You have been alive for like 30 years, educated and raised wholly in the core of imperial capitalism, and you dare to speak for all of us as a species for all time? How dare you, sir.
Maybe you’re right. The latest kind of weapons that are dominant today are nuclear arsenals. These weapons did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. Past generations used weapons that varied from wooden clubs to bows and arrows, spears, guns, cannons and now, nuclear missiles. If that is so, the ancient civilizations must have used these weapons. If so, wars must have been common, otherwise, the weapons would not have existed???
Charles Darwin wrote about the evolution of species, Survival of the. fittest, and the incidence of natural selection. If you look closely at nature’s agenda, it’s not the weakest members who survive.
As far as choosing whatever , I am told there are 12,000 nuclear warheads aimed at our collective heads. Until those weapons are removed, I would say that we are still a very dangerous species. .. wouldn’t you?
I also see homeless people everywhere humans live. When that kind of collective thinking changes, the jungle mentality reigns. If you choose to ignore the signs, that’s your privilege.
The more people there are, the more wars settle disputes. I love people, but not what they do collectively to settle differences.
John I'm guessing you must live in the US or Canada. Not ALL countries have citizens sleeping on the streets nor do they all have thousands of nuclear warheads. I just returned from Greece and despite being not having as much wealth as the US, I saw very few people on the streets, in fact almost none. And from what I hear, I haven't been there yet but China also provides housing for it's citizens and thus does not have have a homeless population. The Anglo-US Empire is unusually savage, violent and inhumane to it's own citizens but most of all citizens of other countries trying to take a socialist path. The problem is not "people" but the system we find ourselves trapped in, ie: Western Imperialism
Every time you hear a democrat or liberal say that they voted for the latest corporate imperialist muppet "with reservations" or "I held my nose as I voted for
Clinton/Obama/Clinton/Biden/Harris" remind them - their vote counts exactly the same as every other vote.
Exactly. Which means both the DNC and GOP are genocide supporting fascist parties (or are two factions of the same fascist political organization). Either way, there is no "left" politician currently in federal office in the US, but there are more than you might think in local and state offices. Here are some stats: https://www.gpelections.org/
'left' starts with anti-capitalism. one of the great feats of the fascist center is changing this meaning in an attempt to destroy the concept of anti-capitalism altogether.
There is so much wrong with this comment. You speak of the 'right' and of the left. The right with inverted commas, and the left without.
By putting right in inverted commas you seem to imply that the party you designate as the right wing party is actually a faux-right wing party, as if they are not authentically upholding what you perceive to be the decent and common sense right wing values of capitalism, imperialism, militarism, etc.
And by leaving the left without inverted commas you seem to be implying that the party you designate as the left wing party is an authentically left wing party, as if they are anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, etc.
There is no authentic left wing party in the politics of the rogue US regime. There are only two right wing parties. Only two fascist parties. The only difference between the two is that one party cares not for your feelings, while the other party cares to profit from your feelings.
We need four parties. One left wing party, one moderate left party, one moderate right-wing party, and one right-wing party for the wing-nut MAGA types. The coalitions will be interesting.
I would vote for the left-wing party. If my income improved a lot - then I would switch to the moderate left party.
If I win the lottery it won’t matter - I’ll be an ex-pat. I still think I would vote moderate left though. Can’t see myself on the right - it’s a Catholic thing.
My bad Gr….. the omission of using quotation marks was not intentional, but rather just a typo .
Having said the above, my contention is still that there is little difference in either the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ in the real world. Words tend to imprison thoughts into categories that are entrapments more than liberation.
The true master of our lives, as voiced by Noam Chomsky, is money, money, and then money. More precisely, it is the Power of Money that rules our existence, and we continue to let wealth rule…
From what I understand , the ‘left’ in the U. S. are the Democrats, while the ‘right’ are the Republicans. I am probably wrong, but my point was that both parties were responsible in the genocide in Gaza… Hope that is better said…
Actually I’ve never looked up what right or left means, simply because it imposes restrictions on thought, a condition that is already endemic in many humans.
In the imperial model, programmatic alternatives to the basic structure are rhetorically permitted, but never permitted to gain traction.
The indoctrination is rudimentary: America = capitalism = anti communism. Anyone not hewing to this logic is a threat to be harshly marginalized or erased. Note how this completely contradicts the hallowed first amendment.
The so-called “basis” of American Jurisprudence is window dressing to satisfy appearance, but the essence of capitalism, to legally limit the options of the many to enrich the few, is the logic that promulgates wars and enables genocides. It is defined constitutionally as the freedom of the individual, which always trumps the interests of the many.
In this context, the definition of “the left” is the moral critique of the status quo that has no understanding of reality. The “right” are the folks who endorse the fixed system wholeheartedly, without hand wringing or conceding any moral ground.
This is the way in which “left” is suitably defined for mass consumption. It has had to be upheld and reinforced because it is a core principle of the Two Party Government.
Corporations possess more Constitutional protections than American citizens who aren’t wealthy. This is part of the “reality” that the right doesn’t question and the “left” cannot effectively challenge.
Living in a bubble has facilitated a filtering of the world beyond the borders. But the bubble has been repeatedly pierced by the internet, and Substack is a conglomeration of purveyors that have begun eroding the sanctity of the imperial narrative globally and domestically. Every writer on Substack isn’t anti capitalist, but most appear to be anti-imperialist. Many American Republicans appear to be fiercely anti-imperialist, but aren’t interested in trashing the capitalist logic that allowed them to accumulate some financial wealth.
Right now, the war between the empire and the truth is being waged most clearly with words. This is a letter to the editor of the NY Times, which Mondoweiss printed because the NYT never would. A longtime subscriber to the paper cancelled his subscription, giving his reasons.
Yes but as Ann said democrats are not "left". At least great majority of democrats are not. Ds are fake left in terms of the strict definition of the "left". At best Ds are center-right. Republicans are straight fascists except very few who are only right-wing.
There are two parties in the USA that are controlled by Israel and the 2 parties are going to merge the Israeli military with the USA's in a vote soon on the NDAA. Fuck the fucking traitors that do. Fuck them again the mother fuckers that do. 1 State Palestine.
I heard that US democrats are claiming that "left" genocide is not as bad as "right" genocide and hence US americans should vote democrats as they are bit less evil compared to republicans. US democrats also provide toys to Palestinian children before they are murdered.
As Jill Stein (of the Green Party) often says, "You can't have a revolution in a counter-revolutionary party."
I never understood why Bernie felt that the DNC was the way to get to the White House... He's always run for office as an independent. I was very leery about him running for the Dem ticket. And sure enough, after Philadelphia, they crushed him and put in Shillery. I vowed never to vote for any duopoly candidate ever again. The Revolution will not be coming via the fascists.
Same here. After the 2016 debacle, I tried to trust Bernie, but each instance where he gave in to the status quo and backed the "lesser evil" DNC agenda just made me hate him more. Never again.
4800$ over the two elections with countless hours of door knocking and funding raising. I am a moron incapable of seeing a true deceiver, " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great President" on stage South Carolina debate. : ( Today there are only two candidates I support for office besides two local friends, one mayor and one State Senator. Kshama Sawant and Jose Vega. We shall see.
The World Socialist Website people complain about him a lot - and they are often right. But the perfect is often the enemy of the good. Let's not forget that and Bernie and others like him. They may be the best we can do at this point.
Maybe I misinterpreted you here, as saying that voting Dem is the best people can do. Saying "Lets not be the enemy of the good," implies there are ANY good actors in the Dem Party. Every hear of Force the Vote? Plan to Force a vote on Medicare 4 ALL during Pandemic, to get people on the record, in exchange for Dems voting for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker.
The "Progressives Lefties" REFUSED TO DO IT.
I havent trusted Bernie or Dems since 2016 and the DNC gave Bernie's WV electoral votes ( he won the whole state except one county, Hillary won ZERO) to Hillary and he did NOTHING. No demands. No nothing.
