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I see no interesting ideas on the left. You need to reinvent yourselves. Since the fall of communism it has been very boring and I blame you for that. Is it ju

I see no interesting ideas on the left. You need to reinvent yourselves. Since the fall of communism it has been very boring and I blame you for that. Is it just a little pension increase there, a little distribution here? Please tell me I'm only seeing the mainstream left and there exists interesting innovators out there I've overlooked.

chroma 10y ago
If you're wondering why there's been so little innovation related to the ideas of Marx and Engels, it's probably because most people decided those ideas weren't useful. Over the past century, a lot of people tried to implement the ideas of Marx and Engels. People tried different versions of communism in different cultures, different geographical regions, and different levels of technological development. On two occasions, people even split a country in half and ran one side communist and the other side capitalist. In every case, the citizens of the communist regimes ended up worse-off. If we've learned anything from these experiments, it's that Marx's ideas reliably create failed states. There are probably better systems than what we have today, but they're not close relatives to communism. Fortunately, many far leftists have understood this and gone searching for other ways to improve the lives of the poorest. For example, basic income seems to be growing in popularity.
metaphorm 10y ago
I'm in your camp. The mainstream left seems deeply misguided to me. On the one hand they are self-satisfied and smug that limited scope progress in the culture war means they are succeeding. In fact, it is a distraction that makes them complacent and focused ever more narrowly on identity politics. On the other hand the more radical factions on the left seem to be descending into a form of victim culture driven social Maoism, where they seek to purge their community bubbles of "anti-revolutionary" ideas. I see no factions on the left that are achieving meaningful results against the permanent global war that has become official policy of the U.S. government. I see no factions on the left that are winning policy battles over civil liberties and fair government. I see no factions on the left that are winning significant numbers of elections. In the U.S. all we have is Democrats. they are fully captured by the global corporate elite and they are a hawkish war party as well. the token gestures they make towards social justice (this year its advocating for Trans-persons, what will it be next year?) is much too little for us to settle for. I find myself in the position now of actively seeking out alternative political movements. Nothing I have interacted with so far is appealing to me.
eli_gottlieb 10y ago
>Please tell me I'm only seeing the mainstream left and there exists interesting innovators out there I've overlooked. Yes, they're called anarchists.

chroma 10y ago

If you're wondering why there's been so little innovation related to the ideas of Marx and Engels, it's probably because most people decided those ideas weren't useful. Over the past century, a lot of people tried to implement the ideas of Marx and Engels. People tried different versions of communism in different cultures, different geographical regions, and different levels of technological development. On two occasions, people even split a country in half and ran one side communist and the other side capitalist. In every case, the citizens of the communist regimes ended up worse-off. If we've learned anything from these experiments, it's that Marx's ideas reliably create failed states. There are probably better systems than what we have today, but they're not close relatives to communism. Fortunately, many far leftists have understood this and gone searching for other ways to improve the lives of the poorest. For example, basic income seems to be growing in popularity.

metaphorm 10y ago

I'm in your camp. The mainstream left seems deeply misguided to me. On the one hand they are self-satisfied and smug that limited scope progress in the culture war means they are succeeding. In fact, it is a distraction that makes them complacent and focused ever more narrowly on identity politics. On the other hand the more radical factions on the left seem to be descending into a form of victim culture driven social Maoism, where they seek to purge their community bubbles of "anti-revolutionary" ideas. I see no factions on the left that are achieving meaningful results against the permanent global war that has become official policy of the U.S. government. I see no factions on the left that are winning policy battles over civil liberties and fair government. I see no factions on the left that are winning significant numbers of elections. In the U.S. all we have is Democrats. they are fully captured by the global corporate elite and they are a hawkish war party as well. the token gestures they make towards social justice (this year its advocating for Trans-persons, what will it be next year?) is much too little for us to settle for. I find myself in the position now of actively seeking out alternative political movements. Nothing I have interacted with so far is appealing to me.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago

>Please tell me I'm only seeing the mainstream left and there exists interesting innovators out there I've overlooked. Yes, they're called anarchists.