Can Someone Post A List of Significant Achievements That The Left Has Done In the Past 30 Years?

[Yavin4]

And by achievements, I do not mean getting someone elected to office.

What I mean is something akin to what the labor union movement did in the early 20th century, or what the Civil Rights movement did in the mid 20th century, or the Feminist movement, or the environmental movement did in the late 1960s and early 1970s.


What has the Left done about the assault on the middle and working class?

What has the Left done about poverty?

What has the Left done about health care?

What has the Left done about trade?

What has the Left done about ending discrimination against the GLBT community?

I would like a list showing some major economic, social, and political accomplishments within the past 30 years that would make the Left a force to be reckoned with politically.

I will give you one accomplishment in the past 30 years: ACT-UP and other such groups that put public pressure on the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations to address the AIDs crisis. They took to the streets. They marched. They protested. They stopped traffic. They challenged authority and they got significant results.

I will give you that one, but I don't consider it 100% Left. Yet, it is an example of what I am talking about.

Finally, answering my post with questions like, "What has the DLC done?" or "What has the Dem party done?" are not answers to my post. In fact, they're an admission of inaction. I'm talking about what the American Left has done politically in the past 30 years to make it a force that cannot be ignored.

[Yavin4]

1. Nothing So Far

Interesting.

[Beetwasher]

2. The Most Significant Progressive Achievements In The Last 30 Years

All happend in the last 18 months. Go figure.

[Ron Green]

3. Unfortunately the Left has not even kept the Center from being pushed to the Right.

Let's face it: A thoughtful and complex policy message can never prevail against a fear campaign. There's just no solution to this.

[blondeatlast]

4. Exactly--and too few of us understand how pervasive and damaging

thie fear-mongering is. Until we understand how the media is part and parcel of the Right's machine, we'll continue to lose.♦

Until the vast majority of the Left grasps this, we are just pushing to get a foot in the door, much less accomplish anything.

[Yavin4]

5. "A thoughtful and complex policy message can never prevail against a fear campaign."

Um, tell that to the early union organizers or the early Civil Rights activists.

[L0oniX]

17. Dems and repukes are part of the same coin owned by corporations.

[Winterblues]

6. Well something a Labor Union did

Teamsters Union hired scabs to build their new Labor Hall in Houston in 2000, Oh and they also voted for Bush* because they were told he would open ANWR to drilling and they would all have jobs...

[blondeatlast]

8. Any reliable link to the Houston thingy? Otherwise it's just rumor in my eyes. nt

[depakid]

7. Bottom line of course is that if policy makers had listened to progressives

and those with track records of getting it right- as opposed to corporate right panderers passing themselves of as self appointed "pragmatists," America wouldn't be in the sorry shape its in- and Republicans would long since have been relegated to the fringe where they belong- rather than in position to take back the House and make big gains in the Senate.

Other more successful nations did this- America didn't- and under this administration and Senate, still won't.

And so you continue your inexorable decline.

[Yavin4]

10. Historically, Policy Makers Don't Listen To Anyone

They only listen when they fear the people.

[depakid]

19. You must not have travelled much or lived in successful nations

Then again, in America these days, due to media deregulation citizens can no longer get accurate news and analysis agree on what basic objective facts are.

So it's a easier for politicians in both parties to pander to sidestep responsible public policy to the corporate right. That is, until things get a whole lot worse on every front.

When that happens, no telling what so many formerly middle class Americans will do.

[EFerrari]

9. The Solidarity movment protested the funding of the Contra War

and the butchery in El Salvador. We helped get that funding cut and helped to expose IranContra.

[Yavin4]

12. That's Really Late 70s and Early 80s

Which puts it on the outer edge of 30 years, but I'll give you that one.

I'll also give you the Apartheid protests/Dis-Investment campaigns of the early and mid 80s.

So, there's two, but both are on the edge of 30 years.

[EFerrari]

23. Well, the Solidarity movement is ongoing

because they're at it again.

I'm not current on South Africa except insofar as AIDs activists are working there.

[spoony]

11. Just another left-bashing thread from you.

It's the same shit you posted yesterday. You're just spamming now.

