To begin with, I'll have to give a brief Daily Kos history lesson. Way back in olden times (November, 2008 - First Quarter 2009), the Democrats and the Kossacks were celebrating a major victory in the 2008 Elections. Most of this celebration came in the form of unbelievably smug gloating by the Democrats' and Kossacks' centrists.
Read on - but don't expect to see any flames from this diary.
Boy oh boy, you couldn't swing a mouse button without hitting a diary by one of the centrists, smug with it's smuggy smugness, aggrandizing the center at the expense of the left. Even Kos got into the act, posting away his certainty that A New Day Had Dawned™ and that it was all down to a "new" breed of Democrat. Slamming Dennis Kucinich and his ilk while holding up Webb, Tester, Trauner, etc, the centrists gave us all a bellyful. When I and those like me argued that there was a lot of work left to do, we were blasted for harshing the centrists' mellow and sneered at for our ill timing.
If this sounds familiar, it should. The left can't seem to shut up lately about how badly the centrists have dropped the ball. Every other diary either crows it's I-told-you-so or skates the edge of the GBCW. I've refrained largely because it's just as tacky and reactionary as the centrists' smuggery in 2008.
And now I must go one step beyond refraining. It's time to rub some dirt on it and get back in the game.
I think by now most of us should have a good idea what the "problem" is. It became apparent during the 2008 elections, but it was set aside in favor of what were seen at the time as larger issues. However, not everyone agreed that this wasn't one of the "larger issues". As for me, I saw the 2008 elections in a "losing the first ten pounds" kind of way; it was the easy part. The hard part came after. A lot of people saw things differently, whether because they were with the centrists or because they believed that the left really was going to be represented. Which brings us to naming the problem.
Put simply, the left has been left behind.
Roughly thirty years ago, there was a (relatively) blurry line between Democrats and Republicans. Sure, the extremes of both parties couldn't have been more different, but the line in the political spectrum that divided the two was less distinct. Moderate Republicans (One might even say "liberal" - if one were inclined to use antiquated definitions in the face of the recently rewritten political dictionary) and the more conservative stripe of Democrat had more in common than not. This was particularly true of economic policies. For example, former Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas, a social liberal, was quite pro-business, often taking heat for siding with Republicans in his efforts to battle the 1990's deficit. A more complete example might be former Rhode Island Republican Senator/Governor John Chafee, who was pro-choice, anti-school prayer, opposed to bans on gays in the military, and pro-NAFTA. Hop in your DeLorean and drag Senator Chafee back to the future, and where do you think he would land?
Here in the now, the line between the two parties is - for the most part - clear and unambiguous. If you're feeling charitable, you might even admire the efficacy of the reactionary right in making this happen. The Republicans have been transformed into an unholy blend of theocrats, plutocrats and oligarchs. And the Democrats have been transformed into... moderate Republicans.
You see the problem. Despite the rightward cant of the Democratic Party, the difference between the two major parties couldn't be more stark. Unfortunately, this difference is now one between a pro-corporate agenda and a pro-corporate agenda with a harsh, intolerant social policy.
And the left? There are just as many lefties as there used to be; it's just that the bi-chromatic rainbow (to borrow from The Daily Show's writers) of U.S. politics has shifted far enough to the right that the light no longer shines upon them. Far enough, in fact, that people like Dennis Kucinich are statistically nonexistent, and far enough that those lefties still in government are considered loony outcasts, impractical crazies.
Give the neocons their due: they kicked the shit out of the left for thirty years and dragged this country to the right like it was a southern-hemisphere NASCAR driver. The unholy alliance between religious extremism and unaccountable private power (corporations) were more than a match for Republicans. They were conquered, and the revolution began. Things got ugly. Accidents of good intention were used with malicious intent. For example, the decent and principled Walter Mondale is chiefly responsible for expanding the role and powers of the Vice Presidency. Unfortunately, his successors have not been so kind to the office. A sincere and heartfelt Jimmy Carter was quite vocal about his Christian faith in 1976, but a far more cynical crop of future Presidential candidates mouthed the right words to reap a ready-made voting bloc. How many of them went on to build low-cost housing for the poor? Hmmm...
All of this is old news, of course. The Democrats, seeing the writing on the wall, had to grit their teeth and get with The Program™. The result created some mind-bogglingly nuanced "debate" on economic policy, with highly concentrated and highly protected private power being winners no matter who came out on top. Retaining the barest hint of social liberalism, Democrats began to move rightward in droves. Of course, the fashionable word is "centrism".
Understand, that may sound harsh, but I want to make one thing crystal clear: there is nothing wrong with having centrist, or even conservative Democrats. They have always been with us, and I pray they always will. Centrist Democrats gave us back the reins of power in 2008. Thank God for them. They are not the problem. The problem is that they are all that appears to be left. (I say "appears", since the left actually did well in the 2010 mid-terms. However, I defy you to find any serious commentary in the media on that fact. I further defy you to point out where the left's influence is being felt in any tangible way.) In other words, our vast and diverse population is being represented by an ever-narrowing political spectrum of leadership.
The liberal wing of the Democratic Party has been clipped. And in the same way that we can't really do without the moderating influence of centrist and conservative Democrats, those same center-right Dems cannot do without the left.
There, in a rather large nutshell, is the problem. So the obvious question is: What should we do about it? I have some ideas I'd like to diary, but for now, perhaps a little return to reality/sanity is in order.
For the lefties out there, this means it might be time to stop the Nelson Muntz finger-pointing and ha-ha-ing. It doesn't appear to be necessary to continue making the case that the left has been ignored. It's pretty obvious at this point. Perhaps we can take this fact as given and begin to work on what to do next.
For the centrist/loyalists, perhaps it's time to accept that the left has legitimate grievances and accept that the left cannot be left behind. This might mean a shift in strategy. For instance, perhaps all the patience the center has called for should be set aside. It might even be necessary to suffer the pain of losing ground in the short run in order to gain ground in the long run. The 2010 mid-terms, for example.
Whatever the collective "we" decides to do, I hope we get around to making the decision soon. Or at least talk about some suggestions upon which to base some decisions. Anything but more of this zero-sum infighting.