‘The Left has Collapsed’
(This is an item I blogged about yesterday at PJM, but I'm changing the ending a bit, to hopefully get the conversation flowing amongst the Ricochetistas.)
As Bill Kristol writes, “The left has collapsed;” it is “unpopular, undisciplined, and ill-tempered:”
Its claim to intellectual integrity has collapsed. Paul Krugman—Ivy League professor, New York Times columnist, and Nobel laureate (the holy trinity of the liberal establishment)—has humiliated himself with a startlingly dishonest attack on Paul Ryan’s budget proposal. Krugman, called out by Ryan, rebuked by honest analysts, and unwilling to concede his errors, has retreated into uncharacteristic abashed silence.
Its Leninist discipline has collapsed. Last week, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs complained about the craziness of the “professional left” in the punditocracy. “Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs explained. “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality. . . . They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.” Members of the professional left hit back at Gibbs, dubbing the Obama White House the “amateur left.”
Its democratic credibility has collapsed. In recent weeks, the left has the arbitrary rulings and sophistic arguments of federal judges who have overturned an immigration statute that mirrors federal law passed by the state legislature in Arizona, and a constitutional amendment, defining marriage as it has been defined for all of American history, enacted by the citizens of California. The left has also heaped praise on New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, as he, having bought his way to a narrow reelection, showered disdain and contempt on the majority of his fellow New Yorkers who object to a mosque next to Ground Zero.
And its good humor (such as it was) has collapsed. As Politico’s Ben Smith reported last week,
the Agenda Project, a new, progressive group with roots in New York’s fundraising scene and a goal of strengthening the progressive movement, has launched the “[expletive] Tea” project, which is aimed, the group’s founder Erica Payne wrote in an e-mail this morning, “to dismiss the Tea Party and promote the progressive cause.”
“We will be launching new products in the next several months to help people all over the country [expletive] Tea,” Payne told Politico.
Is Erica Payne a loony nobody? No, she’s a lefty somebody—a former Democratic National Committee official, a veteran of many progressive groups, and one of the founders of the Democracy Alliance, the group of big donors who have spent over $100 million to fund “progressive” organizations like the Center for American Progress.
Payne says she launched her effort to push back against “the rhetoric over results paradigm that is holding our country hostage.” She wasn’t being ironic. As the estimable Allahpundit commented, “Because, you see, if there’s any movement that’s about results over rhetoric, it’s clearly the [expletive] tea movement.”
The “[expletive] tea” movement—that’s what the left has come to. They can’t defend the results of Obama’s policies or the validity of Krugman’s arguments. They know it’s hard to sustain an antidemocratic ethos in a democracy. They realize they’ve degenerated into pro-am levels of whining and squabbling. So they curse their opponents.
There’s a familiar saying that, despite its religious origins, has usually been associated, presumably because of its odor of condescension and smarminess, with the modern left: Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Well, that was before the Left invented Earth Hour, a “Weekend without Oil,” and modern-day dam busting.
While there’s much truth there, I hope Kristol isn’t jumping the gun by boldly predicting:
Public opinion polls point to a historic repudiation of the president and the Democratic party this fall—something on the order of a 60-seat Republican gain in the House. The GOP has an outside shot at taking the Senate as well.
Though the Democrats’ internal polling could certainly explain why, as blogger Ace of Spades wrote yesterday,”Usually Democrats wait until after an election to begin insulting the public that turned them out as stupid, racist, ignorant, and emotionally sour-pussed. Now they’re doing it three months before one.”
But as I noted last week, building on article that Noemie Emery wrote in the Standard in early 2008, whatever your ideology, its opposite number has been declared DOA at some point in the last decade. Remember the cries of "A Permanent Republican Majority" in 2003 or so, and "We Are Socialists Now" from Newsweek immediately after President Obama was sworn-in last year?
So is Kristol right? And if so -- since, no matter what happens in November, presumably, the reports of the left's "collapse" are greatly exaggerated, what happens next?
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May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
They lost the Mandate of Heaven by passing Obamacare, after being forcibly apprised by word and gesture that market for the same was sluggish or even nonexistent. Tough to recover the Mandate of Heaven. Ask anyone.
The numbers all point to a post-Watergate tsunami. As a gambler, I have to trust numbers, even when that nagging harpy in my head says "too many people agree; it can't be right."
And we all know where Krugman became goofy goof from goofyland. He's totally whipped, by a woman who actually left the country when Reagan was elected (who really leaves the country?), and who now edits his articles.
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
I think -- and I know this is crazy talk coming from me -- that Kristol is right. There's something different about what has been happening on the left compared to the Dems in '94 or the GOP in '06.
The whole Robert Gibbs "professional left" brouhaha is about one errant Obama statement from turning very ugly. What we've seen are just skirmishers making initial contact. The nutroot left (including the Soros Squad and the rest of the paid hacks like Klein and Sargent) have at least a brigade standing in line, ready for a full-on confrontation. The establishment Democrats, who I don't believe ever liked the nutroots, have their firing line set as well. There is only one ridge between them and all that's necessary for a full-blown shootout is for one side or the other to advance just enough to see the other side's main guns. When that happens, the melee will be immense, and disastrous for both wings of the Democratic Party. If the GOP is smart, it'll do what it can to push the two sides into further contact.