Yeah, we were closely watching that WV race and when we saw how they completely flipped the result to Shillery... I knew that was the end of Bernie's chance of winning the nomination. Ever since that time, I've done all that I could to prevent others from falling into the "trust the lesser evil duopoly" trap. I hope I've saved a few folks' from heartache.
I don't think this system can be changed from within. We need a different system altogether. What kind of system could (should?) it be, to be decided by the people who make up the system, i.e. everyone.
Poverty does not exist because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
No human being is a billion times more valuable than another. This is the first time in human history that we have the technology and resources to take care of everyone. Food, housing, healthcare - yet here we are.
Australian gold prospectors in 1930's Papua discovered tribes that were still in the Stone Age. The tribes no longer knew that the ocean existed. Their politics was pretty much the same as ours today. Us vs. Them. Peace vs. war. Shifting alliances. It's very basic to humanity.
And yet tribes take care of each other, and don't automatically wage war on neighbouring tribes who present no threat. Today, we don't even agree it's a good idea to look after our own communities, and every 'outsider' is seen as a problem worth exterminating.
If Papuan tribesmen roamed out of their territory they were killed. Nobody could travel, that's why they had forgotten the ocean existed even though it was only a few days away. Stealing from other tribes was a good thing. Once they figured out the white men weren't gods they tried stealing from them (with dire results).
Then there's Panjamon, the autobiography of Jean Yves Domalain. He was a young French adventurer who in about 1970 accidentally married into a tribe of central Borneo headhunters. It was similar in that wandering into the territory of another tribe might very well get you killed. There wasn't that much food so anyone encroaching on your territory is a threat to your survival. The population density was less than Papua so it was a better situation. Jean Yves basically liked it but eventually escaped in fear for his life.
Then were the Yanomamo of the Brazilian jungle. That was just crazy with psychedelic drugs, violence, and nastiness.
As far as idyllic tribes go most of North America was very nice. I'd say the difference was that population density was low due to the long winters. The Indians came to regret their niceness to the white man who was to overwhelm them with technology and sheer numbers. In central Canada many thousands of French trappers married into the tribes, lived in tipi, and sent their offspring back to Montreal for education.
The world back then had far more variety than today's semiglobal village. There were bad situations and good situations. The most pleasant lands tended to come with wars. But you could get away to some less desirable climate and live in peace.
As for today, it's appalling that certain modern nations can't think of anything better to do with their great wealth other than to have a really big war.
Sawant has brought the goods but Seattle is one of the few USA places that still has strong labor. It's because labor is still needed to build airplanes and Seattle/Tacoma is where this is done. It's too important for national security to relocate manufacturing in a foreign land. In the rest of the USA strikes have pretty much been killed off.
Understand, but her point about action taken post-election by elected officials being determinative is still valid, and could be used to build working class coalition and solidarity. Will be difficult, but it is the only path forward absent security state violence and overreach, imo.
Yes that is one of the main reasons you have to have an enduring organization. It needs to keep track of what the elected officials are doing and vote them out if they betray the program. This is why small but persistent organizations like the NRA are nevertheless effective.
The unions are mostly gone but the working class remains large. Could be a majority of voters.
The UK House of Lords was sort of like that. You got a seat because your twenty times great grandfather hauled a cannon for the king, that sort of thing. Usually the family fortune had evaporated and the modest House salary was motivational. It was a lot like a random sample of the population. They didn't have to worry about elections so they could concentrate on crafting bills. The rich kids found this sort of thing dull so were less involved.
The UK said it was undemocratic and took away the power of the House of Lords but I feel the real problem was that the Lords were doing too good of a job protecting the public interest.
I think a limited term lottery would lead to most of the lucky ones grabbing all the cash they could while the getting was good. You'd also get a lot of random ignorant voting on technical issues that all common these days. Though it might nevertheless be better than what we have now.
There is no left. the media keep referring to the left so people now use it as normal while what’s considered the center has moved so far to the right this language seems normal to most and seems used by many many people.
Bernie started a movement and didn’t win the elections because they were rigged by the DNC. He’s been relatively consistent. Totally agree the Dems are useless. Why would anyone want to get them back in control? To do what? To stand for what? Thanks for your work and writing.
I mean, given the absolute nutbag sitting in the White House right now - I'm not about to waste my energy on those pundits doing their best to get him the hell out (like Kyle Kulinski).
But Trump is not the disease, he's just a symptom of the disease. Sure, vote Trump out. But it doesn't get rid of the disease, and the disease is progressing rapidly.
The "Disease" is called EPSTEIN CLASS PEDOE PROTECTORS & WORSE.
It's the Greater Israel Plan.
It's Z10 Billionaires owning the US Congress - who just Officially FUSED the US & Israeli Military- which country do you think is in control?
Its the US Supreme Court ruling that UNLIMITED MONEY in Politics is "Free Speech." Howz that for an oozing, pus-filled, rotting corpse of a Consitution? 250 years to the highest bidder.
USA is infested (same as Europe, Australia & Canada) with the Rothschilds-Epstein Class and They are causing a GLOBAL DEPRESSION (thanx to Trump) to make people so desperate we will submit to the Technofascists Control.
So why do regular good people allow PEDOE & WORSE Z10 Billionaires to continue without ANY ONE bothering Them or preventing Their Corruption and Trading toddlers for torture games?
A mother cat cares more for her kittens than ANY Western Govt parent who continues to act as if the Rothschilds-Epstein Class won't touch their family.
Actually, he refused pleas in two open letters to start a movement. He claimed he was doing so, but all he built was a typical campaign organization, albeit with a couple orders of magnitude more volunteers.
Okay well what do you call it when you want to dismantle capitalism, end imperialism, and take back what the ruling class has stolen? I would say those who support this position could be described as "left", and those who oppose it are "right". They're not the same, and it only confuses things to pretend they are, so we need words for those distinctions. Feel free to mentally substitute whichever words you prefer to label those distinctions, though.
“The experiment has been run, and the results are in… It’s time to find another way.”
Thanks for the dope slap, Caitlin. For a while there, I thought the Dems, the ones in Maine anyway, might actually be getting serious. Silly me.
I went “Unenrolled” (used to be “Independent”) from “Democrat” when Obama, after 8 years of that a**hole Dumbya being at the helm of the mighty ship of state and running it aground, could come up with nothing better than a “post-partisan politics.” “Huh?” I said, “What you’re saying is, ‘Yeah, they got away with it, but whadduh ya gonna do, so just get over it.’”
No. You want my vote? Then start clawing back not only everything Dumbya stole, wasted, and transferred to his cronies, but go all the way back to Reagan. Of course we’ve seen, ridden on the nation’s downward trajectory since. Even before Chris Hedges, Gore Vidal said we have two wings of the same party, the “Corporate Party.” Take it from there (there isn’t much more to go).
Footnote, yet indicative of the overall scam – and of those dupes (“My spouse was an employee at USAID…”), an unwitting part of the scam, who boastfully, smugly drink the Kool∙Aid, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere – Trump, in one of his few “a broken clock is right twice a day” moves, shut down USAID. While it was on the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” hit list for ideological reason, in other words the orders given to Trump, from day 1 USAID was a CIA front, and a means for American companies to gain access to foreign markets and displace the local economies and social service agencies. See “Chihombori-Quao: USAID was ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ in Africa” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFSRb5dUOM
Chris Hedges, in his “America, The Farewell Tour, published in 2018, said this country had about twenty years left before collapsing. Thus far, given the evidence, the timetable is holding true.
I thought it was a good thing that CIA cutout USAID was shut down, but later realized it was done because the MAGA schtick is essentially hatred of foreigners with the exception of white South Africans. To them, foreigners dying of AIDS is a good thing. The more dead foreigners the better. Gaza and Lebanon and Ukraine, all good things.
Somewhere I came across the fact, statistic, whatever you wish to call it, that throughout history, on average, empires lasted 250 years. I found the hoopla of this past July 4th hilariously ironic, it could well be, or close to, our last.
