187 Comments

A few years back I remember economist Bryan Caplan saying that for him there was no difference between republicans and democrats. That seemed crazy initially, but he explained that on his political spectrum you had Karl Marx on one side and Murray Rothbard on the other, and the two parties are so close together on most issues that you can barely see any distinction. That sounds closer to the truth.

Both parties favor war over peace, and both love capitalism but prefer their own vivisected version of it so that it benefits certain people over others. And they love freedom, as long as some people have greater freedom than others, and some people can have their freedom revoked. Freedom, a la carte, a little freedom here, a little less there, and pretty soon you have a slave state of people happy to eat leftover crumbs. Utopia, at last.

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The only real difference between the two legacy parties is which flavor of identity politics you prefer.

To paraphrase Noam Chomsky, vigorous debate about identity politics and so-called "wedge issues" is permitted and even encouraged, because these issues do not affect the way the pie is sliced, nor do they affect the prosecution of the wars that the empire needs.

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Noam Chomsky, eh? Get the vax or else be removed from society. Yeah, Chomsky is part of the cabal too.

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the two parties are two sides of one coin: capitalism/individualism. one wants a wild west capitalism, while the other wants an oligarchic (state) capitalism. communism/socialism, which can be practiced in various ways too, has always been the alternative for humanity.

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Team R and Team D serve crony capitalist interests.

The interests supporting the respective Teams partially overlap.

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The interests supporting the respective Teams differ only partially.

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What version of communism/socialism do you think is good/better alternative for humanity?

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communism / socialism is an idea, alternative to capitalism / individualism. theoretically, there have been various iterations throughout history, which i have no direct experience of. do YOU know of "different" "versions" in history? which do you think is better than others and why?

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I lived in one - USSR. Each system has positives and negatives and that one was not an exception. For me negatives outweigh the positives.

Social democracy of Scandinavian flavor seems to be the most attractive for me right now.

But you still did not answer my question on what is better alternative in YOUR opinion.

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Social democracies of Scandinavian flavor have been sustainable because they have been part of the global capitalist-colonialist order dominated by europe/north america, that is, at the expense of the rest of the world directly and indirectly. to try to answer your question: for most of the people, who are inevitably poor and powerless in the capitalist-colonialist structure, communism-socialism should work "better" (though the difference is not a matter of better or worse), but capitalism is all i've experienced and personally i am not terribly adventurous. "which is better in your opinion?" is too unspecific (=ideologically loaded) a question for a structuralist thinker to answer in a short sentence, though you may not be aware.

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"communism-socialism should work "better"" - did not work better in Russian attempt at it.

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May 11, 2022·edited May 13, 2022

Well the man ws an erse. Marx has nothin tae dae wae America's duopoly parties.

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The most accurate post I've read in a while. Great writing. Thank you

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May 10, 2022·edited May 10, 2022

I’m losing my mind over these shitlibs and their mush for brains opinions.

They are like sheep walking into the slaughterhouse, only worse. They’re sheep who voted for the slaughterhouse manager, and can’t wait to be in the slaughterhouse. They have yet to realize it is *them* who are about to be turned into meat products. They also can’t wrap their heads around the fact that when the nukes start flying, the “slaughterhouse managers” will be riding it out safely from the sheep and the nukes in their bunkers. The sheep unlucky enough to not die from the initial attack will get to fight amongst themselves in the brutal aftermath to survive, or die slow horrible radioactive poison deaths instead. The living will envy the dead. The managers are well prepared and don’t give a fuck what happens to the sheep, after all the meat has to be made or the managers don’t get their quarterly bonuses. Added bonus: climate change is not a big deal when most of humanity has been wiped out! Except of course for the managers, safe in their bunkers!

There’s a local online forum that I’m a part of (in fact the only online freedom of speech I have, being kicked off all platforms for being too spicy far left) and I and one other person who holds insane trumpist views are the only ones against the war. Apparently I’m a “russian troll” and an idiot.

Whatever bro’s, when the nukes start flying it’s not going to matter anymore. I’d say I told you so but hopefully (yet unlikely because of my location) I’ll be dead.

I can’t for the life of me figure out how these shit for brains people can’t connect the dots. The forever war in Afghanistan ended not even a year ago. Of course the empire and her defense contractor managers need a new forever war - after all, those contractors *need* their bonuses so they can renovate their fourth bathroom in their third vacation home.

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I left the left for these reasons and many more. They have lost their principles and will excuse anything their side does because they've become hyperfocused on painting all conservatives as Nazis.