[Yavin4]

13. Why Is It Okay To Have Hundreds of Obama Bashing Threads, Yet

It's not okay to have threads bashing the left. Also, I see that you cannot really answer the questions of my original posts as well.

[spoony]

16. So, basically you just want revenge

because your feelings got hurt by people criticising a public figure that ISN'T YOU. You're attacking a group of people who POST HERE. Quit spamming and grow up.

[EFerrari]

25. What this thread really shows so far, anyway,

is how little support the Left has gotten from the Democrats for the last thirty years. And despite that, I bet a lot of people (like me) have trouble thinking about the Left and the Democrats separately.

[Yavin4]

28. What This Thread Shows Is How Very Ineffective The Left Has Been in the Past 30 Years

That's what it shows. I still haven't gotten an answer to my question.

[EFerrari]

30. No, I actually am coming to the conclusion that your premise doesn't work.

Because most if not every push back against Republican extremism has come from the Left, who have to juggle supporting ever right-moving Democrats and resisting the Republican right at the same time.

The Left has been building the Indy media, the peace movement, the single payer and green movements. The Left amassed the information about Bush's election fraud, about torture, about corrupt contractors like Black Water. It was the Lefties like Code Pink that were many times the only visible resistance to BushCo in Congress. That those haven't gained much ground just shows the Left is better at supporting Democrats than Democrats are at supporting the Left.

[Yavin4]

31. What You Cite Is Small Potatoes

The union movement, civil rights movement, the feminists faced far, far worse opposition to them than what the Left has faced in the past 30 years. Far worse.

Yet, the Left has little or nothing to show.

[EFerrari]

38. Baloney. Not to mention, we're talking about the same people.

lol

[RainDog]

32. You are a sick joke of a human being to state the left has been ineffective

when the right has controlled govt for that entire time.

If you look at the problems created by the policies of the right wing - zero or negative job growth, the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich, the undoing of the social safety net...

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE BECAUSE THE RIGHT WING WAS IN POWER.

Then you have the nerve to ask the left why they didn't undo these things - when the Democratic Party, for instance, put forth candidates that were from the conservative DLC?

What the fuck is your problem?

As I noted downthread, the left has worked outside the govt. to create change - and they have created MIGHTY changes over the last 30 years because conservatives would still have gays in the closet, would force the poor to go to a church for food to eat, would force the mentally ill to rely upon quacks in churches who don't know the first goddamn thing about mental illness - while the left has created ways to provide resources for people that do not force them to kowtow to the brainwashing favored by the right wing.

The left was and is right about the invasion of Iraq - this was and is a foreign policy disaster. Afghanistan - people on the left knew the history of the region and asked if it was even feasible to think the war lords would do anything other than protect their political interests - which might include undermining the remaining superpower in this world - and the left was and is right about that situation as well.

The left was correct about the error of funding the contras. The left was correct about the abuses of power that went on during the Reagan and Bush sr. administrations in regard to foreign policy in Latin America - since the U.S. has been too busy in the M.E. to focus its force of hatred on Latin America - those nations have begun to come into their own.

This is after those decades in which the right wing in this nation funded and backed death squads to murder priests and nuns (after raping them) and who supported openly fascist govts across Central America.

The failure you see is the failure of the right wing, when in power, to use that power for the good of people. Instead they have used that power as a cudgel to oppress people in Latin America.

So, honestly, what you're asking is this: What has the left done to repair the horrific abuses of power that were and are the legacy of the right wing over last 30 years.

[Sebastian Doyle]

36. Actually, this thread is a great way to try out the new updated alert system

It fits at least three categories in the list.

[spoony]

41. Yep, but it didn't work for me.

Some alerts are more equal than others.

[VMI Dem]

14. Is this assault part of the new Woodchuck Initiative?

Very clever.

:thumbsup:

[blondeatlast]

21. Most here think I'm a cheerleader, and even I think the OP is

overly thin-skinned.

I'm guessing the OP would not invite me to camp.

