Folks, check this out, it’s super cool. I’m reading A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey for my research, and it turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Here is a particularly curious bit:
Values of individual freedom and social justice are not, however, necessarily compatible. Pursuit of social justice presupposes social solidarities and a willingness to submerge individual wants, needs, and desires in the cause of some more general struggle for, say, social equality or environmental justice. . . It has long proven extremely difficult within the US left to forge the collective discipline required for political action to achieve social justice without offending the desire of political actors for individual freedom and for full recognition and expression of particular identities.
In order to flourish, neoliberalism needs people to love and celebrate individual freedoms. Among all of the freedoms you need to live your life the way you wish, it slips in the freedom of enterprise.
Of course, people who liberate themselves in the realm of sexual, gender, etc identities anger the Conservative folks who are terrified of seeing this liberation. So they become passionately attached to the party they see as representing them as the only bulwark against the encroaching chaos.
This is a double-bind for everybody. Liberals find themselves free to demolish constrictive religious, class, gender, sexual, etc roles but lose solidarity needed to achieve social change. Conservatives see their economic principles rule but also observe how those very principles demolish their beloved traditional lifestyles.
And while they are at each other’s throats, neo-liberalism wins.
This Harvey fellow is good.
Clarissa's Blog 
The problem also seems to be that people so not have the ability to resist an impulse. Infighting on the left is very common, just because, I think, so many cannot resist an impulse to morally upbraid someone whose views are generally very close to theirs. Or they get a little bit back stabby, to vent some of the negative energy that accumulates when you are trying to make it in the big, bad world, with just your individuality to console you.
LikeLike
I think that the difference between American conservatives and liberals is really a difference between “authoritarian” personalities and non- or anti-authoritarian personalities. It is inherently easier to organize people who are looking for a patriarchal leader to hero-worship than to organize people who are task-oriented (cause-oriented) and who look upon leaders as interchangeable task-facilitators. Task oriented people need to be convinced to make coalitions, often with others they may not approve of or like. Coalitions form after considerable experience and work by individuals on both sides, making it apparent that the prospective coalition members can trust each other as allies.
I found Robert Altemeyer’s work useful for understanding U.S. right wing politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
As for the left being back-stabby (aka “circular firing squad”), the right has taken on that characteristic as well, what with the tea party and religious vs bankers/business split.
LikeLike
Jello Biafra said it best – “We on the left keep dividing ourselves into little splinter groups. “Anyone who isn’t a vegetarian is automatically evil!” “Anyone who isn’t an environmentalist wants to pollute the world!” “If you’re not gay, then you must be homophobic!” “Look at me wrong? You’re a racist!” “Wear lipstick? You can’t be a feminist!” Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide, Divide! And while the left is all up their own asses with their little pet causes, the right comes in and takes control.”
LikeLike