This post was originally meant to go on my pathetic little blog as a sign of aggravation with right-wingers who know one leftist, Michael Moore. I did not think that this had to go on
Daily Kos, where we have the posts of AGG to remember and set us all right. But I had a conversation with Another Family Member, Who
Was There (TM) about this whole hippie thing, which went as follows:
Me: What can Democratic Party activists of today learn from hippies? Kos called some people hippies and hurt their feelings.
Family Member: Are you spending all your time on the Internet?
Me: No..I'm not spending all my time on the Internet...two things: this is an intra-blog discussion. It has little to do with anything crucial for other Democrats. Second, hippies wanted nothing to do with the Democratic Party anyway.
Family Member: That's right, they weren't into institutions.
So the liberal/leftist difference reared its ugly head. More on the flip.
(Anyone who follows the link should look for "Puro, Marsha Bell" as author, because the session timed out.)
The American political spectrum defined by me is based on the undeniable facts that the men who wrote the Constitution and were able to vote in the early days of the Republic were overwhelmingly white, all male in case that wasn't obvious, and mostly had some property. Our spectrum differs about the ideal participation for those who are nonwhite, female, and/or don't have some property, and contains some snark about Jews which I could not help once I was on "foaming right-winger".
Paleoconservative/Foaming Right-Winger: Any political participation by them is bad and should be carefully controlled by the rightful rulers. While we're at it, be careful with Jews too, since it is dishonorable for a Christian country to show too much toleration of Jews (this is a well-documented attitude in the 16th century!)
Mainstream Conservative/Neoconservative: Participation by those who have property is welcomed. If you do not have property, you are strongly advised to get some. Once you have property, you will pursue your individual interest and be very suspicious of organized groups that claim to speak for you. AIPAC gets an exception. Any Jew who goes against AIPAC must be self-hating.
Liberal: American society was designed to be one of factions and interest groups. Those who are less advantaged can get positive outcomes for themselves by organizing as a group. If the group is large enough, politicians will notice that they vote, and they will be able to get representation and at least prevent bad outcomes for themselves in government. In the end, everyone is represented and everyone is better off with the system we have. What has underlaid all the progress for Jews in the last 70 years? Liberalism!
Leftist: Because American society was designed by
white men with some property, American society will in the end serve the interests of white men with some property more than anyone else. Observe instances in our history such as Reconstruction, where African Americans had political power and were able to use it to benefit their group, but it wasn't theirs; white men with property shared their power with them and could take it away again. (Ursula K. Le Guin reference deliberate) The way to make a just society is to involve members of disadvantaged groups in redesigning the society from the ground up to reflect the political values they have learned. Jews have such a basic interest in social justice, this should not have to be sold to them. Leftists are much more negative about capitalism than liberals of course.
Hippies are a manifestation of American leftism appropriate to the 1960s just as old-fashioned socialism was appropriate to the years Debs was running for president. The version of leftism we come up with in 2005 need not be slavishly linked to the hippies; in fact, Thomas Frank has tried to get around them his whole career. I would conclude with Alice Walker's remark, "The real revolution is always concerned with the least glamorous stuff". The nonglamorous stuff that Kos likes to advocate for, such as stopping the war and winning elections, may increase justice because it prevents the kinds of jaw-droppingly negative outcomes we have seen too much of from the Republicans. The nonglamorous stuff which we see and do in our communities offline will give us insight for ourselves into what a leftist movement needs to look like now, and how much the hippies had their time. Thank you very much.