5 ms·

Augh. URL in /opinion/ fails to consider that you're going to donate more money to the people winning because you get more influence per dollar that way, decide

• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
• rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
  We aren't going to "get" a new left wing anytime soon. The neoliberal turn that most left-wing parties took was a direct result of the collapse of social democracy and citizen involvement in he 1970s, which resulted in the neoliberal market politics commonly attributed to Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. If you want a new left wing, make it happen. Join a local board. Run for local office. Take part in your community. Be a part of something. But don't expect reading news or commenting on forums to change anything. After all, the shift from active citizen to passive consumer is what got us in this mess in the first place. Adam Curtis has several phenominal documentaries regarding this shift over time. Particularly, "Century of the Self", "The Trap", and most recently, "HyperNormalization."
  • eli_gottlieb 10y ago
    >The neoliberal turn that most left-wing parties took was a direct result of the collapse of social democracy and citizen involvement in he 1970s, which resulted in the neoliberal market politics commonly attributed to Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Oh come on. We all know that's not true. The citizens didn't turn neoliberal or particularly apathetic; the politicians did under the advice of economists who pushed neoliberalism as the solution to the oil crisis. >If you want a new left wing, make it happen. Join a local board. Run for local office. Take part in your community. Be a part of something. But don't expect reading news or commenting on forums to change anything. This I can agree with! Not just that, but provide names of organizations pushing a more "Old Left", social-democratic agenda. I belong to the first two of these as a dues-paying member and a volunteer, and we've been gaining hundreds of new members since the election. It's honestly like waking up from a bad dream: all of a sudden, the bread-and-butter issues (wages, housing, health-care, civil liberties) matter again, and the culture wars are getting sidelined. * Democratic Socialists of America * Our Revolution (started by Bernie Sanders) * Socialist Alternative (more "party-line", worse at returning people's calls) * The Berniecrats Network * /r/Berniecrats and facebook/Berniecrats * Jacobin magazine and its associated reading groups For those looking for a more decent right-wing as well, I recommend Reason magazine, the Washington Monthly (especially this one, it's a hidden gem of a magazine), the Libertarian Party, the works of Henry George, and GK Chesterton's "distributivism".
    • chillwaves 10y ago
      Socialist Alternative seems like an overall self-defeating org (due to ideological purity) and powerless outside of the Seattle area and a few other metropolitan hubs (speaking as a former member). I find Our Revolution and former Bernie organizers to be the most practical and promising group for affecting change.
      • eli_gottlieb 10y ago
        I'm a dual-listed DSA and Our Revolution member, and I can kinda agree with that. My personal politics are left enough for DSA, and it is a multi-tendency organization that's willing to include ideological social democrats. But if you don't have enough detailed political education to say, "I'm a social democrat or a socialist and I know why", but instead just think, "Inequality is too much, there are too many people homeless, hungry, or without health-care for such a rich country, and I wish the politicians would respond better", you should maybe stick with Our Revolution. I also definitely have a bone to pick with the people claiming we're gonna totally obtain third-party electoral successes Real Soon Now. Yes, the Democratic Party has been rubbish to us. It has been the "graveyard of social movements". But we've also run a hell of a lot of social movements (like Occupy Wall Street, for instance) that had a whole ton of radical spirit, chic, and ideology, but had zero power analysis and zero affirmative program. Our Revolution and Bernie's rejuvenation of social democracy through taking over the Democratic Party, while it's lost its back-bench, from the bottom up, does actually promise a strategy for obtaining real power that's suited to our historical moment. Just my thoughts. Don't mind me. I'm no longer sober.
• 464192002d7fe1c 10y ago
  > Can I have a new left wing please? This one appears to be broken :( I've been saying this since basically after Obama was elected. I was a HUGE supporter of his, even in the democratic primaries. I donated to him, I was running local groups that were canvassing and phone banking to get him elected. I was ecstatic when he got elected (though I viewed it as a foregone conclusion, I didn't think McCain had a chance). When it came to the governing, I was not really impressed. Basically from day 1, everything seemed stuck. He got a few things done (ACA though that's of dubious benefit, and was done in such a way that it became a political punching bag and can't get any reforms), but mostly in the first two years. After the 2010 midterms, this shit was just complete gridlock. You can blame whomever you want for the gridlock but a good leader builds compromise and ends gridlock. I think there are two good examples of this. First, after sandy hook Obama promised that he would pass gun control legislation. Now, I do not agree with lots of things that he would like to do with such legislation, but, I do agree that there are some changes required. He has basically failed to pass any legislation around gun control and his response to that isn't to propose new legislation that can pass congress. His reaction was to go on national television and cry (literally) about his failure to pass gun control legislation. I'm sorry, I don't want a damn leader who CRYS about their political failures. I know dead children is a sad subject, but, this is ultimately a political failure. The 2nd one is Guantanamo. When he was campaigning one of his promises was to close Guantanamo, bring prisoners home and try them for their crimes. After 8 years, that has not happened and its become so politically untenable that he's basically letting these people out, without trying them at all. It is a mind-boggling Withdrawing from Iraq/Afghanistan was another campaign promise that I was personally invested in too, but that is a far more complex one and though he doesn't get a pass from me on that as I have personal losses there, I acknowledge that its more complex. I do not agree with lots of things that (old) republicans did (though I am hopeful about the new republican party of today), but they get shit done. They wanted to block (stupid) gun control legislation, they did. They wanted to block returning Guantanamo prisoners to the USA, they did. Sometimes doing something, even if its not perfect, is more important than doing nothing, especially when you don't have a crystal ball and don't know what exact result specific actions/legislation will have. Move fast, break shit.
  • bojl 10y ago
• brighteyes 10y ago
  > Augh. URL in /opinion/ fails to consider that you're going to donate more money to the people winning because you get more influence per dollar that way, decides to blame "tech has decided the republicans are more in line with their interests". The article provided many more things in support of its point, such as * Surveys with startup founders on their politics. * In-depth analysis of both PAC donations - which your criticism might apply to - and individual donations - which it does not. * In-depth analysis of the changes that typically happen to a company like Amazon or Google that begins as an innovator and ends up being one of the biggest corporations, and threatened by things like antitrust, which naturally lead it to favor Republican positions on those issues.