[L0oniX]

15. I can only hope that some day the left will be a majority party.

[spoony]

18. Apparently some here would be very uncomfortable with that. nt

[L0oniX]

20. No shit!

[Umbral]

22. What has the DLC done? Joined with Republicans to deregulate the economy...

setting the stage for the worst meltdown since the Great Depression. The Left may be impotent, but as such, it can do no harm. What it has done is offer up correct appraisals of just about every policy position for the last 60 years. If there is one thing people hate, it's being shown to wrong, and they'll never forgive you for that.

[AngryAmish]

24. We sent a man to the monn.

Several men, actually.

[Barack2theFuture]

26. In terms of national politics,

there has been no left for the last 30 years.

:shrug:

there is just the right of center and the W-A-Y right of center.

[Ignis]

27. It's a trap!

http://itsatrap.ytmnd.com/

[RainDog]

29. since 1980?

The left was very involved in the pro-democracy movement for China. There were demonstrations in support all across U.S. campuses and lots of support. This movement had nothing to do with government, tho.

Since the U.S. govt. has been overtaken by conservatives, people have turned their energies to work that could be achieved without the govt of the U.S. - which has totally failed on most any issue of consequence.

There were and are the movements to get Universities not to invest in places like apartheid Africa, or with companies that use slave labor. At the same time, the U.S. govt. was supporting apartheid - Cheney called Mandela a terrorist.

Fair Trade has been a big issue and people have been made aware of the way that the things they purchase - who produces them - matters. At the same time, the U.S. govt. protected people like Chiquita from charges of using slave labor.

No Sweat is another organization that has worked to create better conditions - again, with no govt. involvement since the govt supported those companies who moved their production facilities out of the U.S. and paid workers pennies on the dollar.

The anti-globalists brought the issue of problems with the IMF and other entities to the attention of the American people - to those who wanted to pay attention rather than just jerk off to internet porn. - Even people who were not part of the process became aware of problems - even tho the media has tried to portray that movement as nothing more than the black bloc.

People have worked to create affordable housing where they live - organizations like Habitat for Humanity, local organizations that provide food pantries for the poor - all of these groups have been instrumental in helping, even tho it's not enough, as the right wing cut services and spending for the poor - to the point that the mentally ill were sleeping on park benches during the Reagan administration.

What I see, but what you fail to see, or don't want to admit, is that conservatives took over the American govt. with Reagan. This continued with Clinton and his NAFTA fuck you to labor.

To counter the ABSOLUTE ABDICATION of responsibility by the American govt. for the welfare of people who have been victims of abuse, who have suffered from illnesses, who have no family or personal safety net - liberals have responded by working with people and organizations where they live to try to mitigate some of the damage done by conservatism among the poorest and neediest among us.

People volunteer time for particular organizations.

The legacy of the last 30 years has been the destruction of the idea of an American community by the actions of the right wing. Liberals and the left have worked to fill the gap left by this sink hole of selfishness and greed.

At the state level, voters have quasi-legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 14 states. This was because of liberals. Clinton fought against this, being a typical suck up to the "law and order" crew that has bullshitted Americans for the last 40 years on this issue.

At city levels, cities have instituted recycling programs to bring attention to the issue of consumption and waste. City govts have worked to make public transportation rather than cars, part of the fabric of life.

People have looked to bikes as alternatives in transportation and many cities with strong liberal bases also have strong bike cultures as a way to personally contribute to fewer cars on the road.

The left has created many amazing documentaries tracking the way that the right-wing assumption of power has led to a meaner, less egalitarian society. The left has supported amazing comedians who tell the truth and let us laugh so that we do not cry.

You may not think these two matter, but just ask anyone from the Soviet Union how they dealt with the abuses of power under their lying hypocrites.

Outside of the beltway with its constricted mental frames, the left has worked to bring acceptance of civil rights for the gblt community to national attention - the glbt community is part and parcel of the left - and those who are not gblt but support their rights have helped to demonstrate acceptance of difference isn't a scary thing.

The left has worked to help people understand that those with various disabilities deserve access to services in this nation - physical access, but also the space to be able to learn.

Those are some things I can think of off the top of my head.

When your govt. is controlled by a bunch of useless tools, you have to look outside of that avenue to achieve things of worth and value.

the govt has given us unnecessary wars, unneeded tax cuts for the wealthy, unwanted restrictions on our personal lives, unhealthy intrusion of right wing religious beliefs into government and an overweening sense that this govt is broken because of its collusion with big business at the exclusion of main street or the person on the street.

