- cross-posted to:
- leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- cross-posted to:
- leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com
ID: WookieeMark @EvilGenXer posted:
"OK so look, Capitalism is right wing.
Period.
If you are pro-capitalism, you are Right Wing.
There is no pro-capitalist Left. That’s a polite fiction in the US that no one can afford any longer as the ecosystem is actually collapsing around us."
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News flash: most democrats are very much right-wing.
jesus christ these comments are terrible
Capitalism is the fundamental belief in private ownership. That I can own a factory, a store, a restaurant, and therefore be entitled to the profits produced from them. Modern capitalism is inextricable from consumerism, from business, and from stock exchanges.
Capitalism is any resource or good harvested or produced that is not shared by all who produced it. Capitalism is the idea that some labor is more deserving of the fruits of production than other kinds of labor. Capitalism is violence against the working class. Capitalism is the means by which a new ruling class was created over the past 200 years that presently controls the entire world while utterly ravaging our environment and wasting more resources than we literally every could have thought possible.
You are NOT a leftist if you support capitalism. You are ANTI-WORKER if you support capitalism. If you want to support workers and if you want to support progressive leftist causes, ORGANIZE. Join your local anarchist community. Agitate, push leftist politics. Start mutual aid networks for vulnerable workers in your community. Support unionization efforts. Support striking workers. Participate in civil disobedience. Show up at protests. Organize demonstrations.
The world has never been changed by accepting the crumbs they threw at our feet. It was changed by those who refused to bow their heads. By the communities who resisted oppression and fought for their fellow workers. By people who fought for us all to live better lives. Count yourself among them.
This is why Biden was centrist at best
Biden is a right-winger. Liberalism is right-wing, and has never been anything else.
Man, Americans are so confused about how political movements work and it’s spreading.
They should just make up words for whatever it is they are trying to categorize, like “Snurfle” or “anti-sploosh” or whatever and let the rest of us keep talking about politics like normal people.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like everybody else doesn’t have the classic “socialdemocrats aren’t real leftists” nonsense, that part is pretty universal. But at least those guys over here know what the words they’re using typically mean.
If you think capitalism is normal, needed, or functional, you don’t know the definition of capitalism.
I think it’s important to clarify that markets and the use of money are not exclusive to capitalism. Under capitalism, the point of markets is to accumulate money absent of any actual project or goal, and money is the way the capital holding class keeps score. In other systems, the point of markets is to connect people who have some item with people who need or want that item and money is the means of exchange. Markets are fine for distributing excess materials and labor, once people’s basic needs are met.
Markets can efficiently allocate resources and they also foster competition. That enables decentralized innovation and optimization.
A major error of many leftists is to see markets as undesirable. There are always markets. Rightwingers often confuse an unregulated market with a free market, which is very misleading. Markets need regulation in order to be free.
Markets are fine for distributing excess materials and labor, once people’s basic needs are met
You can achieve that for example by having the market for housing and food be dominated by publicly owned enterprises.
You can’t regulate or eliminate human greed … because there will always be a highly motivated, intelligent idiot that thinks they can become King of the Universe.
We just need a way to outlaw billionaires and keep everyone under an upper ceiling of wealth.
It won’t solve every problem but regulating wealth will sure allows us to deal with every other problem on the planet rather than the current state we are in.
a highly motivated, intelligent idiot that thinks they can become King of the Universe
In a socialist state, these people become chairman of the council of ministers, general secretary, dear leader, or run the secret police.
Being right-wing isn’t even a bad thing. Problems occur if you go too far to the right.
I know its hard to believe these days but nuanced beliefs exist.
You’re right capitalism is healthy and good for us
“Perfect being the enemy of good [enough]” is also rhe argument republicans use against any liberal/social policy. If there are any flaws, we should do nothing at all.
Liberals also love saying that to justify “vote blue no matter who.” But what have the Democrats been doing differently other than giving breadcrumb policies?
Sorry liberals, but the truth is that you guys also benefit from the status quo at the expense of the working class but don’t want to admit. Senior Democrat leader, Nancy Pelosi is, after all, the biggest player in the stock market earning millions. If America has a multiplural party system and could articulate their positions better, the Democrats are centre right and would be very much described as close to centrist French president’s Macron neoliberal ideology. Socially liberal but economically conservative, and he’s one of the most unpopular president in French politics. He dislikes the far right, and yet does nothing policy-wise to alleviate the working and middle class concerns which only slowly nudges them to the far right. Doing nothing economically and telling people to support the status quo is tacit support for the far right despite hating them on the outset.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone here defending Nancy Pelosi, she can go against the wall with the rest of them.
I’m not even sure the liberals you’re talking to are on lemmy honestly.
