When a class, such as the intellectual class, falls into an abysmal shithole what more can one do but wish them well, throw a few pieces of dirt on them to cover the smell, and go on into happy horizons of the future.

The idea-men have failed miserably and should put on sackcloth, get begging bowls, and go throughout the land listening to the people, listening to the world, humbly asking forgiveness for past sins, and re-learn the world on its own terms.

The central dilemma of the intellectual left is this: Their ideas would never work unless the majority of people were killed off or enslaved. They never learned the simple lesson that in a liberal, democratic culture the idea is to make allies and not enemies. Make profound enemies of the middle- class property holders, for instance, and those enemies will stop every single idea that emerges from the source of their opponents.

A liberal democratic culture is made up of pluralities that co-operate for their mutual gain. Lesson: don't get a plurality pissed off at you. Where you find an enemy, make an ally. If progressive politics fails in this way then it has no chance in our lifetime of exerting any sort of political agenda. And don't let the flap over the World Trade Organization fool you. When the people vote, if it ever comes to that point, they will vote on behalf of capital.

So, what can be done? What can political conscience do? As with anything else when it seems impossible, the impossible is calling out from some dim horizon to change the angle of attack.

Sometimes the change of an angle of attack will change the heart and mind of the people.

As I read through progressive publications like the Nation and progressive writers I feel sadness. I feel nostalgia for a time that is no more. Why hasn't the angle of attack changed in 30 years?

One thing the Internet has done: It has implicated everyone in the basic form of modern life that has created havoc and alienation for as long as I can remember. Most of life has been lived in scarcity, in little bundles of economy, slow, where the great drama in life was war and defending against aggression. Since the Industrial Revolution the modern world is characterized by surplus and the 'red shift' among the intentions of societies and individuals. Life is living in an expanding universe that doesn't know it's own borders, a life where abyss's are created with a wink and a nod. This expansion in the forms of life have created a great sense of emptiness. That's one reason you see a dangerous upsurge in the primitive brain all through this century. Civilized life is too out of range for the common, normal mind. It must resort to magic and sheer power to deal with it. The Internet puts the mind in the center as well as periphery of a world that is no longer anonymous.

It produced a century of nuttiness. With the 21st Century upon us some new form of human integration will come into play, no doubt. One of the first acts of integration is the knowledge of what a perfect ally nature is to the bountifulness of human nature and life.

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David Eide
January 24, 2014