Never mind that Biden has been accused of every single damn thing they accuse Trump of doing (often with more evidence), including but not limited to full-blown rape, inappropriate behavior with young girls (caught on video for all to see yet ignored), cashing on in his political power via family ties (Hunter in Ukraine), being an agent of a foreign country (possibly China), etc. They will ignore all this and say Biden is "good" because he's a Democrat and not as "crass" as Trump is...despite Biden having a many decades history of gaffes, including racist gaffes, and dropping out of his first presidential race due to plagiarism and lies.

The average conservative is far less gullible. Witness how many are done with Trump because he pushed the vaccines. Conservatives will turn on a Republican politician on a dime if the politician turns out to be insincere...whereas Democrats will ignore all and forgive all and then project the faults of their own politicians onto Republicans.

This is the behavior of a cult.

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i honestly doubt you were ever a leftist. how do you go from the concept of secular multiculturalism and a government that serves its people (im talking mainstream left of center, not anarchist/communist/socialist left) to xenophobia and get rich or die trying and fuck the poor?

most conservatives these days - republican voters, particularly the ones that love trump and desantis - ARE NAZIS. sorry but if the shoe fits...

who did the nazis first go after? gay and trans people (institute of sexology), trade unionists, socialists and disabled people. who are todays nazis going after? gay and trans people and anybody left of fascism including liberals which are really just right wing morons who think they can compromise with fascists.

todays conservatives dont want history taught because it offends their white fragility. yesterdays conservatives were blocking school integration, and those same people are alive today blocking the teaching of actual history, particularly how it pertains to black and indigenous people.

of course, if you consider biden to be on the "left" then youre a political idiot and i might as well try selling you the brooklyn bridge. biden is right of center. biden is a warmongering status quo upholder, who supported segregated schools at the beginning of his career and made a name for himself upholding the wishes of the financial industry. hes responsible for the 1994 crime bill putting a generation of mostly poor black people into prison on long sentences for minor drug offenses and hes also responsible for making it almost impossible to declare bankruptcy on student loans.

the only gullible one is you, pretending to be "left wing" yet whining about a right wing politician doing right wing things.

also, "cashing on in his political power via family ties (Hunter in Ukraine)" is rich considering the absolute corruption of the extended trump family. what a joke.

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This seems like an overreaction to me. If you take what she said as criticisms of the Democratic party and its supporters rather than "the left" in general, then they're all valid ones.

And no, I am not going to believe that most conservatives are Nazis. That is insane and it honestly makes you sound like Justin Trudeau, who accused his political opposition of having Nazi sympathies. Unless you have irrefutable proof, you shouldn't make those kinds of accusations. I liked your first comment, but you lost me with this one.

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shilibs are just as scared as you are, but they have more money and power to lose than you do if their global dominance crumbles. the only thing they have left in their bag of tricks is intimidation ("we will take you with us to hell if necessary"). Putin called their bluff, though, with his "special operation" in Ukraine. imagine how pissed off the zionist neolibs must be, LOL.

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shit libs just suffer from brain rot. too much professional managerial class messaging via mainstream media and social media algorithms to form coherent thoughts that stray from approved talking points.

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May 10, 2022·edited May 10, 2022

The goal of neoconservatism is to make the world safe for neoliberalism. The goal of neoliberalism is to market effectively for neoconservatism.

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this is a really great comment, did you come up with that yourself or is it from somewhere else? never thought of it like this before but its so accurate!

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after ingesting the gem of a line, you go....isn't it obvious: James Carville + Mary Matalin; KellyAnne Conway + George Conway; at night they sleep together. Their kids go to hahvahd. We the sheep surf.

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The phrase that we may be looking for is "bait and switch".

One of the oldest con games out there.

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if it's an old trick, why do people keep falling for it? the cons are cleverer (in conning) and more persistent than the average sucker born every moment, i guess....

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A good question. I often ask "So you're telling me that this is the first war in living memory that we weren't being lied into?!?"

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President Putin of Russia: Actual and beautiful speech on Red Square Victory Parade

https://thesaker.is/president-putin-of-russia-speech-on-red-square-victory-parade/

Putin is the only humane and normal political leader in this proxy war against capitalist Russia.

The ONLY way to “save” Ukraine is -- a direct NATO involvement. For that CIA will have to orchestrate in the next few months a major “false flag” crime in Europe (or even US), or a major, probably with bio-weapons, in Ukraine.

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Thanks for the laugh. I needed this. MY question is, if Botox was available in his day, would Stalin have partaken? Same holds for Hitler.

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if American people DO NOT SEE THIS , they deserve WdaF they ''vote'' for it! .. this is why I think so>.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2r_-1biSk ..1993!!! it is not new!!

