Political Crossfire Forums

so, what then is the issue? if many of us are "fat and happy" as you say?

EDIT: I see what you're saying though about the organizational dysfunction among the left and I fully agree.

for the longest time i thought flower of paradise was actually a phrase that had entered our lexicon. pcf censor system

okay i see your point about wealth inequality and this is indeed a major issue. but as you also pointed out a large majority of americans still enjoy many modern conveniences and comforts. so how do you address the discrepancy between the growing accumulation of power and wealth at the top and the fact that most people still have what they need (for the most part)? I mean elsewhere around the world the middle classes are quite eager to get out and protest--thailand, turkey, brazil, etc.--but it could be argued these are developing countries where "middle class" doesn't have the same material and ideological significance.

so let me pose this issue a different way, do you think americans would be convinced by a movement that could show them not how much they're "suffering" per se, but that could promote a new brand of civic consciousness? basically i think you need a positive platform to go along with whatever critique of inequality, because the way i see it and the way i put in the OP, most people feel actively disengaged from the system. i think the only movement that's possible at this point is one that actively tries to address people's sense of passivity. it may not even be a directly "political" issue, could be about addressing some other social ill or anxiety.

currently i think the way the republican party is doing it for example is convincing people their future is threatened by the accumulation of national debt in order to promote its own brand of austerity. but this is still an issue distant from most people's experience (i mean you're trying to convince people ten, twenty, even more years down the line that they may not get social security. hardly something that starts a revolution).

other than that though i don't know what broad outlines of an issue would actually attract people (environmentalism, wealth inequality, racial issues, etc.)

anyways, let's keep at this, what would actually convince people that something needs to be done about say wealth inequality?

Jesus. yeah we're done.

on another note, i find politics is much more interesting elsewhere aroudn the world. you feel like there's still the possibility of change (and not in that empty obama sense).