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This is probably more of an indictment of electoral politics and the function of the state in general. Leftists (in their various strands of thought) have, for
by eat_veggies 5y ago
This is probably more of an indictment of electoral politics and the function of the state in general. Leftists (in their various strands of thought) have, for centuries, known and publicized the view that governments exist to dominate and to protect the interests of capital -- it's no secret. So yes, it's a football game, but one intended to distract us from attaining our material interests.
This takes us in the opposite direction from his conclusion for activists (essentially, give up because it doesn't matter) toward a more productive one that asks, if left/right party politics does not produce meaningful change, then what kind of politics can?
There's also a clever load-bearing phrase buried in here that sweeps the explanation for real variation in policy under the rug: "these governments followed the spirit of the age." Now, what is the spirit of the age but the movement of politics?
Of course, the author's motivations are clearer if you look at the other trash that they've written: an article about not being ideological (recently litigated on hacker news [1]), dozens of posts ragging about "the left," and a few articles about how much they hate trans people.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29957328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29957328
- lazyeye 5y agoYour comment sounds tribal.
- olivermarks 5y agoUS politics is increasingly tribal because of the realities described. The irony is the political landscape is controlled by the DNC & the RNC, who are effectively the political equivalent of Mastercard and Visa. No other parties can get on a debate stage or any airtime. The two political machines are partnered with huge corporate media companies to manipulate popular opinion, instill fear and rage and to destroy any coherent opposition, including within those two manufactured and manipulated tribes
- lazyeye 5y agoI agree with what you're saying. An important fact that has gone completely under the radar is the radically changing demographics of the media (both sides). The media used to be much more decentralized with a much greater diversity of views (rich and poor). Now with increasing technology and centralization of distribution, the demographics of people in the media is largely that of the elites. Journalists working for CNN, Fox or MSNBC are paid very high wages, come from the best schools and according to all conventional markers are in the top 10% of society. And this is reflected in the content they put out which is to generate controversy, keep the plebs squabbling amongst themselves and divert attention way from wealthy elites. This is their agenda and it's working fabulously.
- olivermarks 5y agoWe also live in an era of career politicians. Previously proven business and societal success was leveraged politically in campaigns by candidates becoming politicians. Today we only have choices of mckinsey/academic/media/think tank generic empty suits to vote for. This is true all over the western world. Example: DNC's chosen one Buttigieg cargo culting being a politician: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-buttigieg-barack-obama-plagiarism-tweet-speech-2020-election-us-a9356466.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic... I'm a registered Democrat FWIW in case this triggers someone
- lazyeye 5y agoSometimes I think democracy is like the human body. As it ages it becomes more frail and riddled with disease.
- olivermarks 5y agoI've been reading 'Brave New World revisited' by Huxley..: 'Under the relentless thrust of accelerating over-population and increasing over-organization, and by means of ever more effective methods of mind-manipulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms—elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest—will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of non-violent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial—but democracy and freedom in a strictly Pickwickian sense. Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.' https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/huxleya-bravenewworldrevisited/huxleya-bravenewworldrevisited-00-h.html https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/huxleya-bravenewworldrevisited/h...
- acomar 5y agoconsider engaging with the content rather than the tone. you might learn something.
- lazyeye 5y agoI was merely making the point that his post (unintentionally) confirmed the main thesis of the article.
- dannyobrien 5y agoCould you link to the articles about how much they hate trans people? I would see that as a strong indicator of hidden, ideological, partisanship — but I couldn’t find them.
- Arcuru 5y agoI'm not familiar with this author at all, but from a search it looks like they wrote about the issue before moving to substack: https://thomasjprosser.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/whats-causing-the-academic-freedom-crisis/ https://thomasjprosser.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/whats-causin... And a follow up post: https://thomasjprosser.wordpress.com/2021/02/25/why-speak-out-on-the-transgender-debate/ https://thomasjprosser.wordpress.com/2021/02/25/why-speak-ou...