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
I think Kristol was wise to call it an "historic repudiation" and not a death sentence. Remember how in 2004 we were supposed to believe that we were facing a looming theocracy? And then in 2008 we were supposed to believe that the right was forever vanquished? And just two years later . . . surprise!
I do wish people would remember how poorly both parties tend to do in power -- and work on some better long-term solutions than "vote the bastards out."
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
I've been thinking of politics as home renovation this election cycle. The first thing you do before sprucing up a place is decide what you're going to tear out of it. Do the demolition work, get rid of that horrid looking health care plan with the orange sherbet upholstery, the gaudy but completely useless stimulus plan that's just taking up space you really need, and rip out that godawful wallpaper with the progressive slogans all over it first. Then you can put in the solid, beautiful, useful furnishings of conservatism.
Jun '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Somewhere in the ancient world, there was a "progressive," who decided that we need to get rid of those old wooden soup bowls, that stain and crack. We need to replace them with new stain-free sturdy lead bowls--they're wonderful--and to make sure that everyone "progresses equally," we need to make the change mandatory and nationwide. "Now that we have lead, what could go wrong?"
Jun '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Welcome to Ricochet, Mr. Driscoll. It's hard to argue against polling data that shows the Democrats are due for a sound thrashing this November. Let's start by accepting the assertion as a given. What next?
Clearly much of the blame is going to be directed at the president. It will come from within the Democratic party, from disaffected members of the media, and overwhelmingly from the American people as a whole. Mr. Obama has a reputation for being thin-skinned and narcissistic. What's his reaction likely to be? My guess is that he's going to take the criticism very personally and react like a wounded animal. At which point he becomes a truly dangerous man. I'm in the camp that says 2011 and 2012 will see conditions in our nation reach a crisis stage. If Mr. Obama doesn't crack under the strain (imho, a very real possibility), then he might attempt to rule through executive fiat. That would set up a confrontation with Congress potentially leading to a constitutional crisis.
My take for what it's worth.
Jun '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
The statement "the left has collapsed" should be appended with the words "for now." For unless something significant occurs that brands them with the proverbial scarlet letter, they'll be back at the next swing of the pendulum. Their institutional hold remains strong, even if their ideas are falling out of favor with the public (who, by the way, are not generally noted for their attention span).
That many on the left have temporarily lost their intellectual coherence is a good thing, because liberalism of bygone days took our nation to the left with "reasonable sounding" arguments that disguised their true intent. Now that all they have left is ad hominem modes of attack, their case is harder to make.
As I believe Paules has theorized elsewhere (apologies if I mis-state this, Paules), we're in for at least a decade or more of economic and political turmoil, and the ideological battle between the left and right will only intensify from here. If socialism is to ever be repudiated in this country, it will either happen this decade, or never.
Jul '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Let's not go dancing in the streets just yet. The Left has been very successful in it's Long March through our national institutions. They command academia, entertainment, the arts, state, local and Federal bureaucracies, the legacy media and big philanthropy. They've imported millions of voters who, unlike earlier waves of immigrants, have absorbed an entitlement mentality instead of a work ethic.
And most importantly, they've seized control of the public schools. Like Adolf Hitler, told by an opponent that he would not come over to Hitler's side, the Left can smugly say, "Your child belongs to us already. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendents, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time, they will know nothing but this new community."
Antonio Gramsci knew that building Socialism was the work of generations. We delude ourselves to believe that the Left's undeniable progress can be turned around in the space of a single election.
Jun '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
" I'm in the camp that says 2011 and 2012 will see conditions in our nation reach a crisis stage. If Mr. Obama doesn't crack under the strain (imho, a very real possibility), then he might attempt to rule through executive fiat.
Paules, You and I seem to be on the same wavelength. The worry could ultimately be in the foreign policy arena. This is where Obama has, constitutionally, almost complete control. With Israel facing another deluge very soon, a petulant President could cost thousands of lives. All of us know where he and his left live on this issue. George Will wrote an editorial today in the Washington Post. Just read the comments. They are scarry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081304474.html?sub=AR
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Amidst this foreboding is one bit of good news from this Obama era: the clarifying and purifying of the parties. If this is indeed a center-right country, then it's better electorally for the Republican Party to be regarded as the exclusive home of right-of-center--or even moderate--politicians. And now it is.
But here's one more scarry thought (a syllogism, I guess): If the U.S. is the last, best hope of Earth, and if Conservatism is the last, best hope of the U.S., and if the Republican Party is the last, best hope of Conservatism, then the Republican Party is the last, best hope of Earth.
Sleep well.
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
I view Kristol's article more as a pep talk than a long-term forecast.
I agree with Jim Chase's assessment of the current situation in the culture wars but I don't believe that the coming ten-year period will necessarily be the do-or-die one wrt socialism overtaking the US. The wars will continue indefinitely, in some form. Granted, this is a pessimistic long-term view. But I can't see what can cause a sea change in the attitudes of what Solzhenitsyn called "obrazovanshchina," formally but not truly educated people who form most of what passes for our intellectual circles.
