As for my age, I'm 40, which means I went to college between 2000 and 2004 - and was awash in leftist propaganda there, to the extent that I did not feel comfortable in some classrooms doing anything other than regurgitating what the professors were telling us despite what I actually believed. I've heard the situation has not improved since then. To say that leftists do not have institutional power at least in academia is ridiculous, but of course it goes far beyond that.
Some are socialists, but in terms of actual politically power individuals? No. Seriously, no. There's no socialist or social democratic institution that has power in DC or even a state government within the United States.
>If there's no solid leftist base in America and western society as a whole, where is this opposition to supposedly alt-right fortress coming from?
Liberals, seriously go study some political history. Liberalism is not left and it's not anti-capitalist. I don't think you really understand political history and theory which is surprising since I barely crack open political theory works by anyone since I find the subject boring.
>As for my age, I'm 40, which means I went to college between 2000 and 2004 - and was awash in leftist propaganda there
Same here, I'm 42. I'll say there's not much in the way of any leftist positions or professors beyond a few colleges here and there. Most have aged out and been replaced by social liberals (again liberalism is not left nor socialist).
>to the extent that I did not feel comfortable in some classrooms doing anything other than regurgitating what the professors were telling us despite what I actually believed.
That's probably because your views are further right than you want to divulge here. I won't press or bully you but I'll say that maybe you should ask yourself why you see socialists everywhere when everyone else who is a leftist or comes from a leftist position (I come from Mutualism but I use to be into Syndicalism) doesn't?
>To say that leftists do not have institutional power at least in academia is ridiculous, but of course it goes far beyond that.
Having a couple college departments is not having the commanding heights (I love FA Hayek's use of phrases). These aren't people who shake hands with Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, McCarthy, or McConnell. These aren't the people that get their proposals even into the hands of Biden's undersecretaries of any department. They don't get much play at billionaire retreats either. So, I'm absolutely confused as to what you define as power because it sure doesn't seem like it.
You have your perspective about reality, I guess, and I'll have mine.
I'm not mad, I just don't buy your anecdotes as solid proof of some kind of Marxist vanguard dominating media, education, and the like. That kind of John Birch Society stuff isn't factual. And I speak as a former ditto head from the 1990s, even then I didn't buy the Bircher nonsense.
>You have your perspective about reality, I guess, and I'll have mine.
I'd have it no other way but I don't brook arguments that border on the conspiratorial, sorry.
>Yes, I remember the "Moral Majority" era. I remember the religious right, the fundies, the evangelicals, and the grasp they had on speech.
They still do, where you been? In cryo?
>I remember how they tried to ban porn in the late '90s and the courts had to smack it down.
Again, where have you been? Max Hardcore was sentenced for 4 years in prison (I think he got out sooner but still). And that was around the early 2000s. The fact you ignore that even the current government treats even OnlyFans like content creators as the same as sex traffickers (see EFF's FOSTA articles) is amusing to me.
> And I saw how the left has taken over institutional power since then, still crying about victimhood status while holding government majorities, running education and the media, and so on.
Exactly where has this happened? The left does not exist in the United States. The CIA knocked us out during the 60s (COINTELPRO). The fact you seem to not know this means you're probably under 35, so I'm not sure I should bother discussing this with you.
>It looks like the pendulum has started swinging back in recent years.
It never swung. We've still a solidly right wing neoliberal society. Just because you might see a gay couple kiss each other's cheeks and hold hands on prime time TV don't mean we're some kind of social democracy or a socialist state.
>The left made hay from these opportunities and the right has been watching.
Again, what Left? Don't say the Democrats who literally have millionaires among their ranks like most of the currently seated party members (Pelosi has a net worth in the tens of millions) and have many of the most well known capital owning members of society on their quick dial.
It baffles me how someone like you can exist when history of the United States is well documented for the last century but all you seem to say is talking points from Mises.org or some other right wing claptrap. And you even think DailyKos is far left which amuses me. Wake me up when DailyKos and company support the abolition of intellectual property like an anarchist does (hint: I'm a mutualist anarchist).