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The
New Radical Left (And the Folks Who Fuel It)
November 12, 2002
By Maureen
Farrell
They say people become more conservative with age. Until
recently, that seemed so. For the legions of us who came of
age as the left became a cartoon, a rightward shift was inevitable.
We grew to distrust all of it: long overdue advances in civil
rights were accompanied by open season on anything white and
male; the women's movement was hijacked by champions of unwed
childlessness; and valid opposition to the Vietnam War gave
way to factions shamelessly spitting upon soldiers. It was
distasteful and disgraceful and we gravitated towards the
center.
Nevertheless, what was real and honorable about the left
stayed with us, always. We didn't understand why universal
medical care was so scary, for example, particularly considering
America's runaway corporate welfare. We weren't sure how helping
the less fortunate became so threatening, since taxpayers
blindly fund a defense budget of nearly $400 billion per year.
We also wondered why people were up in arms over welfare to
single mothers, but not over the $2.3 trillion the Pentagon
misplaced. "Every gun that is made, every warship that is
launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are
cold and not clothed," Dwight D. Eisenhower once said. Would
Ike be "too liberal" these days, too?
We thought we were just average citizens, with average concerns,
until we woke up to find ourselves part of the radical left.
We're not sure how it happened, mind you. In fact, we didn't
even realize it until a chorus of pundits started steering
us a certain way. When MSNBC's Lester Holt happily explained
how daisy cutters work, for example, we were filled with queasiness
in lieu of national pride. We believed Scott Ritter was telling
the truth, no matter how often Paula Zahn warned us not to.
And despite the president's assurances he'd like to avoid
war, we trusted Newsday's observation that his administration
"appeared to be purposely setting the bar too high for Hussein
to comply."
Chants about "blaming America first" aside, we have always
been uncomfortable with our legacy of coups d'etats and assassinations
-- and of replacing democratically-elected leaders with tyrants
of our own. We'd prefer to spend that money and energy aggressively
seeking alternative energy, so babies need not die in our
names. And we can't ignore the role we've played in creating
problems named bin Laden, Hussein, Noreiga and Pinochet; or
inconsistencies in official stories; or hidden agendas, regardless
how often we're chided by "the liberal media elite."
Citing others' misgivings over everything from Wellstone's
death to 9/11 to JFK's murder, for example, Ron Rosenbaum
recently joined Nicholas Kristof in describing ways the left
has gone off track. Certainly, Wellstone's death could have
been "one of those things"; Condoleezza "no one would think
of flying planes into buildings" Rice might have suffered
from memory lapses; and despite suggestions otherwise,
Lee Harvey Oswald may have acted alone. Rosenbaum's absolute
certainty regarding all of this is disarming, however, especially
to those of us who have still have questions -- and realize,
once again, that there will never be honest investigations
into any of it. Ever. How can we not be "dumbed down" when
it's taboo to even question? Do they not see it, too?
We're told to forget or ignore history and are asked to not
even ask. Questions regarding the 2000 election are met with
"get over it;" Greg Palast's report about 91,000 voters wrongly
purged from Florida rolls goes largely ignored; and an independent
investigation into 911 looks as if will be stonewalled into
oblivion. Will we ever hear another word about Wellstone's
crash? We are foolish even in the asking. How can we expect
journalists to pressure officials for answers, when they're
too busy telling us to look the other way?
Unlike those in the sixties who took cues from members of
their own generation, we unlikely radicals rely largely upon
our elders. "Remember every question is legitimate." Helen
Thomas recently said. Every question is legitimate? Imagine
that.
When Thomas explained the difference between this president
and others she's covered, we were grateful that someone, somewhere
was saying something. "I have never covered a president who
actually wanted to go to war," she said, adding, "it's bombs
away for Iraq and on our civil liberties if Bush and his cronies
get their way."
Then, too, Jimmy Breslin's recent comparison of Bobby Kennedy's
campaign to the 2002 election gave us a glimpse of what we've
lost. "I don't think that anybody today can understand the
sheer thrill of a campaign that was based on uncomplicated
good," he wrote. "Vote for the guy and you could stop people
from getting killed. Your own vote could save a life! Vote
for the guy and you could get a roof for somebody in Brooklyn
and food for children in Mississippi. People got so excited
they couldn't sleep. ... Nobody wanted war. People weren't
crazy ... and poverty [wasn't] ended by throwing more of the
poor into the streets."
Though we want to feel as if we're rooting for "uncomplicated
good," we hold our noses each election and vote for more taxation
without representation. When corporations are calling the
shots, progressives are at a distinctive disadvantage, as
veteran journalist Bill Moyers pointed more than a decade
ago. And now, following the 2002 election, we can once again
count upon Moyers to address our concerns. While self-proclaimed
liberal Chris Matthews giddily hosts right-wing pundits like
Bob Dornan heralding in "the beginning of the end of liberalism,"
Moyers chronicles the dark times we foresee. Confronting threats
to the environment and to government transparency and to a
woman's right to choose, he openly wonders how working people
willingly voted against their own interests. "If you liked
the Supreme Court that put George W. Bush in the White House,
you will swoon over what's coming," Moyers explained. Does
that underscore why Chris Matthews delightedly characterized
G. Gordon Liddy, Pat Buchanan and Dornan as "whooping it up"
over what's ahead?
It would seem so. Because while the Regressive Right is often
given a forum, the Progressive Left is not. When 20 antiwar
congressmen recently held a press conference before the Iraq
resolution vote, the media didn't cover it, as the congressmen
were "out of the mainstream." We're not talking Noam Chomsky
or Robert Fisk, here, we're discussing U.S congressmen. Nonetheless,
Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman Dennis Kucinich
was reelected with 74% of the vote, vice chairman Barbara
Lee captured 81% in her district, Major Owens received 86%,
Bernie Sanders, 65%, Peter DeFazio 64%, Nancy Pelosi 80% and
Jesse Jackson, Jr. nabbed 86% of the vote. And remember Congressman
Jim McDermott, who was demonized for visiting Baghdad and
for (rightfully) saying Bush would mislead America in order
to go to war? 74% of the voters in his district voted for
him again. Needles to say, if McDermott had lost, you would
have heard braying nationwide.
But none of this signals it's time to start singing "Power
to the People" just yet. It's important to remember that the
seismic shift that's occurred in parts of the country is very
real. Democrat governor Roy Barnes, for example, lost his
bid for reelection for having the gall to remove the Confederate
symbol from Georgia's state flag, and though he lost three
limbs serving in Vietnam, Max Cleland lost his bid after being
attacked for a lack of patriotism, because he held out for
an inclusion of worker's rights for Homeland Security employees.
President Bush, Karl Rove and Ralph Reed orchestrated much
of this -- and we can't help but wonder of Jesus Christ were
elected to office, how quickly the Religious Right would be
calling for His head.
Given this, it looks as if we're in for the fight of our
lives. And we are going to have to rely on old mentors even
more. For generations, enlightened writers have been, to paraphrase
Obi Wan Kenobi, our "guardians of peace and justice." This
was "before the dark times, before the Empire," mind you.
But luckily, while some journalists are telling us to close
our mouths and close our minds, as we face the darkest times
in recent memory; we still have some old standbys to offer
us light.
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