It is the idea that is king. It is the idea that lost. It is educating the masses to what has happened to them that will bring real change.

All I have seen out of the left for years is support of abortion, support of the global warming myth, and asking for more wealth redistribution. That is certainly better than the fear-mongering on the right, but it does not sell to the broad middle of 'normal' people.

The horrors that this government has done over the last 50 years is amazing to those who really study history. And yet, the general population only knows the myths learned as children for the most part.

My friends, until the masses awaken to the truth (god knows who will tell them) we will see change --- but it will not be for the better.

It is educating the masses to what has happened to them that will bring real change.

I respectfully disagree.

I respectfully submit that the masses know more than you think they do about exactly how this country works, and have a (to some extent, entirely valid) skepticism about the possibility for real change.

Organize the masses, win victories, beef up their hearts. You'll see change. This is not theory... this is history.

I don't recall anyone having a problem with your idea of the right being the only place revolution will come out of. I don't think any of the posters critical of your comments have even mentioned it. It was this paragraph, with which you started your post that raised hackles.

"There is no way for Adnoto or anyone else to adequately answer questions like "what would you do specifically? What would you recommend others do specifically?" Any response offered will not have enough specificity to satisfy the questioner. As we've already seen. It's a gambit. A game. Not meant to be either productive or serious. It's meant solely to quash the notion of an uprising -- that is to say, an uprising from the left."

Now, agree that that's bullshit and we can talk about your right wing revolution till the cows come home. But you came to Adnoto's defense when he was criticized for producing no ideas with a defense for being idea-less; really this is insulting to people who actually are out there trying to organize or to move forward their platforms. No one in Palestine would ever respond like that, they would try to convince you even if you were a Zionist.

Then we will just have to disagree. That is fine.

I will just say that most American's knowledge of any history is poor, and their knowledge of real history is almost non-existent. Most of what you think you know is not true. That is the hard part to overcome.

If you get some time, read an old book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen. It is a little dated now that it is over a decade old, but it still will show you some of the problem. Then, after you read that consider that poor old Loewen only scratched the surface.

But, it is not a problem that we disagree --- might ruin your holidays if it were otherwise.

:-)

Look, adnoto and others have given a whole litany of "specifics" for resisting the further consolidation of the Autocracy. Specifics.

And what do you do? You say he (and all the others) haven't said anything, don't have any ideas, are not providing specifics. Glenn does the same thing. It happens again and again. Been going on for years. Specifics are constantly met with, "That's not specific enough." And "that's not what I meant."

So I point out that it's a game. Nothing adnoto can offer will be "enough." Whatever is offered will always be met with derision at best, denial that anything has been offered at all most of the time. Insults. Denunciations. The whole list. Insults and derision returned with interest.

And you have a problem with my pointing this out -- when I've witnessed it over and over again, and you did it to me in response to the short list of specifics I offered?

It's absurd.

Especially when all these Big Revolutionaries start carping about how I've given up and joined the sheeple, because I point out that what's left of the real Left and what passes for the imaginary "Left" of the Blogosphere have too much invested in the present political norms to revolt or even contemplate it. All right all you Big Revolutionaries, we'll see you on the barricades tomorrow, right? Sure we will.

I stand by my point that there aren't enough "specifics" to satisfy the critics. We've seen that right here today.

There is no lack of organizations and organizers on the side of the Light --- some of which could, on the spur of the moment, be the catalysts for uprising -- but few are inclined to it right now. Contra some around here, I never suggested organizing and organizers weren't fundamental to achieving objectives. Of course they are. And they already exist.

It isn't necessary to reinvent the wheel or to think this path has never been trod before. All the specifics you could want and need are right there in front of you, and some -- like ondelette -- are out there day after day doing just what needs to be done to tell the truth and shame the devil. But it isn't spurring revolt, not on our side.

Not yet.

I'll say it again. You're confused about the difference between strategy and structure. Having a sit-in, general strike, etc, is a strategy. Before you do that, you need a populace ready to take part in that activity. Right now there isn't any. This seems pretty clear. Neither you nor Adnoto have offered ways of mobilizing the population; in fact, you claim its impossible in America. And yet you're defending Adnoto. That's not his claim. He claims that he has laid out specifics for a non-electoral and political strategy, and that no one will heed them. That's obviously not true, he has offered no strategies, only actions that a mobilized population could undertake--this is the difference between plot and special effects.

Adnoto seems to want Glenn to do the mobilizing. You insist the specifics have been laid out but we remain inured due to hard-heartedness. Not true, for the reasons just stated.

And please shorten your posts. That's just respectful.