- scarface74 5y agoYou almost had it when you said “electoral politics”. But then you missed the mark. The entire federal system in the US is built to favor rural areas. From the 2 Senators/state where CA only has the same number of Senators as the least populous states in US, the Electoral College method of presidential voting where twice since 2000 the person with the most popular votes lost the election, and gerrymandering where the party in congress doesn’t represent the popular vote in nearly the same proportion.
- noah_buddy 5y agoI think you've lost the thread. Rural vs. urban is just one facet of how our system pits the many against each other while the few benefit. Have you been to rural parts of the country? Most urbanites wouldn't consider the average boonie to be any better than their neighborhood in a city. You know which places are really doing better, certainly better than they actually need? Those with huge average salaries relative to CoL, like Potomac or the Hamptons.
- scarface74 5y agoIt doesn’t matter about rural vs urban. It’s a matter of rule if the minority - population wise not “minority people”
- coolso 5y ago> The entire federal system in the US is built to favor rural areas That’s because those who choose not to live in filthy crime ridden cities shouldn’t have to suffer from the lowest common denominator laws and high taxes said cities “require” to not fall apart since people aren’t meant to live that close together.
- scarface74 5y agoYet snd still it’s rural America that’s subsidized by those “filthy cities” where all of the economic activity is taking place. I’m not going to even mention the opioid epidemic in rural America is killing far more people than in the inner city. But why should the minority get to dictate policies if the majority? Is rural America willing to get rid of all of the farm subsidies? The unneeded military bases that the military is trying to close but politicians don’t let them?
- TheCoelacanth 5y agoIt's telling that these pieces advocating political nihilism always come from the right. Probably because a politically disengaged populace puts more power in the hands of the elites.
- fatcat500 5y agoBecause the elites are a bunch of right-wingers, right?
- Apocryphon 5y agoEconomically so, yes. They tend to want to entrench their wealth and not fetter it with taxes on programs that don’t benefit their interests.
- jevoten 5y agoWhat about axes other than economic and foreign policy? There are many government policies in effect that large parts of the right strenuously object to. In fact, even on foreign policy, I'd be surprised if the forever wars in the middle east enjoy majority support among the right. Isn't isolationism also right-wing? If it's at all helpful to classify policies into 'left' and 'right'..
- Apocryphon 5y agoSocial and cultural axes exist, yes. That’s why I specified economically right-wing. Isolationism could be left wing or right wing.
- acomar 5y agoso-called "left-wing elites" still favor privatization while public ownership is never in the conversation, so yes.
- krapp 5y agoyes, but the "left-wing elites" aren't the ones pushing political nihilism. "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" isn't something the left ever claims.
- olivermarks 5y ago'other trash they have written' is a credibility disqualifier of the descriptor for me
- philosopher1234 5y agoBecause there is no such thing as rational hatred?
- olivermarks 5y agoI'm very sceptical of non specific hate hustlers. Character-conditioned or rational variants are peddled by academic observers who don't appear to have ever been threatened with life threatening hatred. In the western world claims of being 'hated' are often a desperate cry for visibility and relevance in society.
- zozbot234 5y ago> if left/right party politics does not produce meaningful change, then what kind of politics can? Try to raise awareness about issues that are roughly orthogonal to the main left-right divide. It's easy and can lead to major results and policy improvements over the status quo, precisely because very few people are interested in it.
- filoeleven 5y agoCan you give some examples? I’m not arguing that they don’t exist, but I do think “easy” might be a stretch.
- clairity 5y agoyou've already lost when you buy into "left-right" bullshit, which is solely a gambit to coalesce and otherize in a way that maximizes power for party leaders. the eternal struggle is between the populace and power-grubbers, because a little government in good hands is a net-good, while a lot of government (i.e., centralized power) or government in bad hands, is net-negative. americans have completely lost this simple, eternal narrative in favor of just about anything spewing from democrats/republicans and their media surrogates. that's all bullshit. look past it and apply your own brains to figure out what you believe and want to support. forget parties, and especially forget any dipshit dichotomy like 'left-right'.