One of the official definitions of the word "zealot" is: a fanatically committed person. I start this diary by pointing that out because I've come to the conclusion that nothing short of zealotry on the left would ever be able to take on the right wing corporatist forces that have taken over the country.
I envy the rabid, lunatic, zealot right wing, to a certain extent. I see how they hammer away trying to get their way on issue after issue, day after day, week after week, year after year, relentlessly, nonstop, with a fanatical zeal, until they get their way.
Privatize the justice system and turn it into a for-profit enterprise. Chip away at workers' and women's rights, nonstop. Take down the public education system and replace it with a dumbed down privatized for profit corporatist re-education camps.
On the right, it all works like a well-oiled machine; because it is. And it is pretty simple and straightforward: the power elite wants to exploit the population and the natural environment in order to feed their insatiable greed. They use their wealth and influence to buy off the politicians (enough of them to make difference) one city and state at a time.
And then, after having bought off the politicians, they instruct them to do their bidding: tear down the regulatory framework (so the country's coffers can be looted); buy off the entire mainstream media so it can be used as a mind-numbing, brainwashing propaganda machine (which is the reason half of the people reading these words don't know what I'm talking about); exploit the vast, widespread (and rapidly-growing) ignorance in the population in order to influence people into acting against their own interests, and to prevent people from uniting and becoming highly organized against the ruling class.
Where are the zealots on the Left? Where are the militant-types; those who understand the mechanics of raw power? Those who understand that the first step that needs to be taken seriously when it comes to social justice activism is the need to engage in a widespread, relentless, and highly organized counter-propaganda campaign to influence the public?
If there is not a highly cohesive, focused and organized propaganda campaign from the Left, there will be no progress; there will be no chance at all of the possibility of defeating the Corporate State.
In every major business/cultural nerve center in the country millions of people should be exposed to social justice activism counter-propaganda; radio ads, tv ads, billboards, flyers, newspaper ads, seminars, rallies.
Unions should be reaching out to every corner of the country constantly spreading new ideas about how workers can become organized; virtual unions; the use of websites so whistle-blowers can expose wrongdoing by employers; flash-mob picketing; general strikes; solidarity strikes.
Multiple groups working on sustainable economic practices joining forces and spreading the word about collectives, employee-owned businesses, local food production, supporting locally-owned independent businesses; finding ways of defunding the corporate state.
I mean, how hard can it be? Of course, that's a rhetorical question and the obvious answer is that apparently is no only hard, but almost impossible.
I drive my wife crazy with this very simple question? Why does there seems to be a reactionary antipathy from the Left to the concept of becoming highly cohesive, focused, organized, and disciplined?
How come ColorOfChange, Daily Kos, RootStrikers, MoveOn, SEIU, teachers' unions, Occupy, et all, can't find a way to join forces?
Disruptive tactics; boycotts of big banks and big-box retailers; massive (and highly organized) public relations campaigns against bad corporate actors; constant highly organized shaming of politicians on the take (from both parties) as prescribed in publications like "Beautiful Trouble: A toolbox for revolution"
I leave you with this... I told my wife tonight as we discussed this for the one thousand times, that by now I understand that the reason the Left can't find a way to become as organized, focused, disciplined, and cohesive as it needs to be in order to really be able to take on the increasingly corrupt and oppressive Corporate State is because we seem to lack the type of resources available to the right-wingers. I get that.
But what I don't get is why there seems to be an almost knee-jerk negative reaction from many on the Left to the very concept of having a high degree of organization, cohesiveness, and strategic thinking.
If I was the billionaire of the Left, the steps I would take would be so straightforward: the first and most important one would be to deploy a massive counter-propaganda campaign (relentless, multiple years non-stop, ubiquitous); then I would fund multiple think-tanks around the country dealing with key issues: unionization of workers; defunding the corporate state by spreading sustainable economic practices (employee-owned businesses, food and housing collectives, etc.)
This is what and how they do it on the right; you can study it; it is right there in front of us. And that's why they are so successful.
Are we on the Left afraid of the concept of attaining real kick-ass power? Is that it? Are we content with being relegated to reporting and complaining about how mean the right-wingers are? Have we gotten used to defeat, powerlessness, impotence?
Help me out here... What is it?