Everybody’s favorite lefty cowboy has an impressive analysis of where the Peace Movement, and the Left in general, is at right now, how we got here, and where we might be going, over at the Reach’m High Cowboy Network Noose. As Cowboy Kahlil sees it:
The Left has three missions ahead: preventing the war with Syria, stopping Patriot Act 2 and preventing Bush’s re-election. All three are negatives though, reactions, not pro-actions. Is the Left capable of defining its own agenda in positive terms anymore? No, but I hope it’ll rebuild its capacity to do so.
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The single largest demographic group getting short shrift from both major parties is the working poor. The decline of unionism, the lack of affordable healthcare, the low minimum wage and the insufficiencies of the Social Security system are all matters that could be addressed by a cohesive Left before the Right announces its plan and we find ourselves fighting from the defensive position again.
I’m not defining the answers to those actual or looming problems but I can say that most proposals out there sound weak and uninspired in a time when ‘bold’ and ‘new’ approaches provoke headlines and inspire the image of action instead of passive reaction.
Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
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