Don't you wish people on the Left would stop dividing the Left?

[undeterred]

I can't believe how much energy some people are willing to expend to tear down others who share the same political stance. We are all on the Left, we all know that our country is in serious trouble.

Every moment spent on attacking part of the Left is a moment that could have been spent being positive or suggesting something that brings us closer to the goal of having political power in our country.

[RC]

1. You would have us move lock-step as the repugs do?

That would just move us into a different hell.

[Poll_Blind]

5. Aw. come on, I don't think he meant we should all become mindless..

...shambling zombies chanting "(Your candidate here) in 2008....Brrrrrains!". Mmmmm, brrrrains! :9

PB

[undeterred]

6. No, I would have us not waste our time attacking each other

The religion-attack threads on this forum reveal a real naivete about religion itself and a complete lack of respect for religious lefties. There are countless other examples. We're supposed to be the inclusive party, not the exclusive party.

[RC]

20. All to often a different option here is viewed as an attack.

What we need to do is view bu$h&co as criminals and act and talk of them as such. None of this liberal/Conservative-Democrat/Republican stuff. Out government has been commandeered by criminals and we need to work from that angle. That way we can include the most people. Think about it, folks.

It does not matter where in the political spectrum one adheres.
The same rules of right and wrong, good and evil applies to everyone.

Everyone except the bu$h administration, that is. That is what we need to fix.

[Poll_Blind]

2. I think the Left is always inherently more disorganized than the Right.

The Right is all about following in lock-step. The Left, about marching to a different drummer. Unfortunately, within our own parties there are both those left and right of the party line. Infighting happens, and regularly. I'm still sending out good vibes that your call for solidarity will be heeded, Lord knows that we need it!

PB

[LiberalPartisan]

11. You are 100% correct n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. I wish I could feel we are somehow

better or above all the harsh criticism, but the sad fact is we aren't. I know we have many varying ideas, but somewhere in there is a grain of commonality. If only we could just concentrate on that. But we sure spend a lot of time spinning in our own very limited circles and screaming when we bump into somebody else's.

I don't notice this on the right very much. They appear to be on the same page. Maybe that's why we don't win very often anymore. We are just literally all over the map in our views and very intent that others should share them.

[neverevergivein]

4. Oh shut up!

Just kidding. You are absolutely right on. What I've been saying for years. Kick...

[Kolesar]

7. Some self-absorbed "bloggers" have showed up in our Ohio forum

They don't seem to understand the comity that we maintain. I have never seen such flaming. Some DUers got a bit testy, too. Well, once for me.

[Cats Against Frist]

8. It's the identity politics

which was fun, while it lasted, but now, anyone who is more concerned with their "group" than uniting against corpo-christo-neo-fascists is just as selfish as your garden-variety puke. You win the war, THEN you split the spoils.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. Is this about the religion threads?

Many of us on the left feel that religion is the world's foremost obstacle to progress. So we tend to be a bit critical of it.

Unfortunately, criticism of religious belief is easily misinterpreted as criticism of religious believers.

[undeterred]

15. Many of us on the left feel that our religious faith provides the basis

for an ethical belief system and political action. Unfortunately we come to DU and routinely find the broadbrush criticism which makes no distinction at all between right wing fundamentalism and the millions of caring, reasonable, ethical people who believe in God and leftward politics.

Some of us are sick of seeing the same crap over and over again at DU.

[mikelewis]

16. No, it's the corruption of religion that is the world's foremost obstacle.

Religion in and of itself is benign. In my religion, we put a face on that sort of evil and call it Satan. Satan is not a man, he is the Spirit of Evil that unites the weak of heart in fear. God is the Spirit of Goodness, who unites the troubled hearts and lifts them out of Evils miserable world. It's the choice to do good that unites us; whether or not you believe the way I do or not. In my eyes, because you choose good over evil, you are more than welcome in God's Kingdom. You don't even need a fancy book to get there.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. yes, i wish we would just get ourselves together and elect dems

then when we have majority we can reshape ourselves ...

[ShadesOfGrey]

12. I don't agree...

Much criticism from the left comes from people, like me, that feel that the left has moved way too far to the right.

