At what point does one become a Loony Lefty?

[mopaul]

We often hear of the loony liberals, and the wacky left wingers, and the tree huggers and the Kennedy worshippers, and crackpot conspiracy theorists, and the lunatic, far out, drug addled 60's burnouts.

And for 10 years the right has tried to turn the very word liberal into something akin to nazi.

We and the right invent our own sub categories for liberals. Loony treehuggers and longhaired flower children. conservative liberals, who wear suits and play golf, moderate liberals, who at least try to see both sides of things. Radical liberals, way left, who are demanding revolution and civil disobedience and a total overthrow of the screwed up system.

So at what point, does a left leaning liberal get dismissed, and even ridiculed and held at a distance? When he or she starts demanding answers about 9-11? When he chains himself to a tree or missile silo in protest? When he marries his boyfriend? When he suggests radical ideas and conspiracy theories? At what point does an 'above-ground' democrat become an 'underground' democrat?

Where do you draw the line on what is considered too far left for our own good? Do radical liberals embarrass you? Do you think liberal 'conspiracy theorists' make the rest of us look bad? Are you ashamed af any outspoken, loose cannon liberals like Michael Moore?
Or James Carville?

What are the things that moderates and far-leftists need to do to make liberalism work again? At what point can the lefty loonies interact with the more conservative wing of the Democratic party?
What works for us? The war issue? The tax issue? The PNAC issue?
Marijuana? The corruption issue? The lying issue? Let's get it together.

Repubs never pass up an opportunity to ridicule the lunatic left fringe that they are pretending represents all of us. I myself am part of that lunatic left. But I wish to participate in the American system, and I am a true patriot, so I shouldn't have to knock heads with fellow liberals. I just want to find ways that our party can strengthen and defeat the evil ones who have raped our nation.

What are the things that are too left, or not left enough? In any event, we need to be proud liberals, and spit in the faces of anyone who dares to suggest that being a liberal is somehow negative or harmful to our democracy. Say it loud: "I'm liberal and I'm proud!"
And stop turning down your nose at the hardcore leftists and crackpots. They have a useful purpose in the world. To stir shit up, and ask questions, and raise hell, when such things are needed.

[really-looney]

1. I was born one

I actually ran a campaign the unofficial slogan was "Don't be crazy vote for Looney"

[Midwest_Doc]

2. Nothing is Too Far Left to Consider

That's what characterizes an open-minded Progressive. While I may not agree with a particular position, I will consider it and use it to modify or reinforce views I have already formed. Nothing is too radical to consider.

[JanMichael]

3. Hmm. I guess I'd have to say I'm a Lunatic Liberal or Radical Liberal.

That said I'm also a "white collar" professional...

I've actually had fairly good responses to my political leanings lately. Sadly I think I may be given more respect, time and consideration, that more legitimate Lefties because of that. Oh and I'm "Suburban White" and probably seem non-threatening.

On the few occasions that I've been aggressively attacked, in public situations, I've changed my relatively polite demeanor to one less friendly. It works.

[mopaul]

8. i'm givin it right back to them

these days, i can't suffer fools like i used to. i won't sit in a room and listen to rushpuppies without giving it right back to them in their fascist faces. like bo diddly said, you can't judge a book by looking at the cover. liberals come in all shapes and styles and backgrounds. all of us are the type who investigate things, instead of simply accepting and conforming. it's always been about half and half through the ages.

[Beetwasher]

18. My Hobby is Figuratively Bitch-Slapping Morons

and making them look foolish in front of others. The ammunition to use against them is endless and it's not hard to rhetorically corner them and turn them into babbling, sputtering, speechless idiots with embarrassed red faces...

Welcome home Mo! Missed ya bud!

[CatWoman]

4. MoPaul, Sweetie!!!

:hi:

:* :D

SO GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK!!! :hi: :hi: :bounce:

[mopaul]

10. sugar!.......

...ahhh, honey honey,...you are my candy girllllll, and you got me wantin' yooooo..........

thanks catwoman

[sendero]

5. when they....

... throw away their vote to a pond scum like Nader?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. I can never get over the term 'Radical Liberal'

But then, over here a Liberal is a centrist. This is Canadian Radical Liberals on a march...
"WHAT DO WE WANT!"
"GRADUAL CHANGE!"
"WHEN DO WE WANT IT?"
"IN DUE COURSE!"

