Reply #69: it is an ongoing battle

[Two Americas]

Under the guise of merely lecturing us on "reality," a small but very vocal and domineering conservative faction - conservative as defined by the traditional measurements of political allegiance, power and economics - is actually promoting moving to the right and defending conservative economics without acknowledging that or taking responsibility for taking those positions.

Remember how we were told that we needed to remain silent only during the campaign, for the purposes of practicality, for getting Democrats elected as a first step? How many times were we told that once the election was over we would be free to express our opinions without being attacked and ridiculed? How many times did people say that as a matter of practicality and being realistic, we needed to run a centrist campaign, but then once the election was over we could move to the left? How many times did we hear "don't get me wrong, I agree with you BUT...?" I no longer believe that those saying that do in fact agree with us, I think they are using a deceptive tactic to oppose us.

This is not a battle that we on the left asked for or initiated or desire, and we are the ones who again and again have been asked to make all of the sacrifices and compromises. Those who are determined to drive the party to the right are relentless and willing to use any and all tactics in their efforts.

As I said on another thread -

When the public is surveyed on matters of power and economics without regard to culture war clues and indicators, on issue after issue 70% or more of the public supports very left wing positions.

Here, on poll after poll, the left wing positions prevail by margins of 10-1 or more again and again.

Yet the conservative among us - economic conservatives and apologists for wealth and power - repeatedly claim that their positions are the majority opinions, and that left wing opinions are "fringe" and "purist" and that those expressing them are disloyal, whining, throwing temper tantrums - every sort of malicious smear and personal attack is thrown at us.

To look at the threads, one would think that the "centrist" and "move to the right" economically conservative point of view was held by half or more of the people here. When it is pointed out that this is not true, then we hear the argument that "DU is not representative of the party or the people." The arguments defending conservatism and attacking leftists continually evolve to suit the circumstances, even though they often contradict one another. When all else fails, ugly personal attacks are the rule.

The conservatives here are a small minority, as they are within the party and among the general public, but they cast a large shadow by using bullying and domineering tactics.

Were they to say "I support conservative economics, and while I know that is a minority position, here is my most persuasive argument for conservative economics" we could have intelligent discussions about this. But they don't do that. They attack and ridicule and smear their opponents, and they deny that they do in fact support conservative economic positions but instead claim to be merely "realistic" and tell us that we have no sane choice but to support conservative economics, and that only lunatics would hold any other point of view.

I feel that we have a duty to resist and counter that bullying, not for the sake of our selves but rather for the sake of the people, those in the 90% of the population who are not "winners," who are not among the well-off and gentrified people who dominate modern liberalism and the party, who are being abused, left behind, silenced, persecuted and marginalized.