The Irony of Left Organizing
There is a certain irony in the fact that while Left groups are always talking about the need to organize, they themselves are unorganized on a national level, and are therefore unable to put forward a credible challenge to the organized Right.
There are many Left networks with members throughout the country, but these networks are only themselves connected through the members whom they share in common; and these shared members are not the leadership of these networks -- if they have anything like real leadership, since they are often more like affinity groups organized around a specific shared interest.
The Left has a bigger problem than the Right when it comes to organizing since the Left tends to believe in democracy and the democratic process, and probably lacks the concentrated financial resources available to even one or two of the members of the Right. Nor does the Left have the financial political resources which would enable a Left member of Congress to forego fundraising and thus spend all of their time and resources crafting and fighting for legislation.
The left may be for the interests of the vast majority of the American people, but they have scant ability to establish that fact in the hearts and minds of the American people.
Perhaps this has to do with the difficulty of conveying the Left's message in a way that can be easily and quickly visualized or understood. It is easy to show Donald Trump in his gold-plated bedroom; but how do you show, in the same amount of time, 300,000,000 Americans living in decent housing? It is easy to show the owner of a large company treating his workers well; but how do you show a unionized shop ensuring good working conditions and job security in a 30-second news segment? It is easy to show a philanthropist with a large check funding a community center; but how do you show the contribution of a whole community in building that community? But where is the media company with the reach and "credibility" of Fox News that can bring the Left's views and accomplishments to the nation?
Even within the Left, most people subscribe to the American religion of Individualism. While the individual's good may be a tenet of other national religions, the value of the greater good, or the common good is mostly absent in the American national religion. While Americans may be willing to give the highly abstract money, or even volunteer in civic projects, their willingness to change their behavior to benefit others is largely in conflict with the internalized and entrenched value of individual freedom or liberty; which provokes the gut response of refusal to consider the consequences of their individual behavior on those around them.
Perhaps it is built into the bones of American society -- its customs, its laws, its rules and regulations -- to prioritize the individual good over the common good. Such laws and customs were institutionalized to benefit someone. Capital gains taxes only benefit someone with significant capital gains, as these gains are taxed at a significantly lower rate than regular income (wages, tips, self-employment) -- the source of money that most people live on.
Since America is "a country of laws", and everyone must obey the law, those laws largely determine how people are treated. But even for a good cause, the popular narrative is that of the individual lawyer who "beats the system," wins over the corporation. But the individuals who were affected by this corporate malfeasance are largely props for the story. And the general public who is also affected are largely ignored because a law suit rarely affects the law or how laws are written or who benefits from the law. When the greed and fraud of major banks caused the Great Recession of 2008, causing millions to lose their homes or saving, none of the executives of those banks ever had to answer for the acts in a meaningful way. In fact, the American people had to pay -- through taxes and reduced government services -- for what they did, while these bankers ended up as wealthy as ever.
It is probably the case that the increase in inequality in America can be directly tied to how the law has worked, and how people have worked the law -- what the law has allowed and what it has forbidden -- to increase that inequality.
Perhaps alienation in a large industrial or post industrial society is the common fate of the working class, regardless of their living standards and even education. Alienation may be a biological human response to overwhelming complexity. Alienation -- in a sense, "not caring" -- may be how people respond when they do not understand what is going on, or have no control over what is going on. Escape from alienation may reside in a social movement or group that makes meaningful their experience and suggests that they have control over what is happening to them. The control may not be proximate, by blaming someone or something else, or putting the solution in a discernible future may be enough, so long as the wait can be filled with like-minded company.
There are many Left networks with members throughout the country, but these networks are only themselves connected through the members whom they share in common; and these shared members are not the leadership of these networks -- if they have anything like real leadership, since they are often more like affinity groups organized around a specific shared interest.
The Left has a bigger problem than the Right when it comes to organizing since the Left tends to believe in democracy and the democratic process, and probably lacks the concentrated financial resources available to even one or two of the members of the Right. Nor does the Left have the financial political resources which would enable a Left member of Congress to forego fundraising and thus spend all of their time and resources crafting and fighting for legislation.
The left may be for the interests of the vast majority of the American people, but they have scant ability to establish that fact in the hearts and minds of the American people.
Perhaps this has to do with the difficulty of conveying the Left's message in a way that can be easily and quickly visualized or understood. It is easy to show Donald Trump in his gold-plated bedroom; but how do you show, in the same amount of time, 300,000,000 Americans living in decent housing? It is easy to show the owner of a large company treating his workers well; but how do you show a unionized shop ensuring good working conditions and job security in a 30-second news segment? It is easy to show a philanthropist with a large check funding a community center; but how do you show the contribution of a whole community in building that community? But where is the media company with the reach and "credibility" of Fox News that can bring the Left's views and accomplishments to the nation?
Even within the Left, most people subscribe to the American religion of Individualism. While the individual's good may be a tenet of other national religions, the value of the greater good, or the common good is mostly absent in the American national religion. While Americans may be willing to give the highly abstract money, or even volunteer in civic projects, their willingness to change their behavior to benefit others is largely in conflict with the internalized and entrenched value of individual freedom or liberty; which provokes the gut response of refusal to consider the consequences of their individual behavior on those around them.
Perhaps it is built into the bones of American society -- its customs, its laws, its rules and regulations -- to prioritize the individual good over the common good. Such laws and customs were institutionalized to benefit someone. Capital gains taxes only benefit someone with significant capital gains, as these gains are taxed at a significantly lower rate than regular income (wages, tips, self-employment) -- the source of money that most people live on.
Since America is "a country of laws", and everyone must obey the law, those laws largely determine how people are treated. But even for a good cause, the popular narrative is that of the individual lawyer who "beats the system," wins over the corporation. But the individuals who were affected by this corporate malfeasance are largely props for the story. And the general public who is also affected are largely ignored because a law suit rarely affects the law or how laws are written or who benefits from the law. When the greed and fraud of major banks caused the Great Recession of 2008, causing millions to lose their homes or saving, none of the executives of those banks ever had to answer for the acts in a meaningful way. In fact, the American people had to pay -- through taxes and reduced government services -- for what they did, while these bankers ended up as wealthy as ever.
It is probably the case that the increase in inequality in America can be directly tied to how the law has worked, and how people have worked the law -- what the law has allowed and what it has forbidden -- to increase that inequality.
Perhaps alienation in a large industrial or post industrial society is the common fate of the working class, regardless of their living standards and even education. Alienation may be a biological human response to overwhelming complexity. Alienation -- in a sense, "not caring" -- may be how people respond when they do not understand what is going on, or have no control over what is going on. Escape from alienation may reside in a social movement or group that makes meaningful their experience and suggests that they have control over what is happening to them. The control may not be proximate, by blaming someone or something else, or putting the solution in a discernible future may be enough, so long as the wait can be filled with like-minded company.
posted by Godel at 4:11 PM
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