[JanMichael]

7. Fabian Liberals!

Heh. Hell we've still got Fabian Socialists...

[diamond14]

9. when National Guard troops murdered students at Kent State

reTHUGlicans called them 'hippies' 'outside agitators' 'leftists insurgents' and a whole bunch of other degrading terms...

investigations found that 12 students were SHOT, 4 were KILLED...but every single one was a FULL-TIME successful College Student at Kent State, all of them had GPA's better than bush*...hardly deserving of such degradation, because most people would be pleased if their sons/daughters were full-time successful college students...

at the Pro-Peace Rallies, starting on January 18, 2004 in DC...I have been at many...in DC (5 rallies), in NY, in Chicago....what I have seen and who I have talked to and walked with have been nurses, doctors, an ambassador, a WWII POW American Soldier, Veterans, firefighters, business people, writers, counselors, social workers, religious clergy and deacons, monks.....

I view these people as normal Patriotic Americans...walking along with lots of American flags....college educations, working in their communities to help others, full-time workers who have spent their whole lives giving to others and helping...that's why they are at the Pro-Peace Rallies....they care....(while most Americans don't care and prefer to sit in front of their TV sets instead)....

yet, if you hear bush* and his minions and his media speak...we are some kind of loonies, leftists, mad people, undermining the goverment, communists, nazis and more...


the perception is now so prevalent, that upon returning to DU forums from the October 25 Pro-Peace Rally in DC...there was an ATTACK on us, on all returning Patriots who dared post here for at, least a week, were called all kinds of nasty names...that frightened me...especially now, as we move forward to the March 20th Pro-Peace rallies...will we be attacked here again? is there any support from DUers?...

[not systems]

26. That weekend in October was an eye opener.

Before that I had assumed an antiwar stand was the
norm on DU after that weekend I realized it was not.

I went to the SF rally in October and will go in March also.

My guess is that the same thing will happen here again.

Sucks.

[DBoon]

11. You are a loony leftist when

What Trotsky did in 1936 is more important than what Bush did in 2004.

When you call someone who drinks wine from a bottle that has a cork (rather than a screw-cap) a "petit bourgeois liberal"

When your idea of political organizing is holding secret meetings where you discuss something Lenin said in 1912.

I'm sure I will think of some others...

[Mari333]

13. You are too far left these days when you are just left of

Attila the Hun
Thats what it feels like to me.

[ArkDem]

12. Spitting in the faces of people you disagree with is always

helpful. Can't think of a better way to further the cause.

[mopaul]

14. figuratively of course

although i've had some repubs actully spit in my face. i keep my insults to a normal speaking tone, and hope for the best

[JanMichael]

19. Whay, pray tell, are you refering too?

I have an idea but I'd like you to elaborate:-)

[tjwash]

15. Same ol' Same ol'.

I really do not believe there is such a thing as the "Loony left". Checking a little history, when any Ultra right group comes into power, ala Pinochet in Chile, Idi Amin in Uganda, or any others for that matter, the great masses get subjected to such a conservative media blitz until such groups such as liberals who are not in lockstep get demonized. Rush, Hannity, Oreally, have worked long and hard to make sure that the word "Liberal" has been used each and every day in the same context that the Nazi's used the word "Jew", and it works. Liberals have been so successfully slapped around by the media, most of my liberal friends have opted to refer to themselves as "progressives" now. Heck, just the fact that this thread exists is proof that the media blitz campaign works.

Always remember that when the Nazis came to power, there was such an unyielding propaganda assault, that the majority of people in Germany succumbed. They made labor unions illegal, imprisoned socialists and communists, and intimidated liberals, educators, the intelligentsia, homosexuals, and Jews and immigrants with such an extent, that six million people were shoveled into ovens....

[sangh0]

16. One becomes a loony lefty

as soon as one starts promoting causes that hurt the left's agenda and justify it on the basis of principle.

[kher-heb]

23. does that include

voting for war, patriot act, fast track trade, homeland gestapo, etc?

[librechik]

28. right after knee-jerk Clintonite & before Trotskyite rabblerouser n/t

[John_H]

17. Seriously? When you start acting against the left's interests.

[MercutioATC]

20. When you start using terms like "BFEE", perhaps?

I always thought phrases like that made us sound really bad.

