You know we have a POLITICAL SPECTRUM PROBLEM when Pacifica Radio News described Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito as a CONSERVATIVE!!!! Alito -- as described by his fellow jurists even! -- is a RADICAL RETROGRADE through and through.
The breakdown in our language has created an inability to handle REALITY and this is one of the biggest problems we have because it stands in the way of our dealing with the current situation!
I can't forget Buckminster Fuller's warning that expanding our presence from the Earth's surface to Outer Space required a shift in vocabulary and thought -- a paradigm shift -- so thorough that one no longer conceived of the word 'up'! (Because there is no 'up' in outer space, for you non-Trekkies.)
In the U.S., the currently accepted political spectrum is passe (and probably has been since it was devised, and by whom?, to exclude many avenues of political thought and societal and governmental problem-solving), and is getting in the way of everything -- including the peace of mind of anybody who chooses to debate issues on the bases of fact (SEE today's KOS post...
... "Wankers at the Omaha World-Herald").
I urge the wise political scientists to make language adapt to the reality. I can see that, historically, Populism was an idea swept under the rug and sort of co-opted/incorporated in the new Dem-Corporatist structure as mere kind-hearted noblesse oblige. Well, thanks Corporatists, but no thanks. The Citizenry deserve more than mere bit parts every once in a while, when, more often, what benefits the people may be the first thing to hit the cutting room floor when the taxdollars the people have paid are budgetted for this movie extravaganza called America!
When the Republican- and Dem-Corporatists confirmed Alito, they were really showing us it is not spines they lack, but rather they lack the desire to protect the Citizenry from the rule of an Elite!
However, because even these longtime Corporatists are stuck on the old political spectrum, they are unaware that we are not just dealing with Corporatism anymore, but that an Elite Cabal (which I'd describe as radical and reactionary* by any standard) is in the mix, passing itself off as Corporatist!
It's time we get some clear distinctions in our description of what is going on and where we want to go from here. Maybe Cabal to Corporatist to Populist is the start of a spectrum that should be thought through. (Or maybe even a one-dimensional model of a spectrum should be replaced altogether with a three dimensional circle of participants, each with unique goals.)
footnote * This radical and reactionary thing is the bane of civilization. It pretends to have something to do with wholesome traditions and community, but is actually against community because of community's inherent strength. Community and tradition, and the embrace of a DIVERSITY of them, are REALLY part of Populist position!!! The lack of a Populist position on the political spectrum means that reactionary creeps like religious fundamentalists of the Bush Cabal can lay claim to these and we have no political language to debunk it! The reactionary radical is the vehicle that twists the people's need for community into a sick, bigotted, fear-based mindset that corrupts. BIGOTRY AS A BASIS FOR RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY OR POLITICAL IDEALOGY IS UNACCEPTABLE, A CORRUPT TOOL OF THE RADICAL REACTIONARY THAT MUST BE EXPOSED AND SHAMED AS MUCH AS RAW EXPLOITATION NEEDS TO BE REGULATED OUT OF CORPORATIST ECONOMICS.
Leftist intellectuals must acknowledge the Populist position, or be negated by the Reactionaries' usurpation of it.
And do your best to remember: To debate BIGOTRY is to dignify it. Refrain from debating bigots; their position is anti-social, an expression of moral insanity. It is not worthy of the time.