Left liberals at a crossroads

Anthony Gregory on the growing divide between the left liberal establishement and their base, as exemplified by Jon Stewart (via LewRockwell.com):

The battle over the soul of American left-liberalism has begun. Neither side is libertarian, of course. But one is clearly better from a libertarian perspective. One offers a potential return to normalcy -- to take the steroids away from the "steroidal Democrats" in the Republican Party -- to retract, at least somewhat, the U.S. empire to more tolerable and less globally dangerous levels; to demilitarize the American police at home; even to keep cleaner accounts for America's financial house and temper the tyrannical extraction of wealth from the taxpaying class for gorging by the corporate state. Yes, it is not totally libertarian. But on the other side, also fighting for the soul of left-liberalism, is the worst of all worlds in American politics: sanguine for war and the nightstick, and intent on inflating taxes on the rich so as to stabilize and better manage the total state and empire. In other words, just as Bush has been a "steroidal Democrat," Schumer offers a glimpse into a future Democratic administration of steroidal Republicans. Let the battle commence, and let us hope that if the popular left ever rises again in this country, it is more inclined toward the sensibilities of Jon Stewart than the jackbooted thuggery of Chuck Schumer.

As I've been trying to tell people, opposing this administration's foreign policy is about more than getting Republicans out of office: it's about giving the electorate a real anti-war party. Let's remember that the Democratic establishment has a lot of Republican elements of which to rid themselves. If left liberal independents can figure out that the powers they give their politicians will eventually be used by the others' politicians, maybe they'll start to see why leftism need not support the state (at least, reflexively). Read this article