[strategery blunder]

22. I'm new here

What does BFEE stand for?

[not systems]

25. Bush family evil empire. n/t

[not systems]

24. I prefer the "Bush crime family" over "BFEE" myself.

Loony?

:tinfoilhat:

[hang a left]

27. I am one of the looniest lefties there are here.

I am a MIHOPER.

I believe in the ELITE are running our country through organizations like Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and the Bilderbergers.

I believe that the congressional, judicial, legislative processes are a complete sham.

I believe that there is no longer truth and justice for all.

I believe that it doesn't matter if we have a Dem or a * for a president, we are witnessing the last days of our once great nation.

I believe in almost every single conspiracy theory that has been presented here at Club DU.

I pray alot lately.

[tom_paine]

21. Nice to see you, mopaul

I'd been missing your fire and intensity, pal.

To answer your question: In Modern Imperial Amerika, one becomes a "Looney Lefty" by disagreeing mildly with the Imperial Family.

Reminds me of the Old Soviet Union, and we are getting our first taste of what flavor Amerikan Totalitarianism is going to be.

[Forkboy]

29. When you stand for something beyond winning the next election?

[loudsue]

30. Man, it's soooo good to hear from you, Mopaul!!

:hi: Where ya been??? :shrug: It's so nice to have you back!

In answer to your question: These days, you become a "loony lefty" when you don't buy into the crap the media says you're supposed to buy into. When you're not one of the sheep, and you're not trying to pretend you are one.

:kick:

[ArwenJade]

31. I guess I'm a loony lefty

I call myself a Democrat, but I'm basically a socialist. I just don't want people to get the wrong idea that I support violent dictatorships or want to destroy the government.

[TacticalPeek]

32. You know you've gone too far left

when you want aWol to win reelection so that things will get worse, and THEN we can have a revolution.

[ArwenJade]

34. Sounds like my mom

She wants Bush to win so that people will rise up against him. I'm not that optimistic.

[corporatewhore]

33. when you realize socialinjustices are comittedbydemstoothenyou get labeled

fringe leftist

[shanti]

35. good to see ya posting, mopaul

:hi:

[belle]

36. Loony left:

-Maoists/Shining Path supporters
-PETA, esp. Ingrid Newkirk
-David Icke (lizards! evil alien lizards!)
-People who say things like "the streets will run with blood" without irony (and maybe with just a hint of drool)
-The Earth Firsters! who've gone past just sitting in giant redwoods for months and are now actively planning violence
-Your average assortment of mentally deranged folk that you'll find in any political group

That's the *seriously* loony left. That doesn't take into account the technically-sane-but-stubborn-to-the-point-of-idiocy left, aka people who *still* think Bush is no worse than your average Democrat, and that things have to "get worse before they get better; not to mention the extreme lack of direction often found in co-opy groups: the "free Mumia!" people at the anti-war demonstrations (hello, a bit of focus, please?); or the extremel earnest debates over incredibly petty shit while the whole damn world is collapsing. Think Monty Python's Life of Brian and the "People's Front of Judea," who spent more time fighting the "Judean People's Front" than the Romans. Then when Brian is being crucified:

"Right, let's discuss this right away. Who wants to lead the task force on drawing up apossible plans of action..."

"It's happening right now, Reg! Something is *actually happening, Reg!* *Do* something! Now!" (Blank stares) "AAAGHH!"

[JCMach1]

37. If you have to ask, you're already there

:)

Of course, I'm there too...

[Iverson]

38. when one values ideas above partisanship

Anymore, having some minimum principles occasions the weirdest denunciations, most notably the one about being an intransigent purist who wants 100% compliance 100% of the time.

Thus the would-be guardians of acceptable liberalism seek to limit debate and opinion, even if those opinions were once bedrock liberal principles.

I give it less than ten years before "Loony Left" means anything to the left of Bob Dole. The entire political discourse continues to shift right, so all subjective judgements are likely to shift right too.

(Of course, pointing this out, or even noticing it, is unacceptably far left too.)

[Q]

39. It's interesting that some talk about the 'left's agenda'...

...as if the left were even included in it. The agenda and principles of the Democratic party have changed to the point of being unrecognizable by those who joined the party before the Neodemocrats took over.

- Is unprovoked war now part of the left's agenda? Corporate whoredom?