Don’t miss the Elite Left vs the Populist Left

Washington Examiner ^ | August 3, 2009 | Ralph Benko

[neverdem]

Who said this: “And in the face of Obama’s deplorable agenda we have “progressive” organizations like MoveOn, which should be declared the Sociopathic Slime-Balls of the Century.”

 

Rush Limbaugh? Nope. A prominent Left-wing blog, OpEdNews.com.

 

And who said this: “This is not a simple matter of an organizational oligarchy manipulating its membership, although the avoidance by MoveOn's leadership is a troubling sign.”

 

George Will? Nope. An excerpt from a column in the Left’s flagship, The Nation, by anti-Vietnam War activist Tom Hayden. 

 

How about this headline? “Violent Crackdowns and Sweetheart Deals. Andy Stern's Rackets.”

 

Michelle Malkin? Nope. Ralph Nader writing in counterpunch.org.

 

While the Right is bemoaning The Fall of Western Civilization As We Know It, so, on other grounds, is the ... elitist Left.

 

Looks like the Left’s having a power failure. From Politico’s Bill Greene:

 

“Organizing for America, launched a massive, e-mail ‘pledge drive’ to generate support for the Obama budget. The DNC got to 642,000 by making three photocopies of each pledge.

 

“While the Huffington Post gloated over a clearly rigged number, the Post pointed out that ‘the canvassing of Obama’s vaunted e-mail list of 13 million people resulted in just 114,000 pledges — a response rate of less than 1 percent.’”

 

Meanwhile, Politico’s Chris Frates reported that MoveOn, on its top priority issue climate change, “generated more than 7,000 constituent calls to promote the legislation.”

 

Only 7000 calls from 5 million members?

 

"Our movement lacks muscle and bone density," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, at a meeting of the newly anemic Take Back America, according to The Washington Post’s  Dana Milbank.

 

Let’s take note that the Left’s powerhouse rank and file are becoming strangely inert. But of greater significance is the hatred of the elitist Left for the populist Left.  Much of what is wrong with the many Obama prescriptions is not merely that they are leftist. They are elitist, implying a disdain for ordinary people’s ability to manage their own affairs.

 

The Left populists stay the course. Consider what MoveOn’s national communications director said to Politico’s Chris Frates:

 

“’The make-or-break question is not what happens in D.C., but making sure that ordinary Americans make their voices heard to their elected representatives back at home in their cities and towns,’ said MoveOn spokeswoman Ilyse Hogue.”

 

MoveOn’s policy formula is only slightly to the right of Fidel Castro. But MoveOn is the staunch envoy of its rank and file. Such fidelity draws rude insults from the Left elitists.

 

Consider, for another example, what The New York Times’ Matt Bai saw at an appearance by Stern before a group of elitist Hollywood Liberals:

 

“From the back of the room, I could see Stern's chin slowly sink toward his chest. He seemed to be suppressing the strong impulse to send his chair hurtling toward the banquet tables.

 

“ 'Look, we're all mis-positioned in the twentieth century,' he complained, waving an arm in exasperation toward the others onstage. He said he didn't think the inflexible government programs of the last era were the answer to the current crisis. 'How we got to be the party of government, and not of small business, I just don't get....' “

 

Stern stands for the whole litany of far Left nostrums. Yet ... he is devoting his life to helping janitors and maids. His stance draws insults from Nader.

 

Elitists fear the values of democracy and liberty, more so from within their own movement. Hence Stalin’s assassination of the anti-totalitarian Trotsky.... Politics 2.0 is as much about populism vs. elitism as it is about Left vs. Right; and the shape of the future will depend as much upon whether the elitist Left or the populist Left prevails as it does upon the Left’s emerging power failure.

 

Ralph Benko, a principal of Capital City Partners, is author of The Websters’ Dictionary: How to use the Web to Transform the World (www.thewebstersdictionary.com)

 

[Seruzawa]

The phenomenon may have a technical name but we all know it as “Thieves fall out.” Liberal Democrats are basically an organized looting scheme whereby the nation is plundered for the direct benefit of the looters. Each has a personal agenda. When such people are faced with a common sort term task like an election they can work together briefly. But since they don’t have any common long term beneficial goals they fragment when in power. Liberals will always self-destruct. Any sane person can see the long term disaster that are liberal democrat policies.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"Elitists fear the values of democracy and liberty, more so from within their own movement."

The Left has become what they were able to make their populist appeals to rally against.

[Syrin23]

“’How we got to be the party of government, and not of small business, I just don’t get....’ “

What an IDIOT !! YOUR party taxes the HELL out of business, YOUR party champions UNIONS over free market labor, YOUR party passes business killing draconian regulations, and you can’t figure it out !??!?! What an idiot.

On the other hand, lib on lib violence is always a good thing.

[Mamzelle]

Interesting. The left may have its own feeble country-club GOP elites.

[campaignPete R-CT]

somebody will have to give us a list of who is part of the left elite and who is in the populist left.

it is too complicated for me to figure out.

[Nonstatist]

I am confused ; which is "elitist" and which is "populist" ?

NYT, Andy Stern, Move On. org, Ralph Nader ?.. To me, theyre all elitist... The author's article is immensely sloppy, IMO.

[leilani]

Yeah, I agree about the article confusion. Also agree that whether or not the janitors & maids in the 'populist' flank of the left wing choose to recognize the fact, the very agenda they support necessitates an elitist wing to administer the control over the very same 'populist' people who are asking to be controlled by an ever-bigger, ever more powerful government through ever-more intrusive government programs run by an elite few.

You can't very well institute a leftist populist agenda without a leftist elite enforcing its implementation, so any complaints the lefty-pops may have on not having a say now are absurd. The very platform they support negates their individual liberty to have their say at all - now or later. Leftism is inherently elitist, any populist construction of leftism to which they may pretend to adhere is but a self-delusion.

I think what we may be seeing here is more of a conflict of those few remaining schmucks who still call themselves liberal while thinking of themselves as adhering to classic liberalism as the word liberalism was once-upon-a-time construed (i.e., those who believe in individual freedom yadyayada) and those who embrace the currently prevailing distortion of the term as it has been hijacked by statist leftists.

[neverdem]

I am confused ; which is "elitist" and which is "populist" ?

NYT, Andy Stern, Move On. org, Ralph Nader ?.. To me, theyre all elitist... The author's article is immensely sloppy, IMO.

It's not that hard. Think of the jobs killing enviromoonbats and the union ranks & files. Andy Stern knows big government won't do much for him. He needs to unionize small businesses without a secret ballot.

[Nonstatist]

Andy Stern knows big government won't do much for him. He needs to unionize small businesses without a secret ballot

Andy Stern is a populist? You gotta be kidding me. He's already conceded that massive unionization will result in higher unemployment, and he has continuously applauded the all-powerful European unions, which sit at the big table with the government beauracrats and set wages and production and the rest of it.

That $ucker could give 2 $hits about small business; they have the government unions in the bag and THAT is where the money and power lies.

[junta]

The Democratic party is the party of cults.