If so, it is (by a substantial margin) the best discussion I have seen of the topic. Doesn't open my eyes at all, but gives me a language and a framework to describe and discuss something I obviously also have been seeing as a non-identarian boring Obama democrat.
Ditto...I was a center-right Republican until my late 30s then drifted left over issues like abortion and gay marriage. Ending up either very center or slightly left of center (I work at a college so even being slightly center left feels very conservative). Recently I felt like I had zero in common with either party.
I really appreciate this take on politics because it gets at what is wrong with both parties in my opinion. They are both completely willing to adopt totalitarian practices, just for different reasons.
Similar though I made my transition a little earlier. I work in state government so my place is more conservative (I consider myself the second most left person at the office). This triangle helps me understand why I still get along with all my colleagues in spite of who we voted for in 2020, because we all gravitate towards the “liberal” point of the triangle.
Like the majority of the electorate, your subjectivity concerning where “left“ and is on the spectrum is relative to the light-years off the right end of the bell graph of the GOP. If you support anything the current democratic party advocates for, you are moderate right. You are a corporate oligarchy and enabling fascist. Bernie is the only single person in Congress that has both feet left of center. Elizabeth Warren AOC Katie Porter they all have maybe 1 foot completely over the centerline. none of the words used to describe political positions and ideologies are used correctly in this country. Which is as it should be because we obviously suck at politik. I don’t know a damn thing about it. So American we don’t defer to the professionals. We listen to our plumber and Mechanic about political science. Why not we listen to them about climate science as well.....
Fine then I’m center right. My family fled communism so even though I’m ok with *democratic socialism* (edit: should be "social democracy" as I learned in future comments), I'm skeptical about its efficacy so I feel little appeal for it. That said I’m nowhere near fascist even if I’m more sympathetic towards corporations than you’d prefer. Be careful with using that term too widely, it will only dilute its meaning, as has happened with the word rascist.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
There’s no way I can pollute the cesspool that is the political verbiage of America. None of it is used correctly.
For example, social democracy which I advocate for is not the same as democratic socialism. North Korea for instance.
If you would be so kind, please clarify your statement concerning efficacy. I mean all of the high quality of life first world countries are basically social democracies. Almost without exception. Actually, there is no exception other than somebody like Luxenberg who is so small and the entire country is part of the royal court.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your Jewish god.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Agreed. Reading this helped me understand my own feelings about pre-Oct 7 as well as post. I thought I was Progressive until I was told that I was a person with a vagina and not a woman. Then I learned that despite being born in poverty and succeeding on my own intelligence I benefited from White Privilege because I'm Jewish despite my middle eastern DNA.
Out of curiosity, who has been telling you you're not a woman? Traditional progressives will say anyone with a vagina is a woman (or, at least, anyone with XX chromosomes), while "woke" progressives will say anyone who says they're a woman is a woman.
Is there some third type of progressive you're referring to here?
Is this common in progressive circles? It certainly is not in any of the progressive circles I have encountered in either of the two countries I have lived in (USA and Australia). I have only seen it in very specific contexts, typically of a medical nature (e.g., to emphasize that transmen still need to get regular gynecological exams). In normal social discourse, "woman" is still commonly used; the term's borders are just drawn differently for a very small percentage of the population. The vast, vast majority of women are called women by both conservatives and progressives.
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . .
The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
People are done fighting wars for these psychotic kikesucking Zionist ass-whores . . . With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
But as someone who also writes about these subjects, I will say that this piece was good enough to actually make me feel kind of frustrated: "Why didn't I write that?"
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . .
The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
People are done fighting wars for these psychotic kikesucking Zionist ass-whores . . . With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
“Oh how fond they are of the book of Esther, which is so beautifully attuned to their bloodthirsty, vengeful, murderous yearning and hope.” — Martin Luther
“I fear the Jewish bankers with their craftiness and torturous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt modern civilization. The Jews will not hesitate to plunge the whole of Christendom into wars and chaos so that the earth should become their inheritance.” ― Otto Von Bismark
Very substack-y, and I think needing more data (didn't pew do a breakdown on voter subgroups?)
I'd like to know how the Political landscape is changing as a % of population along the SLJ/Socialist/Liberal lines.
Also curious how much the events that led to the trial were triggered by an increase in 'SLJ' vs would have occurred anyway 20 years ago, given the same war.
Maybe could look broadly on how the US has changed its views on Palestine over the years. Or the degree and ways students protest every US war.
This is a fascinating read! It really highlights the complexities of our current political landscape. I've recently penned a piece that delves into the political divide we're experiencing in the country and explores potential avenues for finding common ground. I believe it could offer additional perspectives to this discussion. Check it out here: [https://open.substack.com/pub/dsc007/p/the-untruth-of-emotional-reasoning?r=1mx14f&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web]. I'm eager to hear your thoughts and engage in a meaningful dialogue!
Well I'm having the same reaction that I did to the post that made me a Scott Alexander devotee, and he is the Substackiest person I'm aware of, so yeah I'd say it is :)
But seriously, thank you for writing this post. I see it's already been said, but this was a great crystallization of ideas that have been floating strongly but vaguely around my head the past year or two. I couldn't have hoped to come even close. I think for the new year I'm going to resolve to completely detach from political analysis and discussion, and anyone who tries to have a political discussion with me is a getting a link to this post and a polite changing of the subject.
There's a common model in political theory that there are three fundamental values: order; freedom; equality. These values cannot be reduced to each other nor wholly reconciled with each other. What your “ideology” is is mostly a reflection of which value you instinctively value most. If you value order most, you're broadly a conservative; if you value freedom most, you're broadly a liberal; if you value equality most, you're broadly a socialist (including “SJLs” etc).
Once you have this three-value model you can relate it to other things. It looks a lot like the traditional monarchy–oligarchy–democracy model of ancient Greek political philosophy. It also looks a lot like a hierarchy of needs, where equality pre-supposes freedom pre-supposes order; that is, you can't build a free society unless you already have a minimum degree of order, and you can't build an equal society unless you already have a minimum degree of freedom. All in all it's a useful model that I think more people should adopt.
It's also worth noting that there are vastly different notions of equality. Most today in the West would support equality under the law and equality of opportunity. Here is the problem for the highly educated Left- most people are hardwired for equality as fairness, rather than in terms of equality of outcome.
It's why the Left abandoned the blue collar or working class, because their values were fundamentally opposed to the imposition of equality of outcome- they wanted a fair shake, not socialism to equalise income levels. Free market societies do produce inequalities, but they also produce the types of opportunities which cause the proles to abandon the dream of socialist utopias. This is also why it was also inevitable that the SJL would emerge- only by grossly exaggerating the perception of unfairness along arbitrary lines could they resurrect the dream of a state-run society in which intellectuals would be elevated to decision-making roles, or at least to that of an advisory apparatchik.
It is ironic. When I survey my friends and coworkers, the main political indicator is social class. The poorer their background the more likely they are to be conservative. The richer their background the farther left they swing.
Of course age and education fit into as well. But it's always funny when blue collar folks breaking their backs making $50k are sure that taxes are the devil. While the dudes making $300k are like whatever, this dumb country needs more services.
The irony is there are some forms of redistribution which are good. Where the Left fails is on creating programs which are too broad. A good example would be the expanded child tax credit. Up to about five it was a good idea. Alleviating meal deprivation and/or increasing parental engagement can have a benefit to both IQ and in terms of future criminality/life planning, but beyond that point it was really just a waste. Conservatives would push back on the first statement because there is no guarantee the extra money would be spent on the child's welfare, but if only 30% of single mothers entitled to this payment spent it on preventing meal deprivation then it would more than pay for itself through future increased earnings, labour participation and costs to the taxpayer through future court costs/incarceration.
The irony is that faction of the Democratic Party which has been in power for some time has been most harmful to blue collar interests- like the centre Right they are neoliberal and open society pro-migration. Sure, a lot of labour dislocation is bad trade deals, offshoring and automation, but every immigration system which is not the somewhat older Australian system, with its blue collar protections, has failed massively for the simple reasons that research on the role of migration on the socio-economic spectrum shows that migration lowers incomes for the bottom part of the spectrum whilst making people in the top 20% richer.
With wealthy people it's about alleviating class guilt (even though most Americans don't think they have a class system, one has emerged in the past 30 years, through educational commodification). They also don't have to live with the consequences of their luxury beliefs- the immigrants who live in their communities tend to be of the very good kind which everybody should be in favour of- high knowledge and able to integrate exceptionally well.
These days Western societies tend to be like Greek columns with a lintel at the top. The columns don't tend to integrate and even choose self-segregation when economic ghettoization is not in effect, whilst the 'lintel' highly educated open to new experience cosmopolitan types are quite happy to mingle- for them its always been more about shared interests and intellectual pursuits rather than culture.
This part I'd say is less ironic, and I agree. Wealthier Americans see immigrants as people in need, and arguably good for the economy as a whole. Poor Americans see immigrants as direct competition for jobs and entitlements.
Poor Americans are completely correct. The fewer poor people there are the more we will value their labor and care for their children. Inviting more into the country means creating surplus. Same with offshoring, of course.
Wealthier Americans are correct that immigrants are "people in need", and therefore kind of see them the same way they see poor Americans. I'm not sure if they're good for the economy as a whole. You say it makes the people at the top 20% richer, but what is left after accounting for educational spending? Of course, they would be right to point out that the supply of workers-- especially young workers-- is pretty thin.
Anyway, I think immigration is a sperate question from wealth redistribution as a whole. It's worth talking about, but Democrats and Republicans have always been mixed on immigration.
And if you're trying to talk about working-class people, I don't think it's as big a deal as things like medicare, medicaid, social security, public schools, and social security disability. The entitlements just add up to a lot more money than whatever you lose from having a bunch of workers in town.
You just don’t get any of this. First of all they can spend it on whatever the fuck they want second of all, the socialist welfare money that is a waste is the 97% of the budget forked over to corporations not the 2.5% shared with our fellow citizens. You’re pathetic
I don’t know where the laugh or cry. All I can say is, the amount of effort it took to become that stupid is truly impressive. Would argue it would’ve been better spin on something else but hey, impressive nonetheless…..
Second only to your lack of shame and moral decency.
Your next glass of Canadian Tar sands crude in on me bruh….
Obviously I’m not, Bob. I am disseminating truth and that is blatantly obvious otherwise, fake ass silicon chip cyber accounts like you would not come out of the woodwork attacking me.
Ad hominem bullshit, projection, and lies are all you’ve got Bobby. Lame.
That is not my experience. The blue collar folks I see contribute to charities, food banks, their communities and are intensely aware of and concerned about likely fragile future "outcomes." They support taxing the wealthy and building up infrastructure. They are economic progressives--albeit social conservatives. Those $300k dudes fret over their children getting up the pipeline from posh private schools to the Ivy League and into overweening executive positions. They couldn't care less about public services or the environment.
I mean, it depends on the friends you keep. My friends are charitable, but obviously there are charitable and uncharitable people in every class. It's just the politics that I find funny.
Oh my God you couldn’t be more disconnected from the reality of the body politic if you tried. First of all, there is no “free market” in the United States
I agree there is no free market in America, but that's hardly the fault of market systems or fallacies like late stage capitalism. The prevention of markets happens for three reasons.
1) State control.
2) Government making it difficult for new entrants into the market, usually through the construction of a system of regulatory barriers.
3) The East India Company problem. Government failing to ensure that there are a sufficient of competitors in each sector of the economy, usually, but not always, through a failure to prevent monopolies and mergers.
All of these are government failings, not market failings- and they usually arise from the failure of institutional government, not failures implicit to political parties, other than those who espouse totalitarian end-states, like socialism or fascism.
Ad if you don't believe me, then why is it that in every area where free markets exists products have either gotten better or cheaper, whilst in every area where government exerts the greatest amount of control products and services have gotten worse or become more expensive? In the US, healthcare, housing and education all fall into the latter category.
There are some things that voters decide they want, but even then the optimum solution is publicly commissioned, privately provided, with a few rare exceptions like prisons, police and the courts. A great example would be universal healthcare. The NHS is state-run. Australia's system is publicly commissioned, privately run. Guess which system has seven times as many hospital beds, and enjoys markedly superior health outcomes?
Wait a minute, are you insinuating that healthcare, housing and education are free market in the United States? I mean, I need to know what your claim is before I completely blow it out of the water. Because if that is the case, you could not be more mistaken there is not a single free market in United States unless you’re at the vegetable stand on a farmers market Saturday morning.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Your attempt at incitement is fucking lame douche canoe fair that is not only outside of the first a minute umbrella, it is a fucking felony. Since your own fake ass Netanyahu cock sucking sock puppet. The person behind it should suffer the same fate. Morally bankrupt feces filled skin bag is not a good attic
No different than any other market sector actually agriculture, specifically dairy, energy, and education have at least as much influence if not more. For sure agriculture and energy.
I do believe you are confusing UniversalHealthcare with socialized medicine. They are nothing alike and not even correlated other than fall under the same public policy. You have socialized medicine. You don’t understand or experience at least #UniversalHealthcare.
You are correct concerning the markets no doubt. That’s why your provider in the facility should be in an absolutely free market concerning healthcare. There are three things that are socialized in first world civilized high quality of life countries.
Incarceration
Healthcare insurance
Public education... through post graduate if earned
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Most American questions surrounding government exist across binary poles. Should it be bigger or smaller, or should it limit its power or engage in more intervention.
Better questions are how does it act and who does it serve? Most Western governments are now faced with the inevitable question of what should they do now that they've hit a spending wall- ie their citizens will no longer tolerate much further taxation for themselves.
The easy answer is tax the rich, but it's never worked so far. All of the socialised medicine countries I can think of rely heavily on VAT (consumption taxes) to fund public healthcare. Things like food, babycare products and other essentials are excluded, but on most consumer goods and services one pays a tax of around 20% which is charged by retailer but paid for by the consumer.
The real dilemma facing most developed countries is how to radically transform institutional government to better serve the people. It's not something most politicians want to admit because it's a project which is almost certainly doomed to failure.
For example, American public education spending is directly proportional to GDP/PPP for other OECD countries- you spend exactly the same as a proportion of wealth generated as all the other countries. Yet you lose a significant amount on private procurement and around 7% of the total on the school districting system. Are you going to tell the politicians they need to stop buddying up to educational suppliers, or the bureaucrats at the school board that you're moving to a voluntary unpaid parental board of governors system.
One of the easiest kinds of reform you could do would be to shift to a AYE system. It would mean that every American who works for an employer would hardly have to have any interaction or fear of your internal revenue service. You wouldn't need to hire 70,000 new agents for the simple reason that the ones already there would be able to focus in on the 10%, usually at the top, who have additional income or can afford the experts to engage in questionable accountancy practices that they should expect a proctol exam from the IRS, even though the 10% are the donor/culturally dominant class and wield far more general political power (as opposed to specific interests-based lobbying power), than the 90% and the 0.1% combined?
Most of decisions to prevent Western decline are more about how to radically change Western governments, rather than political parties. It would be the biggest internal reallocation of labour attempted since WWII and it would be fiercely resisted because nobody wants to give up a cushy office job filing papers for activities which might actually help people. That's why it will never happen.
Of course, there are exceptions. Ending corruption, corporate bailouts, introducing deregulatory mechanism which continue to protect consumers but reduce entry barriers. Did you know here in the UK we don't get ratshit in our turmeric? In America, there is a quota for how much ratshit is allowed in yours....
Nobody understands the subject is advocating for socialized medicine.
Government outlay can be divided between expense and investment. In the United States, we allow our government to only do expenses. We don’t do investments.
Just like any other outlay by any other entity, the important point of it all is what you get for your money.
You are argument against the legislative mandate about adding the workforce in the IRS is moot. All you have to do is look at the history of the department and you will realize that it is the right thing to do.
The entire system needs revamped to an Eisenhower era bracket, with the same loophole closures. This isn’t rocket science. Go with what worked before. We had the most robust economy in the history of money during the eight years of Eisenhower. That’s not a coincidence.
You are assuming that the tax system only relates to the creation of revenue and treasury balances. Far from it. It can easily be in used to incentivize the right thing. Switching to renewables, becoming sustainable, on and on and on. I don’t think you understand what you’re talking about when it comes to those issues in America. People on the school board aren’t paid.
And someone with a Masters Degree in political science from a very esteemed University, you just sound like you’re winging it.
Rape and pillage is not capitalism. And you are denying, and they made it intentionally so, that there is any quality built into the system. What you are claiming as a political viewpoint is actually an uneducated ignorant piece of propaganda that the proletariat has been fed. By jackasses like you.
You should read my comment more carefully. There is ample room for a critique of American capitalism along class-based lines, but there is almost no room for the type of identity pandering which inevitably sets brother against brother.
Plus, at the time that the Democrats abandoned the blue collar class for the demographics is destiny bullshit, it was mainly because of realpolitik. At the time, it was still actually fairly common for a skilled blue collar worker to set up a business or acquire a slice of the American Dream through a little hard work and grit.
The problem is the Democrats became increasingly trapped in their own paradigm. Their constituency became the college educated- a tenuous proposition given that even if you educate 50% of the population with at least some college, even the Germans can't push more than 30% of their population into highly educated roles- and they still have a manufacturing surplus economy (though they are likely to lose it because of their energy sector).
The Catholic Church has a name for a crisis within a constituency which exists on two poles with wildly different values, agendas and self-interests. It's called schism.
The only person who could prevent it was Bernie Sanders and the opportunity he presented is long gone.
I’m not sure if you are advocating that Bernie should’ve been the nominee at some point or exactly what you mean by including him in your reply. He would’ve been the most ineffective executive in history. The chance that restoring the republic and make a significantly significant political and physical action towards climate crisis and bioremediation was missed by not nominating Elizabeth Warren. Bernie had great goals, absolutely no idea how to get there and as I mentioned earlier, as never built a coalition in his existence as a political being. Therefore, rendering him completely ineffective.
A dead giveaway that the correct candidate to either nominate or elect is when the entire establishment is against them. That’s more than a clue ....
Reason Bernie was allowed in the primary in 2020, the only reason Bloomberg jumped in when he did and the only reason Joe Biden got off the porch swing was to keep Miss Elizabeth Warren from occupying the seat behind the Lincoln Dest. The DNC and the powers that be are scared shitless of that woman. as well as Katie Porter, Sheldon Whitehouse AOC. Those are the people that should be running the country. Not having to bide their tongues to achieve a relevant committee assignments.
