I couldn’t agree more. The current, fractured state of the American political left creates the false perception that this country is fundamentally conservative. It is much easier for conservatives (or any group that defends the status quo) to a single hierarchical system because its position is simple: change nothing. On the other hand, the progressive movement, aggressively advocating major reform, does not seem to have come to a consensus on what the final product would look like. The process of coordinating the efforts of such groups can be a long, painful process of weeding out the “fringe” positions, and isolating the core, consensus issues.
This is one caveat to my pessimistic view, as I see it the war provides an incredible catalyst for this otherwise complex process. For anyone who has written a term paper the night before, you will know how motivating pressure can be.
Rather then feed divisions among these groups, argue about about the particulars, or otherwise advantage the opposition (the political right) us leftist need to coordinate. Often an inspirational figure is the greatest tool a movement can have, but we have just the opposite, an infuriating, war-monger for oppositoin: John McCain.

Can’t we all agree that we hate McCain and unite around our common hate. (Hell, seems to work better then love!)

I agree with you in your critique of divisive individual and group actions. I think you fall into some of the patterns of alienation that you critique. I don’t think the left is ever going to be one unified voice for one unifying change. But I do think we can come together on this one issue (and tack on hating John McCain as a physical representation of the war).
But, we need to maintain an acceptance of leftist groups as being diverse and coming from different places with different needs (to which end, your criticisms only further alienate).
What I want to hear are more tactile ideas for coalition-building around the one issue the left seems to be unanimously outraged over — the war.
Getting into some kind of unified heirarchy starts to sound conservative (and will most certainly alienate whichever groups do not get the top slot).
When it comes to anti-war parties, I’ll be at the biggest bash.

Actually, I think that the war blurs a lot of the issues on the left. For example, an outcry against “U.S. imperialism” is sometimes seen as a progressive act in-itself, or worse, a politics; yet it doesn