We live a capitalist world where money not people appears to hold the higher ground. We measure success and failure in terms of dollars, this is the capitalist way.
Even the so called socialist parties want your dollars.
From the original French Parliament the left of house was for the people and the right was for the wealthy elite( aristocrats).
In modern Western society we all aspire to be wealthy as measure of a successful life.(Prodestant work ethic is to blame)
Do we see people sharing their wealth most do not
Do we see people opening there homes to strangers most would never consider such a thing.
Do we have a modern day leader casting the money lenders from the temple.
The answer is NO so where is the left it does not exist.
There is a huge difference between being Left wing and being left of the Right.
At least the right wing liberals are honest enough to admit their ambition is the creation of wealth for individuals not for a better society.
Beefyboy

Im not rich and I dont want to be.
Capitalism has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams and is about to lead us over a precipice that we may not recover from. The atomisation of society and the resulting greed, selfishness and heartlessness of the population, along with a degraded and polluted planet will be the legacy of capitalism and forever will it be despised in the same way feudalism, monarchy and slavery is despised today.

If you look at the last few thousand years there has been a general progression to civility and the reduction of privilege and poverty and an increase in freedom for the majority. This WILL continue no matter what the rich and powerful supporters of capitalism want. They will push things too far into fascism and the populous will revolt or their will be massive disruptions caused by the environment and everything will collapse and those who are left will have to start again. Either way capitalism is being exposed for the self serving (for the rich) and destructive ideology that it really is and its supporters shown for the evil, greedy, exploitative miscreants they are.

The left is still out there and we practice it every day with our friends, where there is no hierarchy, and increasingly on the internet which is a very anarchic place and allows us all to have a voice. People learn by debating on forums like this and are exposed to new ideas. This is empowering and will lead to people actually feeling they can have a say and that they should be listened to. Once that happens those in power better watch out.

Not much to say here. This is an absolute no-brainer, but watch it twisted about like a Rubik's, beefyboy!

The global political system has shifted so far to the Right, that Socialism is now sneered at, as Communism once was.

If a so-called Labor Party wants to get itself elected it will lie on its back for the big business vote, and continue to pander to them.

It is always Labor (for me) that are the biggest hypocrites. The Liberals don't have to be anything other than what they are. Rudd and his mob are anything but what they profess to be.

History is like a sewage farm, with the dross and excesses of humanity pouring into it. Over time the "lumps" float to the top, and forget what it was like down in the soup. But the soup ferments, and when the lumps forget the lessons of history, they are swallowed and broken in the inevitable upwelling from below..
Pretty good analogy for where we are now I think.
There is no Left now, and the Right is eating itself alive, look out below!

Fantastic post, mikk, I absolutely agree with every word.

There is definitely a Left and always will be. It's just that it's no longer any use, as pointed out by Ginx, looking to Labor to satisfy Leftist ideals. The Greens are now a much better option for Australians on the Left.

beefyboy

"In modern Western society we all aspire to be wealthy as measure of a successful life.(Prodestant work ethic is to blame)"

I disagree, not everyone aspires to wealth. True though, we're all becoming more and more locked into the pursuit of wealth, whether or not we want to be, purely because society is increasingly structured along individualist user-pays lines. We're forced into working ever longer hours just to provide the basics and to ensure we're able to maintain a reasonable lifestyle into what for many will be a lengthy period of old age.

The Protestant work ethic isn't to blame. There's nothing wrong with hard work. It's the motivation for the work which is at fault. Many work hard to assist others and to help ensure a more sustainble and fairer lifestyle for us all. That's beneficial to society and is I would maintain largely driven by people on the Left. The real problem lies with the increasing numbers of people motivated solely to accumulate personal wealth for their own ends and without any regard for the economic disparity and resource depletion their selfish pursuit is creating.

"At least the right wing liberals are honest enough to admit their ambition is the creation of wealth for individuals not for a better society."

The Left is not being dishonest. It's just that the collective struggle to create a better and fairer society is not easy when the levers of power and privilege are being controlled by monied interests on the Right.

Maximillion

"There is no Left now, and the Right is eating itself alive .."

There is a Left - a powerless left.

Maybe though, as mikk points out, the new connectedness of the people will eventually provide the power to counter the current stranglehold of the Right.

There is a left alright, and it's entrenched where it will do the most damage: in education.

“The Left today is in virtual control of the universities, their ideology has infused the education departments and bureaucracies, and the education union itself (AEU) has grown into a powerful voice for left-wing causes and acts as a conduit between the Left intellectual academic base on one side and the teaching force and children on the other.”

So writes William Briggs, who has taught in high schools since the 1970’s and is writing a book devoted to the Left’s destruction of our education system.

Briggs cites an ex-president of the AEU, Pat Byrne as saying that they: “have succeeded in influencing curriculum development in schools, education departments and universities.”

Instead of looking after its members, the reason for unions, the AEU is meddling in curriculum and spreading hard left dogma to teachers and students. The AEU has a social engineering agenda which would sit well “as part of the maximum policy position for most hard-Left parties, BUT THE UNION IS DEMANDING THIS FOR CLASSROOM PRACTICE!”

Briggs goes on to say:”The world of the university campus has become so politicised that students are being encouraged in some instances effectively to toe the line or be marked down…”

Australia is now 23rd on the list of OECD for students finishing Year 12 or equivalent trade qualifications. 50% of Tasmanian students don’t finish Year 12. Students are becoming more “disengaged” thanks to the social engineering by left ideologues of the AEU, in cahoots with those of the same ilk in education departments.

When parents want to take their children away from this social engineering and brainwashing by demanding more choice via private education, the AEU shrieks about the ‘need’ to cut government funding to private and Catholic schools, while the AEU itself continues to ruin public education.

There is a Left in Australia: a very dangerous and destructive one.