Permanently Deleted
On the bright side, the modern U.S. left exploded after the '08 crisis. Many eventually bought into Obama – it was the End of History, he was running against the demonic record of Bush II, and you have this supposedly left-of-DNC candidate who’s charismatic as hell – but many then-new leftists learned from that, and Obama’s not walking through that door this time.
So you have leftist sentiment as popular as it’s been since, what, the Vietnam War? And there’s yet another unraveling crisis, but this time there’s no easy electoral release valve?
Yeah, but there also isn’t really any org to channel anything into, either.
Relative to 2008, though, there’s a ton. DSA is at least OK and they’re in all 50 states with something like 200+ chapters and 90K+ members. They’re also at least decently established within the political mainstream (they’re seen as “far left” but not a joke). I think other organizations have seen growth at a smaller scale, too.
There’s also a lot more awareness of the value of organization vs., say, protesting.
