KillingtonZone.com

The emphasis on style over substance has been a distinguishing feature of the left for the past 50 years. Yes, of course, there was plenty of substance, but it mostly related to social issues. Abortion rights has been without question the most powerful and passionate issue when it comes to driving votes for Democrats. There has been a greater audience for civil liberties on the left than kitchen-table issues–and these have been fetishized over time. Gay rights became transgender bathrooms, the quest for racial equality became the easy, racialist out of affirmative action; the “right” of the cast of Hamilton to speak their version of truth to Mike Pence sits uneasily with left-wing support for stifling political correctness on campus. If you listen to “progressives” talk about poverty, small business, public education and improving government services like the VA or the post office, they have nothing of interest to say. They have postures, not positions. They reflexively support colorful “activists” who feed on anger and often don’t represent the constituencies they claim–those activists inevitably act and look more like Fidel than Nelson Mandela on cable TV.

Mister Moose wrote:Klein hits a few nails but misses many.

It isn't about ice cream cones vs buses. Castro's entire premise is a fraud when he promotes communism yet lives as a king.
Klein is still blinded by his own magazine's inability to see Trump as more than a caricature.
And what exactly is "stylized Oedipal anger"? It seems that phrase is more an insight into what is wrong with Time than an effective written image for their readers.

I agree that the left abandoned the kitchen table issues in favor of boutique issues, and it cost them.

He does raise one interesting point - will an end to the embargo open Cuba to free trade to the point where the communist regime collapses? I think the answer lies in how the embargo is ended, no doubt Cuba would not open all markets freely.