Comments on: Making Sure One is On the Right Team http://forwantofanail.com/2010/07/making-sure-on-right-team/ A blog for leftist politics Fri, 18 May 2012 04:38:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: fwoan http://forwantofanail.com/2010/07/making-sure-on-right-team/#comment-470 fwoan Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:48:28 +0000 http://forwantofanail.com/?p=727#comment-470 Richard, your description makes a lot of sense. We see too often that a liberal or progressive group has the clout to actually manage successful change over one policy area or another and seemingly always manage to crumble at the last minute and that fear actually makes a lot of sense. These individuals might have to give up some of the luxuries they enjoy, then realize this, and suddenly having a clean conscience isn't nearly as important as appearances. Richard, your description makes a lot of sense. We see too often that a liberal or progressive group has the clout to actually manage successful change over one policy area or another and seemingly always manage to crumble at the last minute and that fear actually makes a lot of sense. These individuals might have to give up some of the luxuries they enjoy, then realize this, and suddenly having a clean conscience isn’t nearly as important as appearances.

]]> By: Richard Estes http://forwantofanail.com/2010/07/making-sure-on-right-team/#comment-466 Richard Estes Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:46:41 +0000 http://forwantofanail.com/?p=727#comment-466 Keep in mind that a lot of the people responsible for the liberal presence on the Net are upper middle class, often with some kind of professional background. Of course, that's not outcome determinative as to specific individuals, certainly not in my case, but may still explain quite a lot. In other words, many of them want to feel progressive while not doing anything that challenges their relative economic preeminence. While living in Davis, California (an upper middle income UC town just west of Sacramento), I frequently encountered this, they were ready for action until it looked like something might actually happen as a result. Politics was a kind of therapy for them, an attempt to enhance their self-esteem. Recall what Alexander Cockburn scathingly said about Al Gore in 2000: his only real constituency were liberals who made over $100,000 a year. Combined with this is a form of resentment: how dare Team Obama not listen to ME and people like ME. Keep in mind that a lot of the people responsible for the liberal presence on the Net are upper middle class, often with some kind of professional background.

Of course, that’s not outcome determinative as to specific individuals, certainly not in my case, but may still explain quite a lot. In other words, many of them want to feel progressive while not doing anything that challenges their relative economic preeminence. While living in Davis, California (an upper middle income UC town just west of Sacramento), I frequently encountered this, they were ready for action until it looked like something might actually happen as a result.

Politics was a kind of therapy for them, an attempt to enhance their self-esteem.

Recall what Alexander Cockburn scathingly said about Al Gore in 2000: his only real constituency were liberals who made over $100,000 a year.

Combined with this is a form of resentment: how dare Team Obama not listen to ME and people like ME.

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