Thanks, Skinner!

[Hortensis]

67. "But why help the right destroy...most likely our nominee..."

Last edited Fri Sep 18, 2015, 05:32 PM - Edit history (1)

If there are any political science professionals observing this site, wouldn't it be fascinating to know what they're thinking? I've been wondering, and suddenly, for the first time in years, I'm remembering the seminal, enduring work of the brilliant longshoreman/political observer Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.

Could that be what is happening now? The parallel anger and rebellion on both the far right and far left? Practically everyone's angry and I've been assuming "people" were finally fed up, as I've been waiting for for years. But could this instead have the potential of a mass movement of what Hoffer called "true believers" from either (or both) the left and right? He felt they were far more like each other than like regular liberals and conservatives.

Some observations about the phenomenon.
* Elizabeth and Bernie have fired up a group of very passionate supporters, whose behavior
is not characteristic of either leader admired or of most strong liberals.
* Some behavior toward mainstream Democrats is so aggressive and hostile that
it often seems indistinguishable from that of equally fervent Tea Party/GOP base types
on mixed forums. Would some of them take a little hop across to get a new leader?
* Right-wing TP extremists prefer to lose elections to the Democrats than
compromise with other conservatives, even ones trying to effect many of the same goals.
* Is that what is happening with this subset of Bernie supporters? Would they choose
to hand the election to a GOP conservative rather than compromise with Democrats?
* If their chosen leader faded, would they fade from politics too, support another
Democrat, or find a new leader on the right?
* If this were the beginning of a mass movement, could Bernie and his other followers control and direct this particular group to achieve remarkable change? Or could it destroy our chances to take the White House, Senate, and many state offices in 2016? (Remembering that the TP destroyed its own power and potential and severely damaged the GOP, whose survival is still in question.)

“There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.”

“A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.”

“Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without belief in a devil. Usually, the strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil.” (Hillary? Certainly no one on the right, yet. Would Big Money corruption finally become the primary devil once Hillary was vanquished, or would they chase someone who offended?)

"When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows, and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse."

Eric Hoffer, political philosopher