Yeah, I have to agree with Mandark-this whole thing reads like a really angry, wannabe-edgy David Brooks piece.
There's a noisy and fuck annoying fringe of special interest faggotry on the left, for sure. For the most part, it cares only about itself and its interests-it's just a noisy, easily demonized sideshow. They do not represent the voting blocs of the party as a whole and are well on their way to only being relevant as a nuisance during one of their own self-indulgent protest marches.
The days of protest organizations like ANSWER and other bullshittery are over-pragmatic organizations are the future. It's why the Sierra Club is more or less dead to me, and why I give money to the LCV/Defenders of Wildlife, who represent my environmental interests by working to beat the shit out of conservative take-it-and-rape-it fucktards in actual ELECTIONS.
Whiny, self-absorbed interest groups are NOT the face or the representation of the modern left activist. The modern left is highly partisan and dedicated to winning, and isn't afraid of aggressive tactics and dirty political warfare to get what they want. They realize that there are, in the end, two options-a Democrat and a Republican, and in the end the Democrat might actually vote for things they care about, while the Republican usually won't. They know what they are fighting for and fighting against.
As for alienating the working poor or the people displaced structurally by the global economy, well, I think the liberal plan for these people-social support, education, and security-is far better than the "HAW HAW FIX IT YOURSELF DIRTY POORS" conservative approach.
