One of the major errors of the Left in the our generation, from progressive through more radical Left, has been to ignore the emotional and spiritual side of our human nature. We have deluded ourselves that the battle is between the rational forces of the Left and the irrational idiots of the Right.
Instead, we're in a fight over what constitutes the definition of humanity, what the future of the Earth should be, and ultimately what is good and right and true. Within each of us, those are not really questions that are decided by data, no matter how voluminous and well validated. Those are matters determined by factors that are still rather mysterious and opaque to us.
The truth is that humans operate on a number of sub-rational and perhaps super-rational levels. The former is obvious, but what can I possibly mean by the latter?
For the Randian free marketeer, his world is perfectly rational. Its internal consistency is undeniable. The strong--in the Randian definition--thrive. The weak perish. The Randian reacts as if that outcome were decreed by the gods. It's not just acceptable, it's the good and right and true outcome.
But some people view that world with horror. Why? Crude Spencerian Darwinism has a kind of internal logical consistency, and even more horrifyingly, a correlation to how the world works. What's "wrong" with it if all that matters is logic and facts?
The deeper truth is that we humans operate at a level, even post-Enlightenment, that is supra- or contra- or anti- or meta- logical. We are not inherently united on our views of the Big Issues and any set of facts won't change that. There are divisions, and they are very, very fundamental. Horrifyingly, reason will not ever, now or in the future, unite us because it is not reason that divides us.
TPTB understand this. They have, over the past century, been exploiting their superior understanding, combined with their control of the mass means of communication, in a bold attempt to bamboozle people to sign their own death warrants. They have exploited every media to sell the idea that what happens to us depends solely and entirely on our merit, not the external factors of race and class and gender. Poor? It's your fault even if you live in Africa or Asia with no infrastructure and no education. It's not the fault of Capitalism. Capitalism is wonderful and successful and the inevitable future of mankind. Just because you're poor, it can't be the fault of the always successful Capitalism.
Poor? It's your fault even if your job, at which you had worked successfully for 20 years, has been moved by your employer to a place where they can pay workers 1/10 of what they paid you. The solution for your new status of "unemployed" is to train for new skills, even if the workers in China and India are training now for those same skills and happy to work for 1/4 of what your family can live on.
All the so-called liberal big shots in DC and NYC and Cambridge will tell you that's that way to go. Live on less. Take out loans to train for new skills. Whatever you do, don't blame the system or the corporations for your situation. It's all your fault. They're always in the right.
How fuckin' dumb can we be? The "economy" isn't some magic potion that works only when the right priests administer it. There are producers in our economy and there are predators. The predators try to sell us all on the idea that they are doing us a favor by letting us produce things off which they make a profit by virtue of sitting on their ass and hiring the right lawyers. They take 98% and pay us 1%. How fuckin' generous of them, ain't it?
What would we do without those Masters of the Universe? Well, we'd have to make our own decisions of where the money went. My gods, how would we fuck all that up! If we thought it was a bad idea to ship our own jobs to Vietnam, we might say "No!!!" to outsourcing. That would mean that we would keep our jobs. The people that depended on us from the landlord to the supermarket to the cable company would still get paid. Our kids might still get some education and health care. What a gods-damned disaster!
Now the Capitalists will tell you that if the people in the U.S. raised hell about their jobs going abroad, you might end up paying $20 for a pair of Walmart socks. That's bullshit. The fact is that if you're paying $2 now, you might pay $2.25 for U. S. made, union manufactured socks. It's miniscule. Guess what. It's all about power and preserving the perversely rich lifestyle of a few thousand Capitalist fat-asses.
But if you're a blood-sucking Capitalist, living off a fucking quarter per pair of socks, that's a big deal. Otherwise, you couldn't keep sitting on your fat, well-padded ass on a corporate plane instead of flying coach like the proles who have to go through that humiliating DHS security check just to fly. No working class m-f-er is going to X-ray your family jewels, right?
Now if you're a Randian reading what I've written, your response is likely to be that I'm a Marxist m-fer who should be rounded up and shot. But what if your reaction was, "Right on! Screw those Capitalist assholes! Revolution! In the view of this society, you're fucked up. You don't go with the flow. You're BAD!!!
I have no "logical" explanation for the different reactions. And neither do you. Which side one falls on may be decided by genetic, psychological, or environmental factors. Chances are, initially at least, it's determined beyond our control. Reason doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with it. In fact, "reason" is often employed as the servant to justify a conclusion already reached.
Now let's cut to chase. Here's what is critical to remember:
Your political views are probably more the product of "instinct" than reason.
If you want to persuade someone to your point of view, reason is likely to be of limited use.
Consider using means of persuasion that have nothing to do with "reason" per se, like stories, poetry, music.
We are in a great battle with the Right over very fundamental issues. They realize this and use their primary advantage, i.e. the fact that the Left constantly seeks to move humanity forward. The Right is quite happy to evoke fear of something different as the antidote to the Left's push forward, leaving us in the more difficult position of proving change can be positive.
Combine that natural psychological disadvantage with the Capitalists' determination that their hold on power remain undiluted and you see what we are up against.
We will never, even prevail unless we appeal to the human heart and soul as well as mind.
Durrutti was not afraid to express that emotional side to the left:
We carry a new world in our hearts.
The Left can only succeed when it realizes that it is as much a matter of the heart as the mind.