And yet Germany is the heart of Europe. Or maybe I should say "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" and include France (the Franks were a German tribe), the Benelux countries, and Northern Italy. Not long ago they seemed to be to be the last of the liberal states. The last of the last. Pretty ironic given the history.
I don’t know about “irony”—mostly insanity I think. Liberals do not mind war. They in fact embrace it most of the time. Look at Obama and his constant warring, droning, building up nuking, pivoting to China, while displaying the epitome of liberal thinking and the result thereof. Liberals were the guiding force behind the Vietnam horror show, not even blinking over the dropping of napalm on civilians. NAPALM!!! No, even tho now we have neo-liberalism as a concept to explain the viciousness of our thinking and acting, it’s still liberalism that is at bottom nothing more than patriarchy in nice clothes on beautiful people who must stop those damn masses from taking their goods.
Ya, I’ve heard that. To me it’s more like we get what we pay for. We don’t do any work for our way of life, just let the politicians give it to us, so of course we’re going to get crap. As in the fault dear Brutus…. The yuppies resigned from citizen participation in government and ran off to the corporations for money love and good wine. The creeping corporate coup we are now experiencing is a direct result of that. And yes, yuppies are incipient fascists in that they want rule by Wall Street backed by pretty, polite and witty positions, but no commies dammit!
A long time ago I was arguing with a woman of the social-democratic type about capitalism, which (as is my habit) I was criticizing negatively. She said what I quote above: the question is not what is best but what we can get. She added, "Many of my relatives are poor. If they can't get Welfare, unemployment insurance, and so on, some of them will literally die. They are my people and I must try to keep them alive." In those days I did not know how poor people were. We should change things, but apparently we don't know how to do it.
I understand and sympathize with her, and your point of view. I know that some poor desperate people will grab hold of just about anything in order to survive. Often that’s what makes for dictatorships. But I’m not one subscribes to the notion that these poor people are victims and they have to be tossed moldy bread because it’s better than no bread. That was the basis of the Clinton’s campaign strategy. And look what we got and where we’ve ended up. No. The poor, if not rescued by co-dependent do gooders will rise up on their own and destroy their oppressor. That’s exactly what Empire can’t let happen, so they placate them with moldy bread, to keep the poor under control and accepting of their status, and they use sob sisters to aid and abet. Taking on “my people” and deciding capitulation is their best road to “life” is just a bit too messianic for my taste. And martyred. And Co-dependent! Which seems to be my new hobby horse! 🤠. Thanks for the discussion
And yet Germany is the heart of Europe. Or maybe I should say "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" and include France (the Franks were a German tribe), the Benelux countries, and Northern Italy. Not long ago they seemed to be to be the last of the liberal states. The last of the last. Pretty ironic given the history.
I don’t know about “irony”—mostly insanity I think. Liberals do not mind war. They in fact embrace it most of the time. Look at Obama and his constant warring, droning, building up nuking, pivoting to China, while displaying the epitome of liberal thinking and the result thereof. Liberals were the guiding force behind the Vietnam horror show, not even blinking over the dropping of napalm on civilians. NAPALM!!! No, even tho now we have neo-liberalism as a concept to explain the viciousness of our thinking and acting, it’s still liberalism that is at bottom nothing more than patriarchy in nice clothes on beautiful people who must stop those damn masses from taking their goods.
The question, though, is not what is best but what we can get.
Ya, I’ve heard that. To me it’s more like we get what we pay for. We don’t do any work for our way of life, just let the politicians give it to us, so of course we’re going to get crap. As in the fault dear Brutus…. The yuppies resigned from citizen participation in government and ran off to the corporations for money love and good wine. The creeping corporate coup we are now experiencing is a direct result of that. And yes, yuppies are incipient fascists in that they want rule by Wall Street backed by pretty, polite and witty positions, but no commies dammit!
A long time ago I was arguing with a woman of the social-democratic type about capitalism, which (as is my habit) I was criticizing negatively. She said what I quote above: the question is not what is best but what we can get. She added, "Many of my relatives are poor. If they can't get Welfare, unemployment insurance, and so on, some of them will literally die. They are my people and I must try to keep them alive." In those days I did not know how poor people were. We should change things, but apparently we don't know how to do it.
I understand and sympathize with her, and your point of view. I know that some poor desperate people will grab hold of just about anything in order to survive. Often that’s what makes for dictatorships. But I’m not one subscribes to the notion that these poor people are victims and they have to be tossed moldy bread because it’s better than no bread. That was the basis of the Clinton’s campaign strategy. And look what we got and where we’ve ended up. No. The poor, if not rescued by co-dependent do gooders will rise up on their own and destroy their oppressor. That’s exactly what Empire can’t let happen, so they placate them with moldy bread, to keep the poor under control and accepting of their status, and they use sob sisters to aid and abet. Taking on “my people” and deciding capitulation is their best road to “life” is just a bit too messianic for my taste. And martyred. And Co-dependent! Which seems to be my new hobby horse! 🤠. Thanks for the discussion