it simply a case that the left wingers wn all their struggles and faded from obscurity? Or was it a case that there was a conservative backlash in the eighties against the left that has continued to the present day??
I'd be interested in everyones views.
The Black Panthers all got government jobs thanks to affirmative action(unsures a high percentage of minorities get gov jobs)
Anti-war protestor, well the war ended and they moved to the suburbs and started to vote republician.
Columbia students graduated and all got top jobs. And are all making more money than most of us could probably dream of.
Hippies dead of drug overdoes our cleaned themselves up and got jobs.
The Left in america got everything they wanted in the 70's, Roe v Wade and more importantly the intergration of high school's. Hence a Black president today.
When fee paying schools have there fair share of africian and foreign nationals going to them in Ireland we will have caught up with america socially.
As for things like unions they are a dirty word in this country. Similiar to the south.
Economicly we are close to the US, socially we are 50 years behind.0 -
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I don't think it's weakness by the Democrats.
I think the fact that the Republican's are so unified and speak almost the exact same message, with such unerring consistency, that it actually feeds into people's sub-conscious.
The Democrats on the other hand actually tend to think for themselves on most issues, which weakens their message.
The other big problem is that Republicans have their own cable network!! 0 -
This is a joke, right? You're just trying to yank our chains, aren't you? You had me going there for a minute. Good one!I think the fact that the Republican's are so unified and speak almost the exact same message, with such unerring consistency, that it actually feeds into people's sub-conscious.
The Democrats on the other hand actually tend to think for themselves on most issues, which weakens their message.
Unfortunately, the Democrats will just have to settle for their current control of NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, MSNBC, and since getting rid of Lou... CNN. But not to fear, after November I'm sure the lame duck congress will target FNC with another try at the Fairness Doctrine.The other big problem is that Republicans have their own cable network!! 0 -
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Well you see your Saudi remark wasn't based on any facts, and had no references. Kind of like the Terror Babies guy.Actually, since the situation is similar and fits, just looking to see if I get any "thanks" from the cliquey gang.
My bet is hypocrisy rules the day.
The above however, at least Colbert bases it on something, even though he's clearly doing a tongue in cheek.0 -
This is a joke, right? You're just trying to yank our chains, aren't you? You had me going there for a minute. Good one!
Unfortunately, the Democrats will just have to settle for their current control of NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, MSNBC, and since getting rid of Lou... CNN. But not to fear, after November I'm sure the lame duck congress will target FNC with another try at the Fairness Doctrine.
It wasn't a joke. Republicans are fear-mongering, using scare tactics to taint the Democrats. The current message is that Obama is leading a "Big Government Takeover" of people's lives. Too bad they weren't saying that when the Patriot Act was being signed.
Do you mean the regulation stipulating media have to give equal importance to both sides of the political spectrum? What's so wrong with that?
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Unfortunately, the Democrats will just have to settle for their current control of NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, MSNBC, and since getting rid of Lou... CNN. But not to fear, after November I'm sure the lame duck congress will target FNC with another try at the Fairness Doctrine.
Just curious, but if the Democrats really had all those news channels, does that mean they owned the news all the time up until 1996 when Fox was launched?0 -
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Uhhhhhhhhhhm.............. your argument is invaliddemonspawn wrote: »I guess that's what happens when you beat the opposition into submission. There's a great film called Battle in Seattle. If you really wanna know what happened to the Great American Protester, have a look. Kinda like what happened in Dublin during that Reclaim the Streets demo a few years back. If you wanna go waaay back, there's always Kent State University.
Not many people are gonna show up to demonstrate against tyranny if they know they're gonna get their skulls cracked by some overzealous law enforcement officers, and the ones that do are not there to protest peacefully. Black Bloc comes to mind.
The time of peaceful protests is long gone. It's only a matter of time before small groups of people start taking direct action against their oppressors.
Edit: Oh yeah, and there is no left or right anymore. It's just government or cattle.
Not that I think the Obama administration is tyrannical, but a few of these protesters would have.0
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