Liberals Are Useless

[Postman]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/07

I am not disappointed in Obama. I don’t feel betrayed. I don’t wonder when he is going to be Obama. I did not vote for the man. I vote socialist, which in my case meant Ralph Nader, but could have meant Cynthia McKinney. How can an organization with the oxymoronic title Progressives for Obama even exist? Liberal groups like these make political satire obsolete. Obama was and is a brand. He is a product of the Chicago political machine. He has been skillfully packaged as the new face of the corporate state. I don’t dislike Obama—I would much rather listen to him than his smug and venal predecessor—though I expected nothing but a continuation of the corporate rape of the country. And that is what he has delivered.

“You have a tug of war with one side pulling,” Ralph Nader told me when we met Saturday afternoon. “The corporate interests pull on the Democratic Party the way they pull on the Republican Party. If you are a ‘least-worst’ voter you don’t want to disturb John Kerry on the war, so you call off the anti-war demonstrations in 2004. You don’t want to disturb Obama because McCain is worse. And every four years both parties get worse. There is no pull. That is the dilemma of The Nation and The Progressive and other similar publications. There is no breaking point. What is the breaking point? The criminal war of aggression in Iraq? The escalation of the war in Afghanistan? Forty-five thousand people dying a year because they can’t afford health insurance? The hollowing out of communities and sending the jobs to fascist and communist regimes overseas that know how to put the workers in their place? There is no breaking point. And when there is no breaking point you do not have a moral compass.”

[Lost-in-FL]

1. It is just Chris Hedges

nothing to see here. :puke:

[niceypoo]

8. Well, that was a well thought out and reasoned rebuttal

Didn't you mean, 'Nothing to say here?'

[Lost-in-FL]

18. They are just words

from someone who profits from words.

[Luminous Animal]

2. It is a good and sobering essay.

"Anyone who says he or she cares about the working class in this country should have walked out on the Democratic Party in 1994 with the passage of NAFTA."

Which is precisely what I did.

[alarimer]

26. I agree; it is a good essay

And ought to provide the wake-up call liberals (or progressives as they call themselves because the right has demonized the word liberal) need. We need to stop voting for the same collection of clowns we always get. NAFTA and welfare "reform" were a betrayal of Democratic principles and of the base.

[emulatorloo]

3. But I'm not a socialist. Are all DU'ers socialists now? Did I miss something?

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. I am a socialist and proud to be so

:patriot:

A little more socialism would do the Democratic party a world of good.

[leftstreet]

4. This article is a must read

Anyone who says he or she cares about the working class in this country should have walked out on the Democratic Party in 1994 with the passage of NAFTA...

Thanks for posting!

[dysfunctional press]

5. especially the ones who vote for shitty candidates, just because they have a "D" after their name.

"but it's better than the alternative of having a republican in office"

no. it's not.

if dino's keep getting rewarded, they aren't going to change.
sometimes things have to get A LOT worse, before they can get better.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. "if dino's keep getting rewarded, they aren't going to change."

Bingo!!

[kentuck]

15. I agree.

And this is the decision that Democrats need to address in the future. Do they want to continue rewarding these DINO's and keeping the Party in gridlock or do they vote for real change?

[tblue]

22. I use that phrase a lot.

About things getting worse before they get better.

I think, because everyone has a remote control and 1000 channels, the mall, McDonald's, Walmart and the dollar store are open, and we get to vote for president every 4 years, that most people feel things are bad but not so bad as to merit a revolution or anything like a general strike. Too bad the teabaggers are so racist and hateful because they also get it that the fix is in. Problem is they blame the wrong people. If we could unite with them, we could possibly have rhe critical mass to demand real change. Unfortunately, that will probably never happen.

[Karmadillo]

6. Thank you for posting this.

nt

[WI_DEM]

9. One of the problems with voting for Nader or McKinney is that they can't win and they know they

can't win. They can never put together an electoral majority to win. There isn't enough support in the country for them to do so. Liberals only account for about 20% of the electorate. And not all liberals are Naderites or represent the far left. In fact, if you count the far left they probably make up only about 5%. If you want to change a party you have to do so in it and work to get more progressives elected in the democratic party which means figuring out how a progressive can win in states like Nebraska, Arkansas, and other states where moderate/conservative dems hold office and challenging them in the primaries. Look at CT in 2006 a fairly liberal state you would think but while Dems managed to narrowly nominate Lamont in the primary they couldn't elect him in the general election because Liberman still got 30% of the Dem vote and won a majority of indies and republicans.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. The proper response to candidacies like Nader's is to pay attention

A vibrant, non-corporate-controlled Democratic Party would see a Nader or McKinney candidacy as a warning sign and an opportunity for reflection.

