Anyway, a certain unabashed Eevul Smouker writes:
There still are liberals in this country, just not many socialists.Yeah, but the problem I was getting at, with the liberals being the left-most there is, is this: They inevitably come off looking like "left-wing extremists", and thus automatically suspect.
OTOH, *if* you had a good healthy dollop of "Socalists" -- semi-sensible "Social Demorats" or raving commie loonies, it doesn't really matter -- to balance out your Attila-the-huns, *they* would be the "fringe left", and the Libruls would look more like the sensible middle-of-the-road alternative they actually are.
Now do you see what I mean? The problem with a lack of socialists isn't actually the socialists themselves, at all, but their (or their lack's) effect on how *others* are perceived!