Bless the Red

This liberation from all constraints is, in essence, Chicago School economics (otherwise known as neoliberalism or, in the U.S., neoconservatism): not some new invention but capitalism stripped of its Keynesian appendages, capitalism in its monopoly phase, a system that has let itself go -- that no longer has to work to keep us as customers, that can be as antisocial, antidemocratic and boorish as it wants.

As long as communism was a threat, the gentleman's agreement that was Keynesianism would live on; once that system lost ground, all traces of compromise could finally be eradicated, thereby fulfilling the purist goal Friedman had set out for his movement half a century earlier.
~ from The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein ~

The passage above dramatically underscores WHY leftists are so needed in this world. While many of you may be leery of the socialist perspective, socialism tends to pressure capitalism into being more humane.

One of the chief reasons conservative Republicans and/or the Tea Party have gained such prominence in this country is that there is no longer a sustained America Left to push back. With no countermanding force, the conservatives have commandeered both the political discourse and the legislative process.

If the American Left doesn't revitalize itself, woe be to the vast majority in this nation.