Well, the Roman Empire survived around 500 years after the end of the Republic. The Byzantine Empire 1,000. Chinese dynasties often survived centuries. Britain has transformed, but remains more or less intact.
Far too many Americans don't understand what right and left mean. The MSM uses the terms incorrectly - I'm sure this is done on purpose. Especially by the Fox news people.
Oh, I didn't realise these are your definitions of left and right.
I can't really see that. The 'left' don't seem to want to dismantle capitalism, even in China they use it but have state owned banks and execute billionaires who are caught being corrupt. And if by ending imperialism you mean the fake threat of Russian expansion, then yes, the 'left' have largely fallen for propaganda from US interests in oil and arms and support proxy war using the blood of Ukrainians, and now the EU and UK.
What is it that the ruling classes have stolen? Seems to me whatever it is both 'left' and 'right' have given it to them with consumerism.
But I agree 'left' and 'right' are not the same, they have different tendencies. Once we decide what we think we look for others on social media to confirm it. That way we're immediately targeted with different and very clever algorithms that maintain the division and can lead us into other desired ways of thinking.
It would be lovely if on substack people were open to their own ways of thinking, and more aware of this, but it seems it's also a way to propagate the system and maintain 'left' vs 'right' or 'covidiot' vs 'antivaxx' (someone who looked at the evidence) or climate change acceptor (but still happily flying from eg UK to Oz and back as my friends do) vs climate crisis denier or trans rights vs women's rights or fight Putin vs the democrats provoked him (though it was and is bipartisan).
The difference, whatever you call it, is the algorithm targeted at a person because of their leanings- or in the case of covid for looking at the evidence. I was stunned by the sneering at environmentalists and nonsense climate change denial that were targeted at me. So I have an unique, perhaps, perspective on this. I'm also stunned at the climate scientists being completely under the sway of their own algorithm that sneers at 'antivaxxers' and believe that Putin started the war with Ukraine and its right that the UK should be upping military spending, send lethal aid and even fight him; when we need everything we have for social programs and to mitigate climate change.
If we were more aware of the targeting; we'd be far less 'left' and 'right' we'd be freethinkers willing to discuss all the issues without already having (thought we'd) made our (own) minds up.
As a practical definition, "left" is simply the political manifestation of the PMC, with various grievance groups as junior partners. "Right" fulfills the same role for Local Gentry, with white evangelicals playing the role of sidekick.
Both are oligarch parties to the core, but they represent different oligarch factions.
The trouble is the mass media has so muddled things that there is no agreement on what words like left, right, socialism, democracy, freedom and so forth mean. Debate gets very confused and almost useless. I say that such words have been "Orwellized", deliberately obfuscated for this reason. The confusion makes it hard for the general public to organize politically.
So what to do? Abjure these words and Instead discuss specific issues. Gaza/Lebanon, gvt. health care, monopolies, war spending, and so forth. People will vote for a program that addresses these things. Get such a program and elect a Congress on that platform. That's what FDR did. Sure it's a lot of work but believe me it is the easiest way. Peace and prosperity. A big majority wants these things and will vote for them. Heck, Trump got elected as the peace candidate.
Patrick but the fact that narcissist foul mouth pedophile cheater was elected as a peace president tells you exactly that the system is totally broken and cannot be repaired.
This James Corbett piece is real short, and it makes sense. I wonder what Le Chat Noir means by "Up and Down"? The 10-minute article/video doesn't mention this political nomenclature.
The only time I would consider being the same is when talking about politicians. As people there is a distinction in terms of left vs right politics, values and beliefs. In the politician realm, they use that to profit by telling people of each division, what they want to hear to get elected and reap the benefits, while also pocketing profit and benefits from corporations that buy them out, hence why people hardly (crumbs to pacify) get the demands they had prior to elections, and the real people who benefit are the corporations/1% (business owners and up). The cronies of the 1% get just enough to stay crones.
If you focus on what you and the Right can agree on, you’d get further. Then you could argue the points of difference after. I think a lot the Populist Right movement wanted an end to imperialism and crony capitalism - monopolies, money in government, two tier justice system, gov corruption. They didn’t get it with Trump, haha, but they hoped he would give them that.
"What's funny about rich people complaining that poor people don't work and are a drain on society is that every rich person does negative work. That is, it takes far more work to accommodate their life than their labor could possibly produce. They are the real drain on society." ~George Carlin
Agreed. It's up and down, or top and bottom, but the left/right description just doesn't really cut it anymore (if it ever did). It's a class struggle. The workers at the "bottom" of the heap are fighting the capitalists/fascists at the top who are hoarding all the resources.
They aren't fighting the capitalists, they're celebrating them. Instead the MAGA thing is to blame all their woes on foreigners. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
Is it about class conflict, though, anymore? The ruling class have done well with making it appear to be much more about cultural issues and race than class. It’s confused the categories intentionally, to protect itself
Ok, I wasn’t clear, I meant to many people it appears to not be about that anymore, because of the successful work of the ruling class after the Occupy Wall Street movement to make it about cultural issues
>>"I meant to many people it appears to not be about that anymore,"
Duh! Why do you think I suggested people LEARN and EDUCATE themselves on this subject? Because people don't know - and they form their beliefs based on narratives and 'what they hear frequently/repeatedly' rather than (1) real history (2) real facts (3) logic and critical thinking.
Yes and no. Think of it as a conflict between oligarch factions.
The left is the province of the PMC. The right is the fiefdom of Local Gentry. This is not accidental, as the PMC and Local Gentry have somewhat different relationships with Capital.
Sanders is a sleazy guy. He purports to carry the progressive banner, but operates within the confines and rules of the right wing Democratic Party elites. He is not willing to give up the benefits obtained by doing the bidding of the Dems. That is why he ran as a Democrat and was, predictably, defrauded by the party leadership of the nomination. In my view, Sanders is automatically disqualified as a progressive due to his staunch support of Israel, including its genocide of the Palestinians and other multiple war crimes. He tries to shield himself from criticism by arguing, with no credibility, that all these crimes are the fault of Netanyahu and that Israel could not be such a filthy little terrorist, genocidal, thieving, lying state but for the Netanyahu leadership. All of that is a big heap of bullshit which does not even deserve discussion. In short, Sanders is a fraud. Pay no attention to anything he says.
You need to catch up. Sanders led the effort in the senate to cut off funding to Israel. What did the out of touch fake left do except complain about it? You guys are such fakes.
CJ>>"You cannot change the system using a political party that is designed to prevent change."
THIS! People need to inject this understanding into EVERY cell of their body and mind. Also, in the U.S., there are 2 right-wing Capitalist parties and Zero left-wing parties (and the irony is that most Americans are pretty clueless about what 'Left' and 'Right' is - maybe there needs to be some sort of re-education for the American public?)
Kshama Sawant’s Worker’s Party is a left wing party and I would put the Greens on the left to.
The DSA are gatekeepers for the Democrats, as Mamdani has shown, with his decision to backtrack on dismissing the NYPD commissioner Tisch, his unnecessary call when he described the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba as dictators, his endorsement of Jeffries and Hochul et al. He's been endorsed by establishment Democrats, Sanders and AOC, as have the recent wave of DSA candidates who swept aside AIPAC encumbents, in the NYC primaries.
Mamdani will have to make some revolutionary social changes, if he's to make up the ground he's conceded.
See this…it’s accurate. It’s also why the powers that be were both nervous and proactive. They made it into a right/left issue Jiminey Quick. Talking about Mangione.
Luke, for the 100th time, Left is about "an absense of hierarchy" while Right is about "maintaining hierarchy". Left and Right is NOT about cultural issues (though many of these issues ARISE from the distribution of POWER in hierarchies). Anytime you have hierarchies of power (not to be confused with hierarchy of merit/ability/etc.), you have the makings of right-wing thought and class conflict.
The oligarchs will not go quietly into the goodnight. We even see now that the billionaire oligarch in the White House has gone right back to war with Iran. And even he and his corrupt cabinet must be fully aware of what will happen within 4-5 weeks:
Ordinary Americans will be destroyed by a runaway inflationary economy - since the US oil reserves now are about to completely run out.
