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Why wouldn't people be more likely to identify with conservatism?

BDBlue's picture
Submitted by BDBlue on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 5:50pm
Thread: 
Corporatism

When liberals, defined by their awesome "progressive" leader, are for bank bailouts, more war, offshore drilling, economic policies that put deficit reduction over employment and destroying social security. If that's liberal, then who the hell wouldn't prefer to call themselves the polar opposite?

This is what happens when conservatives like Obama are celebrated as great "progressive" hopes, it makes people think awful conservative policies are really liberal ones and that, not surprisingly, helps conservatives.

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vastleft's picture
Submitted by vastleft on

The Obamacrats have ceded so much ground on the left, the Republicans are able to claim it and take the sting out of their well-earned shitty reputations.

The GOP is staking out ground as the party of female candidates, the party opposed to the corporate bailouts, and Lindsey fucking Graham is disappointed that Gitmo isn't closing. Cheney remains to the left of Obama on gay marriage, and Ted Olson is pressing a high-profile case on the same issue. It will also be easy for Republican candidates to gain reasonableness cred by being to the left of Obama on DADT, if he doesn't take action there.

And, heaven knows, the "creative class" Dems haven't exactly seized the opportunity to be the populist party the nation is desperately hungry for.

Note: none of this is to say that the Republicans will represent (or would be caught dead being) a real and attractive vehicle for lefties. Nor will the Dems, for that matter. Nobody in the two-party big leagues really wants our business, even though the public resoundingly voted for leftward change in 2006 and 2008.

mass's picture
Submitted by mass on

People identify with not-obama right now and since he is supposed to be an "unabashed liberal", well...

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

The problem with Chris Floyd is that he never says how he feels:

But there comes a time when you must face the truth – or be lost to truth forever. There comes a time to recognize that the Democratic Party and Republican Party are part of the same corrupted entity. There comes a time to recognize that the Democratic Party's agenda is not only ruinous in itself, unworthy of the support of anyone who cares about justice, peace, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – it is also empowering those very same loathsome and dangerous Republicans. There comes a time for even the most partisan tribalist (and I have been one) to accept the hard judgment of reality: that the Democratic Party is part of the problem, not the solution.

To say that there is no alternative to supporting this locked-in, closed-off, two-faction system of war and greed is an act of craven surrender to that system. To dismiss all hope for forging genuine alternatives to this system -- whether these be other political parties or more general movements aiming not for political power but for broader changes in social consciousness -- is a counsel of despair. It condemns us, and the world, to yet another generation of violence, chaos and corruption, another long, long journey away from the light. It is, as noted above, a recipe for disaster in every way.

But if you want more Scott Browns in power, then by all means, keep pushing that Democratic agenda. You'll soon have Scott Browns and Sarah Palins running out of your ears.

letsgetitdone's picture
Submitted by letsgetitdone on

when you don't defend your label. The attacks on liberalism have been going on for many decades now. Sometime in the 1970s liberals quit defending themselves, which was why the label "progressive" again came into vogue. Part of not defending your label is letting any asshole use it, and that's what the "career progressives" have done.

vastleft's picture
Submitted by vastleft on

... didn't defend their values, either.

Thus, we get "neo-liberals," who are differentiable from neo-cons by having an NPR preset in their Audis.

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

What makes you say that career "progressives" aren't defending their values? I'd say they absolutely are, and the values include (a) "Fuck you, I've got mine," denominated as "pragmatism," and (b) throwing anybody without the right sort of credentials or tribal connection under the bus, denominated fighting "racism" or promoting "diversity."

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