OpEd Contributor
Don’t miss the Elite Left vs the Populist Left
By: Ralph Benko, OpEd Contributor
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August 3, 2009
Who said this: “And in the face of Obama’s deplorable agenda we have “progressive” organizations like MoveOn, which should be declared the Sociopathic Slime-Balls of the Century.”
Rush Limbaugh? Nope. A prominent Left-wing blog, OpEdNews.com.
And who said this: “This is not a simple matter of an organizational oligarchy manipulating its membership, although the avoidance by MoveOn's leadership is a troubling sign.”
George Will? Nope. An excerpt from a column in the Left’s flagship, The Nation, by anti-Vietnam War activist Tom Hayden.
How about this headline? “Violent Crackdowns and Sweetheart Deals. Andy Stern's Rackets.”
Michelle Malkin? Nope. Ralph Nader writing in counterpunch.org.
While the Right is bemoaning The Fall of Western Civilization As We Know It, so, on other grounds, is the … elitist Left.
Looks like the Left’s having a power failure. From Politico’s Bill Greene:
“Organizing for America, launched a massive, e-mail ‘pledge drive’ to generate support for the Obama budget. The DNC got to 642,000 by making three photocopies of each pledge.
“While the Huffington Post gloated over a clearly rigged number, the Post pointed out that ‘the canvassing of Obama’s vaunted e-mail list of 13 million people resulted in just 114,000 pledges — a response rate of less than 1 percent.’”
Meanwhile, Politico’s Chris Frates reported that MoveOn, on its top priority issue climate change, “generated more than 7,000 constituent calls to promote the legislation.”
Only 7000 calls from 5 million members?
"Our movement lacks muscle and bone density," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, at a meeting of the newly anemic Take Back America, according to The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank.
Let’s take note that the Left’s powerhouse rank and file are becoming strangely inert. But of greater significance is the hatred of the elitist Left for the populist Left. Much of what is wrong with the many Obama prescriptions is not merely that they are leftist. They are elitist, implying a disdain for ordinary people’s ability to manage their own affairs.
The Left populists stay the course. Consider what MoveOn’s national communications director said to Politico’s Chris Frates:
“’The make-or-break question is not what happens in D.C., but making sure that ordinary Americans make their voices heard to their elected representatives back at home in their cities and towns,’ said MoveOn spokeswoman Ilyse Hogue.”
MoveOn’s policy formula is only slightly to the right of Fidel Castro. But MoveOn is the staunch envoy of its rank and file. Such fidelity draws rude insults from the Left elitists.
Consider, for another example, what The New York Times’ Matt Bai saw at an appearance by Stern before a group of elitist Hollywood Liberals:
“From the back of the room, I could see Stern's chin slowly sink toward his chest. He seemed to be suppressing the strong impulse to send his chair hurtling toward the banquet tables.
“ 'Look, we're all mis-positioned in the twentieth century,' he complained, waving an arm in exasperation toward the others onstage. He said he didn't think the inflexible government programs of the last era were the answer to the current crisis. 'How we got to be the party of government, and not of small business, I just don't get….' “
Stern stands for the whole litany of far Left nostrums. Yet … he is devoting his life to helping janitors and maids. His stance draws insults from Nader.
Elitists fear the values of democracy and liberty, more so from within their own movement. Hence Stalin’s assassination of the anti-totalitarian Trotsky…. Politics 2.0 is as much about populism vs. elitism as it is about Left vs. Right; and the shape of the future will depend as much upon whether the elitist Left or the populist Left prevails as it does upon the Left’s emerging power failure.
Ralph Benko, a principal of Capital City Partners, is author of The Websters’ Dictionary: How to use the Web to Transform the World (www.thewebstersdictionary.com)
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