"Why," our party (and yes, I am a lifelong Democrat) should ask, "are people 'wasting their votes' on candidates like Nader or McKinney? Have we lost our way? Are we sacrificing the values that once formed the backbone of our party?"

But no.

We didn't do that. Instead, we simply shot the messenger, demonized or ridiculed people who longed for ideals that once made them proud to be Democrats.

This, my friends, is exactly how rapacious corporations behave, not by improving their product but by changing their marketing and marginalizing any naysayers.

It's a cynical, cynical thing to do. But it works if your goal is your own success rather than the success of the country.

[BzaDem]

16. The proper response to candidacies like Nader's is to ignore them and their voters

and just sit back and wait for their voters to crawl back to the Democratic party after 4 years of a Republican administration. It worked great in 2004 after 2000, where 90% of Nader's voters came back. These people can't be reasoned with and shouldn't be coddled or pampered. They should be left to see the consequences of their own actions. The only thing that can really focus their minds is the specter of reality coming back to bite them in the ass.

[nemo137]

52. In a two party, presidential system, they have no incentive to.

The small number of votes (generally) aren't going to make a splash in the election, and there's not really any need to court Nader or McKinney-ites in Congress, because there aren't any.

In a different system it could work differently, but not in the one we have.

[dionysus]

10. nothing like posters on a Democratic web forum who hate the Democrat party...

:rofl:

oh yeah, chris hedges again

:rofl:

[WI_DEM]

11. This has really never been a democratic party site, it is more of a progressive site

mainly very left wing progressives, but the administrators of the site continue to call it Democratic Underground.

[dionysus]

17. incorrect.

[tonysam]

37. Just so you know, there is no such thing as the "Democrat" party

n/t

[dionysus]

40. sorry, typo.

:shrug:

[madamesilverspurs]

13. Democrats are Democrats.

Socialists are Socialists. It doesn't make much sense to accuse one of not being the other. It's a bit like complaining to the Baptists that they aren't Episcopalian enough. Doing so merely creates another point of contention instead of seeking common ground upon which to build.


---

[MilesColtrane]

14. Anti Democrat rant, written by a Socialist.

This doesn't belong here.

[tom_paine]

19. The truth hurts, and people's reservoirs of denial are LIMITLESS.

I say this as a Liberal.

And YES, Obama is in fact already being Obama.

Hedges is right, and anyone speaking that direct a truth straight into people's ego's had better be ready for some angry blowback.

People can't handle the truth, never could. I don't exclude myself from any of this criticism.

[cali]

27. it's opinion. I wish people would learn to distinguish between opinion and fact.

It's not some immutable truth because he says it or you think it is. And people who don't agree in whole or in part, are not, merely by dint of their disagreement, in denial.

sigh.

[Lost-in-FL]

35. +1

[tom_paine]

41. Truth hurts. Doesn't it? Go home and imptently cry in your soup or rail rather than face reality.

PS the idiot above you I ignored long ago. I dont know who it is nor do I care for the only ones who I put on ignore are the verbal diarrhetics who can do little more than insult

So, go ahead. Insult, rail, scream, cry, then go and take another pasting to the face like a Good Little Liberal.

Thats what we do. I know it hurts, and all the verbal diaarrhea you can spew or "+1" doesn't change what is happening.

Sad, but entirely expected. Humans, including myself, are so embarrassingly predictable.

Which makes the Global Oligarchs who control you possible.

[dionysus]

42. the only one crying, railing, and insulting anyone in this exchange is you...

:shrug:

[cali]

49. now that's what I call irony

and hypocrisy. Not your post, the one you're responding to. talk about clueless or cognitive dissonance or whatever.

[Lost-in-FL]

46. Why would I insult you or rail, scream, cry?

I am well aware of human limitations and don't get obfuscated over one idiot (Chris Hedges) who is known for doing nothing but railing people up with his opinionated garbage and making a profit of it. He is no different that Thomas Friedman, just another flavor of the same shit. I saw that this piece was written by him and sorry, I am not interested.

[Echo In Light]

34. Never underestimate the power of denial

[HamdenRice]

20. I stopped reading at "I vote socialist ... Ralph Nader"

If you are going to vote socialist -- and that's certainly commendable -- then vote for an actual socialist or for the actual functional socialist party, or the candidate the actual, functional socialist party endorsed.