It's been really disgusting to become an adult and live through a time of such total, cynical abuse of the American people in the name of corporate fealty, but that's what the govt has been about for the last 30 years - that and wars based upon bullshit that have decimated America's reputation around the world.

[Yavin4]

33. Lots of Words -- With No Succinct List of Accomplishments

Nothing that would make the establishment respect and fear the Left.

You cite things such as medical marijuana, biking to work, documentaries, comedians, etc. Small bore stuff that has no political resonance.

[RainDog]

35. You are nothing more than a hack

You are incredibly ignorant if you cannot understand the importance of the things I noted.

However, your purpose for creating this thread is to lie about what's important.

Those people who got LBJ to resign - they weren't part of the govt. Those women who marched in the streets for rights - were and are still working for those rights - and working jobs and taking care of families and working in their communities.

The establishment is the face of death.

They never respect the left. You are ignorant about history if you think the establishment respected the civil rights workers or gave a shit about them - the reason the civil rights movement worked is because people became aware, through the very sorts of activities I listed here, of abuses that were occuring - they became aware of systemic racism.

But the establishment in the south, for instance, continued to murder blacks simply b/c they could get away with it. They continued to deny rights and respect basic human dignity because they were part of the establishment.

And you are wrong about the establishment not fearing the left. You see that all the time here when people go through a process of threats, then attempts to denigrate, then attempts to pacify the left - you are involved in that process at this moment by insisting that those things that have created change - without any help from the right wing in power - have not been the ways that people have started to think about and act upon the idea other ways of being.

If you think that medical marijuana is small bore - you're simply an idiot.

The same thing with issues of transportation.

So, honestly, I just have to come to the conclusion that you make this choice to appear to be clueless.

It must serve some purpose for you.

It certainly illustrates the value of anything you have to say for me.

[Yavin4]

40. So, Since You Cannot Respond

You go on personal attacks. Well, that alone speaks volumes about the impact that the Left has had on American politics in the last 30 years which is nothing.

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RainDog]

43. You made a claim that a list of accomplishments was not a list of accomplishments

for that reason I noted that such a claim indicated a lack of a certain... something.

but, again, to claim that working toward and creating an end to the war on drugs is nothing demonstrates that what you are doing here is simply pretending that your claims are truth when, in fact, they demonstrate an inability to actually see the ways that change happen in a society.

to claim that the focus on an individual's environmental impact and ways to reduce that impact are nothing... indicates a lack of a certain something.

to claim that working to make people aware of the abuse of power by the right wing in Central and Latin America is nothing - or to note how the people in those nations have done better without interference from right wingers who supported death squads and fascists...indicates a lack of a certain something.

to work on issues of sustainable living for people in poverty is nothing as the federal govt worked to abandon its neediest... indicates a certain lack of something.

but, again, the entire reason for your OP is to merely lie about the reality of American life under 30 years of right wing oppression... which indicates a certain lack of something.

[RainDog]

44. oh, and I got yer succinct for you right here

the gay rights movement

the environmental movement

the sustainable cities movement

the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis movement

the art of the last 30 years that has exposed the lies of the right wing

That's a short list.

Again, if you cannot understand how these things have been the driving forces of societal change, you should get out more. You'll find that those things that the left has worked toward have been the things that driven this society to change the way it views itself in this world.

just go to any newsstand and look at the magazines for sale - look at what comprises mainstream culture now. Women's health, home magazines, news - it's all about the issues that the left has worked on, without the help of a government that prostitutes itself to the forces of stagnation - that are the issues of importance for people in their view of what is interesting or important in American culture.

[Javaman]

34. Yes, here's one! They have made amazing strides in...

allowing the repukes to beat them into submission.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

37. The Iraq War, NAFTA, Wall Street Deregulation, repeal of Glass Steagall, illegal

wiretapping, legitimized turture, Tele Communications Act, triangulation...... oh wait my bad that was someone else.

[DailyGrind51]

39. Unfortunately, "the Left" was abandoned following the '68 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

[marmar]

45. selfdelete

nt