The economic repercussions will be disastrous for millions of Americans. But Trump and the oligarchs, they couldn't give one hoot about the peasants and the squalor the peasants will soon be living in. The squalor doesn't impact Trump or the rest of the Epstein class of billionaires. So Hi-Ho, back to war we go!
There will be a revolution, and it will be accompanied by an open civil war. It will begin with a descent into civil disorder when the masses are sufficiently unhappy with life under the status quo. People don't resort to violence unless they are desperate.
That's how it was with the American Revolution. That's how it was in France, Russia, China. That's how it will be with the US today.
It will be extremely messy and no one can really predict the outcome. We can only hope for something better to come out of it.
Things cannot continue indefinitely along the way they are going in America. But for how much longer, who knows?
If there will be revolution, it will happen when oligarch factions fight each other, whether as a disagreement on how to deal with foreign threat or how to divvy the spoils.
One faction (usually the losing side) starts casting about for allies.
I think the US, like the UK, is so dependent on desperate immigrants, cheap imported goods from suppressed countries and prison labour that the 'masses' will never be sufficiently unhappy, or not even American, to descend into civil disorder. The middle classes still have it way too good. The world is a very different place, and the middle classes are much bigger, than when there was last a revolution (that wasn't organised by the CIA or NED).
And, like the wedding, the revolution is the easy part compared to the marriage. The three countries you mentioned went through terrors of post-revolutionary zeal and collapse and now base their economies on capitalism.
No, things will not continue indefinitely. Within a few decades the climate crisis will bring more mass immigration to your shores; though they'll probably be shot at the borders or just left to starve given the food and water shortages.
I did not forget Bernie Sanders calling Hugo Chavez, who uplifted his people and his country facing murderous oppression and sanctions from the US empire, a "dead communist dictator".
Sanders is a monster. The worst monsters are those who pretend not to be monsters.
Bernie Sanders: "[equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis] would be the end of the state of Israel and I support Israel"
Bernie has always been about "controlled resistance" making sure every vote gets funneled back to the corporate sponsored candidates for the democratic party. He is "training" his successor in this role in AOC.
You can say the same with UK politics and much of Europe, only this time the façade of democracy has fallen as they show their true colours of supporting genocide, throwing away any pretence of following international laws, the Geneva Convention and the true power of the Epstein class and oligarchs who control policies. We are now experiencing neo fascism as the so-called left has withered on the vine.
Excuse me? Europeans like being slaves? That is not true, if they liked being slaves then why are people over there protesting against their governments? I have a friend from Spain whose parents experienced its fascist regime! You call that loving slavery?
The civil war took place in the 1930s, and the fascists won it. Franco died in 1975 and left power to the king, who then started the moves towards democracy. Protests had nothing to do with it.
I am hard-pressed to identify a major Democratic legislative victory in the last 50 years. I know people will cite the ACA and even the “historic infrastructure” bill. However, the ACA was achieved by giving the health care industry an enormous gift rather than reforming the system. The infrastructure bill was only historic because Democrats were unable to enact it in the prior 20 years. In no organization is the resolution of deferred maintenance considered a momentous accomplishment.
Very telling that the DNC couldn't even codify Roe V. Wade. Even when they had the majority in both houses of Congress and the presidency, they didn't even turn Roe V. Wade into law. More evidence that both factions of the uniparty (duopoly) are "right wing" or fascists.
That is precisely the historic role of the British Labour Party. It functions as a safety valve for class tensions. It is only when a genuine socialist manages to evade the gatekeepers of party & trade union bureaucracy that the true nature of the beast is revealed
The mass panic that followed the ascent of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership is the prime example.
Tony Benn , back in the day.
Had Corbyn actually become Prime Minister, I believe he would have been assassinated
Bernie may have uttered a few authentic, well-motivated comments in the past however; for the most part he has disappointed so many citizens who were looking to him for real leadership. During the zionist-led genocide on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Bernie has been all but useless in providing any real counterpoint to the disgusting zionist/US administration's corrupt pro-Isra-hell propaganda.
Then there are the corporate-friendly fascists of the so-called demon-cratic party. Between the two fossilized corporate, warmongering, pro zionist colony parties, Americans have little political choice and many simply opt out of this dead end system, which has always been in place to support the elite/Epstein class. Bernie's political career has been mostly window-dressing - a distraction intended to make us believe that we actually have some choice in these political matters. We really don't have much choice at all.
“You cannot change the system using a political party that is designed to prevent change.”
Impeccable logic, I’d say.
After 10,000 years of living together as a species, I would say that the system is the species.
Suddenly, I need a drink. *sigh*
You have been alive for like 30 years, educated and raised wholly in the core of imperial capitalism, and you dare to speak for all of us as a species for all time? How dare you, sir.
Maybe you’re right. The latest kind of weapons that are dominant today are nuclear arsenals. These weapons did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. Past generations used weapons that varied from wooden clubs to bows and arrows, spears, guns, cannons and now, nuclear missiles. If that is so, the ancient civilizations must have used these weapons. If so, wars must have been common, otherwise, the weapons would not have existed???
Charles Darwin wrote about the evolution of species, Survival of the. fittest, and the incidence of natural selection. If you look closely at nature’s agenda, it’s not the weakest members who survive.
As far as choosing whatever , I am told there are 12,000 nuclear warheads aimed at our collective heads. Until those weapons are removed, I would say that we are still a very dangerous species. .. wouldn’t you?
I also see homeless people everywhere humans live. When that kind of collective thinking changes, the jungle mentality reigns. If you choose to ignore the signs, that’s your privilege.
The more people there are, the more wars settle disputes. I love people, but not what they do collectively to settle differences.
John I'm guessing you must live in the US or Canada. Not ALL countries have citizens sleeping on the streets nor do they all have thousands of nuclear warheads. I just returned from Greece and despite being not having as much wealth as the US, I saw very few people on the streets, in fact almost none. And from what I hear, I haven't been there yet but China also provides housing for it's citizens and thus does not have have a homeless population. The Anglo-US Empire is unusually savage, violent and inhumane to it's own citizens but most of all citizens of other countries trying to take a socialist path. The problem is not "people" but the system we find ourselves trapped in, ie: Western Imperialism
Every time you hear a democrat or liberal say that they voted for the latest corporate imperialist muppet "with reservations" or "I held my nose as I voted for
Clinton/Obama/Clinton/Biden/Harris" remind them - their vote counts exactly the same as every other vote.
Own it and stop kidding yourself.
As they say there are two political parties in the USA. One is right-wing and the other is fascist. Republican party is not the right-wing party.
The more the political rhetoric is different, the more it seems to be the same…. The ‘right’ supported genocide, the left supported genocide.
Exactly. Which means both the DNC and GOP are genocide supporting fascist parties (or are two factions of the same fascist political organization). Either way, there is no "left" politician currently in federal office in the US, but there are more than you might think in local and state offices. Here are some stats: https://www.gpelections.org/
a list of targets. imo, they lack the revolutionary organization and attitude to make a dent.
'left' starts with anti-capitalism. one of the great feats of the fascist center is changing this meaning in an attempt to destroy the concept of anti-capitalism altogether.
There is so much wrong with this comment. You speak of the 'right' and of the left. The right with inverted commas, and the left without.
By putting right in inverted commas you seem to imply that the party you designate as the right wing party is actually a faux-right wing party, as if they are not authentically upholding what you perceive to be the decent and common sense right wing values of capitalism, imperialism, militarism, etc.
And by leaving the left without inverted commas you seem to be implying that the party you designate as the left wing party is an authentically left wing party, as if they are anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, etc.
There is no authentic left wing party in the politics of the rogue US regime. There are only two right wing parties. Only two fascist parties. The only difference between the two is that one party cares not for your feelings, while the other party cares to profit from your feelings.