In the US that means Democratic Socialists of America, the country's largest, and only real functioning socialist party, with links to major trade unions, public intellectuals and activist organizations.

Oh wait. We can't and still be in cloud coo-coo land, because DSA endorsed:

While recognizing the critical limitations of the Obama candidacy and the American political system, DSA believes that the possible election of Senator Obama to the presidency in November represents a potential opening for social and labor movements to generate the critical political momentum necessary to implement a progressive political agenda.

[Andronex]

21. "There is no pull."

From our perspective maybe not, but both political parties are quite successful in drawing us into their game that is intentionally controlled by banking and corporate interest.

[Echo In Light]

23. K&R for Hedges!

[kctim]

24. Liberals are NOT useless

they just feel useless sometimes because they are a minority who believe they are the majority.

[SIMPLYB1980]

25. Another person who gets "progressives" mixed up

with Liberals. The Liberals are the ones getting things done while the "progressives" just snipe from the side lines.

[nemo137]

53. I've never seen any two people agree on the definitions of those words.

:shrug:

[Echo In Light]

28. “You have a tug of war with one side pulling,”

Good line, Ralph ;)

[MisterP]

29. a lot of this started with liberal Cold Warriors

it wasn't just McCarthy and Kennan who got us into overthrowing democracies: there's the AIFLD, liberal anticommunists' participation in the early-50s purges (even Ella Baker went along at the NAACP)

there's not only Scoop Jackson and the Dixiecrats, but Edward Boland denouncing the Sandinistas and Inouye saying that Ollie North was bad and unamerican--because he acted "like a Commie." this could only reinforce the caricatures of Reds and other such foreigners that we are fed, and many of us eagerly believe

from reading Derrida and Soviet literature, and being a Latin American history graduate, I have quite a different perspective on the Cold War...

[paulsby]

43. oooh derrida!

i've read derrida and foucault for that matter, too. in french. so what? they are full of it. we were right to be anti-communist, because communism is a terrible political philosophy.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Liberals

The Fascists will shoot you.

The conservatives will applaud the Fascists.

The moderates will watch the execution on TV.

The Liberals will cry over your grave and feel guilty about turning you in to the Fascists.

SDS Saying from the '60s.

[Echo In Light]

32. Outstanding ... I'd never heard/read that one before

[Echo In Light]

33. self delete

[tom_paine]

39. LOL. That about sums it up.

Sadly.

Ah, the 60s. During that brief post-war period when the Global Oligarchic control slipped just a little bit for the briefest time.

They have, of course, taken many steps to insure such things will NEVER happen again, using the latest control methods behavioral sciene has to offer.

And what a success it has been. As Orwell prophesied, we are nearly to that age where, at least in our laughable infantilized "National Dialogue", not only is there no opposition, but the words do not even exist anymore to describe such opposition.

Oh well, not much has really chaned since the Middle Ages. Only our energy budget and we will go back down the ladder we crawled up as the energy budget is reduced to medeval levels once again.

Slavery will be making a big comeback as the Global Aristocracy will once again need human-power to haul their sedan-chairs.

[hfojvt]

31. Chris Hedges, otoh, is useful

to the Republicans that he helps to elect.

[ItNerd4life]

36. Liberals are open minded. Socialists think government solves everything.

Liberals believe Government is supposed to create a framework that allows people to be free as long as it doesn't harm others.
The beauty of the American society is the 'chaos' the marketplace and freedoms bring. Chaos brings new ideas.

Just because many of the Democrats elected aren't Liberals, doesn't make Liberals useless. Also, it's the same argument
that is occurring in the Republican party. Many Repuglicans aren't fiscally conservative, which goes against the soul
of what conservatives believe.

[blindpig]

38. Liberals are worse than useless.

Liberals pretend to be in opposition to conservatives but actually disagree with them little on the most important issue, capitalism.

[dionysus]

45. only on DU folks, is liberalism now bad.

:rofl:

[Faygo Kid]

44. Ralph Nader? Pure ego.

If I have to have ego involved, I have a much better idea about a role model.

[Echo In Light]

55. Name one person, even an overtly altruistic one, who isn't somewhat ego driven...

[chaska]

47. How many liberals does it take to change a lightbulb?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrvfTpWP-g8

[Odin2005]

48. Cris Hedges is useless.

[inna]

50. Bullshit.

Yet another well thought out and reasoned rebuttal from Odin.

:thumbsdown:

[LWolf]

54. That first paragraph

could be me, except that I didn't vote for Nader.