Look there's a basic misconception about IPCC models which even about 50% of climate scientists share. We should have long since stopped using RCP or SSP 8.5 as the 'business as usual' model- both were based upon a massive expansion of global coal use for energy, mainly through economic development in the developing world.
The best predication for total climate change by 2100, including all temperature rise from climate change to date, rests around 3C. The best and only way to change this reality is to technologically innovate. China and India are set to become 70% of the world's total coal market through energy and neither is going to change their plans for the continued improvement of living standards for their citizens. Yes, both are developing nuclear and renewables, China has the Three Gorges Damn, but of this only accounts for a small fraction of their current and future energy requirements. The best thing we could do is help them develop natural gas as quickly as possible- at least then that's half the total carbon per energy unit produced.
Here's one interesting fact that's worth researching for yourself. The Tonga eruption was the single biggest warming weather event in recent history. Some papers are already playing down its significance- but a 10% increase in stratospheric water vapour circulating for a number of years really is quite dramatic in terms of watts per square meter. In many ways, we are being allowed a glimpse into the future to around 2050.
A couple of things to aware of. The world is fast approaching a somewhat hard silicon extraction capacity limit. The rate at which we produce solar PV is likely to hit the top of an s-curve. Wind energy is still far from peak production capacity and deployment and most rational analyses like Project Draw Down and the Copenhagen Consensus rate it a good investment, but the ceiling seems to be around 30% of total energy usage- beyond which infrastructure and energy storage to mitigate intermittence becomes economically unsustainable. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of pumped hydro, not least because it delivers cost-savings to customers, but there is a definable limit.
Most people baulk at nuclear. The Left cites the fact that it's expensive, the Right blames overregulation. Both are wrong. An MIT econometric engineering study showed that most of the costs are front-loaded into building first in a generation plants. Basically, it incurs a huge number of in-project design changes including, but not limited to, blowing up facilities because of design oversights. The Chinese have plans to build 230 large reactors. They will probably blow around 40% of their budget on the 21 they are already building. By then they will likely have the industrial and institutional experience to build them at a cheaper price than the French did when they built theirs more than a generation ago...
What happens usually in the West is politicians commission a single plant, then they fear looking like donkeys because of the huge expense, swearing never to do it again. It's the equivalent of making the first iPhone and then deciding the costs are too high to make any more.
You lost all credibility with that bullshit. Leave. We’re through here. None of your claims concerning energy, the the atmosphere, or any other related issue or truth. They’re either blatantly your faults or twisted beyond the contextual recognition.
I must Block you now. I don’t engage with fossil fuel fellation tools.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
First of all, I thought we had already established capitalism doesn’t exist in America.
The identity politics being projected by both parties at present and have been since the Reagan Era are simply to keep the proletariat fighting the culture wars as to not pick up the sword in the class war.
I continue our incorrect concerning the democratic party and their failure to consistently control government.
That isn’t happening is because of the Democratic arty does not bring good government nor quality policy to the table. Donor class tools just like the GOP.
When one cannot differentiate themselves from an opponent that is nothing more than an ongoing criminal enterprise in a two party political dynamic, I insist, they’re not doing it right.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I completely agree with you on the corrupt corporate duopoly issue, and you're right about Reagan, but probably not for reasons we agree upon. Some neoliberalism was necessary. Every country in the West was in danger of imminent economic collapse and permanent stagnation.
However, the danger of any radical action which disrupts the status quo is that it will begin a process which continues long beyond its original necessity. The economic health of a national system is something like the same shape as Laffer curve. The optimum setting is somewhere in the middle, where both labour and capital can benefit, but neither side can gain the whip hand. Hayek fans will disagree, but capitalism actually works because it acts as its own ecosystem, creating the labour purchasing power which means the companies in adjacent sectors get affluent consumers.
Mike Alexander (also on Substack) also makes the point that America might have been able to afford the tax cuts, if only its politicians didn't have a congenital craving for foreign interventions. You'll probably like him- he brings receipts and is very close to you in terms of political alignment.
Basically, other than welfare changes without a support mechanism for transition into employment, Reagan's biggest mistake was allowing Goldman Sachs in the door as advisors. Their counsel, although expert, was always going to favour the type of casino economics which favoured capital at the expense of labour on every issue. This would be my main counterpoint- capitalism wouldn't be in anywhere near as bad a state as it is, without the fact that finance remains the most powerful lobbying interest in DC. Everything those guys do entails capital production at the expense of productive economics. It's a system-wide feature of the Anglosphere- even New Zealand!
You haven’t bothered to study our history. Or policy related to the topic.
Why in the world would anyone advocate for tax cuts? What we need is a progressive bracket system with loopholes shelters closed and incentives to reinvest your income into the economy.
I don’t know where to start here. I don’t think you understand macroeconomics nor the dynamic that is the relevant topics concerning our revenue and outlay.
In the world would you mentioned welfare? I’m sure you are speaking of social aid programs correct?
But since we are on the topic, let’s stick to it. Welfare is killing us. We are a socialist society. Corporate welfare. Corporate Socialism. Every taxpayer in America is liable for $8000 per year to corporations and $37 to their fellow citizens.
Corporate taxes should be so high that when passed down to the consumer, mom and Pop should be available shopping option.
I cannot refute a few of your claims because they’re just not relevant. We have no model of macro economic theory or position that represents our current rape and pillage of resources and capital including labor capital.
Foreign interventions are just one of many corporate subsidies we love to call a free market and essential to our security while they are nothing more than it taxpayer theft directed to the donor class.
I don’t see where much of your previous comment has any correlation to the United States economy and at the current juncture for macro or otherwise.
Nothing personal, but it’s mostly pseudo intellectual not correlated to reality word salad.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I'm an engineer, not a philosopher, but it seems like if you insist on a baseline of legitimacy, you can turn that pyramid into a tricky loop/cycle. A warlord who ruthlessly picks his teeth with the bones of his slightest enemies can be said to be a very ordered leader, but for order to be legitimate, it must land its heavy hand on those who behave unacceptably based on some equal framework that is built on an assumption of you-can-unless-you-can't.
A cycle is exactly what that Ancient Greek political philosophy predicted! Monarchy leads to aristocracy leads to democracy leads to monarchy. Order leads to illiberalism; liberty leads to inequality; equality leads to disorder.
Cyclical theories of history are increasingly popular of late. If you're interested you could look up recent works by Peter Turchin or Neema Parvini.
Nonsensical gibberish. As if none of the other policies instituted under those forms of federal government have any correlation? What about the economic model? The government architectural model? You are looking at an apple and trying to describe every fruit in the jungle
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
It’s the laws of thermodynamics…btw, macroeconomists need to understand the laws of thermodynamics because so much of macroeconomics is based on extracting fossil fuels.
I immediately thought of the hierarchy of needs as well, but I am not sure about the ordering you propose. The hierarchy has three levels: physical, social, spiritual/intellectual. We can associate order with physical security -- the base layer, but it seems to me that the social layer has more to do with equality than freedom, and the spiritual/intellectual layer has more to do with liberty. Also, does equality pre-suppose freedom? That seems wrong to me -- freedom leads to divergence, not equality.
In other words, I would propose: order -> equality -> freedom.
Yes, I was careful not to say that it is the /same/ as /Maslow's/ hierarchy of needs, only that it “looks a lot like a hierarchy of needs”!
I think it's just a matter of historical record that order is prior to freedom is prior to equality. That cycle perhaps makes most sense in the context of the Greek monarchy-oligarchy-democracy model, when you consider what each new ruling class in turn needs. The monarch needs order; the oligarchs need liberty; the demos needs equality.
What implications this has for a direct analogy to a psychological hierarchy of needs, I don't know. Perhaps the similarity is merely illusory. Perhaps Maslow is wrong. I suspect that the answer is instead that we are looking at a cyclical dialectic in which the safety-order layer is actually the /demand/ of the demos that is /satisfied/ by the monarch. As society falls into chaos, the failing demos needs order, which the monarch provides by over-taking the demos as the prime mover (achieving Maslow's transcendence for himself). As the monarchical order crystallises into rigidity, the failing monarch needs liberty to act, which the oligarchy provides by over-riding the monarch as the prime mover. As the oligarchic liberty fissions into inequality, the failing oligarchs need equality, which the demos provides by over-taking the oligarchy as the prime mover. And as the demotic equality degenerates into chaos… In this way we see that in society order is prior to liberty is prior to equality because this cycle moves BACKWARDS through Maslow's hierarchy of order > equality > liberty.
Sort of, but I think that motto specifically excludes Order because the French Revolutionaries were so radical. They needed another word for the tricolon and it had to end in “-ité”. Fraternity is more like another way of saying “Compassion”, which is more related to Equality than Order.
Va te faire foutre toi et ton dieu juif . . . Le judéo-messianisme répand parmi nous son message empoisonné depuis près de deux mille ans. Les universalismes démocratique et communiste sont plus récents, mais ils n’ont fait que renforcer le vieux récit juif. Ce sont les mêmes idéaux.
Les idéaux transnationaux, transraciaux, transsexuels, transculturels que ces idéologies nous prêchent (au-delà des peuples, des races, des cultures) et qui sont le subsistance quotidienne de nos écoles, dans nos médias, dans notre culture populaire, à nos universités, et sur nos rues, ont fini par réduire notre identité biosymbolique et notre fierté ethnique à leur expression minimale.
Les banquiers juifs ont inondé l’Europe de musulmans et l’Amérique de déchets du tiers-monde . . . L'exil comme punition pour ceux qui prêchent la sédition devrait être rétabli dans le cadre juridique de l'Occident . . . Le judaïsme, le christianisme, et l’islam sont des cultes de mort originaires du Moyen-Orient et totalement étrangers à l’Europe et à ses peuples.
On se demande parfois pourquoi la gauche européenne s’entend si bien avec les musulmans. Pourquoi un mouvement souvent ouvertement antireligieux prend-il le parti d’une religiosité farouche qui semble s’opposer à presque tout ce que la gauche a toujours prétendu défendre ? Une partie de l’explication réside dans le fait que l’Islam et le marxisme ont une racine idéologique commune : le judaïsme.
Don Rumsfeld avait raison lorsqu’il disait : «L’Europe s’est décalé sur son axe», c’est le mauvais côté qui a gagné la Seconde Guerre mondiale, et cela devient chaque jour plus clair . . . Qu’a fait l’OTAN pour défendre l’Europe? Absolument rien . . . Mes ennemis ne sont pas à Moscou, à Damas, à Téhéran, à Riyad ou dans quelque croque-mitaine teutonique éthéré, mes ennemis sont à Washington, Bruxelles et Tel Aviv.
I can’t find the comment you made about lumping progressives in the socialist that’s exactly what I mean. That’s purposeful to degrade and minimize the position. Progressives aren’t about equality specifically. They are about doing the right thing. Sustainability. Justice, peace and opportunity. Those are the three things that our constitutional republic are aiming it. Your claims are wrong in terms of the goals. Read the preamble
Again, the progressives primary value is constitutionality and the ideal that is America. To say otherwise is either ignorant or intentionally disingenuous. Both completely socially unacceptable
Therefore, justice, peace and opportunity are the pressure points. There’s nothing about equality. That is inclusive concerning justice. You have intentionally more than likely, completely misrepresented the framers entrance, and made up completely false narrative simply to dinner grade and minimize the most prescient political position of the day. It’s the only ideology that could possibly save us from the eminent climate disaster and somehow restore the republic by a constitutional reaffirmation whether formal or policy enacted.
Again, read the preamble. You are incorrect on your claims about the constitutional republic and its goals concerning with the people that the framers left us.
Justice is enumerated specifically
Provide Domestic tranquility and common defense = Peace
Provide for the common welfare = Opportunity
Equality is not represented in the constitution nor is it some thing the progressives are concerned about other than it is certainly one of the constituents of justice. Your political thoughts are convoluted and shortsighted.
What an interesting theory . It leaves out the most successful government model ever implemented. Progressivism. Social democracy. There are light years between liberal and socialist. There is no true by definition “liberal” party in the United States. Only is measured by relativity. The Eisenhower administration was far left of today’s Democrats and it’s platform
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
This discussion leaves out a group of people: older, traditional leftists who are dismayed by the excesses of the "woke" group but do not align at all with liberal thinking as you rightly define it. Exemplified by Bernie Sanders and the older members of DSA (many of whom, tellingly, broke with the organization in the wake of October 7th,) they may not be large enough (or relevant enough) to merit consideration, but I do wonder where they fit in.
The slice you're describing is encapsulated in the deceptive statement in the article that critical theory "emerged from the Marxist tradition".
It emerged from it in that it more or less rejected it.
"Traditional" leftism, Marxism, whatever is resolutely materialist, and believes that the realm of ideas is merely a superstructure constructed to support and justify the material base of the mode of production.
Critical theory (increasingly, over time) flipped that on its head to give the realm of ideology and culture explanatory power over the production and allocation of resources.
That sounds arcane, but out of that divide comes the exact cleavage you're talking about. Bernie vs Warren and so forth.
All the materialistic thinking that is commonly referred to as the 'Marxist tradition', was never able to explain the majority of human behaviors. It can't even explain the life choices of Carl Marx himself.
The biggest problem with "woke" ideology is its excessive categorization of things, to the point that it's not actually seeing what it's looking at, it's only seeing a set of categories.
I do not think that more categorization is going to provide useful illumination of the issues at stake.
Bernie, Warren (and to a lesser extent AOC) are probably CJL, or Class Justice Leftists. They think the system is rigged just like the SJL, but they think it’s rigged against the working class instead of identities in the minority.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Nate, as a Reform Jew who has spent the past many years sitting on DEI boards while going home and discussing with my wife that there's not a place for us in the discussion. But I thought being an ally was important. There are parts of the fight I still think are very important - specifically around women's equality. But I'm done fighting for people who will turn their back on me. I won't fight against them but I feel pretty burned.
Women's equality has been abandoned by the SJL. Except for abortion, the right is now much better. Only Republicans endorse the Women's Bill of Rights, and only red states have enacted it. Meanwhile Democrats are permitting fully intact incarcerated male rapists to be housed in women's prisons if they say "I'm trans".
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Have you ever heard the term "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist" ? TERFs, as they're called, who all of those links are from I might add, are treated with exceptional disdain by the "woke left" as TERFs stand for a version of feminism which is at odds with many of the basic tenets of social equality.
also lol at you saying the party who's current speaker is on record as saying "women need to be submissive and subservient to their husbands" is the party which cares about women's equality, get real.
I fully reject the notion that male sexual fetishists (google "autogynephilia") can declare themselves to be women and be instantly legally recognized as such. I fully reject the notion that a convicted male rapist can declare himself to be a woman and then be immediately housed in a womens prison, which is policy in most blue states. In California, WoLF is fighting back: https://womensliberationfront.org/chandler-v-cdcr
I fully reject the notion that the State can take a kid away from parents only because the parents will not "affirm" the child's newly chosen gender identitiy; this is now the law in California and multiple other blue states.
I fully reject the notion that a child can be "born in the wrong body" and then must be given sterilizing desexualizing drugs and mutilating surgeries, a medical policy for which there is literally ZERO evidence of efficacy and strong evidence of long-term harm.
In California, where we still have a semblance of small-d democracy, we are fighting back with a ballot initiative:
None of that shit is connected to reality. It’s intentionally disingenuous bullshit. Fuck it’s none of your business even if it is the goddamn case. Fucking focus on real issues like the eminent climate disaster, restoring the Republic, and an overall constitutional reaffirmation. Jesus trans people, immigration and abortion aren’t on the list of things that make us a Third World shit hole. Ignorant members of the electric such as you certainly are in the top three, hell they might be all three
Actually laughed at loud at you telling me, a trans woman, to google autogynephilia, as if I somehow haven't heard that word just about every day since I began transitioning.
Try googling "Blanchard discredited among psychiatrists" (the inventor of the pseudoscientific term "autogynephilia") and Anne Lawrence, the 2 most notable proponents of the AGP theory. They're clearly rational people who were arguing based on evidence and not pre-supposed societal stereotypes of trans women.
"Women's sex based rights" excludes women born with genital defects and intersex people that identify as women. "proper evidence-based medical care of our children" IS letting trans kids BE trans. Any credible child psychiatrist in this country would tell you to your face that the evidence shows children with dysphoria that are allowed to access gender affirming care are at a lower risk of depression, suicide, and self-esteem issues, and the EVIDENCE you care about so much backs that up. There's a reason all of the links you post come from organizations that are disavowed by the feminist community as a whole. Those groups don't actually stand for women, they merely stand for excluding trans people from being included with cis women.
Just a reminder, you are reasoning with the equivalent of head trauma suffering toddlers here. Do not be upset if you do not achieve the desired results.
Women already get raped in women's prison by MALE guards and FEMALE inmates. Ignoring the widespread abuse of women in women's prisons to focus on an extremely rare edge case of trans women committing abuse clearly shows you're arguing in bad faith and do not actually care about sexual abuse in women's prisons, and merely just want to argue against trans people. How is it a good idea to put a trans woman in a men's prison? Trans women are exceptionally more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse when put in a men's prison compared to committing sexual abuse in a women's prison.
यहूदियों और मुसलमानों की जड़ें और रीति-रिवाज समान हैं।
कड़वे मार्क्सवादी कोकेशियान लोगों से नफरत करते हैं। यहूदी बैंकरों ने यूरोप को मुसलमानों से भर दिया है और अमेरिका को तीसरी दुनिया के कचरे से भर दिया है। यहूदी अशुद्ध राक्षस हैं, तुर्कों की तरह।
Bitter Marxists hate the Caucasian people. Jewish bankers have flooded Europe with Muslims and filled America with Third World garbage . . . Jews are unclean monsters, just like the Turks.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
So your beef is that they didn't include your group on The List? What about all the other groups you de-privileged in your proceedings? (A person walks up to the door of the DEI committee room and yells through the door, "Please. I need help." And the committee chair yells back, "We have to get a look at you before we can even talk about this.")
I think you've captured something interesting here, but want to zoom in on one particular thing: your triangular diagram(s) with poles of liberalism, "Social Justice Leftism" and "MAGA Conservatism." Or, if I can rephrase, liberalism, illiberal leftism and illiberal rightism.
