I've held my opinions on these issues since the 70s and have seen little since to make me want to modify them. I've been pondering this issue a lot longer than Daily Kos has been around. I'm not claiming that this makes me necessarily right, just that I've had plenty of time to think this over and I feel I am confident about my positions, they are not the result of my ideological preferences.

Secondly, I don't tend to see the world in terms of opposing blocs maneuvering for position the way you do, especially when its not clear what they have to gain from deliberately sabotaging themselves just to make a political point. I see the world as many small groups and individuals each selfishly trying to make things as comfortable and prosperous as they can for themselves, even if it means screwing everyone else.

I think the mess we're in now is due to the combined inertia of the entire society and all its component parts, including but not limited to, corporate greed, environmentalist intransigence, government cowardice, public apathy, consumer ignorance, and geopolitical ambitions, in short, no single cause. But if you did put a gun to my head and forced me to pick just one and only one villain for this mess, I would be forced to say it is the sheer refusal of the private commercial sector to entertain any ideas that might even remotely threaten its future profits.