We need four parties. One left wing party, one moderate left party, one moderate right-wing party, and one right-wing party for the wing-nut MAGA types. The coalitions will be interesting.
I would vote for the left-wing party. If my income improved a lot - then I would switch to the moderate left party.
"If my income improved a lot"
You might be better off trying to climb Mt. Everest.
If I win the lottery it won’t matter - I’ll be an ex-pat. I still think I would vote moderate left though. Can’t see myself on the right - it’s a Catholic thing.
G4rg…,,,
My bad Gr….. the omission of using quotation marks was not intentional, but rather just a typo .
Having said the above, my contention is still that there is little difference in either the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ in the real world. Words tend to imprison thoughts into categories that are entrapments more than liberation.
The true master of our lives, as voiced by Noam Chomsky, is money, money, and then money. More precisely, it is the Power of Money that rules our existence, and we continue to let wealth rule…
The US government has three branches, money, television, and bullshit.
You left out the billionaire Epstein oligarchs, who run the US government. If you guessed "We the People" - you guessed wrong.
jamenta you can count billionaires as subgroup in the bullshit categories. 🤣🤣
🤣😂😅 There should be a department of bullshit. Arguably would be the most efficient of all departments.
There was no 'left.'
From what I understand , the ‘left’ in the U. S. are the Democrats, while the ‘right’ are the Republicans. I am probably wrong, but my point was that both parties were responsible in the genocide in Gaza… Hope that is better said…
Actually I’ve never looked up what right or left means, simply because it imposes restrictions on thought, a condition that is already endemic in many humans.
In the imperial model, programmatic alternatives to the basic structure are rhetorically permitted, but never permitted to gain traction.
The indoctrination is rudimentary: America = capitalism = anti communism. Anyone not hewing to this logic is a threat to be harshly marginalized or erased. Note how this completely contradicts the hallowed first amendment.
The so-called “basis” of American Jurisprudence is window dressing to satisfy appearance, but the essence of capitalism, to legally limit the options of the many to enrich the few, is the logic that promulgates wars and enables genocides. It is defined constitutionally as the freedom of the individual, which always trumps the interests of the many.
In this context, the definition of “the left” is the moral critique of the status quo that has no understanding of reality. The “right” are the folks who endorse the fixed system wholeheartedly, without hand wringing or conceding any moral ground.
This is the way in which “left” is suitably defined for mass consumption. It has had to be upheld and reinforced because it is a core principle of the Two Party Government.
Corporations possess more Constitutional protections than American citizens who aren’t wealthy. This is part of the “reality” that the right doesn’t question and the “left” cannot effectively challenge.
Living in a bubble has facilitated a filtering of the world beyond the borders. But the bubble has been repeatedly pierced by the internet, and Substack is a conglomeration of purveyors that have begun eroding the sanctity of the imperial narrative globally and domestically. Every writer on Substack isn’t anti capitalist, but most appear to be anti-imperialist. Many American Republicans appear to be fiercely anti-imperialist, but aren’t interested in trashing the capitalist logic that allowed them to accumulate some financial wealth.
Right now, the war between the empire and the truth is being waged most clearly with words. This is a letter to the editor of the NY Times, which Mondoweiss printed because the NYT never would. A longtime subscriber to the paper cancelled his subscription, giving his reasons.
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/07/the-new-york-times-enabled-the-gaza-genocide-and-lost-its-legitimacy-in-the-process/
Yes, but pronouns, humans, PRONOUNS!
The left did not support genocide. The democrats did. The democrats are not leftist anymore.
Wasn’t harry Truman a Democrat, and did the democrats not drop two nuclear bombs on civilians?
Left or right have no significant meaning, they belong to the same body.
two cheeks of the same ass
Agreed!
Yes but as Ann said democrats are not "left". At least great majority of democrats are not. Ds are fake left in terms of the strict definition of the "left". At best Ds are center-right. Republicans are straight fascists except very few who are only right-wing.
There are two parties in the USA that are controlled by Israel and the 2 parties are going to merge the Israeli military with the USA's in a vote soon on the NDAA. Fuck the fucking traitors that do. Fuck them again the mother fuckers that do. 1 State Palestine.
I heard that US democrats are claiming that "left" genocide is not as bad as "right" genocide and hence US americans should vote democrats as they are bit less evil compared to republicans. US democrats also provide toys to Palestinian children before they are murdered.
Yeah, that’s their bit.
So what do you really mean Chuck ... Fuck the mother fuckers?
well said mr douglas, red or blue, just two sides of the same bloodstained imperialist coin.
As they say, if you scratch a liberal, a fascist bleeds
As Jill Stein (of the Green Party) often says, "You can't have a revolution in a counter-revolutionary party."
I never understood why Bernie felt that the DNC was the way to get to the White House... He's always run for office as an independent. I was very leery about him running for the Dem ticket. And sure enough, after Philadelphia, they crushed him and put in Shillery. I vowed never to vote for any duopoly candidate ever again. The Revolution will not be coming via the fascists.
I was a huge supporter of Bernie when he first ran. And he became a huge disappointment. Never have been able to trust him again.
Same here. After the 2016 debacle, I tried to trust Bernie, but each instance where he gave in to the status quo and backed the "lesser evil" DNC agenda just made me hate him more. Never again.
I never fell for Bernie because I already supported the Socialist Equality Party.
Bernie Sanders: Talks much, does little, loved by all.
4800$ over the two elections with countless hours of door knocking and funding raising. I am a moron incapable of seeing a true deceiver, " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great President" on stage South Carolina debate. : ( Today there are only two candidates I support for office besides two local friends, one mayor and one State Senator. Kshama Sawant and Jose Vega. We shall see.
The World Socialist Website people complain about him a lot - and they are often right. But the perfect is often the enemy of the good. Let's not forget that and Bernie and others like him. They may be the best we can do at this point.
You are stuck in a loop. Did you comprehend anything that Tim wrote?
"The road for Progressives thru the Democrat Party leads to a GRAVEYARD." - Kshama Sawant, Workers Strike Back
Bernie was, is, and always shall be...
A SHEEPDOG for Dems.
Keep the Sheeple locked inside the Blue Team of the ONE Party Under Mizz Izzy EPSTEIN.
PERIOD.
Sorry I’m not getting you here. Maybe read my other comments as well.
Maybe I misinterpreted you here, as saying that voting Dem is the best people can do. Saying "Lets not be the enemy of the good," implies there are ANY good actors in the Dem Party. Every hear of Force the Vote? Plan to Force a vote on Medicare 4 ALL during Pandemic, to get people on the record, in exchange for Dems voting for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker.
The "Progressives Lefties" REFUSED TO DO IT.
I havent trusted Bernie or Dems since 2016 and the DNC gave Bernie's WV electoral votes ( he won the whole state except one county, Hillary won ZERO) to Hillary and he did NOTHING. No demands. No nothing.
I remember that. What a disgrace.
Yeah, we were closely watching that WV race and when we saw how they completely flipped the result to Shillery... I knew that was the end of Bernie's chance of winning the nomination. Ever since that time, I've done all that I could to prevent others from falling into the "trust the lesser evil duopoly" trap. I hope I've saved a few folks' from heartache.
Not a lot of good options.
I only vote for the Socialist Equality Party. Read the World Socialist Web Site and learn something.
I don't think this system can be changed from within. We need a different system altogether. What kind of system could (should?) it be, to be decided by the people who make up the system, i.e. everyone.
Poverty does not exist because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
No human being is a billion times more valuable than another. This is the first time in human history that we have the technology and resources to take care of everyone. Food, housing, healthcare - yet here we are.
Jamenta,
You can take the people out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the people.
I think the people who lived in the jungle were much nicer than modern Americans
Australian gold prospectors in 1930's Papua discovered tribes that were still in the Stone Age. The tribes no longer knew that the ocean existed. Their politics was pretty much the same as ours today. Us vs. Them. Peace vs. war. Shifting alliances. It's very basic to humanity.