This carries with it, I would argue, an unstated assumption: that a left-leaning Liberal and a right-leaning Liberal have more in common with each other than they do with the illiberal Left and illiberal Right. That commonality very well *could* be true, but I think it also very much could be un-true. If you think of the situation not as a triangle but as a chart, with a "liberal-illiberal" axis and a "left-right" axis, that can better visualize the conflicting ideological pressures many people are being torn between.
The thesis that "left-Liberals and right-Liberals should join forces against illiberalism" is something that some people would very much *like* to be true on both sides. But since the liberal-illiberal conflict rose to the fore of American politics in 2016, attempts to make that happen haven't tended to go very well. The left-right axis has a *lot* of gravity, and when push comes to shove a lot of left-liberals conclude they have more in common with illiberal leftists (despite differences) than they do liberal rightists, and vice versa for right-liberals.
Put another way, the description of American politics as a tripartite division is more aspirational than descriptive. It could end up being true but is not demonstrably true yet.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
So what of those of us who believe all of the following: (a) Hamas & their ilk who believe in eradication of Israel/Israelis/Jews must be hunted down & dismantled; (b) Oct 7 was triggered by Hamas and they bear the sole cause for Israel's reaction; (c) Israel the state has had a significant role in the Palestinian issue and their cause, and in the Netanyahu times even propping up Hamas as a buffer; (d) Palestinians have as much right for life, freedom and statehood as Israelis do; (e) Palestinian people have and are suffering in the currentmath, and in the past - and will do so in future unless Israel and its key supporters actively and urgently pursue a 2-state solution; (f) the US establishment - republican or democratic - reflexively supports Israel regardless of cause, including almost unconditional supply of arms, resources; and rarely does something equivalent to be a buffer to Israel and for Palestinians; and (g) a lot of the rift between the left & liberals & the right is explained because of these; and no one side is entirely correct.
At the end of the day - it is so sad that as a collective population, we cannot muster equal empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians, and the people who are actually suffering.
The Palestinians have been offered statehood over and over for 75 years. They will only accept the eradication of Israel BEFORE getting a state of their own. Unless that changes, they can't have a state because they don't want it.
Take your disingenuous bullshit elsewhere. They’ve never been left in peace. They have been assaulted by crimes against humanity since 48. Especially by the Netanyahu terrorist Cabal. Shut the fuck up with your constant victim hood. It’s really pathetic
He didn't espouse victimhood though. He just said Palestinians don't want a state alongside an Israeli state, which I believe is supported by the survey evidence. You're pathetic.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
There is no evidence of your claim. Provided if there is. If you don’t bring anything but ad hominem bullshit and lies, you can fucking stay home. Prime Minister Netanyahu terrorist cabal cocksleeve is going to be a terrible bullet point on your résumé
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
There is a difference between Palestinian people & Palestinian extremist/terrorists. Plus Israeli policies in Gaza and West Bank over the years is hardly the model of innocent victim. Regardless, homogenizing an entire populace - Israel or Palestine - is never the right approach
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Seems to me that your impression of the situation pretty much matches mine.
So what of us? Well, even in the best of times, it is difficult to get people to hold two partially contradictory ideas in their heads simultaneously. And these are not the best of times.
Not only does digital debate defecate all over nuanced thought, but folks on both sides of the aisle in the US are accustomed to thinking of things in terms of "I know who the victim is, and nothing matters other than correcting that injustice. " All my life I have known people like this in everyday life, and this life view has now come to dominate public debate on pretty much every topic.
Trouble is, both at home and in the Middle East, there are multiple victims, while those same victims are perpetrators of injustices themselves. Thus, a narrow focus on one set of victims is in itself a gross injustice.
But this is a very hard sell, not least because looking at situations in this way pushes people away from a simple "root for my team" entertainment mentality. Or, maybe more importantly, away from "I am saving people, and thus bringing meaning to my life" mentality.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I think to get to leftist belief, you have to add the following thoughts:
1. The actions of settlers in the over the past decade have resulted in massive amounts of unnecessary suffering in the West Bank all for decreased house prices, and more recently the suffering in Gaza is in no way proportional to the terrorist attacks and seems to have no plan beyond removing the Palestinians to remove Hamas.
2. These actions are supported by the current ruling party (Lukid).
I think to get to liberal belief, you instead add the following two thoughts:
1. Criticism of the jewish people is uniquely dangerous, and often bundled with antisemitic rhetoric. Antisemitic rhetoric is often bundled as antizionist rhetoric.
2. There has been a lot more islamaphobia and antisemitism than usual as a result of these attacks. This is profoundly illiberal.
From the leftist perspective, putting this conundrum as a commitment to "liberal values" feels bizarre: this is the one instance where their free speech is in question. In their minds, the conservatives have united with the liberals to finally put an end to leftist free speech while championing the free speech of everyone else.
From the liberal perspective, putting this conundrum as a commitment to "social justice" feels bizarre: 'from the river to the sea' is designed to be a toxoplasma of rage. It doesn't seem to even be a popular policy position in Palestine. Leftists focus on it seems designed to incite conflict, and this seems to be the straw that broke the camels back.
To me, the amount that the US has focused on what has been happening in its borders is disheartening. We turned one of the greatest tragedies of the twenty first century into a bit play for our culture wars, all while our country quietly supported another being razed.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
This makes perfect sense of my own reactions to recent events. For time out of mind, I have thought and said that the only division between me and the left is that I have more patience and believe in waiting to make changes until we have a clear majority. But lately, I have been stewing over the tone and substance of left wing posts, their simple assumption of moral and factual correctness, and their willingness to dismiss all dissent as racism. Which, of course, needs to be silenced by whatever means necessary.
What I once thought was just another right wing talking point has turned out to be accurate -- based on the left wingers own words, including in forums where I know the people and can be certain that these are not right wing impersonators of leftists.
This illiberal left wing crowd is not as immediate a threat as Donald Trump, because they have no opportunity to change our form of government in the next couple years. They cannot use the military against our population. They can't leave NATO or stack the government apparatus with incompetent cronies. Thus, the short term priority remains staving off a second Trump presidency.
But your post clarifies for me that this is a two part struggle, and the second task is to defeat the illiberal left. People who believe in silencing dissent are beyond the pale, they fundamentally misunderstand the conditions that must be in place in order to keep government loyal to the needs of everyday people. Maybe because they do not know enough history to realize how ahistorical and fragile that arrangement is.
In the meantime, I am going to be more cautious about which Democratic candidates I contribute towards, particularly in the primaries.
I'm a liberal. I've been calling myself "conservative" for a few years only because of my fears of the illiberal left (SJLs as Nate called them). My biggest needs are free expression, individual dignity, equal treatment under the law. I called myself a moderate (or a centrist) before that. There isn't a touch of MAGA in me (I really dislike that guy). And yet, Republicans have been the only opposition to SJLs despite a large contingent among them who are illiberal like the SJLs (they just switch around their favored identities and verboten opinions). Stand up for liberalism and I'll come running back!
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
"This illiberal left wing crowd is not as immediate a threat as Donald Trump, because they have no opportunity to change our form of government in the next couple years."
I believe that you are wrong about this. The Democrats have ALREADY changed our form of government by handing over immense power to federal agencies, and then staffing them with SJL adherents.
Biden's Dept of Education is on the verge of declaring all single-sex sports in schools illegal. This Title IX policy announcement has been delayed over and over again (there was a massive outpouring of opposition to the proposed rule), and I believe it will now be pushed to after the 2024 election.
We simply do not have a small-d democracy if overwhelmingly unpopular policies are pushed down our throats by unaccountable bureaucracies.
I'm a 68-yr-old lifelong Democrat, but I'm now voting straight Republican, including for Trump as POTUS if he is the nominee. We need a Republican POTUS to implement Schedule F firings of very large numbers of SJL adherents in the agencies.
Well, each person has to prioritize the threats according to their own lights and vote accordingly. For me, though, no hot button issue is more important than maintaining the basic American system where, once the votes are counted, the losing side accepts the results.
That aside, I am pretty sure that your second concern (single-sex sports in schools being made illegal) is based on some distorted reporting.
There is an ongoing political struggle regarding how we as a society adapt to a significant transgender population. Rapid technological advances provide wonderful things, but they do destabilize society by forcing rapid adaptations to longstanding arrangements. Worsened by each side of sober debate trying to score points by wildly exaggerating the dangers of the most extreme on the other side.
In this case, the Dept of Education has proposed a change to its Title IX Regulations on Student Eligibility for Athletic Teams. The proposed change would disallow CATEGORICAL banning of transgender students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. This would leave a lot of room for more nuanced rules as to who can participate on what teams. Just to give a specific non-controversial example, in our state, they cannot categorically ban 8th graders from playing high school football, but can and do set up specific criteria that most 8th graders do not meet.
This is not to say I am in favor of this Dept of Education proposal. I am uncertain as to the wisdom of the rule, but even more, I am a skeptic of federal involvement in education. There is no perfect answer, but education probably works best if left up to the community.
In any case, given a choice between poor decision on the transgender issue and, in effect, a ratification of Trumpist election procedure, the lesser evil, by far, invovles the transgenders. Policies like that are much easier to reverse when they crash and burn.
I have to add that your formulation of "Biden's Dept of Education" also comes across as political boilerplate. Either there is a deep state which thwarts presidential oversight, or else there is a bureaucracy which the president does rule. If Trump is claiming the former, then it is inconsistent to simultaneously claim that Biden owns the bureaucracy on his watch. At least if we are exchanging serious ideas rather than campaign rhetoric.
I share your concerns, though, about the power of bureaucracy operating too far from voter oversight. Not that I discount expertise, I want expert opinion to be heard. But too often it seems that the bureaucracy is a vehicle by which expert advise can be made binding without the consent of the people. Aside from anything else, that kind of power inevitably corrupts the experts.
But even here, Trump's own ideas strike me as an even more immediate threat to our country. Replacing vast numbers of civil servants with people chosen on the basis of loyalty to him... would essentially change our form of government, a change that would last long past his lifespan. (And almost certainly place unqualified people in charge of sensitive areas. We are so accustomed to myriad forms of security and safety that we cannot even imagine all the things that could go belly up. Things are bad now, but never think that that means they cannot get dramatically worse.)
Thus, we all have to vote our conscience, but for me, the Trump threat is far and away the more immediate.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
What do you consider “the liberal left“? I mean Bernie is the only person in the entire congressional body with both feet left of center. Elizabeth Warren, Katie Porter, the squad have 1 foot left of center.
Progressive is the ideal that is American. And considering, the republic has long ago fallen and life on earth is precarious at best considering the eminent climate crisis, a progressive policy approach is the only chance of multicellular complex lifeforms being on the planet after 2030 let’s say, we don’t have time and never did for that matter to implement the correct policy. That’s a bunch of bullshit bitch that’s why were a Third World shit hole. Democrats do not hold their elected officials accountable pay you don’t increment your way to real policy. You fucking demanded and have it the law of the land. My God OK no underwear Third World shit hole. No one respects and the first two political scientists. Obviously professional Wednesday you’re the type of person that hires the electrician with no eyebrows, hires the mechanic I can get you in today. And obviously most of your political opinions have came from your brothers sisters plumbers boyfriend on Facebook…..
If this was in answer to me, I posted about the illiberal left, not the liberal left.
I am referring to that segment of blue America that is not firmly attached to such democratic norms as freedom of expression and majoritarian rule.
When this takes the form of alarm at abusive practices using relatively new communications technology, I can understand their reaction even if I doubt the wisdom of that reaction.
However, when it takes the form of simply trying to prevent opposing viewpoints from being expressed in a public forum, they and I part company.
For a republic it is poison to have this idea that only approved ideas can be expressed. For most of my life, I encountered this ugly attitude almost entirely from very conservative people, and it remains more a conservative than a left wing thing. But unless my ears are lying to me, it is a growing trend among the left, too.
I don’t know anyone who’s confused and disingenuous about posting things on public platforms other than the public platforms in self which allow sedition, liable and incitement all Felonise mind you to be completely removed and obviously and prosecute from their platform, that has been to do with terms of service.
No one is suppressing anything but the right. Only the right. To demand something not within the purview of the first amendment be removed is simply correct. It’s not censorship in anyway or fashion. I don’t know anyone else who is demanding narrative removal. It’s not like individual people where you know if you contradict my narrative you’re gone. I mean that happens here. But literally removing things that are not covered by the first amendment is not within the purview of the platform. It should be an automatically done thing by some form of software because it’s a felony.
That’s a given. What is pertinent about that discussion is the following. Sedition, incitement and liable are not only unconstitutional, they are criminal actions. Fake accounts on social media do that very thing. They exist by the dozens of millions and it’s a RICO violation on the part of all platforms to allow it to exist. Not to mention fraud against their advertising clients.
The most detrimental thing in the American body politic right now could be cured with a simple paragraph of national medical leave mandate. To operate a platform in this country, there should be an absolute be on a shadow of a doubt verification of the identity concerning the account holder. Really simple stuff. AT&T does it for a phone, your bank does it for a debit card, I mean Apple does it to help you with your damned iPhone. It’s easy stuff. Nobody wants to do that because both major part is the Coconspiring global crime syndicate that we allowed to be our federal government have no interest in this. They both have millions of fake accounts themselves.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
"So Jewishness is an edge case that makes the entire identity politics architecture look kind of dubious, if we’re being honest."
Derrida was a young Jewish boy in French Algeria when his citizenship was "taken away" from him. Vichy France no longer considered Algerian Jews citizens. He was expelled from his school. When the old regime emerged victorious, his citizenship was "returned" to him - he re-enrolled. He considered this a formative shock and inspiration. Since when was sacred citizenship like a special garment, able to be removed and later worn again? And on whose authority? The word, the whole concept began stinking. Dubious.
Your thought, along with Derrida's, perhaps strikes at the heart of the Jew's ability, in exile, to inspire discomfort and hatred. The Jew is simply a living breathing challenge to the reliability of words and ideas (in some eras, this is equally true of any 'Other'). We see it in words - is Yom Kippur a "holiday" if it's not cheerful? Can one embrace authority if one questions it? The Jews seem to have unusual answers to these questions. If a despised minority is also smart and wealthy, are they privileged? There's an instability there, a cognitive dissonance, and it makes certain personalities feel desperately unsafe - without linguistic certainty, the world around us feels increasingly unhinged.
In our society, comfort is decreasingly derived from social connection, and increasingly from understanding the world around us (this is a by-product of the philosophy of science, which has provided us with so many miracles). We will increasingly tend to rigid dogmas to maintain our psychological comfort - and the Jews will be at risk once again.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
War profiteering any international law and moral bankrupt aggression by Putin with our policy is terrible. We should have removed Putin decades ago. But we must help Ukraine. It is the only moral thing to do. We’re just not doing it right.
As far as Israel is concerned, we should have removed all funding and any help offered after the first week of Netanyahu. There’s a biggest Terrorist in the Middle East.
I feel like you make two fundamental mistakes when taking about SJW ideology- first, the idea that it isn't about material conditions and the history that produces them, and second, the idea that the left is somehow less democratic than liberals. Neither of these reflect the self-image or internal rhetoric of the left. I would point you to the difficulty in booking "the leader" of occupy or BLM for an interview.
But from the SJW perspective, this is another example of the historical trend where the center loves leftist rhetoric but joins with the right wing when chips are down.
As a centrist, it’s hard for me to imagine enough chips being down low enough to side with the modern Trumpist right. If the American left becomes as dominated by extremism as the right has, then the whole edifice can just burn to the ground.
And the underlying problem is that contemporary media strongly favors the two extremes.
A debate between an incrementalist liberal and an incrementalist conservative would get very few clicks, very little attention. A debate between an unhinged leftist and an unhinged right winger would get lots of attention.
Television encouraged us to judge all parts of life by their entertainment value, but also encouraged us to get our political information from relatively sober sources. Digital has continued the former, while giving us choice as to the latter. While also making media competition far more fierce.
As a society, we have not figured out how to adjust.
There is no extreme left in America. My God I mean I’m sure the communist party of any red state would fit in my living room. If your left a sinner in this country, air considered a Marxist. Tribalism is the vehicle that chauffeured us to this Third World shit hole. Not the main stream news or any reporting. The stupidity of the electorate is the single causation. “We the people” suck
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
There’s no one on the extreme left. In America, if you are left of Center your label to radical communist. Hell, these people think if your left of Hitler you are a communist.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I would never vote for Trump after all of his shenanigans…but I will defend his border policies although they were ultimately unsuccessful. So AOC bears some responsibility for migrants that die trying to get into America. And Republicans bear some responsibility for all of the Cubans that have died at sea trying to get to America. All Americans should support a secure border and orderly immigration process. And keep in mind America needs to be prepared to help our neighbors when a hurricane wipes out a Caribbean island or an earthquake destroys a Central American city…so you need an orderly process to help people when natural disasters inevitably occur.
Including his policy to inflict psychological torture on migrant children to discourage border crossings? Or his policy of declaring a fake national emergency to divert money from the military to build his border wall when he didn’t get the appropriation from Congress? His attempt at a Muslim ban? So many great policies to choose from.
His policies were ultimately unsuccessful, but an Iraqi man did come here and attempt to assassinate Bush. In 2022 122,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border…but I agree Trump shouldn’t have done what he did but it was a drop in the bucket. And Democrats should have funded Trump’s border wall specifically for Big Bend and maybe Democrats could have picked off Texas. The border wall is so dumb Democrats should have funded it where Republicans would oppose it like around Florida.
The Democrats are never gonna win Texas because it uses ESNS optical scanners. Your political knowledge and acumen of the body politic is, well, basically nonexistent.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Well since the American left is actually moderate right, you don’t have to worry about that for a minute. And Lord. Centrist is about the most ridiculous political position possible in today’s body politic. All that means is you’re down with corporate oligarchy enabling fascism. Against tyrannical despotism. At least you got that last part right
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
The funny thing here is that liberals have become just as extreme as those they dog. It’s just not recognized yet. But liberals do try to preserve their gains by any means necessary, down to cancelling elections, outside of tilting them, and doubling down on ideological quests rather than living in reality when it comes to foreign policy.
Projection is all you’ve got? Agitprop just isn’t in your wheelhouse Bruh. Maybe it’s the vodka. No matter. At least I understand why your mother is so disappointed….
