The Left should be about Equality and Universal Respect, and not Identity Politics, Neoliberalism, or Russiaphobia.
I went to an Our Revolution meeting today and found it quite inspiring. To get an Our Revolution endorsement, all candidates must agree to working to $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, and Free College Tuition, the very progressive ideas promoted by Bernie Sanders during his primary campaign.
Bernie Sanders was the best Presidential candidate since Henry Wallace ran on the Progressive Party ticket in 1948. There was no good reason not to support Sanders in the 2016 Presidential Primary, and then if necessary vote for Hillary Clinton in the General Election in Swing States. And I'm even more pleased that Sanders created Our Revolution to continue the political revolution needed in the USA. This may be a force against useless plutocrat imperialist enabling candidates like Clinton, which has almost been the only choice since 1992.
Obama was basically a corporatist imperialist candidate, but he gave us a few good surprises we might not have seen if Clinton had been elected in 2008. Among those, the Iran Agreement, and not jumping to war with Syria or Russia. He blocked the Keystone XL, Arctic Drilling, and privatizing Social Security and Medicare.
Needless to say, I can't imagine anything positive coming from Hillary Clinton or organizations that continue to support her. She should just retire from politics, along with the center right politics she and her husband advanced throughout their careers. I've recently confirmed the story that Bill Clinton was just about to advance his plan to privatize Social Security when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Monica deserves our gratitude.
The Democratic Party has only rarely ever shown a spot of leftism with such people as Bernie Sanders (a nominal independent who the DNC made sure couldn't win), Henry Wallace, Huey Long, and occasionally within the lives of FDR, JFK, LBJ and Hubert Humphrey--who each did a few good things. It's generally worth the small effort to vote for Democrats when they have the best chance of stopping Republicans anyway, as the Republicans are always far worse.
Since the 1940's the Democratic Party has been essentially run by Cold Warriors, with Feminists and Zionists becoming key activists starting in the 1960's, and by then mostly for the benefit of Plutocrats and Imperialists. I am defining "Feminists" as those who are extremists or supremacists, and likewise Zionists as Israel Supremacists. There is no problem with any groups seeking equality through leftism as exemplified by Martin Luther King, but he never was an Identity Politician foremost, but rather a seeker of universal justice and equality for blacks and whites (as well as separation of church and state--which had been the Baptist line until 1979). Feminists so defined are often attacking freedom of press by attacking all pornography, and attacking male intelligence by dreaming up pseudo ailments such as "objectification," but even when they aren't doing that, they're nearly always begging us to vote for super Imperialists and corporate shills like Hillary Clinton as compared to real progressives like Bernie Sanders simply because we "need" more women in government. No!!! When and if Feminists actually produce an identically Left or Lefter candidate...I'll vote for her. Is that too much to ask??? Until then, Feminism is a divisive strategy which destroys Leftism. On the other hand, it is true that women on average vote better than men. Why haven't women made lefter candidates?
There are many strains of socialism. Bernie represented the Democratic Socialists of America, the best of them, which sustains both leftist ideals and pragmatism. The other Socialists tend to be useless ideologues.
Big C Communists (CPUSA) have been run by Democratic Party apologists since 1989, but are generally about the same as DSA and often very good people. Prior to 1989, CPUSA got money from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which wasn't always a good thing--the worst excess caused by that support were the destruction of other left groups in the 20's and 30's. In 1989, CPUSA broke from CPSU (on principle that Soviet Union dropped the Jobs Guarantee), and before long CPSU didn't exist anymore. Around 1989, CPUSA also stopped running their own super long shot candidates, and instead backing democrats, which in and of itself was a better approach. One should vote for the devil as necessary, but not apologize for him or her. Of course, for a long time CPUSA had turned a blind eye to excesses in the Soviet Union itself. But that never should have been or actually was a major concern to the USA. The "Cold War" was generally an excuse to beat up on independent left movements around the world, not an actual war with the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union hadn't existed, Cold Warriors would have had to invent it, as they are doing now with Russiaphobia and Putinphobia. Putin may be a authoritarian crook...but he's not our authoritarian crook and generally not worth a moment's concern in the USA. Likewise with Russia. The excess death count has inarguably been higher on our side since the 1940's. And don't get me started on "influence." We should follow the wise words of Jesus here and concern ourselves with the log in our own eye.
Little C Communists and Anarchists are run by small time Totalitarians and Ideologues.
Greens in the USA are generally useless spoilers who waste too much time thinking about winning elections for their own super long shot candidates, and much less time actually pushing mainstream candidates to progressive positions.