Tactically, I think that we can't be overconfident, not by a mile. I am worried that a victory in the midterms will cause complacency. We need to work toward removing Obama, not only the 70 crypto-socialist congresspeople and their ilk. And if, as we would like it to, the economy rebounds in 2011-12, the short-attention-span general public may very well be swayed by the charismatic campaigner...
Jul '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Scott Reusser: Amidst this foreboding is one bit of good news from this Obama era: the clarifying and purifying of the parties. If this is indeed a center-right country, then it's better electorally for the Republican Party to be regarded as the exclusive home of right-of-center--or even moderate--politicians. And now it is.
But here's one more scarry thought (a syllogism, I guess): If the U.S. is the last, best hope of Earth, and if Conservatism is the last, best hope of the U.S., and if the Republican Party is the last, best hope of Conservatism, then the Republican Party is the last, best hope of Earth.
Sleep well. · Aug 15 at 6:29pm
Yeah, that's unsettling. But add to that the thought that Sarah Palin might be the last, best hope of the Republican Party and I'm like, "No ice, no mixer. No glass. Just give me the bottle."
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
....and hopefully by morning cdor and I will figure out how to spell "scary."
Jun '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
It's not morning yet, but thanks for the spell-check, Scott. It's always nice to have a teacher around to point out the important stuff. Personally, I think it's scarier with two R's.
Jul '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
The left may be collapsing in a temporary, political, tactical sense. But that is ephemeral as best. Leftism (statism) represents as fundamental a part of the human soul as does conservatism. I like to think we represent the better portion.
Leftism in a democratic republic has to - at some point - walk its talk, But it cannot, because there is no sellable there there. The customers will fire them once they understand they are hucksters. That is why leftism tends towards authoritarianism. They seek to impose what they cannot sell.
That is why one of the core goals of conservatives must be to tend to the foundations of democracy. As long as they are sound the left cannot triumph. Get into a political shouting match about "who won" and we may miss the fact that the foundations are eroding. This is the simple truth that the Tea Party echoes.
Aug '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
I didn't put much faith in the fervor having the sustaining power to plow through to the mid-term elections. It seems as though it has. America appears to have awoken to the reality of what it brought upon itself by voting these politicians in. It definitely isn't the end of the Left as their hooks are sunk too deeply into the culture and education. To quote Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, quoting Han Solo, "Great kid. Don't get cocky" is the way I look at it. This was just the first hill we had to take, now we get to climb Everest. Republicans can't let wishy-washy politicians in when it comes to government spending, or the cycle starts again. It doesn't end with 2010, or 2012.
In my estimation, it'll take a long time to truly repudiate the Left's ideas. My generation (the 20-somethings) doesn't understand Free Markets, Free Enterprise, Liberty and Limited Government. Educating younger generations to these ideas is important. Otherwise the Left gets a free pass. Religion jumping back into the public square in an intellectual way would help too. The best defense is a good offense.
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
If the collapse of the Soviet Union didn't do it, what will?
Aug '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Kofola (MC1183)
If the collapse of the Soviet Union didn't do it, what will? · Aug 16 at 6:21am
Nothing.
At least, nothing can do it entirely. Leftism is an eternal temptation within the human soul, as Patrick said.
Leftists will always start by believing that they are anti-authoritarian, caring, and looking out for the little guy, while their ideals run up against limited human nature and turn into something authoritarian, totalizing, and even brutal. It cannot be helped.
Anyone seduced by the vision that centralized power can do the greatest good because it is the most concentrated is unlikely to listen to, "No. This won't work. You don't understand human nature."
So human history shows us that freedom is difficult, and the totalitarian temptation is always with us (Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato -- Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State).
Leftist ideas can never really die. Someone will always hope that it can be different the next time around.
May '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Nothing.
At least, nothing can do it entirely. Leftism is an eternal temptation within the human soul, as Patrick said.Aug 16 at 7:22am
Unfortunately, I have to agree. To be fair, 1991 did seem to mark the death knell for the "old" left. Unfortunately, the boomer New Left had been indirectly preparing itself for the moment well in advance. It is nevertheless still amazing how quickly the "this was a tragic moment, seeing the failure of a grand idea for the betterment of humankind...if it weren't for Stalin...." argument metastasized into the image of the SU as a historical anomaly that dominates the left today.
Somehow I suspect if the United States turned to complete socialism and then collapsed, the left would still find some way to blame it on capitalism.
Aug '10
Re: ‘The Left has Collapsed’
Kofola (MC1183)
Somehow I suspect if the United States turned to complete socialism and then collapsed, the left would still find some way to blame it on capitalism.
I couldn't agree more. As I'm too young to recall, I've heard people point out that Leftist were very sympathetic to, and apologist for, the USSR during the Cold War. However, that disappears down the memory hole of history and they don't recognize that they were on the wrong.
Always the refrain of "We didn't get to implement our ideas as we would have liked. You'll see the next time around."