That narrative is complete bullshit. Nothing about the current administration or its party platform is left of center. Absolutely nothing nothing is left a central right. Jesus you don’t understand any of this in your agitprop dissemination of pure bovine fecal matter is certainly unappreciated and shall not be tolerated. Get the fuck out
Another piece of commentary I have to call bullshit on. There’s nothing extreme about today’s liberals. The democratic party itself is under the definition of today’s “liberal“ which is a moderate center right. Do you an extreme viewpoint would be called a progressive. And their simply left of the centerline. Bernie is the only person in Congress who happens to have both feet left of that imaginary line. Jesus. We’re so far from extreme left, you can’t even see it on the horizon from here. Social democracy is the proven best practice in terms of federal government throughout history and our current geopolitik. One thing I’ve never understood about Americans is why are they too goddamn proud to just copy a good wheel. They insist on inventing a new one.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Sure. Reality is If I were to list every extremist statement or action I could find by a current or former GOP federal or state elected office holder and you were to do so on the Dem side, I would lap you before you could get out of starting position.
None of that is relevant. Neither major party offers good government nor quality policy. They simply do not represent the constituency. Aside from the six members of Congress who do not except corporate money, they are all donor class affiliation tools. You are suffering from the illusion of choice. The travel bullshit displayed by that lack of critical thinking is the vehicle that chauffeured is here. In case you haven’t noticed, here really sucks. I hate Third World shit holes. I’ve lived in the first world for almost 2 decades. I miss it.
It's not a symmetric problem. On the left, *it's not the elected officials* (at least, not enough to matter so far). It's diffused all across the country, and most importantly shows up in practically everyone who has a job title that sounds like HR, PR, marketing, etc. Basically, the people in control of the messaging of professional America, and of access to any form of meaningful employment. The result is less loud and obviously scary than QAnon and Jan6, and in particular does not make for many of the extremist soundbites the two of you are talking about. Instead it's more of a slow creeping terror. It's been gradual, and although it has control over practically everyone at this point, the effects have never been anywhere near as bad as actual historical totalitarianism, so it has been rhetorically difficult to attack. Anyways, easily in the same ballpark; I can easily imagine a reasonable person concluding that either side is worse. So, I would not want to try claiming that one is clearly worse than the other.
Well, I'm not going to get sucked into arguing policy particulars here, or which side is overall worse, but my point is that they are different beasts, and one is much easier to deal with. "The bad stuff" on the right is concentrated in elected officials who can simply be voted out of office, problem solved. It's much harder to dislodge "the bad stuff" of the left because the people pushing it are spread out and unelected. It's looking like it might just have to run its course and do its damage, maybe for a decade or more, and that sucks.
(If Trump starts managing to jail political opponents who haven't committed actual crimes, everything I just said goes out the window, of course. I'm pretty hopeful about that, personally, though, even if he wins.)
Maybe. I could have used other language. Maybe I should have said “authoritarian” instead. Because Democrats are very authoritarian in their own ways. And honestly, even if they’re not as extreme as Republicans in some, very select matters, you neoliberals are such market fundamentalists that you still are violently opposed to the socialist left. I can point to dozens of politicians in the DNC for their red scare level propaganda, or their extreme fervor that favors Israel, or their absurd ideological defense of “democracy” in Ukraine.
"the idea that the left is somehow less democratic than liberals... I would point you to the difficulty in booking 'the leader' of occupy or BLM for an interview. "
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but are you suggesting that a movent being leaderless is evidence that it's democratic? If anything, it's evidence for the opposite. Democratic systems tend to produce leaders. In contrast, mobs are both undemocratic and leaderless. It's anarchistic systems, not democratic systems, that tend not to have leaders.*
And a vast majority of your fellow citizens would disagree with you, preferring not to "obey" (as you put it) but to "follow" someone who can unite them with others in achieving something they'd like to accomplish together. How democratic would you like to be?
I mean, you can say "follow" if you want, but the consequences of not obeying a law are still guns and cages, and people can't vote to change laws directly, just vote for a person that has the idea of changing it as part of their bundle of positions.
I think your answer is enlightening in terms of liberal vs SJW/leftist. Particularly in terms of being democratic.
The word democratic is more slippery than it would seem, but I (who consider myself a liberal) see open elections as the essential element of the thing we call democracy. A system is more democratic as more of the citizenry is able to vote, less democratic as procedures either push people away from voting or reinterpret the results in such a way that the majority does not rule. Our system was not originally set up to be very democratic in this sense, and it has been a long struggle to get as far as we have, but old obstacles remain, and new corruptions in the system keep arising.
You (and I have the impression that you accurately reflect the left in this regard) see democracy more in terms of egalitarian results, typified by a group having no identifiable leader because the movement is a mass of equals working together.
Thus, a hypothetical regulation which effectively forces outlying areas to share public funds with a much poorer inner cities, but which voters strongly disapprove of. I as a liberal would vote yes, but disapprove an end-around to institute that regulation without majority approval. While SJW/leftist opinion would be in favor of this egalitarian measure being instituted regardless of majority approval.
So I would hypothesize that there is a significant difference in viewpoint, but that the uncertain meaning of democracy obscures that difference.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
And here I was just thinking it's a question of how which decisions you as a voter get a say in. More democracy then would mean that you get to vote on granular questions such as taxes, criminal law, and military procurement rather than getting only to vote on bundles of positions as represented by candidates and parties.
I see your point. In fact, for a long time I kind of idealized ballot issues.
The problem that I witnessed was that this form of voting was especially open to manipulation by insiders. What wording goes on the ballot? What parts are binding and which are flexible after approval? And, especially when many ballot initiatives appear, can publicity be centered on one tiny portion of the state in order to get approval while hardly being noticed by most voters?
It seems to me that the more granular, the more easily manipulated. But maybe I just witnessed outliers.
Anyway, sorry if I misunderstood your original point.
You are omitting, intentionally I insist, the importance of every one eligible being able to participate in that representative democracy. No one has been advocating for by definition democracy. Stop with the disingenuous bullshit
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
I don't think I understand the point you are trying to make? Obviously people should have a say on issues that impact them; eligibility requirements are dicey when it comes to democratic legitimacy; and the way the left functions internally is a lot more extreme in terms of democracy than what gets advocated for.
So I'm unclear what I've said that you regard as bullshit.
People are informed enough to elect honest fucking brokers and are mostly tribalist fools pray like they know enough about individual issues? Nonsense. Jefferson and Franklin specifically said that a representative democracy is the only hope of a constitutional republic because obviously, the masses aren’t smart enough to govern themselves. I think we proved them correct…
There's tradeoffs. But the liberal version of more democracy by having more elected positions also has that confusing effect, as a lot of people don't know the powers of the positions they are asked to vote for.
That’s why I always wonder why more progressives don’t convert to Islam?? In America adults are free to convert to any religion they want to…so by not converting to Islam seems to me you are conveying something negative about it. And Obama converted to Christianity as an adult even though more of his paternal figures were Muslims…what does that say about Islam??
Take your xenophobic bullshit elsewhere. Politics in the United States of America have not a goddamn thing to do with any organized religion or spiritual belief. As a matter fact, we don’t have freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution we have freedom FROM religion enumerated in the Constitution.
You’re intentional deflection of the conversation off on a nonrelevant tangent is bullshit. I will not stand for it.
"As a matter fact, we don’t have freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution we have freedom FROM religion enumerated in the Constitution."
I am replying to a lot of your comments. You bring a nice, unhinged lefty perspective and are wrong about most everything. Pretty entertaining.
With respect to the present example.. The constitution provides both
1) The establishment clause. This precludes establishing a state religion and is probably the freedom FROM religion that you refer to.
2) The free exercise clause. This is the freedom of religion that you claim isn't enumerated in the constitution.
What I love about you is that you actually go and correct someone else about the constitution, despite your total ignorance. As a hardcore lefty, you think you are much smarter than other people and the world is in fact quite simple, because the hardcore lefties are just right about everything. Keep correcting everyone, you are one of the least intelligent people on this forum and it's good laughs.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Your pseudo-intellectual undeserved ridiculous condescension is nauseating. You are so far out of your depth now. I’m not gonna waste a single calorie or second re-budding your ridiculous assertions. And believe me, I could blow them out of the water if I had the energy to waste. Do better
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Obama rejected Islam in the 1990s though. I still remember when McCain was asked if he was a Muslim and McCain was like, “gross, he’s not a disgusting Muslim!” And then when Hillary was asked about it she basically said there was nothing wrong with being a Muslim and all of the Democrats were like, “being a Muslim is the worst thing in the world! Of course Obama isn’t a disgusting Muslim!”
You seem to rule out the idea that folks are just aligning more with conservatives on these cultural issues lately, but we've been warning you about these SJWs for a while! And this distinction you imagine between the left and liberals sure wasn't too obvious before these leftists endorsed a terrorist organization. There was no split in the liberal coalition until many of them realized they'd gone too far.
I think the distinction wasn't obvious in the mainstream media, but was brewing and visible at the ground level (in at least some places). My social circle of highly-educated upper-middle-class largely non-white people - obviously 100% blue during Trump's presidency - has been slowly, quietly, here and there whispering to itself that the Democrats were getting unhinged, starting with the DEI racism and really ramping up with the whole "transgender children" thing. But nooooo waaaaay would any of them have those discussions in public, especially not the ones in academia. And it wouldn't even really show up in polling since the Republicans are unfortunately still not currently an entirely obvious choice to turn to - which gets us back to what Nate is very correctly identifying, imo.
No. You are literally pulling shit out of your fake ass. Of course the average Democrat constituent wants basic societal reparations in place for people like African-Americans and indigenous first peoples.
The only thing any major political party does right in this country is the democrats support basic human rights. I mean, if that’s your fucking argument you’ve already lost but holy crap man.
This dynamic is not something you understand. Painfully obvious.
That makes a lot of sense. It's tough to recognize if they won't say these things in public though. When someone gets put through a struggle session or just some social justice bullying at work, what can we know about where these people fall if they don't speak up?
I don't entirely agree. Although I don't know the extend of the "split", and I doubt it translates into any more voting action than republicans who don't like Trump, some folks like Bill Maher have been sounding the horn against social justice-style politics for a few years now.
So there's some movement, just like there are many conservatives who don't like a lot of trump stuff. But like those conservatives, I don't think there's any will to changes sides.
Chuck Schumer doesn't suddenly realize the benefits of individualism over collectivist decision making, he just realizes what evil is and saw it on oct 7. This isn't an ideological break, it's a practical one.
If you didn’t understand that Ralph Nader was correct you’re a fucking idiot and not open to the opportunity of learning something. That’s what it boils down to pair a long time ago. You’re just not knowledgeable an at topic at hand here bro
Who are you talking about? I mean the Republicans are the ones that have never said no to Netanyahu.
I’m certainly not insinuating that the Democratic Party offers good government, but they are slightly less tyrannical than the ongoing criminal enterprise that is the GOP.
I think that's probably true for most people who support a ceasefire. But if you are talking about the people out there protesting, I'm not sure I'd say "most". The people with the black masks and the slogans... many of them would tell you that Oct 7 was justified, all of them using the same phrases they hear on the intenet. Of everyone, they probably disagree with you the most that there is a difference between Gaza and Hamas.
And my point in saying this is that the reason there's this split is because many of the ceasefire folks don't want to stand next to the Hamas people. And if that's where you stand, good for you. You don't need to be pro-terrorism to be anti collateral damage. Just beware the difference!
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
When I moved to FL in '86 I was briefly involved with a lefty group, say a dozen or so. Most would show for protests, but meetings were a lot of arguments.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
"So Jewishness is an edge case that makes the entire identity politics architecture look kind of dubious, if we’re being honest."
OK -- but it matters that it's also an edge case that makes some elements of the "liberal" point on the triangle look kind of incoherent and ridiculous as far as its opposition to "the entire identity politics architecture" goes.
because here you have this faction of people who are broadly opposed to all sort of ethnic/identitarian card-pulling and appeals to ancient land debts and indefinite historical grievances and rigid hierarchical ethnic sorting, etc etc., unless we're talking about Israel and Zionism, in which case Bret Stephens will happily transforms into Ibram X. Kendi and start doing the whole speech-is-violence routine and massively discount the ethnic and religious tensions (with liberalism) that are obviously inherent in the very self-conception of the state. with a couple sentences worth of tepid caveats to preempt the hypocrisy charges, of course, but still--it is a shaky and unpersuasive stance. Bari Weiss slips into a phone booth and comes out looking like Michael Hobbes.
so no, I don't think Jewishness specifically glitches the SJL/SWJ worldview so much as it broadly glitches some elements of all three points on the triangle, just in different ways.
My head hurts too much right now to speak intelligently. As a Conservative Liberal (or a Liberal with a conservative sensibility, I am indifferent to how you define me) I have never felt at home in the Democratic Party. Despite many Progressives claiming there is a business friendly wing of the party where I could abide peacefully I have always found the energy from them to be INCREDIBLY hostile to people who share different views (not that the Republicans are better, I am simply describing dems). The reaction to the conflict was as predictable as it was demoralizing, as a friend of mine said there's something about the conflict which simply rots the brain.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
One of my takes that's highly unpopular because all sides involved have differing reasons to dislike it is that I think woke is a really good word to describe the belief of "being aware of discrimination and always advocating for action to stop it". It's a concise, four letter, one syllable word that gets the message through, and we should have more of those words. The Social Justice Leftism initialism Nate coins here is very reminiscent of the relatively recent and unwieldy Social Justice Warrior phrase that's capturing the same concept. And before that came "politically incorrect", which was also highly syllabic, but also a phrase that always struck me as misleading from how it was commonly used: I think it better captures the broader concept of needing to hold back one's words at times to not alienate too many allies, which includes but is nowhere near limited to issues of discrimination.
Nonetheless, Nate does a good job of capturing a real and troubling phenomenon. Whatever we call it, I've long held the view that the term liberal should be used much closer to its root construction of "of or for liberty", and not as a lazy synonym for left wing. There are real, major differences, and they matter. Jonathan Chait was a bit of a trail blazer in this regard when he wrote that essay on this subject that alienated a fair amount of his allies at the time, but it's starting to look more and more like he was onto something. Thanks for writing this, Nate!
The PC movement seems so quaint now…we wanted terms that were inclusive like firefighter instead of fireman. Now a transgender man would insist on being called a fireman?? Who knows?
The SJL might deny a vote to Biden (or another Democrat) if they hate him enough, but I have a hard time seeing any substantial portion of it turning to the Republicans. Saying "Well, they both have authoritarian tendencies" is not really going to get you to voting for an R candidate. Part of the reason that the extreme left/right are so ambivalent about democracy is that they see it as a mechanism to achieve or ensure their goals, not a goal in itself - but their actual goals are still heavily opposed to one another. Fascists and communists both have authoritarian tendencies, that doesn't mean communists vote for fascists, or vice versa.
If the coalition breaks, it'll be liberals siding with Rs (though not MAGA Rs). Lefties just don't have any common cause with any part of the modern Republican party. Not the social conservatives, not the libertarians, not the hawks, nobody.
OK, I will admit this is a very Substack-y Substack post.
If so, it is (by a substantial margin) the best discussion I have seen of the topic. Doesn't open my eyes at all, but gives me a language and a framework to describe and discuss something I obviously also have been seeing as a non-identarian boring Obama democrat.
Ditto...I was a center-right Republican until my late 30s then drifted left over issues like abortion and gay marriage. Ending up either very center or slightly left of center (I work at a college so even being slightly center left feels very conservative). Recently I felt like I had zero in common with either party.
I really appreciate this take on politics because it gets at what is wrong with both parties in my opinion. They are both completely willing to adopt totalitarian practices, just for different reasons.
Similar though I made my transition a little earlier. I work in state government so my place is more conservative (I consider myself the second most left person at the office). This triangle helps me understand why I still get along with all my colleagues in spite of who we voted for in 2020, because we all gravitate towards the “liberal” point of the triangle.
Like the majority of the electorate, your subjectivity concerning where “left“ and is on the spectrum is relative to the light-years off the right end of the bell graph of the GOP. If you support anything the current democratic party advocates for, you are moderate right. You are a corporate oligarchy and enabling fascist. Bernie is the only single person in Congress that has both feet left of center. Elizabeth Warren AOC Katie Porter they all have maybe 1 foot completely over the centerline. none of the words used to describe political positions and ideologies are used correctly in this country. Which is as it should be because we obviously suck at politik. I don’t know a damn thing about it. So American we don’t defer to the professionals. We listen to our plumber and Mechanic about political science. Why not we listen to them about climate science as well.....
Fine then I’m center right. My family fled communism so even though I’m ok with *democratic socialism* (edit: should be "social democracy" as I learned in future comments), I'm skeptical about its efficacy so I feel little appeal for it. That said I’m nowhere near fascist even if I’m more sympathetic towards corporations than you’d prefer. Be careful with using that term too widely, it will only dilute its meaning, as has happened with the word rascist.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
You are engaging with a knucklehead. But that's okay.
There’s no way I can pollute the cesspool that is the political verbiage of America. None of it is used correctly.
For example, social democracy which I advocate for is not the same as democratic socialism. North Korea for instance.
If you would be so kind, please clarify your statement concerning efficacy. I mean all of the high quality of life first world countries are basically social democracies. Almost without exception. Actually, there is no exception other than somebody like Luxenberg who is so small and the entire country is part of the royal court.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your Jewish god.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Agreed. Reading this helped me understand my own feelings about pre-Oct 7 as well as post. I thought I was Progressive until I was told that I was a person with a vagina and not a woman. Then I learned that despite being born in poverty and succeeding on my own intelligence I benefited from White Privilege because I'm Jewish despite my middle eastern DNA.
Out of curiosity, who has been telling you you're not a woman? Traditional progressives will say anyone with a vagina is a woman (or, at least, anyone with XX chromosomes), while "woke" progressives will say anyone who says they're a woman is a woman.
Is there some third type of progressive you're referring to here?
I think the issue is *replacement* of "woman" with "person with vagina".
Is this common in progressive circles? It certainly is not in any of the progressive circles I have encountered in either of the two countries I have lived in (USA and Australia). I have only seen it in very specific contexts, typically of a medical nature (e.g., to emphasize that transmen still need to get regular gynecological exams). In normal social discourse, "woman" is still commonly used; the term's borders are just drawn differently for a very small percentage of the population. The vast, vast majority of women are called women by both conservatives and progressives.
Thought it was great. Now we just need some data around voter distribution across the three body problem.
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . .
The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
People are done fighting wars for these psychotic kikesucking Zionist ass-whores . . . With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/satanism-is-a-jewish-cult
Well that was certainly something.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/satanism-is-a-jewish-cult
Not even sure what that means.
But as someone who also writes about these subjects, I will say that this piece was good enough to actually make me feel kind of frustrated: "Why didn't I write that?"
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . .
The fat, bulbous U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males? What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, with Globohomo diversity brigades going door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
People are done fighting wars for these psychotic kikesucking Zionist ass-whores . . . With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/satanism-is-a-jewish-cult
A very Substack-y Substack post would be one of those posts where one talks about social media, especially Substack.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Oh how fond they are of the book of Esther, which is so beautifully attuned to their bloodthirsty, vengeful, murderous yearning and hope.” — Martin Luther
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/zelensky-biden-satanism-war-greed
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“I fear the Jewish bankers with their craftiness and torturous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt modern civilization. The Jews will not hesitate to plunge the whole of Christendom into wars and chaos so that the earth should become their inheritance.” ― Otto Von Bismark
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/135302021/in-the-shadow-of-war-ukraine-as-the-great-reset-laboratory-of-the-global-tech-elite
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“In Washington right next to the Holocaust Museum is the Federal Reserve where they print the money. Is that an accident?” ― Louis Farrakhan
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/pardonne-mon-francais-va-te-faire
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How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
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The substack-iest post! Thanks!
Very substack-y, and I think needing more data (didn't pew do a breakdown on voter subgroups?)
I'd like to know how the Political landscape is changing as a % of population along the SLJ/Socialist/Liberal lines.
Also curious how much the events that led to the trial were triggered by an increase in 'SLJ' vs would have occurred anyway 20 years ago, given the same war.
Maybe could look broadly on how the US has changed its views on Palestine over the years. Or the degree and ways students protest every US war.
This is a fascinating read! It really highlights the complexities of our current political landscape. I've recently penned a piece that delves into the political divide we're experiencing in the country and explores potential avenues for finding common ground. I believe it could offer additional perspectives to this discussion. Check it out here: [https://open.substack.com/pub/dsc007/p/the-untruth-of-emotional-reasoning?r=1mx14f&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web]. I'm eager to hear your thoughts and engage in a meaningful dialogue!
Well I'm having the same reaction that I did to the post that made me a Scott Alexander devotee, and he is the Substackiest person I'm aware of, so yeah I'd say it is :)
But seriously, thank you for writing this post. I see it's already been said, but this was a great crystallization of ideas that have been floating strongly but vaguely around my head the past year or two. I couldn't have hoped to come even close. I think for the new year I'm going to resolve to completely detach from political analysis and discussion, and anyone who tries to have a political discussion with me is a getting a link to this post and a polite changing of the subject.
Finally subscribed because of this post. Thank you.
There's a common model in political theory that there are three fundamental values: order; freedom; equality. These values cannot be reduced to each other nor wholly reconciled with each other. What your “ideology” is is mostly a reflection of which value you instinctively value most. If you value order most, you're broadly a conservative; if you value freedom most, you're broadly a liberal; if you value equality most, you're broadly a socialist (including “SJLs” etc).
Once you have this three-value model you can relate it to other things. It looks a lot like the traditional monarchy–oligarchy–democracy model of ancient Greek political philosophy. It also looks a lot like a hierarchy of needs, where equality pre-supposes freedom pre-supposes order; that is, you can't build a free society unless you already have a minimum degree of order, and you can't build an equal society unless you already have a minimum degree of freedom. All in all it's a useful model that I think more people should adopt.
It's also worth noting that there are vastly different notions of equality. Most today in the West would support equality under the law and equality of opportunity. Here is the problem for the highly educated Left- most people are hardwired for equality as fairness, rather than in terms of equality of outcome.
It's why the Left abandoned the blue collar or working class, because their values were fundamentally opposed to the imposition of equality of outcome- they wanted a fair shake, not socialism to equalise income levels. Free market societies do produce inequalities, but they also produce the types of opportunities which cause the proles to abandon the dream of socialist utopias. This is also why it was also inevitable that the SJL would emerge- only by grossly exaggerating the perception of unfairness along arbitrary lines could they resurrect the dream of a state-run society in which intellectuals would be elevated to decision-making roles, or at least to that of an advisory apparatchik.
It is ironic. When I survey my friends and coworkers, the main political indicator is social class. The poorer their background the more likely they are to be conservative. The richer their background the farther left they swing.
Of course age and education fit into as well. But it's always funny when blue collar folks breaking their backs making $50k are sure that taxes are the devil. While the dudes making $300k are like whatever, this dumb country needs more services.
The irony is there are some forms of redistribution which are good. Where the Left fails is on creating programs which are too broad. A good example would be the expanded child tax credit. Up to about five it was a good idea. Alleviating meal deprivation and/or increasing parental engagement can have a benefit to both IQ and in terms of future criminality/life planning, but beyond that point it was really just a waste. Conservatives would push back on the first statement because there is no guarantee the extra money would be spent on the child's welfare, but if only 30% of single mothers entitled to this payment spent it on preventing meal deprivation then it would more than pay for itself through future increased earnings, labour participation and costs to the taxpayer through future court costs/incarceration.
The irony is that faction of the Democratic Party which has been in power for some time has been most harmful to blue collar interests- like the centre Right they are neoliberal and open society pro-migration. Sure, a lot of labour dislocation is bad trade deals, offshoring and automation, but every immigration system which is not the somewhat older Australian system, with its blue collar protections, has failed massively for the simple reasons that research on the role of migration on the socio-economic spectrum shows that migration lowers incomes for the bottom part of the spectrum whilst making people in the top 20% richer.
With wealthy people it's about alleviating class guilt (even though most Americans don't think they have a class system, one has emerged in the past 30 years, through educational commodification). They also don't have to live with the consequences of their luxury beliefs- the immigrants who live in their communities tend to be of the very good kind which everybody should be in favour of- high knowledge and able to integrate exceptionally well.
These days Western societies tend to be like Greek columns with a lintel at the top. The columns don't tend to integrate and even choose self-segregation when economic ghettoization is not in effect, whilst the 'lintel' highly educated open to new experience cosmopolitan types are quite happy to mingle- for them its always been more about shared interests and intellectual pursuits rather than culture.
This part I'd say is less ironic, and I agree. Wealthier Americans see immigrants as people in need, and arguably good for the economy as a whole. Poor Americans see immigrants as direct competition for jobs and entitlements.
Poor Americans are completely correct. The fewer poor people there are the more we will value their labor and care for their children. Inviting more into the country means creating surplus. Same with offshoring, of course.
Wealthier Americans are correct that immigrants are "people in need", and therefore kind of see them the same way they see poor Americans. I'm not sure if they're good for the economy as a whole. You say it makes the people at the top 20% richer, but what is left after accounting for educational spending? Of course, they would be right to point out that the supply of workers-- especially young workers-- is pretty thin.
Anyway, I think immigration is a sperate question from wealth redistribution as a whole. It's worth talking about, but Democrats and Republicans have always been mixed on immigration.
And if you're trying to talk about working-class people, I don't think it's as big a deal as things like medicare, medicaid, social security, public schools, and social security disability. The entitlements just add up to a lot more money than whatever you lose from having a bunch of workers in town.
You just don’t get any of this. First of all they can spend it on whatever the fuck they want second of all, the socialist welfare money that is a waste is the 97% of the budget forked over to corporations not the 2.5% shared with our fellow citizens. You’re pathetic
Rude. And a troll.
You just said “fossil fuel is not toxic”
I don’t know where the laugh or cry. All I can say is, the amount of effort it took to become that stupid is truly impressive. Would argue it would’ve been better spin on something else but hey, impressive nonetheless…..
Second only to your lack of shame and moral decency.
Your next glass of Canadian Tar sands crude in on me bruh….
Neat or on the rocks?
Truth is it rude to the people in the altfacts universe
Obviously I’m not, Bob. I am disseminating truth and that is blatantly obvious otherwise, fake ass silicon chip cyber accounts like you would not come out of the woodwork attacking me.
Ad hominem bullshit, projection, and lies are all you’ve got Bobby. Lame.
That is not my experience. The blue collar folks I see contribute to charities, food banks, their communities and are intensely aware of and concerned about likely fragile future "outcomes." They support taxing the wealthy and building up infrastructure. They are economic progressives--albeit social conservatives. Those $300k dudes fret over their children getting up the pipeline from posh private schools to the Ivy League and into overweening executive positions. They couldn't care less about public services or the environment.
I mean, it depends on the friends you keep. My friends are charitable, but obviously there are charitable and uncharitable people in every class. It's just the politics that I find funny.
Oh my God you couldn’t be more disconnected from the reality of the body politic if you tried. First of all, there is no “free market” in the United States
I agree there is no free market in America, but that's hardly the fault of market systems or fallacies like late stage capitalism. The prevention of markets happens for three reasons.
1) State control.
2) Government making it difficult for new entrants into the market, usually through the construction of a system of regulatory barriers.
3) The East India Company problem. Government failing to ensure that there are a sufficient of competitors in each sector of the economy, usually, but not always, through a failure to prevent monopolies and mergers.
All of these are government failings, not market failings- and they usually arise from the failure of institutional government, not failures implicit to political parties, other than those who espouse totalitarian end-states, like socialism or fascism.
Ad if you don't believe me, then why is it that in every area where free markets exists products have either gotten better or cheaper, whilst in every area where government exerts the greatest amount of control products and services have gotten worse or become more expensive? In the US, healthcare, housing and education all fall into the latter category.
There are some things that voters decide they want, but even then the optimum solution is publicly commissioned, privately provided, with a few rare exceptions like prisons, police and the courts. A great example would be universal healthcare. The NHS is state-run. Australia's system is publicly commissioned, privately run. Guess which system has seven times as many hospital beds, and enjoys markedly superior health outcomes?
Here's a hint- it's not the UK.
Wait a minute, are you insinuating that healthcare, housing and education are free market in the United States? I mean, I need to know what your claim is before I completely blow it out of the water. Because if that is the case, you could not be more mistaken there is not a single free market in United States unless you’re at the vegetable stand on a farmers market Saturday morning.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Your attempt at incitement is fucking lame douche canoe fair that is not only outside of the first a minute umbrella, it is a fucking felony. Since your own fake ass Netanyahu cock sucking sock puppet. The person behind it should suffer the same fate. Morally bankrupt feces filled skin bag is not a good attic
No, I'm saying that education, housing and healthcare are the three areas where American exercises the greatest degree of state control.
No different than any other market sector actually agriculture, specifically dairy, energy, and education have at least as much influence if not more. For sure agriculture and energy.
"completely blow it put of the water"? What is wrong with you?
I do believe you are confusing UniversalHealthcare with socialized medicine. They are nothing alike and not even correlated other than fall under the same public policy. You have socialized medicine. You don’t understand or experience at least #UniversalHealthcare.
You are correct concerning the markets no doubt. That’s why your provider in the facility should be in an absolutely free market concerning healthcare. There are three things that are socialized in first world civilized high quality of life countries.
Incarceration
Healthcare insurance
Public education... through post graduate if earned
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Most American questions surrounding government exist across binary poles. Should it be bigger or smaller, or should it limit its power or engage in more intervention.
Better questions are how does it act and who does it serve? Most Western governments are now faced with the inevitable question of what should they do now that they've hit a spending wall- ie their citizens will no longer tolerate much further taxation for themselves.
The easy answer is tax the rich, but it's never worked so far. All of the socialised medicine countries I can think of rely heavily on VAT (consumption taxes) to fund public healthcare. Things like food, babycare products and other essentials are excluded, but on most consumer goods and services one pays a tax of around 20% which is charged by retailer but paid for by the consumer.
The real dilemma facing most developed countries is how to radically transform institutional government to better serve the people. It's not something most politicians want to admit because it's a project which is almost certainly doomed to failure.
For example, American public education spending is directly proportional to GDP/PPP for other OECD countries- you spend exactly the same as a proportion of wealth generated as all the other countries. Yet you lose a significant amount on private procurement and around 7% of the total on the school districting system. Are you going to tell the politicians they need to stop buddying up to educational suppliers, or the bureaucrats at the school board that you're moving to a voluntary unpaid parental board of governors system.
One of the easiest kinds of reform you could do would be to shift to a AYE system. It would mean that every American who works for an employer would hardly have to have any interaction or fear of your internal revenue service. You wouldn't need to hire 70,000 new agents for the simple reason that the ones already there would be able to focus in on the 10%, usually at the top, who have additional income or can afford the experts to engage in questionable accountancy practices that they should expect a proctol exam from the IRS, even though the 10% are the donor/culturally dominant class and wield far more general political power (as opposed to specific interests-based lobbying power), than the 90% and the 0.1% combined?
Most of decisions to prevent Western decline are more about how to radically change Western governments, rather than political parties. It would be the biggest internal reallocation of labour attempted since WWII and it would be fiercely resisted because nobody wants to give up a cushy office job filing papers for activities which might actually help people. That's why it will never happen.
Of course, there are exceptions. Ending corruption, corporate bailouts, introducing deregulatory mechanism which continue to protect consumers but reduce entry barriers. Did you know here in the UK we don't get ratshit in our turmeric? In America, there is a quota for how much ratshit is allowed in yours....
Nobody understands the subject is advocating for socialized medicine.
Government outlay can be divided between expense and investment. In the United States, we allow our government to only do expenses. We don’t do investments.
Just like any other outlay by any other entity, the important point of it all is what you get for your money.
You are argument against the legislative mandate about adding the workforce in the IRS is moot. All you have to do is look at the history of the department and you will realize that it is the right thing to do.
The entire system needs revamped to an Eisenhower era bracket, with the same loophole closures. This isn’t rocket science. Go with what worked before. We had the most robust economy in the history of money during the eight years of Eisenhower. That’s not a coincidence.
You are assuming that the tax system only relates to the creation of revenue and treasury balances. Far from it. It can easily be in used to incentivize the right thing. Switching to renewables, becoming sustainable, on and on and on. I don’t think you understand what you’re talking about when it comes to those issues in America. People on the school board aren’t paid.
And someone with a Masters Degree in political science from a very esteemed University, you just sound like you’re winging it.
Knucklehead.
Rape and pillage is not capitalism. And you are denying, and they made it intentionally so, that there is any quality built into the system. What you are claiming as a political viewpoint is actually an uneducated ignorant piece of propaganda that the proletariat has been fed. By jackasses like you.
You should read my comment more carefully. There is ample room for a critique of American capitalism along class-based lines, but there is almost no room for the type of identity pandering which inevitably sets brother against brother.
Plus, at the time that the Democrats abandoned the blue collar class for the demographics is destiny bullshit, it was mainly because of realpolitik. At the time, it was still actually fairly common for a skilled blue collar worker to set up a business or acquire a slice of the American Dream through a little hard work and grit.
The problem is the Democrats became increasingly trapped in their own paradigm. Their constituency became the college educated- a tenuous proposition given that even if you educate 50% of the population with at least some college, even the Germans can't push more than 30% of their population into highly educated roles- and they still have a manufacturing surplus economy (though they are likely to lose it because of their energy sector).
The Catholic Church has a name for a crisis within a constituency which exists on two poles with wildly different values, agendas and self-interests. It's called schism.
The only person who could prevent it was Bernie Sanders and the opportunity he presented is long gone.
I’m not sure if you are advocating that Bernie should’ve been the nominee at some point or exactly what you mean by including him in your reply. He would’ve been the most ineffective executive in history. The chance that restoring the republic and make a significantly significant political and physical action towards climate crisis and bioremediation was missed by not nominating Elizabeth Warren. Bernie had great goals, absolutely no idea how to get there and as I mentioned earlier, as never built a coalition in his existence as a political being. Therefore, rendering him completely ineffective.
A dead giveaway that the correct candidate to either nominate or elect is when the entire establishment is against them. That’s more than a clue ....
Reason Bernie was allowed in the primary in 2020, the only reason Bloomberg jumped in when he did and the only reason Joe Biden got off the porch swing was to keep Miss Elizabeth Warren from occupying the seat behind the Lincoln Dest. The DNC and the powers that be are scared shitless of that woman. as well as Katie Porter, Sheldon Whitehouse AOC. Those are the people that should be running the country. Not having to bide their tongues to achieve a relevant committee assignments.
Look there's a basic misconception about IPCC models which even about 50% of climate scientists share. We should have long since stopped using RCP or SSP 8.5 as the 'business as usual' model- both were based upon a massive expansion of global coal use for energy, mainly through economic development in the developing world.
The best predication for total climate change by 2100, including all temperature rise from climate change to date, rests around 3C. The best and only way to change this reality is to technologically innovate. China and India are set to become 70% of the world's total coal market through energy and neither is going to change their plans for the continued improvement of living standards for their citizens. Yes, both are developing nuclear and renewables, China has the Three Gorges Damn, but of this only accounts for a small fraction of their current and future energy requirements. The best thing we could do is help them develop natural gas as quickly as possible- at least then that's half the total carbon per energy unit produced.
Here's one interesting fact that's worth researching for yourself. The Tonga eruption was the single biggest warming weather event in recent history. Some papers are already playing down its significance- but a 10% increase in stratospheric water vapour circulating for a number of years really is quite dramatic in terms of watts per square meter. In many ways, we are being allowed a glimpse into the future to around 2050.
A couple of things to aware of. The world is fast approaching a somewhat hard silicon extraction capacity limit. The rate at which we produce solar PV is likely to hit the top of an s-curve. Wind energy is still far from peak production capacity and deployment and most rational analyses like Project Draw Down and the Copenhagen Consensus rate it a good investment, but the ceiling seems to be around 30% of total energy usage- beyond which infrastructure and energy storage to mitigate intermittence becomes economically unsustainable. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of pumped hydro, not least because it delivers cost-savings to customers, but there is a definable limit.
Most people baulk at nuclear. The Left cites the fact that it's expensive, the Right blames overregulation. Both are wrong. An MIT econometric engineering study showed that most of the costs are front-loaded into building first in a generation plants. Basically, it incurs a huge number of in-project design changes including, but not limited to, blowing up facilities because of design oversights. The Chinese have plans to build 230 large reactors. They will probably blow around 40% of their budget on the 21 they are already building. By then they will likely have the industrial and institutional experience to build them at a cheaper price than the French did when they built theirs more than a generation ago...
What happens usually in the West is politicians commission a single plant, then they fear looking like donkeys because of the huge expense, swearing never to do it again. It's the equivalent of making the first iPhone and then deciding the costs are too high to make any more.
