People are Talking About

Chris Hedges:
http://www.alternet.org/authors/5769/
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chris_Hedges

Last fall, he released a book, The Death of the Liberal Class. Here he is with Amy Goodman:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/20/chris_hedges_obama_is_a_poster

From Amazon:

"For decades the liberal class was a defense against the worst excesses of power. But the pillars of the liberal class— the press, universities, the labor movement, the Democratic Party, and liberal religious institutions—have collapsed. In its absence, the poor, the working class, and even the middle class no longer have a champion.
In this searing polemic Chris Hedges indicts liberal institutions, including his former employer, the New York Times, who have distorted their basic beliefs in order to support unfettered capitalism, the national security state, globalization, and staggering income inequalities. Hedges argues that the death of the liberal class created a profound vacuum at the heart of American political life. And now speculators, war profiteers, and demagogues— from militias to the Tea Party—are filling the void."

From iBrattleboro under a thread by Tom Finnell (with a 3-hour video posted):
http://www.ibrattleboro.com/article.php/20120103125716573

"...the poor, the working class, and even the middle class no longer have a champion." It's true. We have to do everything without organization. Or do it singly, which is inviting $%!( upon your head in these days. What remains of the left are painfully and sometimes damagingly their own persons, view themselves as individuals, and don't often support each other near enough to push a victory in anything. It's herding cats. I've heard some people can do that. We need one. Or a dozen.

There are few of the old-fashioned Liberals around. The "Progressives" of today are not of the same cloth. I can count the number of original old style Liberals in town on one hand. And who I know elsewhere will fill the other. Many have died, and many are disabled. And more than one got fed up and walked away from the BS.

This is a discussion long overdue. Thank you for bringing it up.
We the old-fashioned Liberals need to get off our asses again. Things are too desperate to walk away. We've already been stomped on, so what's to worry about? Nothing we haven't done before. But we need organizers.