And yet tribes take care of each other, and don't automatically wage war on neighbouring tribes who present no threat. Today, we don't even agree it's a good idea to look after our own communities, and every 'outsider' is seen as a problem worth exterminating.
But I agree the DNA was there all along.
If Papuan tribesmen roamed out of their territory they were killed. Nobody could travel, that's why they had forgotten the ocean existed even though it was only a few days away. Stealing from other tribes was a good thing. Once they figured out the white men weren't gods they tried stealing from them (with dire results).
Then there's Panjamon, the autobiography of Jean Yves Domalain. He was a young French adventurer who in about 1970 accidentally married into a tribe of central Borneo headhunters. It was similar in that wandering into the territory of another tribe might very well get you killed. There wasn't that much food so anyone encroaching on your territory is a threat to your survival. The population density was less than Papua so it was a better situation. Jean Yves basically liked it but eventually escaped in fear for his life.
Then were the Yanomamo of the Brazilian jungle. That was just crazy with psychedelic drugs, violence, and nastiness.
As far as idyllic tribes go most of North America was very nice. I'd say the difference was that population density was low due to the long winters. The Indians came to regret their niceness to the white man who was to overwhelm them with technology and sheer numbers. In central Canada many thousands of French trappers married into the tribes, lived in tipi, and sent their offspring back to Montreal for education.
The world back then had far more variety than today's semiglobal village. There were bad situations and good situations. The most pleasant lands tended to come with wars. But you could get away to some less desirable climate and live in peace.
As for today, it's appalling that certain modern nations can't think of anything better to do with their great wealth other than to have a really big war.
And Tarzan had some pretty good abs that many Americans would be envious of.
No, I meant the real people in the jungle.
Me Tarzan!
Kindly see above.
I guess I still hold out hope like Anne Frank did. It may turn out to be a fool's errand Turcot.
Free Palestine
Frank would have written the same.
Personally I would like an anticapitalist direct democracy.
So change it from the outside. That doesn’t mean abandoning electoral politics.
Sawant brings the goods - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuyhAJI5aXM&t=3795s
Sawant has brought the goods but Seattle is one of the few USA places that still has strong labor. It's because labor is still needed to build airplanes and Seattle/Tacoma is where this is done. It's too important for national security to relocate manufacturing in a foreign land. In the rest of the USA strikes have pretty much been killed off.
Understand, but her point about action taken post-election by elected officials being determinative is still valid, and could be used to build working class coalition and solidarity. Will be difficult, but it is the only path forward absent security state violence and overreach, imo.
Yes that is one of the main reasons you have to have an enduring organization. It needs to keep track of what the elected officials are doing and vote them out if they betray the program. This is why small but persistent organizations like the NRA are nevertheless effective.
The unions are mostly gone but the working class remains large. Could be a majority of voters.
I think we should abolish electoral politics for selectorian politics. Well paid jury duty, serving by lottery for limited terms.
The UK House of Lords was sort of like that. You got a seat because your twenty times great grandfather hauled a cannon for the king, that sort of thing. Usually the family fortune had evaporated and the modest House salary was motivational. It was a lot like a random sample of the population. They didn't have to worry about elections so they could concentrate on crafting bills. The rich kids found this sort of thing dull so were less involved.
The UK said it was undemocratic and took away the power of the House of Lords but I feel the real problem was that the Lords were doing too good of a job protecting the public interest.
I think a limited term lottery would lead to most of the lucky ones grabbing all the cash they could while the getting was good. You'd also get a lot of random ignorant voting on technical issues that all common these days. Though it might nevertheless be better than what we have now.
There is no left. the media keep referring to the left so people now use it as normal while what’s considered the center has moved so far to the right this language seems normal to most and seems used by many many people.
Bernie started a movement and didn’t win the elections because they were rigged by the DNC. He’s been relatively consistent. Totally agree the Dems are useless. Why would anyone want to get them back in control? To do what? To stand for what? Thanks for your work and writing.
(Some) ppl want Democrats back in control as the lesser of two evils. Sadly, however, the lesser of two evils IS STILL EVIL.
I mean, given the absolute nutbag sitting in the White House right now - I'm not about to waste my energy on those pundits doing their best to get him the hell out (like Kyle Kulinski).
But Trump is not the disease, he's just a symptom of the disease. Sure, vote Trump out. But it doesn't get rid of the disease, and the disease is progressing rapidly.
The "Disease" is called EPSTEIN CLASS PEDOE PROTECTORS & WORSE.
It's the Greater Israel Plan.
It's Z10 Billionaires owning the US Congress - who just Officially FUSED the US & Israeli Military- which country do you think is in control?
Its the US Supreme Court ruling that UNLIMITED MONEY in Politics is "Free Speech." Howz that for an oozing, pus-filled, rotting corpse of a Consitution? 250 years to the highest bidder.
USA is infested (same as Europe, Australia & Canada) with the Rothschilds-Epstein Class and They are causing a GLOBAL DEPRESSION (thanx to Trump) to make people so desperate we will submit to the Technofascists Control.
So why do regular good people allow PEDOE & WORSE Z10 Billionaires to continue without ANY ONE bothering Them or preventing Their Corruption and Trading toddlers for torture games?
A mother cat cares more for her kittens than ANY Western Govt parent who continues to act as if the Rothschilds-Epstein Class won't touch their family.
They already have.
Look around you and the misery They have caused.
🚫ALL DATA CENTERS ✌️
Left… right…. Left….. right….. ?
There’s a difference?
Apparently. That's what CNN is reporting ...
Actually, he refused pleas in two open letters to start a movement. He claimed he was doing so, but all he built was a typical campaign organization, albeit with a couple orders of magnitude more volunteers.
I wish people would stop talking about Left and Right, though, as well. It should be Up and Down. See James Corbett’s discussion of it.
Okay well what do you call it when you want to dismantle capitalism, end imperialism, and take back what the ruling class has stolen? I would say those who support this position could be described as "left", and those who oppose it are "right". They're not the same, and it only confuses things to pretend they are, so we need words for those distinctions. Feel free to mentally substitute whichever words you prefer to label those distinctions, though.
“The experiment has been run, and the results are in… It’s time to find another way.”
Thanks for the dope slap, Caitlin. For a while there, I thought the Dems, the ones in Maine anyway, might actually be getting serious. Silly me.
I went “Unenrolled” (used to be “Independent”) from “Democrat” when Obama, after 8 years of that a**hole Dumbya being at the helm of the mighty ship of state and running it aground, could come up with nothing better than a “post-partisan politics.” “Huh?” I said, “What you’re saying is, ‘Yeah, they got away with it, but whadduh ya gonna do, so just get over it.’”
No. You want my vote? Then start clawing back not only everything Dumbya stole, wasted, and transferred to his cronies, but go all the way back to Reagan. Of course we’ve seen, ridden on the nation’s downward trajectory since. Even before Chris Hedges, Gore Vidal said we have two wings of the same party, the “Corporate Party.” Take it from there (there isn’t much more to go).
Footnote, yet indicative of the overall scam – and of those dupes (“My spouse was an employee at USAID…”), an unwitting part of the scam, who boastfully, smugly drink the Kool∙Aid, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere – Trump, in one of his few “a broken clock is right twice a day” moves, shut down USAID. While it was on the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” hit list for ideological reason, in other words the orders given to Trump, from day 1 USAID was a CIA front, and a means for American companies to gain access to foreign markets and displace the local economies and social service agencies. See “Chihombori-Quao: USAID was ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ in Africa” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFSRb5dUOM
Chris Hedges, in his “America, The Farewell Tour, published in 2018, said this country had about twenty years left before collapsing. Thus far, given the evidence, the timetable is holding true.
I thought it was a good thing that CIA cutout USAID was shut down, but later realized it was done because the MAGA schtick is essentially hatred of foreigners with the exception of white South Africans. To them, foreigners dying of AIDS is a good thing. The more dead foreigners the better. Gaza and Lebanon and Ukraine, all good things.
Ukrainians look like MAGA and white South Africans, don't bracket them with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the Lebanese people.