You lost all credibility with that bullshit. Leave. We’re through here. None of your claims concerning energy, the the atmosphere, or any other related issue or truth. They’re either blatantly your faults or twisted beyond the contextual recognition.
I must Block you now. I don’t engage with fossil fuel fellation tools.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
First of all, I thought we had already established capitalism doesn’t exist in America.
The identity politics being projected by both parties at present and have been since the Reagan Era are simply to keep the proletariat fighting the culture wars as to not pick up the sword in the class war.
I continue our incorrect concerning the democratic party and their failure to consistently control government.
That isn’t happening is because of the Democratic arty does not bring good government nor quality policy to the table. Donor class tools just like the GOP.
When one cannot differentiate themselves from an opponent that is nothing more than an ongoing criminal enterprise in a two party political dynamic, I insist, they’re not doing it right.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I completely agree with you on the corrupt corporate duopoly issue, and you're right about Reagan, but probably not for reasons we agree upon. Some neoliberalism was necessary. Every country in the West was in danger of imminent economic collapse and permanent stagnation.
However, the danger of any radical action which disrupts the status quo is that it will begin a process which continues long beyond its original necessity. The economic health of a national system is something like the same shape as Laffer curve. The optimum setting is somewhere in the middle, where both labour and capital can benefit, but neither side can gain the whip hand. Hayek fans will disagree, but capitalism actually works because it acts as its own ecosystem, creating the labour purchasing power which means the companies in adjacent sectors get affluent consumers.
Mike Alexander (also on Substack) also makes the point that America might have been able to afford the tax cuts, if only its politicians didn't have a congenital craving for foreign interventions. You'll probably like him- he brings receipts and is very close to you in terms of political alignment.
Basically, other than welfare changes without a support mechanism for transition into employment, Reagan's biggest mistake was allowing Goldman Sachs in the door as advisors. Their counsel, although expert, was always going to favour the type of casino economics which favoured capital at the expense of labour on every issue. This would be my main counterpoint- capitalism wouldn't be in anywhere near as bad a state as it is, without the fact that finance remains the most powerful lobbying interest in DC. Everything those guys do entails capital production at the expense of productive economics. It's a system-wide feature of the Anglosphere- even New Zealand!
Tax cuts?
You haven’t bothered to study our history. Or policy related to the topic.
Why in the world would anyone advocate for tax cuts? What we need is a progressive bracket system with loopholes shelters closed and incentives to reinvest your income into the economy.
I don’t know where to start here. I don’t think you understand macroeconomics nor the dynamic that is the relevant topics concerning our revenue and outlay.
In the world would you mentioned welfare? I’m sure you are speaking of social aid programs correct?
But since we are on the topic, let’s stick to it. Welfare is killing us. We are a socialist society. Corporate welfare. Corporate Socialism. Every taxpayer in America is liable for $8000 per year to corporations and $37 to their fellow citizens.
Corporate taxes should be so high that when passed down to the consumer, mom and Pop should be available shopping option.
I cannot refute a few of your claims because they’re just not relevant. We have no model of macro economic theory or position that represents our current rape and pillage of resources and capital including labor capital.
Foreign interventions are just one of many corporate subsidies we love to call a free market and essential to our security while they are nothing more than it taxpayer theft directed to the donor class.
I don’t see where much of your previous comment has any correlation to the United States economy and at the current juncture for macro or otherwise.
Nothing personal, but it’s mostly pseudo intellectual not correlated to reality word salad.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I'm an engineer, not a philosopher, but it seems like if you insist on a baseline of legitimacy, you can turn that pyramid into a tricky loop/cycle. A warlord who ruthlessly picks his teeth with the bones of his slightest enemies can be said to be a very ordered leader, but for order to be legitimate, it must land its heavy hand on those who behave unacceptably based on some equal framework that is built on an assumption of you-can-unless-you-can't.
A cycle is exactly what that Ancient Greek political philosophy predicted! Monarchy leads to aristocracy leads to democracy leads to monarchy. Order leads to illiberalism; liberty leads to inequality; equality leads to disorder.
Cyclical theories of history are increasingly popular of late. If you're interested you could look up recent works by Peter Turchin or Neema Parvini.
Nonsensical gibberish. As if none of the other policies instituted under those forms of federal government have any correlation? What about the economic model? The government architectural model? You are looking at an apple and trying to describe every fruit in the jungle
It's a model, friend. It's not supposed to describe every aspect of everything perfectly. The map is not the territory, but the map is still useful.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Not really. I’ll stick with the nonsensical gibberish observation.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Okay! :)
It’s the laws of thermodynamics…btw, macroeconomists need to understand the laws of thermodynamics because so much of macroeconomics is based on extracting fossil fuels.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Nice post. I will think of this often now.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
I immediately thought of the hierarchy of needs as well, but I am not sure about the ordering you propose. The hierarchy has three levels: physical, social, spiritual/intellectual. We can associate order with physical security -- the base layer, but it seems to me that the social layer has more to do with equality than freedom, and the spiritual/intellectual layer has more to do with liberty. Also, does equality pre-suppose freedom? That seems wrong to me -- freedom leads to divergence, not equality.
In other words, I would propose: order -> equality -> freedom.
Yes, I was careful not to say that it is the /same/ as /Maslow's/ hierarchy of needs, only that it “looks a lot like a hierarchy of needs”!
I think it's just a matter of historical record that order is prior to freedom is prior to equality. That cycle perhaps makes most sense in the context of the Greek monarchy-oligarchy-democracy model, when you consider what each new ruling class in turn needs. The monarch needs order; the oligarchs need liberty; the demos needs equality.
What implications this has for a direct analogy to a psychological hierarchy of needs, I don't know. Perhaps the similarity is merely illusory. Perhaps Maslow is wrong. I suspect that the answer is instead that we are looking at a cyclical dialectic in which the safety-order layer is actually the /demand/ of the demos that is /satisfied/ by the monarch. As society falls into chaos, the failing demos needs order, which the monarch provides by over-taking the demos as the prime mover (achieving Maslow's transcendence for himself). As the monarchical order crystallises into rigidity, the failing monarch needs liberty to act, which the oligarchy provides by over-riding the monarch as the prime mover. As the oligarchic liberty fissions into inequality, the failing oligarchs need equality, which the demos provides by over-taking the oligarchy as the prime mover. And as the demotic equality degenerates into chaos… In this way we see that in society order is prior to liberty is prior to equality because this cycle moves BACKWARDS through Maslow's hierarchy of order > equality > liberty.
That also sums up the famous French motto. Liberté = Freedom, Egalité = Equality, Fraternité = Order
Sort of, but I think that motto specifically excludes Order because the French Revolutionaries were so radical. They needed another word for the tricolon and it had to end in “-ité”. Fraternity is more like another way of saying “Compassion”, which is more related to Equality than Order.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Fraternite does not mean order.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Fraternité is common group interest and friendship
Va te faire foutre toi et ton dieu juif . . . Le judéo-messianisme répand parmi nous son message empoisonné depuis près de deux mille ans. Les universalismes démocratique et communiste sont plus récents, mais ils n’ont fait que renforcer le vieux récit juif. Ce sont les mêmes idéaux.
Les idéaux transnationaux, transraciaux, transsexuels, transculturels que ces idéologies nous prêchent (au-delà des peuples, des races, des cultures) et qui sont le subsistance quotidienne de nos écoles, dans nos médias, dans notre culture populaire, à nos universités, et sur nos rues, ont fini par réduire notre identité biosymbolique et notre fierté ethnique à leur expression minimale.
Les banquiers juifs ont inondé l’Europe de musulmans et l’Amérique de déchets du tiers-monde . . . L'exil comme punition pour ceux qui prêchent la sédition devrait être rétabli dans le cadre juridique de l'Occident . . . Le judaïsme, le christianisme, et l’islam sont des cultes de mort originaires du Moyen-Orient et totalement étrangers à l’Europe et à ses peuples.
On se demande parfois pourquoi la gauche européenne s’entend si bien avec les musulmans. Pourquoi un mouvement souvent ouvertement antireligieux prend-il le parti d’une religiosité farouche qui semble s’opposer à presque tout ce que la gauche a toujours prétendu défendre ? Une partie de l’explication réside dans le fait que l’Islam et le marxisme ont une racine idéologique commune : le judaïsme.
Don Rumsfeld avait raison lorsqu’il disait : «L’Europe s’est décalé sur son axe», c’est le mauvais côté qui a gagné la Seconde Guerre mondiale, et cela devient chaque jour plus clair . . . Qu’a fait l’OTAN pour défendre l’Europe? Absolument rien . . . Mes ennemis ne sont pas à Moscou, à Damas, à Téhéran, à Riyad ou dans quelque croque-mitaine teutonique éthéré, mes ennemis sont à Washington, Bruxelles et Tel Aviv.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/pardonne-mon-francais-va-te-faire
I'm afraid you lost me at Jewish bankers flooding Europe with Muslims.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
I can’t find the comment you made about lumping progressives in the socialist that’s exactly what I mean. That’s purposeful to degrade and minimize the position. Progressives aren’t about equality specifically. They are about doing the right thing. Sustainability. Justice, peace and opportunity. Those are the three things that our constitutional republic are aiming it. Your claims are wrong in terms of the goals. Read the preamble
Purposely excluding progressive because it’s the pertinent stand?
No, because progressives primarily value equality and are thus functionally socialists in this model.
Again, the progressives primary value is constitutionality and the ideal that is America. To say otherwise is either ignorant or intentionally disingenuous. Both completely socially unacceptable
Therefore, justice, peace and opportunity are the pressure points. There’s nothing about equality. That is inclusive concerning justice. You have intentionally more than likely, completely misrepresented the framers entrance, and made up completely false narrative simply to dinner grade and minimize the most prescient political position of the day. It’s the only ideology that could possibly save us from the eminent climate disaster and somehow restore the republic by a constitutional reaffirmation whether formal or policy enacted.
Shame on you
Again, read the preamble. You are incorrect on your claims about the constitutional republic and its goals concerning with the people that the framers left us.
Justice is enumerated specifically
Provide Domestic tranquility and common defense = Peace
Provide for the common welfare = Opportunity
Equality is not represented in the constitution nor is it some thing the progressives are concerned about other than it is certainly one of the constituents of justice. Your political thoughts are convoluted and shortsighted.
What an interesting theory . It leaves out the most successful government model ever implemented. Progressivism. Social democracy. There are light years between liberal and socialist. There is no true by definition “liberal” party in the United States. Only is measured by relativity. The Eisenhower administration was far left of today’s Democrats and it’s platform
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
This discussion leaves out a group of people: older, traditional leftists who are dismayed by the excesses of the "woke" group but do not align at all with liberal thinking as you rightly define it. Exemplified by Bernie Sanders and the older members of DSA (many of whom, tellingly, broke with the organization in the wake of October 7th,) they may not be large enough (or relevant enough) to merit consideration, but I do wonder where they fit in.
The slice you're describing is encapsulated in the deceptive statement in the article that critical theory "emerged from the Marxist tradition".
It emerged from it in that it more or less rejected it.
"Traditional" leftism, Marxism, whatever is resolutely materialist, and believes that the realm of ideas is merely a superstructure constructed to support and justify the material base of the mode of production.
Critical theory (increasingly, over time) flipped that on its head to give the realm of ideology and culture explanatory power over the production and allocation of resources.
That sounds arcane, but out of that divide comes the exact cleavage you're talking about. Bernie vs Warren and so forth.
All the materialistic thinking that is commonly referred to as the 'Marxist tradition', was never able to explain the majority of human behaviors. It can't even explain the life choices of Carl Marx himself.
The biggest problem with "woke" ideology is its excessive categorization of things, to the point that it's not actually seeing what it's looking at, it's only seeing a set of categories.
I do not think that more categorization is going to provide useful illumination of the issues at stake.
Yeah you are describing people like Freddie DeBoer-- old school marxists.
They are loud online but not a real factor in elections. All lefty elected officials embrace identity politics. Even Bernie has gone that way.
Bernie, Warren (and to a lesser extent AOC) are probably CJL, or Class Justice Leftists. They think the system is rigged just like the SJL, but they think it’s rigged against the working class instead of identities in the minority.
And they are correct. We should be fighting the class wars and lay down our sword concerning the culture wars.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
AOC to a much lesser extent.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
The label “progressive” would be a far more apt moniker.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Nate, as a Reform Jew who has spent the past many years sitting on DEI boards while going home and discussing with my wife that there's not a place for us in the discussion. But I thought being an ally was important. There are parts of the fight I still think are very important - specifically around women's equality. But I'm done fighting for people who will turn their back on me. I won't fight against them but I feel pretty burned.
Women's equality has been abandoned by the SJL. Except for abortion, the right is now much better. Only Republicans endorse the Women's Bill of Rights, and only red states have enacted it. Meanwhile Democrats are permitting fully intact incarcerated male rapists to be housed in women's prisons if they say "I'm trans".
https://womensbillofrights.com
https://womensdeclarationusa.com
https://womensliberationfront.org
https://www.amazon.com/Reckoning-Democrats-Betrayed-Women-Girls/dp/B0CN32BXC2
Republicans are better on women’s equality? I guess if the only thing that motivates you is how much you hate trans people I can squint and see it.
That, and the complete disconnection from reality.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Check the links. These are radical feminist organizations.
Have you ever heard the term "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist" ? TERFs, as they're called, who all of those links are from I might add, are treated with exceptional disdain by the "woke left" as TERFs stand for a version of feminism which is at odds with many of the basic tenets of social equality.
also lol at you saying the party who's current speaker is on record as saying "women need to be submissive and subservient to their husbands" is the party which cares about women's equality, get real.
Yes, I am an out and proud TERF!
I fully reject the notion that male sexual fetishists (google "autogynephilia") can declare themselves to be women and be instantly legally recognized as such. I fully reject the notion that a convicted male rapist can declare himself to be a woman and then be immediately housed in a womens prison, which is policy in most blue states. In California, WoLF is fighting back: https://womensliberationfront.org/chandler-v-cdcr
I fully reject the notion that the State can take a kid away from parents only because the parents will not "affirm" the child's newly chosen gender identitiy; this is now the law in California and multiple other blue states.
I fully reject the notion that a child can be "born in the wrong body" and then must be given sterilizing desexualizing drugs and mutilating surgeries, a medical policy for which there is literally ZERO evidence of efficacy and strong evidence of long-term harm.
In California, where we still have a semblance of small-d democracy, we are fighting back with a ballot initiative:
https://protectkidsca.com
Anyone in Calfornia who cares about women's sex-based rights and proper evidnce-based medical care of our children, please help us gather signatures!
Be as TERF as you like but nobody believes the party of the "submissive tradwife" kink is feminist!
None of that shit is connected to reality. It’s intentionally disingenuous bullshit. Fuck it’s none of your business even if it is the goddamn case. Fucking focus on real issues like the eminent climate disaster, restoring the Republic, and an overall constitutional reaffirmation. Jesus trans people, immigration and abortion aren’t on the list of things that make us a Third World shit hole. Ignorant members of the electric such as you certainly are in the top three, hell they might be all three
Actually laughed at loud at you telling me, a trans woman, to google autogynephilia, as if I somehow haven't heard that word just about every day since I began transitioning.
Try googling "Blanchard discredited among psychiatrists" (the inventor of the pseudoscientific term "autogynephilia") and Anne Lawrence, the 2 most notable proponents of the AGP theory. They're clearly rational people who were arguing based on evidence and not pre-supposed societal stereotypes of trans women.
"Women's sex based rights" excludes women born with genital defects and intersex people that identify as women. "proper evidence-based medical care of our children" IS letting trans kids BE trans. Any credible child psychiatrist in this country would tell you to your face that the evidence shows children with dysphoria that are allowed to access gender affirming care are at a lower risk of depression, suicide, and self-esteem issues, and the EVIDENCE you care about so much backs that up. There's a reason all of the links you post come from organizations that are disavowed by the feminist community as a whole. Those groups don't actually stand for women, they merely stand for excluding trans people from being included with cis women.
BAM
Just a reminder, you are reasoning with the equivalent of head trauma suffering toddlers here. Do not be upset if you do not achieve the desired results.
Women already get raped in women's prison by MALE guards and FEMALE inmates. Ignoring the widespread abuse of women in women's prisons to focus on an extremely rare edge case of trans women committing abuse clearly shows you're arguing in bad faith and do not actually care about sexual abuse in women's prisons, and merely just want to argue against trans people. How is it a good idea to put a trans woman in a men's prison? Trans women are exceptionally more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse when put in a men's prison compared to committing sexual abuse in a women's prison.
The lamest of the lame ass agitprop bullshit dissemination devices. You really suck
Trans people generally don't commit that crime, so you're proving their point.
बलात्कार जिहाद का प्रमुख हथियार है।
कुरान में लिखा है। . . . https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/67b
यहूदियों और मुसलमानों की जड़ें और रीति-रिवाज समान हैं।
कड़वे मार्क्सवादी कोकेशियान लोगों से नफरत करते हैं। यहूदी बैंकरों ने यूरोप को मुसलमानों से भर दिया है और अमेरिका को तीसरी दुनिया के कचरे से भर दिया है। यहूदी अशुद्ध राक्षस हैं, तुर्कों की तरह।
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Rape is the main weapon of jihad.
It is written in the Qur'an . . . . https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/67b
Jews and Muslims have similar roots and customs.
Bitter Marxists hate the Caucasian people. Jewish bankers have flooded Europe with Muslims and filled America with Third World garbage . . . Jews are unclean monsters, just like the Turks.
Republicans are supporting women’s rights well banning bodily autonomy? Shut the fuck up
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Yeah I usually get triggered at disingenuous bullshit agitprop lies. Call me sensitive.....
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
STFU
So your beef is that they didn't include your group on The List? What about all the other groups you de-privileged in your proceedings? (A person walks up to the door of the DEI committee room and yells through the door, "Please. I need help." And the committee chair yells back, "We have to get a look at you before we can even talk about this.")
I think you've captured something interesting here, but want to zoom in on one particular thing: your triangular diagram(s) with poles of liberalism, "Social Justice Leftism" and "MAGA Conservatism." Or, if I can rephrase, liberalism, illiberal leftism and illiberal rightism.