There are many on Lemmy, but they tend to be down voting instead responding when you criticise the thirty years of neoliberal policies of outsourcing and de-investment of public services is what made the working class, especially those in rust belt and others, embrace the far right. Instead, liberals blame people as being plainly stupid. Even if some respond, they shy away when you mention that jobs outsourcing without offering alternatives, and lack of affordable healthcare and houses are what made the poor vote for Trump. American liberals are remarkably similar in behaviour with those in Europe. They wonder why the far right is gaining ground, but are tone deaf even from experts who say the lack of jobs and affordable housing is what makes populist on the rise. The most obvious reason is that liberals don’t want affordable housing because it brings down the value of their property. In California, it’s the same NIMBYism and so is here in Europe. It’s the socially progressive and yet economically conservative (this is what liberalism in the classical sense means) property owners do this as much as the right does. The former express sympathy for the homeless, but when there is proposal to build affordable housing they would object. Liberals just don’t want to admit it.
Look at you. Just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks? Why don’t you just go ahead and mention the Clinton’s while you’re at it. Someone who has retired from politics and someone who isn’t even a US politician is your argument? “Butwhatabout! Look! Over there! Someone else did something!” If you’re going to span the globe for comparisons I’m sure I could find plenty of right wing theo- or other fascists who have destroyed countries.
Well the retired Democratic leaders still benefit from it. “You scratch my back I scratch yours.” Hillary Clinton got the DNC nomination in 2016 primaries because she paid off DNC’s debt; even though Bernie Sanders is the more popular candidate. The Clintons are out of politics but they are comfortable retired from the money they made while the country burns.
Speaking of Clintons, it is under Bill Clinton who started the outsourcing. Hence, why Trump ran on the platform of re-shoring jobs and is one of the main reasons he won out of many (but his approach to it is very brash by imposing tariffs in order to coerce American companies to re-shore). Neoliberal policies did not offer any alternatives and cast aside their concerns, which made the working class welcome the embrace of a demagogue. Ancient philosophers have made the same observations before about what makes demagogues popular but people never learn.
Anyhow since you are asking if there are any current liberals in politics who can be blamed, why not ask the current DNC on why they haven’t picked Alexandria Ocasio Cortez for the Oversight committee? That’s right, they don’t want a progressive so as not to ruffle the feathers of the same oligarchs who support Republicans.
To people using this as a reason to not vote: It’s going to be capitalism. You have a choice between free for all capitalism with fuck the environment and fuck the workers (GOP), or regulated capitalism with environmental protections and workers rights (Dems). If you don’t vote or vote third party, you just voted for the free for all one.
What fucking dem party are you talking about?
What is Finland though? Social democracy seems pretty good but still fits in with capitalism as far as I can tell
Whatever social safety nets and programs they have will be dismantled as Western capitalism devours itself. As is happening all around Europe
Neoliberal, just like the rest of the “socialist” nordics (E: having socialised aspects to the state and or economy, or even being a “social democracy” does not socialism make), which are all on the exact same trajectory as the rest of us, only a few years behind.
Everyone is so eager to upheld their extreme positions, that the real work, that need to happen in the middle, by people that work together and are willing to compromise, never gets done.
To be honest, I stopped paying attention years ago. The negative effects of getting pissed by all that stupid shit going on far outweighs the positive change I am able to create. I can’t even be sure that my point of view is right. Why even bother…
Ignorance sure can be bliss.
Ignorance sure can be bliss.
If you’re privileged enough, meanwhile your ignorance and apathy impact those of us who aren’t so lucky.
As for
the real work, that need to happen in the middle, by people that work together and are willing to compromise, never gets done.
I wonder why that might be…
well maybe don’t push them away if you want their help. just sayan
Keynesian economic policy resulted in unprecedented prosperity for 60 years. It ended by Reagan’s trickle down supply side economics.
Seems now there’s a false dichotomy between supply side economics (which is an obvious failure) and communism (which was an obvious failure).
Crazy idea, maybe we should consider using economic policy that was proven to work? I guess that makes me hated by both the “right” and the “leftists” (two peas in a pod). So where would that put me in your made up political spectrum?
“Pro capitalism” and harm reduction are not the same thing. Some form of capitalist-like economics will exist until we achieve post scarcity economics. The best we can do until then is work towards that end, while also working to minimize the harms imposed by material and labor scarcity.
This is just another stupid purity test by people who care more about their own righteousness than actual action. You can call my praxis whatever you want. I don’t care.
We’ve been post-scarcity on a global scale for decades if you count the essentials. We’ve been producing all the food that’s needed to feed the world, and that’s with only 2% of people working on agriculture in the developed world.
The reason for housing shortages is also due to policy, not because we somehow don’t have the resources and labour to build enough.
Uh huh, Denmark is a myth i suppose.
Telling you are US American, without saying so 💩
Denmark is literally a monarchy run by a centrist to center-right government right now.
🥱 it must be exhausting being you.