I went to an Our Revolution meeting today and found it quite inspiring. To get an Our Revolution endorsement, all candidates must agree to working to $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, and Free College Tuition, the very progressive ideas promoted by Bernie Sanders during his primary campaign.
Bernie Sanders was the best Presidential candidate since Henry Wallace ran on the Progressive Party ticket in 1948. There was no good reason not to support Sanders in the 2016 Presidential Primary, and then if necessary vote for Hillary Clinton in the General Election in Swing States. And I'm even more pleased that Sanders created Our Revolution to continue the political revolution needed in the USA. This may be a force against useless plutocrat imperialist enabling candidates like Clinton, which has almost been the only choice since 1992.
Obama was basically a corporatist imperialist candidate, but he gave us a few good surprises we might not have seen if Clinton had been elected in 2008. Among those, the Iran Agreement, and not jumping to war with Syria or Russia. He blocked the Keystone XL, Arctic Drilling, and privatizing Social Security and Medicare.
Needless to say, I can't imagine anything positive coming from Hillary Clinton or organizations that continue to support her. She should just retire from politics, along with the center right politics she and her husband advanced throughout their careers. I've recently confirmed the story that Bill Clinton was just about to advance his plan to privatize Social Security when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Monica deserves our gratitude.
The Democratic Party has only rarely ever shown a spot of leftism with such people as Bernie Sanders (a nominal independent who the DNC made sure couldn't win), Henry Wallace, Huey Long, and occasionally within the lives of FDR, JFK, LBJ and Hubert Humphrey--who each did a few good things. It's generally worth the small effort to vote for Democrats when they have the best chance of stopping Republicans anyway, as the Republicans are always far worse.
Since the 1940's the Democratic Party has been essentially run by Cold Warriors, with Feminists and Zionists becoming key activists starting in the 1960's, and by then mostly for the benefit of Plutocrats and Imperialists. I am defining "Feminists" as those who are extremists or supremacists, and likewise Zionists as Israel Supremacists. There is no problem with any groups seeking equality through leftism as exemplified by Martin Luther King, but he never was an Identity Politician foremost, but rather a seeker of universal justice and equality for blacks and whites (as well as separation of church and state--which had been the Baptist line until 1979). Feminists so defined are often attacking freedom of press by attacking all pornography, and attacking male intelligence by dreaming up pseudo ailments such as "objectification," but even when they aren't doing that, they're nearly always begging us to vote for super Imperialists and corporate shills like Hillary Clinton as compared to real progressives like Bernie Sanders simply because we "need" more women in government. No!!! When and if Feminists actually produce an identically Left or Lefter candidate...I'll vote for her. Is that too much to ask??? Until then, Feminism is a divisive strategy which destroys Leftism. On the other hand, it is true that women on average vote better than men. Why haven't women made lefter candidates?
There are many strains of socialism. Bernie represented the Democratic Socialists of America, the best of them, which sustains both leftist ideals and pragmatism. The other Socialists tend to be useless ideologues.
Big C Communists (CPUSA) have been run by Democratic Party apologists since 1989, but are generally about the same as DSA and often very good people. Prior to 1989, CPUSA got money from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which wasn't always a good thing--the worst excess caused by that support were the destruction of other left groups in the 20's and 30's. In 1989, CPUSA broke from CPSU (on principle that Soviet Union dropped the Jobs Guarantee), and before long CPSU didn't exist anymore. Around 1989, CPUSA also stopped running their own super long shot candidates, and instead backing democrats, which in and of itself was a better approach. One should vote for the devil as necessary, but not apologize for him or her. Of course, for a long time CPUSA had turned a blind eye to excesses in the Soviet Union itself. But that never should have been or actually was a major concern to the USA. The "Cold War" was generally an excuse to beat up on independent left movements around the world, not an actual war with the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union hadn't existed, Cold Warriors would have had to invent it, as they are doing now with Russiaphobia and Putinphobia. Putin may be a authoritarian crook...but he's not our authoritarian crook and generally not worth a moment's concern in the USA. Likewise with Russia. The excess death count has inarguably been higher on our side since the 1940's. And don't get me started on "influence." We should follow the wise words of Jesus here and concern ourselves with the log in our own eye.
Little C Communists and Anarchists are run by small time Totalitarians and Ideologues.
Greens in the USA are generally useless spoilers who waste too much time thinking about winning elections for their own super long shot candidates, and much less time actually pushing mainstream candidates to progressive positions.
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