"To them, foreigners dying of AIDS is a good thing. The more dead foreigners the better. Gaza and Lebanon and Ukraine, all good things."
Helluva business plan, eh...?
The United States is not collapsing. Far from it. It is simply dropping any remaining pretense to being anything other than an empire.
Somewhere I came across the fact, statistic, whatever you wish to call it, that throughout history, on average, empires lasted 250 years. I found the hoopla of this past July 4th hilariously ironic, it could well be, or close to, our last.
I've heard the theory.
Well, the Roman Empire survived around 500 years after the end of the Republic. The Byzantine Empire 1,000. Chinese dynasties often survived centuries. Britain has transformed, but remains more or less intact.
Far too many Americans don't understand what right and left mean. The MSM uses the terms incorrectly - I'm sure this is done on purpose. Especially by the Fox news people.
Oh, I didn't realise these are your definitions of left and right.
I can't really see that. The 'left' don't seem to want to dismantle capitalism, even in China they use it but have state owned banks and execute billionaires who are caught being corrupt. And if by ending imperialism you mean the fake threat of Russian expansion, then yes, the 'left' have largely fallen for propaganda from US interests in oil and arms and support proxy war using the blood of Ukrainians, and now the EU and UK.
What is it that the ruling classes have stolen? Seems to me whatever it is both 'left' and 'right' have given it to them with consumerism.
But I agree 'left' and 'right' are not the same, they have different tendencies. Once we decide what we think we look for others on social media to confirm it. That way we're immediately targeted with different and very clever algorithms that maintain the division and can lead us into other desired ways of thinking.
It would be lovely if on substack people were open to their own ways of thinking, and more aware of this, but it seems it's also a way to propagate the system and maintain 'left' vs 'right' or 'covidiot' vs 'antivaxx' (someone who looked at the evidence) or climate change acceptor (but still happily flying from eg UK to Oz and back as my friends do) vs climate crisis denier or trans rights vs women's rights or fight Putin vs the democrats provoked him (though it was and is bipartisan).
The difference, whatever you call it, is the algorithm targeted at a person because of their leanings- or in the case of covid for looking at the evidence. I was stunned by the sneering at environmentalists and nonsense climate change denial that were targeted at me. So I have an unique, perhaps, perspective on this. I'm also stunned at the climate scientists being completely under the sway of their own algorithm that sneers at 'antivaxxers' and believe that Putin started the war with Ukraine and its right that the UK should be upping military spending, send lethal aid and even fight him; when we need everything we have for social programs and to mitigate climate change.
If we were more aware of the targeting; we'd be far less 'left' and 'right' we'd be freethinkers willing to discuss all the issues without already having (thought we'd) made our (own) minds up.
As a practical definition, "left" is simply the political manifestation of the PMC, with various grievance groups as junior partners. "Right" fulfills the same role for Local Gentry, with white evangelicals playing the role of sidekick.
Both are oligarch parties to the core, but they represent different oligarch factions.
The trouble is the mass media has so muddled things that there is no agreement on what words like left, right, socialism, democracy, freedom and so forth mean. Debate gets very confused and almost useless. I say that such words have been "Orwellized", deliberately obfuscated for this reason. The confusion makes it hard for the general public to organize politically.
So what to do? Abjure these words and Instead discuss specific issues. Gaza/Lebanon, gvt. health care, monopolies, war spending, and so forth. People will vote for a program that addresses these things. Get such a program and elect a Congress on that platform. That's what FDR did. Sure it's a lot of work but believe me it is the easiest way. Peace and prosperity. A big majority wants these things and will vote for them. Heck, Trump got elected as the peace candidate.
Patrick but the fact that narcissist foul mouth pedophile cheater was elected as a peace president tells you exactly that the system is totally broken and cannot be repaired.
The obvious dysfunction of the system seems to me a beckoning opportunity.
Exactly what I’ve been trying to say in a conversation lower down with Chang
Glad to be of service.
https://corbettreport.com/divide-and-conquer-politics-and-the-leftright-fraud/
This James Corbett piece is real short, and it makes sense. I wonder what Le Chat Noir means by "Up and Down"? The 10-minute article/video doesn't mention this political nomenclature.
The only time I would consider being the same is when talking about politicians. As people there is a distinction in terms of left vs right politics, values and beliefs. In the politician realm, they use that to profit by telling people of each division, what they want to hear to get elected and reap the benefits, while also pocketing profit and benefits from corporations that buy them out, hence why people hardly (crumbs to pacify) get the demands they had prior to elections, and the real people who benefit are the corporations/1% (business owners and up). The cronies of the 1% get just enough to stay crones.
If you focus on what you and the Right can agree on, you’d get further. Then you could argue the points of difference after. I think a lot the Populist Right movement wanted an end to imperialism and crony capitalism - monopolies, money in government, two tier justice system, gov corruption. They didn’t get it with Trump, haha, but they hoped he would give them that.
"What's funny about rich people complaining that poor people don't work and are a drain on society is that every rich person does negative work. That is, it takes far more work to accommodate their life than their labor could possibly produce. They are the real drain on society." ~George Carlin
Tax Wealth, Not Work
Love the concept! Negative work is too funny!
The billionaires, for sure. So many of whom are government welfare babies of a kind themselves
Agreed. It's up and down, or top and bottom, but the left/right description just doesn't really cut it anymore (if it ever did). It's a class struggle. The workers at the "bottom" of the heap are fighting the capitalists/fascists at the top who are hoarding all the resources.
They aren't fighting the capitalists, they're celebrating them. Instead the MAGA thing is to blame all their woes on foreigners. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
I wish people would LEARN and EDUCATE themselves on what 'Left' and 'Right' mean.
I highly recommend watching the following 3 videos (in order) to better understand LEFT/RIGHT ->
(1) The Left-Right Political Spectrum is about Class Conflict (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3cmjNrXWms)
(2) How Political Definitions Shape Reality (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaFkzIQk-1o)
(3) How we know what Left and Right actually mean: who’s who, 1789-1917 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3uevocEy3c)
Is it about class conflict, though, anymore? The ruling class have done well with making it appear to be much more about cultural issues and race than class. It’s confused the categories intentionally, to protect itself
>>"Is it about class conflict, though, anymore?"
Anymore???
I suggest (1) Watching the above videos, (2) learning about class consciousness, (3) Reading to expand your perspectives.
It is ALL about class conflict.
Karl Marx - "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles."
Ok, I wasn’t clear, I meant to many people it appears to not be about that anymore, because of the successful work of the ruling class after the Occupy Wall Street movement to make it about cultural issues
>>"I meant to many people it appears to not be about that anymore,"
Duh! Why do you think I suggested people LEARN and EDUCATE themselves on this subject? Because people don't know - and they form their beliefs based on narratives and 'what they hear frequently/repeatedly' rather than (1) real history (2) real facts (3) logic and critical thinking.
People won’t do that though. To me Left and Right are functioning too much to divide the lower classes. Drop the language to be more inclusive
Yes and no. Think of it as a conflict between oligarch factions.
The left is the province of the PMC. The right is the fiefdom of Local Gentry. This is not accidental, as the PMC and Local Gentry have somewhat different relationships with Capital.
If any of these damn fool leaders had an ounce of empathy, they would stop playing army man.
Many of them live in a bubble of wealth, remote from the ordinary lives of the peasants they trod upon.
Love it!
Sanders is a sleazy guy. He purports to carry the progressive banner, but operates within the confines and rules of the right wing Democratic Party elites. He is not willing to give up the benefits obtained by doing the bidding of the Dems. That is why he ran as a Democrat and was, predictably, defrauded by the party leadership of the nomination. In my view, Sanders is automatically disqualified as a progressive due to his staunch support of Israel, including its genocide of the Palestinians and other multiple war crimes. He tries to shield himself from criticism by arguing, with no credibility, that all these crimes are the fault of Netanyahu and that Israel could not be such a filthy little terrorist, genocidal, thieving, lying state but for the Netanyahu leadership. All of that is a big heap of bullshit which does not even deserve discussion. In short, Sanders is a fraud. Pay no attention to anything he says.
