It’s almost impossible to escape the assault on the left these days. Most of it, oddly, is coming from the left or those who describe themselves as “progressives” in one form or another. The narrative goes like this: The left has no agenda. The left has no plan for America. The left is standing around while the right is running off with the country. Things like that.

The Washington Post, the New York Times, and virtually all of the so-called left-leaning media outlets run think pieces, analyses, and other reportage on the lack of any energy on left. So what’s the deal?

Well, maybe they are right (no pun intended). Where in the world are the ideas that will balance what is happening in America? Is the progressive end of the political spectrum really out of gas? Is Paul Krugman the only one left standing who speaks to a broad audience? Is Dennis Kucinich the only liberal in Congress?

Let’s take a look at the tax issue. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (R) was recently on Charlie Rose and lamented that “twenty per cent of Americans pay eighty per cent of the taxes.” He had the serious look of a man who knows unfairness when he sees it. Disappointly, Rose did not point out that these twenty per cent own eighty per cent of America’s wealth and therefore such a tax burden is not at all unfair. Coburn was justifying his and other Republicans’ refusal to even consider raising the taxes on the super rich. When President Obama forcefully made the case for raising the taxes on these very wealthy people, Republicans responded by suggesting that the President wants to raises taxes for “the American people.”

From the left? Crickets.

The right has seized the narrative and has wound this side of the argument into the fabric of the political discourse so tightly that in some bizarre way even the people who are being hurt the most by the shameful economic policies of this country are buying into it. The low income, out of work whites who stand to benefit from tighter regulations on financial institutions, stronger unions, and income equality are being lured into the myth that what conservative Republicans are saying is true. The old racist, anti-black, anti-immigrant spores are coming to life once again as poor – and newly poor – whites looking for someone to blame for their lost homes, jobs and dignity. And instead of taking to the streets demanding change, they are being fed a diet of what comes out of the back end of a horse. And liking it.

There is a kind of Stockholm Syndrome taking place here. The oppressed are identifying with and supplying sympathy for their oppressors. How else can you explain why a person who is out of work and has lost his home will vote for someone who vows to keep taxes low for billionaires? I believe there is more going on here than simply the rants of right wing radio and television. There is a lack of viable force from the left.

By now we’re all tired of the argument that President Obama is too passive. Maybe he is. Maybe what we need is another Lyndon Johnson. (Okay, I know that some people of a certain age are not eager to consider anything about Lyndon in a positive way.) What he could do is get things done. He could twist arms, charm, threaten, make it happen. Vietnam was the negative. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were nation-changing. The same conservative voices we’re hearing today were in the air back in the sixties and were even louder and more forceful, yet they were overcome.

Maybe the left is too passive all around. Possibly it is too intellectual and theoretical. I suspect the left is a bit intimidated by the forcefulness and the energy of the right. They yell, we whisper. They issue a program and jam it down our throats and we respond with the soft voice of Harry Reid, the Mr. Peeper of the Senate.

It’s like the advice parents gave their children for generations: Nobody takes you seriously if you don’t fight back. So, let’s set an agenda and fight for it.

First, what do we want? The right has done a good job on this score. Cut taxes, reduce government, and intolerance of others. (That’s my take on it) We, on the other hand, want fair taxes, government responsive to the needs of the people, and social justice.

Those of us who remember the scent of teargas in the sixties may not be in shape to take to the streets again but we can do something. We can work the phones to call members of Congress, our state legislators, our local council members, and our neighborhood organizations. People who are subject to the decisions of voters pay attention when voters sound off. That requires, of course, that you vote!

Second, pass this message to young people. The older generation experienced the power of social change through action. Many young people today simply do not believe that things can change. It would be hard to find anyone under thirty who believes that she/he will receive any Social Security or Medicare benefits. The greatest gift an older person can pass on to a young person is the assurance that personal commitment and action can change the course of their lives and their country.

There were greybeards in the crowds of the great marches and rallies of the past and we who are now the greybeards can be in those crowds today to demand that our grandchildren live in a better nation.

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BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Larry Matthews, is a veteran broadcast journalist. He is the recipient of The George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcast for his reporting on Vietnam veterans. He is also the recipient of a Columbia/DuPont Citation, Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press, and other awards for investigative reporting. He is the author of I Used to Be in Radio , and two novels. Click here to reach Mr. Matthews.