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It's amazing there's a quantum difference in frankness of tone, ease with lack of pretension, and "levelling with you" attitude that is COMPLETELY absent 20 yrs later from main stream commentators! (Sure you get it from "outsiders" today,) but not from the main line folks who are all kabuki indoctrinated.

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Over a decade ago I compared the Dems and GOP to the pro wrestling circuit. I started using the hashtag #duopolypuppetshow on twitter years ago. Never picked up by anyone else, but you get it. You're welcome to it. I appreciate your many salient analysis, but now it's time to turn to alliances of direct action to survive. The public in the US as a whole is hapless and the psychopaths in control have no plan B. They will use tech and manipulatIon to take humanity to hell, on a scale and in a way, they never could before.

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the technical term of art for pro wrestlin is "kayfab". (I learnt this only in the 2016 elekshun cycle).

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The US and its puppies (aka "The West" + Australia/NZ/Japan - gosh how the latter three must hate actually being in the East) cannot afford to lose this engagement.

Hence, it's headed for the all-out unless they find the way to turn their eventual loss in Ukraine into some sort of victory. It's very unclear how they can manage.

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It's the other way around. This is a drop in the bucket for the West. The West can always find another conflict to maximize and perpetuate defense profits but Russia, not so much.

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I'm still waiting for the sex-infused vignette involving Stalin/Hitler. Your prose otherwise is too bland and makes your deployment here too obvious.

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Pervert.

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I can see you've set up a honey pot. Nice touch.

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz sneered, under oath, how DNC™ LLC crushed anything even remotely democratic so Hills could have Robby & John install Trump as a cartoon Seinfeld Hitler, to mau-mau petit bourgeois PMC libruls into Resistance® against Universal Healthcare, AGW rectification, BLM, $15/hr and help rich folks HIDE or keep upward redistributing our homes, labor and equity while Citizens United & WTO trade panels indentured us into virtual share-cropping without any say.

https://readsludge.com/2022/05/09/pro-israel-lobby-spends-big-to-defeat-progressive-summer-lee/

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/

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too good! too true! Sadly, Seinfeld Hitler is still being pulled out of the ventriloquist's case like the walking dead character of "weekend at Bernie's" at every turn! Chuck Schemer (DNC Senate) ran a speech repeating the rhetorical device "vote for maga", which....was an obvious FAIL, telegraphing the lobby's inner wishes. I would laugh, but it's scary bad acting, scary bad script writing, and scary bad to run a kountry this way.

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Were Roe VS Wade codified, there would be not a paper-width difference between the two "parties", which are parties only in the sense they go out and have a helluva good time on taxpayers' tab and lobbyist largesse. Once all the social issues are nailed down and no longer issues, as in the equal marriage debates that threatened to "end" society as we know it (not a bad idea) they will have to invent and breathe life into some - maybe go back to, "are women "persons"? Let's bring it to the courts and legislators. Let's vote on it.

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It took me until Obama's 2nd term to realize this.

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me, 1993 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2r_-1biSk , I was in Chicago!, John Kass have article on obumer and killary and 'dumicrat party' !

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US bipartisan War party needs a proxy war to retain power in November elections.

But -- WHY would American population sacrifice and support Ukro-Nazi government against CAPITALIST Russia; Russia which was key in defeating WW2 Nazis?

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Does American population even know what's going on? Do they care? All they know and care about it's the "Russians". And they were raised so it's ingrained in them "Russian" equals "evil".

And no, I don't think russophobia will ever rise to the sacredness of anti-semitism. People have problem with simple math, as in:

- ~27 million Soviet citizens died during Hitler's Europe invading SU.

- of those military losses are estimated at 8-10 million

- that leaves ~17 million of civilians

It is common knowledge 6 million Jews were killed in holocaust. A lot of them were from the territory of the former SU. To simplify let's factor all 6 million into that 17. 17 million minus 6 million Jews = 11 million non-Jewish Soviet civilians. Of course those would be from the occupied by the Hitler's Europe parts. So non-Asians. Hence, Slavs overwhelmingly.

There's a saying attributed to Marshall Zhukov, re Europe - "we liberated them and they will never forgive us for that".

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DNC and Biden cabal claims that a biggest domestic threat are “white supremacists” – while financing and arming Ukro-Nazis !! What a FRAUD…

Your taxpaying money is paying for salaries of card carrying Ukraine Nazis – THINK about that !!

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Bull. What's going on in Ukraine will, if anything, have a deleterious effect on the outcome of the midterms for the Dems. You act as if what's going on in governance and in the media is the will of the people. It is not and in the case of Ukraine, manufactured consent isn't working so well.