I've always been a democrat. I'd like to stay a democrat . However, I'm starting to get the feeling that the party no longer speaks for me. In fact, lately it seems like the democratic party could care less about the issues that I feel most deeply about. So, it's either complain and try to change things inside the party (funny how some moderate dems refer to this speaking out as dividing the party) or move on to something else that fits me better. I'm still willing to fight to save the party but I'm ready to move on if need be.

[DanCa]

13. Nominated. (n/t)

[Taxloss]

14. "We're the Judean People's Front, not the People's Front of Judea!"

"Splitters!"

The left is always divided, everywhere, at all times. That's the hazard inherent in thinking for ourselves - more schisms than the Christian church.

[undeterred]

17. I have no problem with the diversity of the left

or the healthy discussions and intellectual life it leads to. But there are a lot of people here who make broadbrush destructive statements instead of making a specific intelligent argument which actually says something.

Imagine if I posted "Don't you just wish atheism and atheists didn't exist?" assuming everyone believes in God and those that don't are what's wrong with the world....

[NC_Nurse]

19. Actually, it would be refreshing to hear

someone give a good counteraragument for what's so great about religion. Not just THEIR religion, but religion in general. I saw the thread where someone said that Marxist revolutions killed more people than Christians ever did....what if you took into account all the deaths based on ANY religion. I bet it would be much more.

Just sayin'...

[undeterred]

22. There are so many forms of religion

historical religions, religions of nature, etc.

But in order to make an argument about whether something is good or bad you have to have a basis for evaluating it in the first place... And then there are questions of what is good for the individual vs. what is good for society. Its a pretty hard discussion to have.

Ths "historical" religions are the culprits in terms of wars- I mean Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Lots of violence and death, and some parties a lot worst than others. But the history of these is so radically different from Hinduism, Shinto, Jainism and Buddhism, that it makes no sense at all to generalize about all religions.

There are strong pacifist strains within all of the historical religions. I think this is a good thing, as I belong to one of them. On DU one will find the "religion is the cause of all wars" and the "pacifism is not a viable position" threads in the same week. So its pretty tough to have a shared agreement on good religion vs bad religion.

On a personal level many people will say that they find belief in God to be immensely comforting. People outside the faith see those people as naive objects of manipulation. Who is right? There are some things about religion that one can only see from inside of it.

[Taxloss]

23. I thought you were talking about the Cindy Sheehan brouhaha.

I thought that religion post was unnecessarily provocative and ignored it. I'm tired of DU Wars Of Religion.

Yes, DU is indeed home of the broad brush. But bulletin boards are poor for incisive comment. People's posts are more like speech than prose, but stripped of nuance and body language they can be hugely misconstrued. Tact and intent are difficult to translate into html.

[undeterred]

24. I didn't get in on that although I saw Will's post

and I was glad he said something. Cindy Sheehan is just an ordinary person who has become, through extraordinary circumstances, a very important spokesperson. Most of us would crumble if we were in her shoes, and who is there among us who never says or does something that isn't quite right?

When someone who sacrifices to stand up for what we believe in makes a mistake or does something we disagree with we should support them anyway.

[Taxloss]

25. I don't like efforts to impose conformity.

I have no opinion either way on Cindy Sheehan, she's her own woman. And to be honest, statements like "we should support them anyway" sound a bit "my country right or wrong", "we must support the president" etc. to me.

[NC_Nurse]

18. Ha! I love "Life of Brian"!

I guess I find the left much more interesting and authentic BECAUSE of the differences of opinion. Yes, we may have to accept some compromises to win elections, and I think all of us try to. Hey, I voted for Kerry.

OTOH, I think it's cool to listen to the wide debate. I don't see why religious people get so offended when someone challenges their beliefs. What's wrong with that? :shrug:

[Solo_in_MD]

21. I tend to agree

We really need to be a big tent. Some of the ideological purists here and elsewhere in the progressive movement do much more harm than good. My list that ticks of some of them includes:

- You can be pro-gun and be a progressive
- You can be for a different tax system and be a progressive
- Regardless about how you feel about Israel you can be a progressive
- You can be pro nuclear power and be a progressive
- You can believe that home schooling is okay and be progressive

IMO, someone could support all of those items an still be a solid progressive and Democrat. The doctrinal purists on the other hand would call for stoning.