Samuel Butler wrote about that concept back in 1872.
5 Likes
Yep, you’re supposed to pull yourself up by your bootstraps! Which was an expression used to describe an impossible task or a fool’s errand prior to WWII, before, without so much as the slightest acknowledgement of the irony, it became a cherished part of the American zeitgeist right alongside apple pies, V8s, and undermining the sovereignty of other countries in order to install puppet regimes in exchange for economic policies that overwhelmingly favor the US and its allies.
15 Likes
It isn’t really difficult to come up with implementations of capitalism that are completely compatible with socialist ideals. But I don’t think our current version of investment banking could possibly fit in any such system!
3 Likes
It is poorly written. That’s not an excuse, just an observation. It seems to be trying to say something I concluded years ago. Democrats want no one to be abject poor and Republicans want everyone to be rich. Superficially, nothing wrong with either one. But politics and policies of each are not so noble.
Out of self-respect-- be Republican. Democrats love [______] people because they think that [______] people will vote Democrat. Republicans hate [______] people because they think the dignity of man is above being [______].
And it’s not just “poor”. By the GOP mindset, a lot of words fill that box: non-white, non-straight, non-male, immigrant, non-Christian…
4 Likes
You are giving him too much credit.
He has no meta-cognition and likes people that suck up to him or are in some way loyal to him. It’s easy for the poorly educated to fall for his con man persona so he will bias his liking to them.
The really horrible part as he seems to not be able to be loyal to others so you get these road accidents of people joining his camp and then being shit on.
6 Likes
I’d have to agree that we’re probably not going to have a large overlap of agreement if you’re dubious about the very concept of money.
1 Like
Sure, and I think we’re in agreement about the general problems with capitalism.
But I also do want to point out that Trump is not some isolated accident. He won the Republican primaries and was supported all the way into the White House because he represents the policy goals of the Republican party. He has, as others have said, replaced the dog whistle with a bullhorn.
So, again, yes both parties are bad and both can stand to be better, and both are a bit too comfortable with many of the destructive aspects of capitalism.
I’m just stating again that one really is worse, and we need to keep that one out of power until they are better than the Democratic party towards the working class. And we need to make sure that our desire for a party that’s better than the Democrats doesn’t lead to someone far worse getting in - like Trump, who because of his faults is in many ways the Republican party’s actual practical ideal.
4 Likes
I think a straight population vote would do more for rural representation than our current system does. Right now if you’re a rural voter in a state like California you functionally don’t exist. Really the only people who count in our current system are exurban voters in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, and Virginia. Even in a states known for their rural character most people lice in cities. There are only 4 states with under 50% of people in urban areas. There is no system that puts rural people as a prime voting block and can be called even mildly representative.
6 Likes
I love how Republicans love the poor so much they want them not to be poor but give them no real path to not be poor.
I guess the economy could handle everybody being an entrepreneur a bit like how the Army of OZ has one soldier and everybody else is a general.
6 Likes
You know there are Democrats out here, too, right?
4 Likes
Meanwhile in the comments in the article right next to this one about Democrats who vote against gun control and environmental regulations we have “mainstream” Democrats saying we’re being delusional and unrealistic for wanting more progressive candidates.
SO WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANTS US TO DO?
3 Likes
I do try to remember that the actions of party leadership do not accurately reflect the views of all the membership.
3 Likes
Considering the only differences between city and rural voters people can come up with are irrelevant environmental issues that have no bearing on actual living conditions, the whole divide doesn’t exist. “I need to be a bigot with a ton of guns because I live in the country and you need to respect that!” has always been a specious argument. The idea that country folk are just special snowflakes, and we need to cater to their desire to hate gay people and prop up the military to the detriment of social services has always been a smokescreen for the Republicans to keep both sides pitted against each other.
Geographic and environmental differences don’t actually make you a different kind of human being that gets a free ride to be a rightwing asshole.
5 Likes
The GOP thinks they are the “party of Jesus” when they could never justify any of their policies with the stuff Jesus preached.
6 Likes
Work to get progressive Democrats on the ballot during the primaries, challenging incumbents when necessary. Then vote for the most progressive person on the ballot during the general election.
7 Likes
This. Basically what Bernie Sanders himself did, when he voted for Hillary in the general.
4 Likes
Which is decried as unrealistic and naive by the people in the comments section, which is what I said in my post.
1 Like
I think it’s better not to frame party and voting choices as a dichotomy between supporting gay family members or rural family members. If the rural father of a gay person serving in the military reads what you wrote here, he’s unlikely to be positively influenced.
1 Like
