Partisan War Syndrome

[G_j]

thoughts on this article?

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2354/

Features > October 17, 2005

Partisan War Syndrome

The left falls victim to a debilitating affliction
By David Sirota

Is the left really as ideological and principle-driven as it seems?


A disease is running rampant through the American left these days. Its symptoms are intense and increasingly pervasive in every corner of the self-proclaimed “progressive” coalition. A good name for the disease could be “Partisan War Syndrome” - and it is eating away at what remains of progressives’ ideological underpinnings and the Democratic Party’s ability to win elections over the long haul.

<snip>
This blunting of the left’s ideological edge is a result of three unfortunate circumstances. First, conservatives spent the better part of three decades vilifying the major tenets of the left’s core ideology, succeeding to the point where “liberal” is now considered a slur. Second, the media seized on these stereotypes and amplified them - both because there was little being done to refute them, and because they fit so cleanly into the increasingly primitive and binary political narrative being told on television.

And third is Partisan War Syndrome - the misconception even in supposedly “progressive” circles that substance is irrelevant when it comes to both electoral success and, far more damaging, to actually building a serious, long-lasting political movement. This is the syndrome resulting from the shellshock of the partisan wars that marked the Clinton presidency. It is an affliction that hollowed out much of the Democratic base’s economic and national security convictions in favor of an orthodoxy that says partisan concerns and cults of personality should be the only priorities because they are supposedly the only factors that win elections. It is a disease that subverts substance for “image” and has marked the last decade of Democrats’ repeated failures at the ballot box.

<snip>
Some may argue that putting partisanship ahead of everything else during the 2004 presidential election was only a fleeting trait of a progressive base desperate to defeat George W. Bush. But a look at the left’s current landscape shows that’s hardly the case. Partisan War Syndrome rages on today like a pandemic in parts of the left’s grassroots base.

..more..

[400Years]

1. this seems very misdirected

since I see the republicans who view everything in partisan terms,
its the democrats who try to be bi-partisan all the time.

[G_j]

4. unfortunately, I think sometimes

that "bi-partisanship" translates as simply 'going along' with the Rs.

[JAbuchan08]

2. There is nothing wrong with progressive principles

and there is nothing wrong with sticking to them. If the "left" can be accused of anything its not responding well enough to attacks from the right.
With the right adopting an extremist agenda and a "you're either with us or against us attitude," I consider it quite reasonable to line up "against them" on all issues - they haven't given us any other options.

[Sallow]

3. Never compromising right.

This is sort of misdirected. Now that Republicans have congress and the white house they view any compromise as failure. They have been bludgeoning the country with their nutsy legislation for several years now and it really looks as if things have basically gone down the crapper. All these "electoral losses" look pretty damn fishy as well..

[Mass]

5. This article is a very valid criticism the net roots and liberal media

and how they work.

Far from preaching that we should not be partisan and stick to progressive values, his point is that people on the blogs and in columns often get enthused on criteria that have nothing to do with that (charisma, profile, ...).

A lot of very good points and a few not so great.

[adwon]

6. Nice article

The author hit quite a few points that I've thought about myself over the last several years.

The GOP knows where it wants to go and how it wants to get there. I don't think the same can be said of Democrats. It seems as though a Democratic vision for America, not just isolated policies, got lost somewhere in the shipwreck of LBJ's presidency.

The author is damn right about the 'framing, narrative, and infrastructure' craze. I've seen a lot of people claim that repackaging the same old shit will make it sell. I have my doubts about that, as you can tell...

Anyway, the big picture got lost a while back. I'd say it's time to get it back.

[Lexingtonian]

7. Kind of flies by any point worth making

It's a bit like Sirota's looking at a sick person and says "Well, he should just back up a bit and just try to imagine himself healthy, like he used to be. That's what he really needs."

I think the reality he ignores is that the real political need for touting Democratic ideology has evaporated. The country is simply becoming more healthy and sensible and liberal, doing stuff that was convincingly argued at length and beyond anybody's desire to ever hear any more of it during the Seventies and Eighties. At least socially. The economic stuff was also argued to clarity and went into the mainstream thinking too, and it remains there. It's flying to where liberals have wanted it to go on autopilot of sorts now.

I was thinking about TV shows now and five or ten years ago. There are few or no more regular shows about slews of serial killers or UFO invasions or drug gangs with shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles or nuclear terrorism. Or how the police/courts/lawyers/doctors/politicians/schools/utilities are all corrupt but fresh young people are cleaning them up. Or the incredible cowboy moral heroics of fighting Russians and indistinct Asians or (most recently) nefarious Semitic people. No one much watches shows anymore where poor fat people on drugs and living in trailers get snatched up by police for stiffing each other or beating each other or ruining what little they own.

The big hits this year and last are "Desperate Housewives" and "Commander In Chief" and "Lost" and "Cold Case". It's all about women and attempts to make the most of their normal choices- marriages and careers and children- on the one hand, and shows that are all about repairing what can be repaired of the past on the other. Maybe stuff like "The Apprentice" still has a little news to it about the future. And you realize that the "CSI"s generally seem far less interesting and plausible than they did three years ago, even if the material is not actually different and the writing and acting is indeed better. Gory crime just doesn't seem so plausible or common enough to prepare yourself for anymore, and the fictional criminals seem increasingly banal and boring. "Will & Grace" is no longer considered edgy. "George Lopez" wasn't much news anymore either, nor was "Judging Amy". All those 'religion' shows- Saved By An Angel, Joan of Arcadia, Medium- don't even get serious mention or serious ratings. Nobody crusades against porn and doesn't get written off immediately as wacko anymore, it seems.

The country is simply getting annoying liberal. It's getting harder and harder to provoke the mainstream. The Right is having trouble getting itself together to fight it all, and you'd think oral sex and abortion and gay marriage would ultimately be slam dunk unifiers for them. Not anymore.

I agree with Sirota that there's a need for an intellectual unity to the Democratic enterprise. But that there's great need for a full blown ideology...I don't sense it.