During the early 90s the American right came to be seen as dominated by its zealots, bigots and extremists. It was the high-tide of people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and David Duke. The Republicans (rightly) paid a political price for it.
The blindly ideological right is always ready to take center stage. Those of us who consider themselves socially moderate but fiscally conservative (that also includes not just me but Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds, Steven Den Beste, John Hawkins of Right Wing News, and most of the other popular "right wing" bloggers) are always having to battle the the demons of those further right of us. That would include the evangelical Christians who want to inject religion as much into public life as a means to impose their social beliefs onto the rest of us. For the past few years, our portion of the "vast right wing conspiracy" has held the high ground and the result has been unprecedented series of electoral victories.
Now the American left, wrongly labeled as "liberals" (there's nothing "liberal" these days about the American left IMO) seems to be held hostage by its most bigoted, ignorant, and ideologically rigid elements. Their militant, hateful, and intolerant ideology is not much different than the so-called "fascist" right wing extremists they claim to be against.
I find it disappointing how difficult it is to find a reasonable avatar of left-wing thought on-line. So few left of center advocates are educated enough on the issues they debate on and the result is pure frustration.
The issues they argue about without knowing much about are many. Whether that be the issue of "Global Warming", an article of faith on the left that they defend as strongly as the evangelicals on the right defend "Intelligent Design". Or that we're "bankrupting" the country through "Tax cuts for the rich". Or the every-changing opposition of US foreign policy -- no matter what the US action is, it's the wrong thing (especially if it's against non-European dictators). And then there is also the pervasive and irrational "Bush hatred" that seems to permeate many of the writings of the left on-line.
The problem isn't that the left of center ideologically is non-credible. There are real arguments for environmentalism, social justice, multilateralism, and many other principles that the left espouse. The problem is that the avatars of the left, particularly on the blogsphere are frankly, ignorant beyond belief. A lot of my friends in "real life" are quite left of center. However, they can debate these issues with intelligent and articulate arguments. But they don't post on-line usually.
And so we're left with what seems to be the dregs of the left who seem completely unfamiliar with any of the background details of the issues they so passionately argue. As an agnostic, I don't find religious arguments compelling. And too often, the left-wingers frothing on-line sound very much the same as the indoctrinated religious zealots they so clearly detest. And being indoctrinated, they have no need to educate themselves on things such as history, economics, anthropology, engineering or science.
As a result, hordes of astonishingly ignorant but militant left wingers storm onto the net like a swarm of religious missionaries filled with certainty that their faith is the correct faith and that those who disagree with them aren't just wrong but are evil. Their opponents are heathens and heretics to be smited. And their debate style is just as self-referencing and circular as the most dogged religious fanatics I've ever seen.
What the left needs are people who can espouse its principles in a mature, calm, rational and most importantly educated manner. They need to look carefully at the facts and push on issues that they have the factual high ground on and abandon positions in which the facts don't support them. But most importantly, they need to know what they are talking about on the issues they debate. They need to do their homework and present their case in a rational, non-hysterical way.
Because otherwise, the left-wing political philosophies are going to become increasingly marginalized as the undecided's of the world mix the message with the messenger. And if that were to happen, we will all be a lot poorer.