[Taliesan]

Indeed, most American trade unions were anti-Communist.

Bull. They loved it when the central government backed THEIR violations of others' property rights -- that was "justice".

They just opposed the logical extension of their own beliefs and tactics to ALL THE REST OF SOCIETY. Everybody is opposed to the forcible redistribution of their OWN wealth.

[jocon307]

"On the eve of the 2004 elections, some 40 percent of the electorate consisted of born-again Christians, and the world at large was in the grips of a massive religious revival,..."

Die the world have a massive religious revival a month ago? Does anyone know what he is talking about here?

[9999lakes]

2nd comment -- the religious aspect of his article is only periferal, and I find the analysis dead-on.

[sauropod]

read later

[wayoverontheright]

There is no more dramatic proof of the death of the Left than the passage of its central vision — global democratic revolution — into the hands of those who call themselves conservatives.

Global democratic revolution has been only half of their central vision for some time now. The other half of the Left's vision is its opposition to capitalism.

This was a train wreck which had to happen sooner or later, you cannot simultaneously embrace democracy and central control of the economy. Collectivism and democracy are the proverbial oil and water.

[2banana]

The slow death of the Left was not limited to its failure to comprehend how profoundly the world had changed, but included elements that had been there all along, outside the purview of leftist thought. Marx was famously unable to comprehend the importance of religion, which he dismissively characterized as the "opiate of the masses," and the Left had long fought against organized religion. But America had remained a religious society, which both baffled and enraged the leftists. On the eve of the 2004 elections, some 40 percent of the electorate consisted of born-again Christians, and the world at large was in the grips of a massive religious revival, yet the increasingly isolated politicians and intellectuals of the Left had little contact and even less understanding of people of faith.

What is the source of this and what is the religion that is being revived?

[Faeroe]

The first 9/10s of the story is nothing new or particularly insightful. The money line and the observation to keep in mind as we look forward is this:

"There is no more dramatic proof of the death of the Left than the passage of its central vision — global democratic revolution — into the hands of those who call themselves conservatives."

[Tallguy]

The success of America was thus a devastating blow to the Left. It wasn’t supposed to happen. And American success was particularly galling because it came at the expense of Europe itself, and of the embodiment of the Left’s most utopian dream: the Soviet Union.

Well, if Marx would have been surprised by the American political process, he would have been equally surprised by the Russian experience. Under Marxist theory the first proletarian revolution should have taken place in England. Russia was beneath consideration as they were at a much earlier stage of industrialization and her population was much closer to serfdom than it was to a true industrial working class.

[Barset]

There will always be life's losers whose sole ambition is to be the one holding the clipboard while strutting along the railway platform checking off the names of the "enemies of the people" crammed into boxcars.

The one constant of the Left --- they never rest.
b

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Class hatred is alive and well in Minneapolis.

[happygrl]

bttt

[Wolfstar]

...and they fought for liberty for all...

On the whole, a good article, but the above assertion is wrong. The Left never fought for individual human liberty, but rather for a state-enforced egalitarian society.