Reply #10: I hate to say it -- but there's a valid point there [View All]

Over the last 30 years, there has been a growing dichotomy between traditional lunch-bucket liberalism and the cartoon version of liberalism that currently exists.

More ominously, too many "liberals" have jettisoned the core issues of Wealth and Power while enabling the phony culture wars incited by the GOp and the Right.

That is not to say that Democrats and liberals/progressive should abandon socially liberal positions such as gay rights.

Rather, IMO, such issues have been allowed to become more polarizing precisely BECAUSE of the lack of an economic underpinning from the Democratic Party and the "gentry left."

In other words, the is a significant share of the population that could accept -- and even support -- issues like gay rights and abortion rights on the basis that they are part of a social "live and let live" libertarianism that is ingrained in America.

There is also a share of the population that is socially conservative -- and perhaps even bigoted -- but who would be willing to support a liberal-progressive economic agenda by Democrats if they believed that we are on their side in terms of the bread-and-butter issues and were fighting against the Economic Elite for the interests of the majority.

But because the Democratic Party and many on the left have abandoned those issues of widespread concern regarding concentrations of wealth and power, all that is left in the political debate are the more divisive social issues.

I do disagree with the authors about environmentalism -- the current resurgance of polarization on that is a relatively new trend. For most of the 90's, and even in much of the 80's, there was a general consensus in favor of environmentalism. BushCo reopened those old wounds, and re-ignited a phony conflict over them.

IMO, the country continues to move towards green positions. We just have to fight for them in conjunction with the fight for economic justice -- and attack the phony divisions that the Corporate Conservatives have set up on those issues.