I recently asked, and have yet to receive an answer, as to what, or whom, exactly is "the left" in the United States today. So, I would like to know. Who, or what, is the American left?
Is it the traditional left - social democrats, socialists, and communists of various stripes?
Is it a more vaporous term, referring to anybody and everybody who is to the left, say, of Robert Byrd or Jim Webb or Steny Hoyer? Is Barbara Boxer "leftist"? Is Edward Kennedy? I had a friend of mine from Great Britain laugh at someone who called Kennedy a leftist, because in Britain he would be considered on the right-end of the Labor spectrum, less liberal than, say, Tony Blair or the current PM, Gordon Brown.
Who, or what, is the American left?
I consider myself liberal-leaning-leftist, although I hold certain ideas that would probably prompt some to move me much farther to the left. Yet, I hardly think of myself as either out of touch or out of the mainstream of American political thought. Indeed, I believe I am far more mainstream than, say, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, or even David Broder.
Thoughts? Comments?
5 comments:
Good question. Hard to answer, it would seem.
"Left" and "Right" are quite subjective terms. I tend to think of the media as too conservative, too Right wing leaning, while others think just the opposite. The answer, of course, is that the media probably tends to the Right of me and to the Left of those more conservative than I am.
But even that is sort of assuming a linear progression from Left to Right, from More Liberal to More Conservative - but what if I hold my positions for a variety of reasons? What if I'm opposed to ending abortion because I'm opposed to Big Gov't interventionism and because I am supportive of individual liberty? Are those conservative reasons for opposing abortion or liberal ones?
I think we've had this discussion before and it usually ends with me saying that there is some value in using these labels because they help quantify leanings and general thinking a little bit, but it seems to me that this Left/Right stuff has to be taken with a HUGE grain of salt (and where can one find a huge grain of salt these days and even if you could find it, who could afford it???)
At least with the Conservative side of things, they have Kirke's Ten Tenets of Conservatism or some such measure that helps identify what is "conservative." I know of no similar corresponding set of criteria for "Liberal," or "Left."
As a resident of one of the nation's most left wing towns, I can easily answer this question.
The left is a small but feisty group of senior citizens who were involved in anti-war protests in the Sixties and still get together in a vain attempt to persuade others that they are right. They are a small group of college students who are influenced by the handful of leftist professors who have not yet retired. They are a few organic farmers, some growing legal crops, who live off the grid and let their beards grow.
That's pretty much it for the left. These are the folks who are as far toward the left as the typical Republican Congressperson is to the right. They are however, sane and their statements about their political opponents are charitable, and not laced with invective, or riddled with fantastic lies.
There is no left equivalent of Limbaugh or Hannity or Broder. People on the left are generally well-read, smart, well-informed, well spoken and can make cogent arguments on matters of policy.
You left off the Religious Left - those of us who are too young to have been part of the 60s stuff, too old to be Liberal college students and who still live in the city or are otherwise not farmers... Those of us, many of whom started out as the Religious Right, who came by our leftism from reading the Bible.
Otherwise, I might agree with your assessment.
Dan, I think that DL's answers reflect his understanding and experience, as does yours.
I don't believe there is an organized "religious left". There are elements of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith as lived out in America that do line up with lefty politics, but I think "religious left" has become a misleading shorthand. For example, Jim Wallis is often considered "left", but he is, in fact, pretty mainstream in his politics, and hard right on some issues (particularly when it comes to abortion; see Street Prophets for some detail). I think you and ER are god examples of people who have emerged from a more traditional/fundamentalist religious background and embraced a more open approach to faith. I'm not sure what was behind that in either case, although it would be nice to speak of the Holy Spirit in each case.
Part of the problem identifying a "religious left" is what, exactly, does it believe and practice. Consider the case of the Unitarians. Some Unitarians are simply Arian Christians - they do not accept that the Son and the Father are of one substance (to use very old language) but otherwise are indistinguishable from run-of-the-mill Christians. Some Unitarians are not only not Christians, they could be considered pagans. Some Unitarians emerged from other faith traditions (I know of traditional native American Unitarians, former Reformed Judaism Unitarians, and non-believing Unitarians who only wish to celebrate the strength of community). What unites these people? That's hard for this middle aged Wesleyan to figure out, but to consider politics as one possible answer is to stretch the power of politics to the breaking point.
There are people who have moved not only from a more conservative religious standpoint to a more liberal one, but from a more conservative political standpoint to a more liberal one over time. My brother-in-law, who is really not much of a believer at all, was once a die-hard Republican; the Bill Clinton years convinced him, however, that Republicans are a bit over the edge, possibly psychotic on some issues, and a danger to the Republic. He has said, over and over again since George Bush was "elected" in 2000 that he no longer lives in the country he grew up calling America. What made him change his mind? Just life.
Anyway, unlike the religious right, which has its movements, its sponsors (the Coors family, the Annenberg family, the Hunt family), the "religious left" has no such organizational structure, and self-appointed "leaders" like Wallis are more a hindrance than a help (I have a certain animus toward Jim Wallis, and I make no apologies for it).
I would have to agree that there is not a "religious left". While you will find a general tendency toward some form of humanism about UU's, it would certainly be a mistake to consider them as ipso facto leftists.
There are really very few leftists left and no more than a handful of members of Congress could actually be considered leftist. There are scores of members who are further to the right than those 4-5 leftists are to the left.
There are no leftists on television in the US - ever, not even as guests on talk shows. No leftist ideas are ever discussed in the mainstream media except in a few cases when the objective is to show how far out and freaky some people are.
You can hardly turn on a cable news network without seeing a right-winger, often someone far off the deep end. The ideas of nutcases like Sarah Palin are discussed in the media as though they actually made sense or had merit.
That's the difference between left and right in America.
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