Nobody who supports Israel can be considered progressive, or even decent. Sanders has been a fraud all down the line.
I notice it's hard for old Jews to let go of the pretty hasbara they actually thought was true for the last fifty-some years.
You need to catch up. Sanders led the effort in the senate to cut off funding to Israel. What did the out of touch fake left do except complain about it? You guys are such fakes.
A symbolic gesture that he knows never will happen.
CJ>>"You cannot change the system using a political party that is designed to prevent change."
THIS! People need to inject this understanding into EVERY cell of their body and mind. Also, in the U.S., there are 2 right-wing Capitalist parties and Zero left-wing parties (and the irony is that most Americans are pretty clueless about what 'Left' and 'Right' is - maybe there needs to be some sort of re-education for the American public?)
Kshama Sawant’s Worker’s Party is a left wing party and I would put the Greens on the left to.
The DSA are gatekeepers for the Democrats, as Mamdani has shown, with his decision to backtrack on dismissing the NYPD commissioner Tisch, his unnecessary call when he described the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba as dictators, his endorsement of Jeffries and Hochul et al. He's been endorsed by establishment Democrats, Sanders and AOC, as have the recent wave of DSA candidates who swept aside AIPAC encumbents, in the NYC primaries.
Mamdani will have to make some revolutionary social changes, if he's to make up the ground he's conceded.
See this…it’s accurate. It’s also why the powers that be were both nervous and proactive. They made it into a right/left issue Jiminey Quick. Talking about Mangione.
https://x.com/lmazzeiphotos/status/1995839895932469411?s=46
Luke, for the 100th time, Left is about "an absense of hierarchy" while Right is about "maintaining hierarchy". Left and Right is NOT about cultural issues (though many of these issues ARISE from the distribution of POWER in hierarchies). Anytime you have hierarchies of power (not to be confused with hierarchy of merit/ability/etc.), you have the makings of right-wing thought and class conflict.
Believe it or not I THINK that i understand that now….ballbuster lol.
I have learned a lot from people like you and also people i have driven away.
And all the while, Netanyahu’s $730 million hasbara budget operates behind the scenes, infiltrating the ‘left’ and ‘right’.
Their utterly evil actions make me impermeable to their bullshit hasbara and I'm not young.
We need to “build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete…”
The oligarchs will not go quietly into the goodnight. We even see now that the billionaire oligarch in the White House has gone right back to war with Iran. And even he and his corrupt cabinet must be fully aware of what will happen within 4-5 weeks:
Ordinary Americans will be destroyed by a runaway inflationary economy - since the US oil reserves now are about to completely run out.
The economic repercussions will be disastrous for millions of Americans. But Trump and the oligarchs, they couldn't give one hoot about the peasants and the squalor the peasants will soon be living in. The squalor doesn't impact Trump or the rest of the Epstein class of billionaires. So Hi-Ho, back to war we go!
That is why we need a revolution. Socialism or barbarism.
Dream on. Dreams of a socialist revolution are opium to the substack classes.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
There will be a revolution, and it will be accompanied by an open civil war. It will begin with a descent into civil disorder when the masses are sufficiently unhappy with life under the status quo. People don't resort to violence unless they are desperate.
That's how it was with the American Revolution. That's how it was in France, Russia, China. That's how it will be with the US today.
It will be extremely messy and no one can really predict the outcome. We can only hope for something better to come out of it.
Things cannot continue indefinitely along the way they are going in America. But for how much longer, who knows?
It won't happen with the masses.
If there will be revolution, it will happen when oligarch factions fight each other, whether as a disagreement on how to deal with foreign threat or how to divvy the spoils.
One faction (usually the losing side) starts casting about for allies.
You make revolution sound so enticing!
I think the US, like the UK, is so dependent on desperate immigrants, cheap imported goods from suppressed countries and prison labour that the 'masses' will never be sufficiently unhappy, or not even American, to descend into civil disorder. The middle classes still have it way too good. The world is a very different place, and the middle classes are much bigger, than when there was last a revolution (that wasn't organised by the CIA or NED).
And, like the wedding, the revolution is the easy part compared to the marriage. The three countries you mentioned went through terrors of post-revolutionary zeal and collapse and now base their economies on capitalism.
No, things will not continue indefinitely. Within a few decades the climate crisis will bring more mass immigration to your shores; though they'll probably be shot at the borders or just left to starve given the food and water shortages.
Terrific allusion, jamenta. Deep meaning to the poetic line that inspired the title of a poignant film.
LOL
Democratic Socialists of America https://www.dsausa.org/
Join and help it become a true third party.
I did not forget Bernie Sanders calling Hugo Chavez, who uplifted his people and his country facing murderous oppression and sanctions from the US empire, a "dead communist dictator".
Sanders is a monster. The worst monsters are those who pretend not to be monsters.
Bernie Sanders: "[equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis] would be the end of the state of Israel and I support Israel"
https://nitter.poast.org/s_m_marandi/status/2060293624894554202
Bernie has always been about "controlled resistance" making sure every vote gets funneled back to the corporate sponsored candidates for the democratic party. He is "training" his successor in this role in AOC.
You can say the same with UK politics and much of Europe, only this time the façade of democracy has fallen as they show their true colours of supporting genocide, throwing away any pretence of following international laws, the Geneva Convention and the true power of the Epstein class and oligarchs who control policies. We are now experiencing neo fascism as the so-called left has withered on the vine.
Europeans like being slaves.
Excuse me? Europeans like being slaves? That is not true, if they liked being slaves then why are people over there protesting against their governments? I have a friend from Spain whose parents experienced its fascist regime! You call that loving slavery?
And what comes of these protests? For that matter, look at how fascism ended in Spain. It wasn't popular protests.
Yes there were protests, as well as a civil war, because no one wanted to be under Franco's rule. He only lost because he died in '75.
The civil war took place in the 1930s, and the fascists won it. Franco died in 1975 and left power to the king, who then started the moves towards democracy. Protests had nothing to do with it.
Even so, no wanted Franco and tried to stop him.
I am hard-pressed to identify a major Democratic legislative victory in the last 50 years. I know people will cite the ACA and even the “historic infrastructure” bill. However, the ACA was achieved by giving the health care industry an enormous gift rather than reforming the system. The infrastructure bill was only historic because Democrats were unable to enact it in the prior 20 years. In no organization is the resolution of deferred maintenance considered a momentous accomplishment.
Very telling that the DNC couldn't even codify Roe V. Wade. Even when they had the majority in both houses of Congress and the presidency, they didn't even turn Roe V. Wade into law. More evidence that both factions of the uniparty (duopoly) are "right wing" or fascists.
The ACA was written by the health care "industry". Health care should not be an industry.
"In no organization is the resolution of deferred maintenance considered a momentous accomplishment."
Well said.
That is precisely the historic role of the British Labour Party. It functions as a safety valve for class tensions. It is only when a genuine socialist manages to evade the gatekeepers of party & trade union bureaucracy that the true nature of the beast is revealed
The mass panic that followed the ascent of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership is the prime example.
Tony Benn , back in the day.
Had Corbyn actually become Prime Minister, I believe he would have been assassinated
Segments of the british military were more or less openly talking about a coup.
Bernie may have uttered a few authentic, well-motivated comments in the past however; for the most part he has disappointed so many citizens who were looking to him for real leadership. During the zionist-led genocide on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Bernie has been all but useless in providing any real counterpoint to the disgusting zionist/US administration's corrupt pro-Isra-hell propaganda.
Then there are the corporate-friendly fascists of the so-called demon-cratic party. Between the two fossilized corporate, warmongering, pro zionist colony parties, Americans have little political choice and many simply opt out of this dead end system, which has always been in place to support the elite/Epstein class. Bernie's political career has been mostly window-dressing - a distraction intended to make us believe that we actually have some choice in these political matters. We really don't have much choice at all.