A progressive laments how they have taken over our culture, yet Americans have still failed to embrace their destructive economic policies. If only we were more like Europe, we’d have found utopia!
In the book, you argue that the left has been very successful at changing American culture — but not at making real economic or political change. Why?
It’s easier to get people to think about things differently than it is to construct institutions that alter the basic building blocks of society. When leftists talk about having a vision of how things might be different, they attract an audience and create a new way of perceiving things. It’s a different issue altogether to go up against entrenched structures of wealth and political power. There are few obstacles to talking differently, singing different kinds of songs, or making a different kind of art, but it takes a sustained movement of millions of people to really change the structures, and that is much harder to organize. Also, most Americans accept the basic ground rules of capitalist society. The ideas are that if you work hard you can get ahead and that it’s better to be self-employed than employed by the people. They believe that the basics of a capitalist society are just or can be made just with small alterations. Americans want capitalism to work well for everybody, which is somewhat of a contradiction in terms since capitalism is about people competing with each other to get ahead, and everyone’s not going to be able to do well at the same time. That’s simply not possible.
Why has the left in Europe been so much more successful at making real change?
The left in Europe arises out of a more traditional class structure, and the left parties there were formed on the basis on those class divisions. Most European countries had feudal societies before they transformed into nation-states. When those societies became capitalist, they retained many of the old divisions both in terms of people’s consciousness and in terms of the new social structure. Peasants and lords became workers and employers. So, the parties there tended to fall along class lines much more than in the United States, and people growing up on either side of the class boundary fueled the movements on the left. Even though the differences between the labor or socialist parties and the centrist or right-wing parties have diminished over time, the vision of a socialist society is still alive in many European countries. In America, however, socialism and communism were never more than marginal beliefs. …
Read on to find out how the left plans to destroy our republic.
The left in America keeps moving farther left, and pulling the right along with it. Today people who advocate fiscal responsibility are labeled economic terrorists. But they aren’t happy, because we haven’t been destroyed fast enough. Know this, no matter what happens in the next election, these people will never rest. They are on a mission to fundamentally transform this republic.
Update: Linked by Right Klik – thanks!
Update 2: American Power linked – thanks!
Tags: capitalism, plan, progressives, socialism, transformation, us
Whle I agree with your premse ask oine simple question as a conservative libertarian.
What will be the natural conclusion of American corporatsm and crony capitalism?
Something Ayn Rand spoke to.
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I found this at your website:
What I find most befuddling is how anyone with a modicum of understanding of what true conservatism is can be fooled by Mr. Polish.
So its your contention that only YOU know who and who is not a TRUE conservative.
Another Gem at your website:
In fact as my research progressed it became clear Mr. Polish(Rick Perry) is much more the big government profligate spender and corporate kinda guy {read corporate whore} than I originally suspected.
Ron Paulies should just go ahead and give the Government back to the Democrats and start their own party and all of you Whackos can just pull out and huddle together and stroke each others egos rather then trying to do what this post is about………
Take over the culture as well as the fiscal policy of the GOP. You guys make me sick. Just leave. Start you own party. Then you can all huddle around Ron Paul and talk about only spending as much money as we can mine in gold each year.
Yeah thats the ticket.
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Linked at RK
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What will be the natural conclusion of American corporatsm and crony capitalism?
Crony (ISM) has been a part of mankind since he first huddled together in a hamlet on the shores of Mesopotamia. Nothing is going to change that.
Ever.
We are seeing the natural conclusion of crony capitalism right now. Its JOBS…profits and the rich getting rich. Show me ANY…..ANY…….ANY culture where this has not happened.
You cant even show that in Communism or Fascism or socialist nations……their are always rich Cronies…..Always.
The choice is……..
Socialist Cronies.
Communist Cronies.
Fascist Cronies.
or
Capitalist Cronies.
I know which one I choose.
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The structures he refers to are changing rapidly. Our colleges and universities, especially the fields not associated with the “hard sciences”, are filled with leftist idealists — mostly 1960s retreads like the interviewee who didn’t want to contribute to society in a meaningful way so they became perpetual students and now they are tenured professors influencing young minds. The mainstream media is dominated by leftist idealists. It’s been estimated George Soros has spent at least $50 million since 2003 to exercise influence in media. High level people at the New York Times and Washington Post sit on boards of organizations that receive Soros cash. He’s donated to NPR to create 100 new reporter journalist positions. He funds the groups Media Matters and MoveOn.Org, whose only purpose is to stoke hate against quasi-conservative media.
Soros stated leading up to the 2010 elections that he was not going to be as big of a contributor to Democrats or the Democrat Party during that elections cycle and going forward he was planning to spend more money building structures to have an enduring presence in society. Richard Trumka made news this week by saying the AFO-CIO was not going to be as influential in Democrat politics going forward, but instead would use its resources to invest in new societal structures.
This theme of building new structures is a powerful one being parroted by the biggest Democrat Party funders (which as you point out, is increasingly dominated by the far left).
Not only will they not rest, they are absolutely determined to fundamentally transform society to shape it into Soros vision of how society should be organized. And Soros does not want a strong America. He wants the world to be an “open” place where the very idea of sovereignty eventually goes away. In fact, he has said America’s superpower status is grossly unfair. We have only 5% of the world’s population, and only those people get to vote for Congress, yet America sets much of the world’s agenda. That’s just wrong an unacceptable to a leftist whose worldview is focused exclusively on equality and rights.
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