The splintered, factional nature of protest groups is an old problem. It's what lost us the battle in the 60s. It's what usually loses the battle for justice, in fact, and occasionally has dire consequences that impact the world for generations (See: The assassination of Caesar, the rise of Mussolini and Hitler and the aborted attempts to oust them, the French Revolution, and, hey, even the death of Jesus!).
The problem, of course, is that "freedom" and "justice" and "revolution" are, almost by definition, wildly varied. I always think of the "Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" idea. i.e.: "Just keep doing whatever the fuck you're doing as long as you don't kill babies and keep paying your taxes." (Actually a surprisingly progressive approach for a nation founded by puritanical, racist misfits.)
While, yes, that puritanical, racist misfit-ism certainly ruled the day according to the eventual letter of America's laws, the spirit is still creeping around in the background.
Iain Banks always said "the more you control the more you have to control," as in authoritarianism rules supreme and with an iron fist (and will eventually blow itself out).
It's a great concept to explain why the Right is always (and always temporally) so successful. It's very easy to be an authoritarian. It's also very easy to follow one. In fact, we crave it. Even if we dress them up in liberal clothing, we're still hoping to be told what to do.
Which further complicates the splintered left.
Now...the solution? Well, I'm of the camp that believes there is no solution, or else we would have found it by now after an eon where we've seen the rise and fall of countless authoritarian fucks.
I've long argued that change has to come from below -- the local elections, having a better control over our education system, etc. It's a generational shift. We need to encourage a love of history in our children and teach them the unadulterated version of history. We need to awaken the liberal arts half of our minds as well as the scientific halves. We want our children to ask questions, to analyze, to weigh their actions and decisions. We can't fight the 40-something racist in Dead Indian Bend, IA. We can't fight the 60-something Pentecostal madman in PA. These are people who have drunk from the chalice and bought the new reality. They are legion.
But what of the 12 year old who sees Humanity's long history of scandal, war, horror, and victory, glory, and inventiveness of the entire species play out in front of them?