This carries with it, I would argue, an unstated assumption: that a left-leaning Liberal and a right-leaning Liberal have more in common with each other than they do with the illiberal Left and illiberal Right. That commonality very well *could* be true, but I think it also very much could be un-true. If you think of the situation not as a triangle but as a chart, with a "liberal-illiberal" axis and a "left-right" axis, that can better visualize the conflicting ideological pressures many people are being torn between.
The thesis that "left-Liberals and right-Liberals should join forces against illiberalism" is something that some people would very much *like* to be true on both sides. But since the liberal-illiberal conflict rose to the fore of American politics in 2016, attempts to make that happen haven't tended to go very well. The left-right axis has a *lot* of gravity, and when push comes to shove a lot of left-liberals conclude they have more in common with illiberal leftists (despite differences) than they do liberal rightists, and vice versa for right-liberals.
Put another way, the description of American politics as a tripartite division is more aspirational than descriptive. It could end up being true but is not demonstrably true yet.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
So what of those of us who believe all of the following: (a) Hamas & their ilk who believe in eradication of Israel/Israelis/Jews must be hunted down & dismantled; (b) Oct 7 was triggered by Hamas and they bear the sole cause for Israel's reaction; (c) Israel the state has had a significant role in the Palestinian issue and their cause, and in the Netanyahu times even propping up Hamas as a buffer; (d) Palestinians have as much right for life, freedom and statehood as Israelis do; (e) Palestinian people have and are suffering in the currentmath, and in the past - and will do so in future unless Israel and its key supporters actively and urgently pursue a 2-state solution; (f) the US establishment - republican or democratic - reflexively supports Israel regardless of cause, including almost unconditional supply of arms, resources; and rarely does something equivalent to be a buffer to Israel and for Palestinians; and (g) a lot of the rift between the left & liberals & the right is explained because of these; and no one side is entirely correct.
At the end of the day - it is so sad that as a collective population, we cannot muster equal empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians, and the people who are actually suffering.
The Palestinians have been offered statehood over and over for 75 years. They will only accept the eradication of Israel BEFORE getting a state of their own. Unless that changes, they can't have a state because they don't want it.
Take your disingenuous bullshit elsewhere. They’ve never been left in peace. They have been assaulted by crimes against humanity since 48. Especially by the Netanyahu terrorist Cabal. Shut the fuck up with your constant victim hood. It’s really pathetic
He didn't espouse victimhood though. He just said Palestinians don't want a state alongside an Israeli state, which I believe is supported by the survey evidence. You're pathetic.
No notes, no post, no follower agitprop POS fake ass account can shove it up their ass and eat the peanut out of my shiot
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
There is no evidence of your claim. Provided if there is. If you don’t bring anything but ad hominem bullshit and lies, you can fucking stay home. Prime Minister Netanyahu terrorist cabal cocksleeve is going to be a terrible bullet point on your résumé
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
They are still really pissed at Britain.
Some of them think Britain stole Big Ben from Jaffa!
Yeah, We have people like that in this country. Tis a world wide phenomonan.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
There is a difference between Palestinian people & Palestinian extremist/terrorists. Plus Israeli policies in Gaza and West Bank over the years is hardly the model of innocent victim. Regardless, homogenizing an entire populace - Israel or Palestine - is never the right approach
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Seems to me that your impression of the situation pretty much matches mine.
So what of us? Well, even in the best of times, it is difficult to get people to hold two partially contradictory ideas in their heads simultaneously. And these are not the best of times.
Not only does digital debate defecate all over nuanced thought, but folks on both sides of the aisle in the US are accustomed to thinking of things in terms of "I know who the victim is, and nothing matters other than correcting that injustice. " All my life I have known people like this in everyday life, and this life view has now come to dominate public debate on pretty much every topic.
Trouble is, both at home and in the Middle East, there are multiple victims, while those same victims are perpetrators of injustices themselves. Thus, a narrow focus on one set of victims is in itself a gross injustice.
But this is a very hard sell, not least because looking at situations in this way pushes people away from a simple "root for my team" entertainment mentality. Or, maybe more importantly, away from "I am saving people, and thus bringing meaning to my life" mentality.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I think to get to leftist belief, you have to add the following thoughts:
1. The actions of settlers in the over the past decade have resulted in massive amounts of unnecessary suffering in the West Bank all for decreased house prices, and more recently the suffering in Gaza is in no way proportional to the terrorist attacks and seems to have no plan beyond removing the Palestinians to remove Hamas.
2. These actions are supported by the current ruling party (Lukid).
I think to get to liberal belief, you instead add the following two thoughts:
1. Criticism of the jewish people is uniquely dangerous, and often bundled with antisemitic rhetoric. Antisemitic rhetoric is often bundled as antizionist rhetoric.
2. There has been a lot more islamaphobia and antisemitism than usual as a result of these attacks. This is profoundly illiberal.
From the leftist perspective, putting this conundrum as a commitment to "liberal values" feels bizarre: this is the one instance where their free speech is in question. In their minds, the conservatives have united with the liberals to finally put an end to leftist free speech while championing the free speech of everyone else.
From the liberal perspective, putting this conundrum as a commitment to "social justice" feels bizarre: 'from the river to the sea' is designed to be a toxoplasma of rage. It doesn't seem to even be a popular policy position in Palestine. Leftists focus on it seems designed to incite conflict, and this seems to be the straw that broke the camels back.
To me, the amount that the US has focused on what has been happening in its borders is disheartening. We turned one of the greatest tragedies of the twenty first century into a bit play for our culture wars, all while our country quietly supported another being razed.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Great post.
This makes perfect sense of my own reactions to recent events. For time out of mind, I have thought and said that the only division between me and the left is that I have more patience and believe in waiting to make changes until we have a clear majority. But lately, I have been stewing over the tone and substance of left wing posts, their simple assumption of moral and factual correctness, and their willingness to dismiss all dissent as racism. Which, of course, needs to be silenced by whatever means necessary.
What I once thought was just another right wing talking point has turned out to be accurate -- based on the left wingers own words, including in forums where I know the people and can be certain that these are not right wing impersonators of leftists.
This illiberal left wing crowd is not as immediate a threat as Donald Trump, because they have no opportunity to change our form of government in the next couple years. They cannot use the military against our population. They can't leave NATO or stack the government apparatus with incompetent cronies. Thus, the short term priority remains staving off a second Trump presidency.
But your post clarifies for me that this is a two part struggle, and the second task is to defeat the illiberal left. People who believe in silencing dissent are beyond the pale, they fundamentally misunderstand the conditions that must be in place in order to keep government loyal to the needs of everyday people. Maybe because they do not know enough history to realize how ahistorical and fragile that arrangement is.
In the meantime, I am going to be more cautious about which Democratic candidates I contribute towards, particularly in the primaries.
I'm a liberal. I've been calling myself "conservative" for a few years only because of my fears of the illiberal left (SJLs as Nate called them). My biggest needs are free expression, individual dignity, equal treatment under the law. I called myself a moderate (or a centrist) before that. There isn't a touch of MAGA in me (I really dislike that guy). And yet, Republicans have been the only opposition to SJLs despite a large contingent among them who are illiberal like the SJLs (they just switch around their favored identities and verboten opinions). Stand up for liberalism and I'll come running back!
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
"This illiberal left wing crowd is not as immediate a threat as Donald Trump, because they have no opportunity to change our form of government in the next couple years."
I believe that you are wrong about this. The Democrats have ALREADY changed our form of government by handing over immense power to federal agencies, and then staffing them with SJL adherents.
For example: "Biden rule takes lunch money from schools that reject progressive gender, sexuality agenda" https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-rule-takes-lunch-money-from-schools-that-reject-progressive-gender-sexuality-agenda
Biden's Dept of Education is on the verge of declaring all single-sex sports in schools illegal. This Title IX policy announcement has been delayed over and over again (there was a massive outpouring of opposition to the proposed rule), and I believe it will now be pushed to after the 2024 election.
We simply do not have a small-d democracy if overwhelmingly unpopular policies are pushed down our throats by unaccountable bureaucracies.
I'm a 68-yr-old lifelong Democrat, but I'm now voting straight Republican, including for Trump as POTUS if he is the nominee. We need a Republican POTUS to implement Schedule F firings of very large numbers of SJL adherents in the agencies.
Well, each person has to prioritize the threats according to their own lights and vote accordingly. For me, though, no hot button issue is more important than maintaining the basic American system where, once the votes are counted, the losing side accepts the results.
That aside, I am pretty sure that your second concern (single-sex sports in schools being made illegal) is based on some distorted reporting.
There is an ongoing political struggle regarding how we as a society adapt to a significant transgender population. Rapid technological advances provide wonderful things, but they do destabilize society by forcing rapid adaptations to longstanding arrangements. Worsened by each side of sober debate trying to score points by wildly exaggerating the dangers of the most extreme on the other side.
In this case, the Dept of Education has proposed a change to its Title IX Regulations on Student Eligibility for Athletic Teams. The proposed change would disallow CATEGORICAL banning of transgender students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. This would leave a lot of room for more nuanced rules as to who can participate on what teams. Just to give a specific non-controversial example, in our state, they cannot categorically ban 8th graders from playing high school football, but can and do set up specific criteria that most 8th graders do not meet.
This is not to say I am in favor of this Dept of Education proposal. I am uncertain as to the wisdom of the rule, but even more, I am a skeptic of federal involvement in education. There is no perfect answer, but education probably works best if left up to the community.
In any case, given a choice between poor decision on the transgender issue and, in effect, a ratification of Trumpist election procedure, the lesser evil, by far, invovles the transgenders. Policies like that are much easier to reverse when they crash and burn.
I have to add that your formulation of "Biden's Dept of Education" also comes across as political boilerplate. Either there is a deep state which thwarts presidential oversight, or else there is a bureaucracy which the president does rule. If Trump is claiming the former, then it is inconsistent to simultaneously claim that Biden owns the bureaucracy on his watch. At least if we are exchanging serious ideas rather than campaign rhetoric.
I share your concerns, though, about the power of bureaucracy operating too far from voter oversight. Not that I discount expertise, I want expert opinion to be heard. But too often it seems that the bureaucracy is a vehicle by which expert advise can be made binding without the consent of the people. Aside from anything else, that kind of power inevitably corrupts the experts.
But even here, Trump's own ideas strike me as an even more immediate threat to our country. Replacing vast numbers of civil servants with people chosen on the basis of loyalty to him... would essentially change our form of government, a change that would last long past his lifespan. (And almost certainly place unqualified people in charge of sensitive areas. We are so accustomed to myriad forms of security and safety that we cannot even imagine all the things that could go belly up. Things are bad now, but never think that that means they cannot get dramatically worse.)
Thus, we all have to vote our conscience, but for me, the Trump threat is far and away the more immediate.
Finally, someone making sense.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
What do you consider “the liberal left“? I mean Bernie is the only person in the entire congressional body with both feet left of center. Elizabeth Warren, Katie Porter, the squad have 1 foot left of center.
Progressive is the ideal that is American. And considering, the republic has long ago fallen and life on earth is precarious at best considering the eminent climate crisis, a progressive policy approach is the only chance of multicellular complex lifeforms being on the planet after 2030 let’s say, we don’t have time and never did for that matter to implement the correct policy. That’s a bunch of bullshit bitch that’s why were a Third World shit hole. Democrats do not hold their elected officials accountable pay you don’t increment your way to real policy. You fucking demanded and have it the law of the land. My God OK no underwear Third World shit hole. No one respects and the first two political scientists. Obviously professional Wednesday you’re the type of person that hires the electrician with no eyebrows, hires the mechanic I can get you in today. And obviously most of your political opinions have came from your brothers sisters plumbers boyfriend on Facebook…..
If this was in answer to me, I posted about the illiberal left, not the liberal left.
I am referring to that segment of blue America that is not firmly attached to such democratic norms as freedom of expression and majoritarian rule.
When this takes the form of alarm at abusive practices using relatively new communications technology, I can understand their reaction even if I doubt the wisdom of that reaction.
However, when it takes the form of simply trying to prevent opposing viewpoints from being expressed in a public forum, they and I part company.
For a republic it is poison to have this idea that only approved ideas can be expressed. For most of my life, I encountered this ugly attitude almost entirely from very conservative people, and it remains more a conservative than a left wing thing. But unless my ears are lying to me, it is a growing trend among the left, too.
I don’t know anyone who’s confused and disingenuous about posting things on public platforms other than the public platforms in self which allow sedition, liable and incitement all Felonise mind you to be completely removed and obviously and prosecute from their platform, that has been to do with terms of service.
No one is suppressing anything but the right. Only the right. To demand something not within the purview of the first amendment be removed is simply correct. It’s not censorship in anyway or fashion. I don’t know anyone else who is demanding narrative removal. It’s not like individual people where you know if you contradict my narrative you’re gone. I mean that happens here. But literally removing things that are not covered by the first amendment is not within the purview of the platform. It should be an automatically done thing by some form of software because it’s a felony.
That’s a given. What is pertinent about that discussion is the following. Sedition, incitement and liable are not only unconstitutional, they are criminal actions. Fake accounts on social media do that very thing. They exist by the dozens of millions and it’s a RICO violation on the part of all platforms to allow it to exist. Not to mention fraud against their advertising clients.
The most detrimental thing in the American body politic right now could be cured with a simple paragraph of national medical leave mandate. To operate a platform in this country, there should be an absolute be on a shadow of a doubt verification of the identity concerning the account holder. Really simple stuff. AT&T does it for a phone, your bank does it for a debit card, I mean Apple does it to help you with your damned iPhone. It’s easy stuff. Nobody wants to do that because both major part is the Coconspiring global crime syndicate that we allowed to be our federal government have no interest in this. They both have millions of fake accounts themselves.
It’s not the candidates, it’s the platform. Demand change or only vote for candidates who oppose certain planks
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
"So Jewishness is an edge case that makes the entire identity politics architecture look kind of dubious, if we’re being honest."
Derrida was a young Jewish boy in French Algeria when his citizenship was "taken away" from him. Vichy France no longer considered Algerian Jews citizens. He was expelled from his school. When the old regime emerged victorious, his citizenship was "returned" to him - he re-enrolled. He considered this a formative shock and inspiration. Since when was sacred citizenship like a special garment, able to be removed and later worn again? And on whose authority? The word, the whole concept began stinking. Dubious.
Your thought, along with Derrida's, perhaps strikes at the heart of the Jew's ability, in exile, to inspire discomfort and hatred. The Jew is simply a living breathing challenge to the reliability of words and ideas (in some eras, this is equally true of any 'Other'). We see it in words - is Yom Kippur a "holiday" if it's not cheerful? Can one embrace authority if one questions it? The Jews seem to have unusual answers to these questions. If a despised minority is also smart and wealthy, are they privileged? There's an instability there, a cognitive dissonance, and it makes certain personalities feel desperately unsafe - without linguistic certainty, the world around us feels increasingly unhinged.
In our society, comfort is decreasingly derived from social connection, and increasingly from understanding the world around us (this is a by-product of the philosophy of science, which has provided us with so many miracles). We will increasingly tend to rigid dogmas to maintain our psychological comfort - and the Jews will be at risk once again.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
War profiteering any international law and moral bankrupt aggression by Putin with our policy is terrible. We should have removed Putin decades ago. But we must help Ukraine. It is the only moral thing to do. We’re just not doing it right.
As far as Israel is concerned, we should have removed all funding and any help offered after the first week of Netanyahu. There’s a biggest Terrorist in the Middle East.
I feel like you make two fundamental mistakes when taking about SJW ideology- first, the idea that it isn't about material conditions and the history that produces them, and second, the idea that the left is somehow less democratic than liberals. Neither of these reflect the self-image or internal rhetoric of the left. I would point you to the difficulty in booking "the leader" of occupy or BLM for an interview.
But from the SJW perspective, this is another example of the historical trend where the center loves leftist rhetoric but joins with the right wing when chips are down.
As a centrist, it’s hard for me to imagine enough chips being down low enough to side with the modern Trumpist right. If the American left becomes as dominated by extremism as the right has, then the whole edifice can just burn to the ground.
And the underlying problem is that contemporary media strongly favors the two extremes.
A debate between an incrementalist liberal and an incrementalist conservative would get very few clicks, very little attention. A debate between an unhinged leftist and an unhinged right winger would get lots of attention.
Television encouraged us to judge all parts of life by their entertainment value, but also encouraged us to get our political information from relatively sober sources. Digital has continued the former, while giving us choice as to the latter. While also making media competition far more fierce.
As a society, we have not figured out how to adjust.
There is no extreme left in America. My God I mean I’m sure the communist party of any red state would fit in my living room. If your left a sinner in this country, air considered a Marxist. Tribalism is the vehicle that chauffeured us to this Third World shit hole. Not the main stream news or any reporting. The stupidity of the electorate is the single causation. “We the people” suck
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
It's the pursuit of clickbait, a "form" of happiness.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
There’s no one on the extreme left. In America, if you are left of Center your label to radical communist. Hell, these people think if your left of Hitler you are a communist.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I would never vote for Trump after all of his shenanigans…but I will defend his border policies although they were ultimately unsuccessful. So AOC bears some responsibility for migrants that die trying to get into America. And Republicans bear some responsibility for all of the Cubans that have died at sea trying to get to America. All Americans should support a secure border and orderly immigration process. And keep in mind America needs to be prepared to help our neighbors when a hurricane wipes out a Caribbean island or an earthquake destroys a Central American city…so you need an orderly process to help people when natural disasters inevitably occur.
Including his policy to inflict psychological torture on migrant children to discourage border crossings? Or his policy of declaring a fake national emergency to divert money from the military to build his border wall when he didn’t get the appropriation from Congress? His attempt at a Muslim ban? So many great policies to choose from.
His policies were ultimately unsuccessful, but an Iraqi man did come here and attempt to assassinate Bush. In 2022 122,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border…but I agree Trump shouldn’t have done what he did but it was a drop in the bucket. And Democrats should have funded Trump’s border wall specifically for Big Bend and maybe Democrats could have picked off Texas. The border wall is so dumb Democrats should have funded it where Republicans would oppose it like around Florida.
The Democrats are never gonna win Texas because it uses ESNS optical scanners. Your political knowledge and acumen of the body politic is, well, basically nonexistent.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I would never vote for Trump either. Because he said "pussy".