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We will see .... Most Repubs voted for arming Ukraine Nazis also !! It is bipartisan fraud.

DNC and Biden cabal claims that a biggest domestic threat are “white supremacists” – while financing and arming Ukro-Nazis !! What a FRAUD…

Your taxpaying money is paying for salaries of card carrying Ukraine Nazis – THINK about that !!

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It's screwed up, no doubt about it, but don't think the Ukrainian Nazis aren't a foil for the West every bit as much as they are a convenient foil for Putin. Putin, for example, supports Nazis in the rest of Europe, East and West, and in America as well. When he was a KGB colonel in Germany it is a fact he supported destabilization psyops in the West to include supporting neoNazis in West Germany.

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In the fifth from last paragraph Caitlin says there appears to be no thinking force behind these escalations that there’s nobody in the driver seat. Curtis Yarvin, Gray Mirror substack, I think explains the phenomenon in his piece about “the cathedral”, with the concept of “the selective advantage of dominant ideas”. If you’re interested he explains the origination of momentum in human affairs.

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The concept of class hegemony is useful here.

As the hegemonic class, PMC values are normative.

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Larry Fink is in the drivers seat with his globalist dictatorship DAVOS club, on the board of WEF, planned for decades, an annihilation of all nations sovereignty… target #1 the US… https://rumble.com/v13r63x-james-roguski-w-reiner-fuellmich-on-the-dangerous-plan-the-unwho-have-for-l.html, https://rumble.com/v13dn41-facebook-and-rumble-only-mel-k-2030-the-great-reset-agenda.html … most of the elected senators and congressman are in on it and complicit… it’s all a puppet show!

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Re. Musk: you know how before Biden started to make him look sensible by comparison, Trump's foreign policy was mostly awful (pulling out of the Iran deal, bombing Syria, dropping the so-called "Mother Of All Bombs", beginning to send arms to Ukraine after even Obama wouldn't go that far, etc), but how he at least de-escalated with North Korea?

Elon Musk could be mostly awful, but if he does actually make it so that all of us are a lot less likely to be banned on Twitter, I'll take it. Just like I was happy to take it when Trump did something right over objections from guys like Bolton and Pompeo.

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i enjoy every shit show, with no apology to anyone, where Trumps and Musks drive the shitlibs nuts by exposing their dirty underbelly and messing up their shiny narratives.

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So, on the one hand you're crapping your pants over the imminent prospect of nuclear war and on the other hand you are glibly enjoying the shit show where Musk and Trump drive the shitlibs nuts. Got it. Thanks.

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Since it's shitlibs who are partly responsible for the imminent prospect of nuclear war, and also since I feel betrayed by people who turned out to be shitlibs after seeming to be anti-war (as Caitlin described right at the very start of this post), yes, I enjoy watching them get upset too.

If you might die tomorrow, you take your fun where you can get it. Can you give me a good reason why I *shouldn't* laugh at Brian Stelter?

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I see, so the dire threat of imminent nuclear war is funny. Got it. Thanks. Strange sense of humor you have there. In fact, that's not humor at all. Fyi, I have no idea who Brian Stelter is and I don't want to know. I'll think for myself thank you very much.

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No, that's not what I said. Your reading comprehension sucks.

There's more than just one problem in this world. If, in fact, we all survive and a peace deal is reached despite the US/NATO trying their best to prevent it, we will have to worry about censorship and the very real possibility that some of us will get IMPRISONED, due to many countries now having laws which criminalize the spread of "misinformation". Australia might have one, which means Caitlin could be in danger if so. Glenn Greenwald wrote about that recently. Do you at least know who HE is?

Brian Stelter is an asshole on CNN who advocates for that censorship, and I wouldn't put it past him to say that the United States should lock up people who challenge the official narrative as well, First Amendment or no First Amendment. (Yes, I know you said you wanted to remain ignorant and not know who he is. I don't care; you SHOULD know.)

That motherfucker is dangerous, just like all propagandists are. So yes, it makes me happy to see an evil and dangerous person freaking out about Elon Musk possibly letting people speak freely. Propagandists don't deserve to get their way, nor do they deserve to be happy.

But if Ukraine is all you care about, Stelter is manufacturing consent for continuing that war, too. Part of being a propagandist.

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I care about a great many things but Ukraine happens to be the topic discussed here at the moment. Would you like to talk about Roe v Wade instead? I'm game.

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It occurs to me that there may be deliberation behind the apparent absurdity of the choice for first director of the ministry of truth. Risibility is an effective mask for malevolence.

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