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Well since the American left is actually moderate right, you don’t have to worry about that for a minute. And Lord. Centrist is about the most ridiculous political position possible in today’s body politic. All that means is you’re down with corporate oligarchy enabling fascism. Against tyrannical despotism. At least you got that last part right
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
The funny thing here is that liberals have become just as extreme as those they dog. It’s just not recognized yet. But liberals do try to preserve their gains by any means necessary, down to cancelling elections, outside of tilting them, and doubling down on ideological quests rather than living in reality when it comes to foreign policy.
Projection is all you’ve got? Agitprop just isn’t in your wheelhouse Bruh. Maybe it’s the vodka. No matter. At least I understand why your mother is so disappointed….
That narrative is complete bullshit. Nothing about the current administration or its party platform is left of center. Absolutely nothing nothing is left a central right. Jesus you don’t understand any of this in your agitprop dissemination of pure bovine fecal matter is certainly unappreciated and shall not be tolerated. Get the fuck out
Another piece of commentary I have to call bullshit on. There’s nothing extreme about today’s liberals. The democratic party itself is under the definition of today’s “liberal“ which is a moderate center right. Do you an extreme viewpoint would be called a progressive. And their simply left of the centerline. Bernie is the only person in Congress who happens to have both feet left of that imaginary line. Jesus. We’re so far from extreme left, you can’t even see it on the horizon from here. Social democracy is the proven best practice in terms of federal government throughout history and our current geopolitik. One thing I’ve never understood about Americans is why are they too goddamn proud to just copy a good wheel. They insist on inventing a new one.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Liberal demoracy >>> social democracy.
What "proof" to the contrary are you referring to??
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Sure. Reality is If I were to list every extremist statement or action I could find by a current or former GOP federal or state elected office holder and you were to do so on the Dem side, I would lap you before you could get out of starting position.
None of that is relevant. Neither major party offers good government nor quality policy. They simply do not represent the constituency. Aside from the six members of Congress who do not except corporate money, they are all donor class affiliation tools. You are suffering from the illusion of choice. The travel bullshit displayed by that lack of critical thinking is the vehicle that chauffeured is here. In case you haven’t noticed, here really sucks. I hate Third World shit holes. I’ve lived in the first world for almost 2 decades. I miss it.
>GOP federal or state elected office holder
It's not a symmetric problem. On the left, *it's not the elected officials* (at least, not enough to matter so far). It's diffused all across the country, and most importantly shows up in practically everyone who has a job title that sounds like HR, PR, marketing, etc. Basically, the people in control of the messaging of professional America, and of access to any form of meaningful employment. The result is less loud and obviously scary than QAnon and Jan6, and in particular does not make for many of the extremist soundbites the two of you are talking about. Instead it's more of a slow creeping terror. It's been gradual, and although it has control over practically everyone at this point, the effects have never been anywhere near as bad as actual historical totalitarianism, so it has been rhetorically difficult to attack. Anyways, easily in the same ballpark; I can easily imagine a reasonable person concluding that either side is worse. So, I would not want to try claiming that one is clearly worse than the other.
The side that has both the desire and potential political power to torture migrant children and send political opponents to jail is the worse one.
Well, I'm not going to get sucked into arguing policy particulars here, or which side is overall worse, but my point is that they are different beasts, and one is much easier to deal with. "The bad stuff" on the right is concentrated in elected officials who can simply be voted out of office, problem solved. It's much harder to dislodge "the bad stuff" of the left because the people pushing it are spread out and unelected. It's looking like it might just have to run its course and do its damage, maybe for a decade or more, and that sucks.
(If Trump starts managing to jail political opponents who haven't committed actual crimes, everything I just said goes out the window, of course. I'm pretty hopeful about that, personally, though, even if he wins.)
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Maybe. I could have used other language. Maybe I should have said “authoritarian” instead. Because Democrats are very authoritarian in their own ways. And honestly, even if they’re not as extreme as Republicans in some, very select matters, you neoliberals are such market fundamentalists that you still are violently opposed to the socialist left. I can point to dozens of politicians in the DNC for their red scare level propaganda, or their extreme fervor that favors Israel, or their absurd ideological defense of “democracy” in Ukraine.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
"the idea that the left is somehow less democratic than liberals... I would point you to the difficulty in booking 'the leader' of occupy or BLM for an interview. "
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but are you suggesting that a movent being leaderless is evidence that it's democratic? If anything, it's evidence for the opposite. Democratic systems tend to produce leaders. In contrast, mobs are both undemocratic and leaderless. It's anarchistic systems, not democratic systems, that tend not to have leaders.*
* Altho even anarchist systems can produce leaders in some circumstances. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor_Makhno
Each decision being made democratically is v slow but it is, I'd argue, more democratic than electing a leader and then obeying.
And a vast majority of your fellow citizens would disagree with you, preferring not to "obey" (as you put it) but to "follow" someone who can unite them with others in achieving something they'd like to accomplish together. How democratic would you like to be?
I mean, you can say "follow" if you want, but the consequences of not obeying a law are still guns and cages, and people can't vote to change laws directly, just vote for a person that has the idea of changing it as part of their bundle of positions.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
I think your answer is enlightening in terms of liberal vs SJW/leftist. Particularly in terms of being democratic.
The word democratic is more slippery than it would seem, but I (who consider myself a liberal) see open elections as the essential element of the thing we call democracy. A system is more democratic as more of the citizenry is able to vote, less democratic as procedures either push people away from voting or reinterpret the results in such a way that the majority does not rule. Our system was not originally set up to be very democratic in this sense, and it has been a long struggle to get as far as we have, but old obstacles remain, and new corruptions in the system keep arising.
You (and I have the impression that you accurately reflect the left in this regard) see democracy more in terms of egalitarian results, typified by a group having no identifiable leader because the movement is a mass of equals working together.
Thus, a hypothetical regulation which effectively forces outlying areas to share public funds with a much poorer inner cities, but which voters strongly disapprove of. I as a liberal would vote yes, but disapprove an end-around to institute that regulation without majority approval. While SJW/leftist opinion would be in favor of this egalitarian measure being instituted regardless of majority approval.
So I would hypothesize that there is a significant difference in viewpoint, but that the uncertain meaning of democracy obscures that difference.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
And here I was just thinking it's a question of how which decisions you as a voter get a say in. More democracy then would mean that you get to vote on granular questions such as taxes, criminal law, and military procurement rather than getting only to vote on bundles of positions as represented by candidates and parties.
I see your point. In fact, for a long time I kind of idealized ballot issues.
The problem that I witnessed was that this form of voting was especially open to manipulation by insiders. What wording goes on the ballot? What parts are binding and which are flexible after approval? And, especially when many ballot initiatives appear, can publicity be centered on one tiny portion of the state in order to get approval while hardly being noticed by most voters?
It seems to me that the more granular, the more easily manipulated. But maybe I just witnessed outliers.
Anyway, sorry if I misunderstood your original point.
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
You are omitting, intentionally I insist, the importance of every one eligible being able to participate in that representative democracy. No one has been advocating for by definition democracy. Stop with the disingenuous bullshit
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
I don't think I understand the point you are trying to make? Obviously people should have a say on issues that impact them; eligibility requirements are dicey when it comes to democratic legitimacy; and the way the left functions internally is a lot more extreme in terms of democracy than what gets advocated for.
So I'm unclear what I've said that you regard as bullshit.
People are informed enough to elect honest fucking brokers and are mostly tribalist fools pray like they know enough about individual issues? Nonsense. Jefferson and Franklin specifically said that a representative democracy is the only hope of a constitutional republic because obviously, the masses aren’t smart enough to govern themselves. I think we proved them correct…
That would probably devolve into sub catagories. Think voters are confused now.
There's tradeoffs. But the liberal version of more democracy by having more elected positions also has that confusing effect, as a lot of people don't know the powers of the positions they are asked to vote for.
Tho the knowing of the powers is a two way street. It would be the same if the position was appointed.
Welcome to the woke jihad, comrade. If you do not believe in the holy sacraments, you are an infidel. All you need to say to see the schism is "Islam is right about women and gays". https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-wage-a-progressive-jihad
That’s why I always wonder why more progressives don’t convert to Islam?? In America adults are free to convert to any religion they want to…so by not converting to Islam seems to me you are conveying something negative about it. And Obama converted to Christianity as an adult even though more of his paternal figures were Muslims…what does that say about Islam??
Progressives are Diest’s. organized religion is it high on a progressive list of life priorities.
if you think nonsensical gibberish is somehow effective agitprop, well, you’re thinking is just poor to be polite.
God as if those two things are correlated in the east? Holy fuck. Politic nor theology is your wheelhouse. Trust me on this
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
Take your xenophobic bullshit elsewhere. Politics in the United States of America have not a goddamn thing to do with any organized religion or spiritual belief. As a matter fact, we don’t have freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution we have freedom FROM religion enumerated in the Constitution.
You’re intentional deflection of the conversation off on a nonrelevant tangent is bullshit. I will not stand for it.
"As a matter fact, we don’t have freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution we have freedom FROM religion enumerated in the Constitution."
I am replying to a lot of your comments. You bring a nice, unhinged lefty perspective and are wrong about most everything. Pretty entertaining.
With respect to the present example.. The constitution provides both
1) The establishment clause. This precludes establishing a state religion and is probably the freedom FROM religion that you refer to.
2) The free exercise clause. This is the freedom of religion that you claim isn't enumerated in the constitution.
What I love about you is that you actually go and correct someone else about the constitution, despite your total ignorance. As a hardcore lefty, you think you are much smarter than other people and the world is in fact quite simple, because the hardcore lefties are just right about everything. Keep correcting everyone, you are one of the least intelligent people on this forum and it's good laughs.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Your pseudo-intellectual undeserved ridiculous condescension is nauseating. You are so far out of your depth now. I’m not gonna waste a single calorie or second re-budding your ridiculous assertions. And believe me, I could blow them out of the water if I had the energy to waste. Do better
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Duh, it says he couldn't be a Muslim president.
Obama rejected Islam in the 1990s though. I still remember when McCain was asked if he was a Muslim and McCain was like, “gross, he’s not a disgusting Muslim!” And then when Hillary was asked about it she basically said there was nothing wrong with being a Muslim and all of the Democrats were like, “being a Muslim is the worst thing in the world! Of course Obama isn’t a disgusting Muslim!”
None of that is connected to reality. Just like anyone who thinks you have a microgram of credibility print
How Does a Jew Get to Heaven from Dry Humping the Wailing Wall like Miley Cyrus?
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/how-does-a-jew-get-to-heaven-from-dry-humping-the-wailing-wall-like-miley-cyrus
You seem to rule out the idea that folks are just aligning more with conservatives on these cultural issues lately, but we've been warning you about these SJWs for a while! And this distinction you imagine between the left and liberals sure wasn't too obvious before these leftists endorsed a terrorist organization. There was no split in the liberal coalition until many of them realized they'd gone too far.
I think the distinction wasn't obvious in the mainstream media, but was brewing and visible at the ground level (in at least some places). My social circle of highly-educated upper-middle-class largely non-white people - obviously 100% blue during Trump's presidency - has been slowly, quietly, here and there whispering to itself that the Democrats were getting unhinged, starting with the DEI racism and really ramping up with the whole "transgender children" thing. But nooooo waaaaay would any of them have those discussions in public, especially not the ones in academia. And it wouldn't even really show up in polling since the Republicans are unfortunately still not currently an entirely obvious choice to turn to - which gets us back to what Nate is very correctly identifying, imo.
No. You are literally pulling shit out of your fake ass. Of course the average Democrat constituent wants basic societal reparations in place for people like African-Americans and indigenous first peoples.
The only thing any major political party does right in this country is the democrats support basic human rights. I mean, if that’s your fucking argument you’ve already lost but holy crap man.
This dynamic is not something you understand. Painfully obvious.
That makes a lot of sense. It's tough to recognize if they won't say these things in public though. When someone gets put through a struggle session or just some social justice bullying at work, what can we know about where these people fall if they don't speak up?
I don't entirely agree. Although I don't know the extend of the "split", and I doubt it translates into any more voting action than republicans who don't like Trump, some folks like Bill Maher have been sounding the horn against social justice-style politics for a few years now.
So there's some movement, just like there are many conservatives who don't like a lot of trump stuff. But like those conservatives, I don't think there's any will to changes sides.
Chuck Schumer doesn't suddenly realize the benefits of individualism over collectivist decision making, he just realizes what evil is and saw it on oct 7. This isn't an ideological break, it's a practical one.
If you didn’t understand that Ralph Nader was correct you’re a fucking idiot and not open to the opportunity of learning something. That’s what it boils down to pair a long time ago. You’re just not knowledgeable an at topic at hand here bro
“Endorsed a terrorist organization “?
Who are you talking about? I mean the Republicans are the ones that have never said no to Netanyahu.
I’m certainly not insinuating that the Democratic Party offers good government, but they are slightly less tyrannical than the ongoing criminal enterprise that is the GOP.
I feel like you missed the whole anti-war movement in 2002, if you think the split wasn't obvious earlier.
Most of these "terroristic illinerals" are protesting the lumping of Hamas, a Mafia style of milking the populous, with the rest of the Paletinians.
I think that's probably true for most people who support a ceasefire. But if you are talking about the people out there protesting, I'm not sure I'd say "most". The people with the black masks and the slogans... many of them would tell you that Oct 7 was justified, all of them using the same phrases they hear on the intenet. Of everyone, they probably disagree with you the most that there is a difference between Gaza and Hamas.
And my point in saying this is that the reason there's this split is because many of the ceasefire folks don't want to stand next to the Hamas people. And if that's where you stand, good for you. You don't need to be pro-terrorism to be anti collateral damage. Just beware the difference!
One more thought.
Oak Grove 1864
there's a gray boy in the oak grove
a blue boy by his side
a cold wind blows thru the shattered trees
where the gray and the blue boy died
there's a blue boy on a mantle
a father wipes his eyes
a gray boy in a locket
a girl in black just cries
some things that are buried
never do stay that way
they can live for years and years and years
before they fade away
there's a gray boy up in heaven
a blue boy by his side
prayers ascend thru bitter rains
and clouds obscure the sky
blue and gray might be brothers
might be you and me
but the prisoners of those bygone ways
need to be set free
there's a gray boy in the oak grove
a blue boy by his side
hearts were stilled, lives unfulfilled
when the gray and the blue boy died
Malcolm McKinney 2016
I have to be aware, I am a lefty living in Florida.
As a progressive in Missouri, I bet I can relate
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
When I moved to FL in '86 I was briefly involved with a lefty group, say a dozen or so. Most would show for protests, but meetings were a lot of arguments.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
"So Jewishness is an edge case that makes the entire identity politics architecture look kind of dubious, if we’re being honest."
OK -- but it matters that it's also an edge case that makes some elements of the "liberal" point on the triangle look kind of incoherent and ridiculous as far as its opposition to "the entire identity politics architecture" goes.
because here you have this faction of people who are broadly opposed to all sort of ethnic/identitarian card-pulling and appeals to ancient land debts and indefinite historical grievances and rigid hierarchical ethnic sorting, etc etc., unless we're talking about Israel and Zionism, in which case Bret Stephens will happily transforms into Ibram X. Kendi and start doing the whole speech-is-violence routine and massively discount the ethnic and religious tensions (with liberalism) that are obviously inherent in the very self-conception of the state. with a couple sentences worth of tepid caveats to preempt the hypocrisy charges, of course, but still--it is a shaky and unpersuasive stance. Bari Weiss slips into a phone booth and comes out looking like Michael Hobbes.
so no, I don't think Jewishness specifically glitches the SJL/SWJ worldview so much as it broadly glitches some elements of all three points on the triangle, just in different ways.
My head hurts too much right now to speak intelligently. As a Conservative Liberal (or a Liberal with a conservative sensibility, I am indifferent to how you define me) I have never felt at home in the Democratic Party. Despite many Progressives claiming there is a business friendly wing of the party where I could abide peacefully I have always found the energy from them to be INCREDIBLY hostile to people who share different views (not that the Republicans are better, I am simply describing dems). The reaction to the conflict was as predictable as it was demoralizing, as a friend of mine said there's something about the conflict which simply rots the brain.
I voted for Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel . . . fuck you and your jewish god . . .
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Was Kevin McCarthy trying to be speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/oh-how-fond-they-are-of-the-book
Another place you see this split is trans issues.
You know this thing with Israel (I’m a strong Zionist) has actually emboldened me to speak up on some trans stuff which is just beyond ridiculous.
Fundamentalism is almost as fucked up as Catholicism of all the isms and the cultures and live they have completely obliterated. Do better
One of my takes that's highly unpopular because all sides involved have differing reasons to dislike it is that I think woke is a really good word to describe the belief of "being aware of discrimination and always advocating for action to stop it". It's a concise, four letter, one syllable word that gets the message through, and we should have more of those words. The Social Justice Leftism initialism Nate coins here is very reminiscent of the relatively recent and unwieldy Social Justice Warrior phrase that's capturing the same concept. And before that came "politically incorrect", which was also highly syllabic, but also a phrase that always struck me as misleading from how it was commonly used: I think it better captures the broader concept of needing to hold back one's words at times to not alienate too many allies, which includes but is nowhere near limited to issues of discrimination.
Nonetheless, Nate does a good job of capturing a real and troubling phenomenon. Whatever we call it, I've long held the view that the term liberal should be used much closer to its root construction of "of or for liberty", and not as a lazy synonym for left wing. There are real, major differences, and they matter. Jonathan Chait was a bit of a trail blazer in this regard when he wrote that essay on this subject that alienated a fair amount of his allies at the time, but it's starting to look more and more like he was onto something. Thanks for writing this, Nate!
The PC movement seems so quaint now…we wanted terms that were inclusive like firefighter instead of fireman. Now a transgender man would insist on being called a fireman?? Who knows?
The SJL might deny a vote to Biden (or another Democrat) if they hate him enough, but I have a hard time seeing any substantial portion of it turning to the Republicans. Saying "Well, they both have authoritarian tendencies" is not really going to get you to voting for an R candidate. Part of the reason that the extreme left/right are so ambivalent about democracy is that they see it as a mechanism to achieve or ensure their goals, not a goal in itself - but their actual goals are still heavily opposed to one another. Fascists and communists both have authoritarian tendencies, that doesn't mean communists vote for fascists, or vice versa.
If the coalition breaks, it'll be liberals siding with Rs (though not MAGA Rs). Lefties just don't have any common cause with any part of the modern Republican party. Not the social conservatives, not the libertarians, not the hawks, nobody.