Niether is inherently bad or good. I’ve started to think of most political disagreements like this as simply people who have different priorities and wish to live in very different societies. I’ve been poor, I’ve been middle class, I’ve been lower upper class and I am someone who cares much more about being able to be an individual and not part of a community than I do about material comfort. I prefer to live in a society of innovation and think the trade off is worth it. I consider the right to dissent, to disengage more important than even “happiness” as it’s usually qualified.
Yeah, well, that’s the thing about political disagreements and that’s why they can get so bitter. In religion we can agree to disagree – what I believe or do does not affect your relationship with God. But politically, while we can disagree, nobody can disengage – we all have to live in the same society, we all have to live with the consequences of whatever government does or does not do. And many of those who have to live in it are poor and unfortunate and struggling and desperate and marginalized, and I say their needs for daily survival and basic comfort and security and moderate leisure time and a decent life all around trump your desire for “innovation” in event of any conflict. That is what social democracy is all about. Also, remember, there’s more than one kind of innovation, and the kind the corporate product-planners engage in is not necessarily the most important kind; public-policy innovation is often far more important.
Congratulations, after perusing social media last night and today, there is no doubt that Bernie Sanders has the most obnoxious group of supporters. Naturally , they refuse to accept reality that Bernie LOST and Hillary WON Iowa. The sore losing, whining about coin flips, and nutty Microsoft conspiracy theories tell me all I need to know about the most dedicated Bernie Bots.
Bernie will be competitive in New Hampshire next week but then he will fizzle out as the race moves out of the lily white states. Hopefully his nutty cult members will head back into mommy’s basement and go back to whining about the system in between bong hits.
Well, at any rate, we won’t have to listen to Paul’s supporters much longer.
Check out the comments section of any financial article, they’re filled with loony Paul type conspiracy theories
No doubt, but those are easy to ignore.
Interesting, isn’t it, that Greece came about -><- this close to actually being Barter Town from Thunderdome. And that happened within the last year or two.
Greece having, of course, policies much, much closer to Bernie’s than Paul’s.
Slee
And of course those policies being tangetical at best wrt the issues the Greek state faced.
But you knew that. Or at least, I HOPE you would.
I agree, but for me this is why the Bernie crowd is more annoying. They aren’t such obvious cranks that can be just laughed off. And their candidate is making a bigger move than Paul ever did.
I mean, to listen to Bernheads, mainstream Democrats are all in the pocket of Wall Street and haven’t done a damn thing to respond to the '08 panic other than line the pockets of bankers at taxpayer expense. Whereas, from where I’m sitting it looks like establishment Democrats FTW! They saved the economy with TARP, made a profit for taxpayers from it, even, and instituted rules with Dodd-Frank that are preventing a repeat. Ugh, the ingrates! Makes me mad.
Even that is not a settled point. It’s widely believed in the liberal West, but not in most predominantly Muslim countries. And traditionally it was not accepted by Judeo-Christianity, either: just look at the many passages on this point in Deuteronomy.
It would be interesting, if it were accurate.
It’s convenient for entrenched power that only crazy people ever rise to challenge it, whether it’s redneck yokels, sexual deviants, black thugs, or as you note, druggies, hippies, and layabouts. I wonder what the media would do in the face of a mass movement of normal people? Racist and classist caricatures? Character assassination? Make stuff up?
Nah. That never happened before during previous mass movements. The media always supported those. Why wouldn’t they?
I remember a few years ago reading some Islamic authority denouncing a protest as a bunch of bulldyke lesbians and degenerate atheists. Brings a tear to the eye, you know? We’re not so different afterall.
America has some of the lowest participation rates of any democracy, so yeah, you can disengage. And that’s just voting, let alone real engagement with community decision making, labor movements, etc. Bernie is correct to call for a mass movement, but it’s not going to happen. The institutions of leftist political organization are on life support. If Bernie were elected (lol) he would be an historical aberration, right before things go back to normal, or more likely, the mother of all right wing backlashes.
Hey BrainGlutton, have you read The Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges? Curious what you think of it. I’ve been thinking of it a lot during the Bernie campaign, because he does seem to be from another era entirely and I’m not seeing a lot of replacements in the near future (ditto Warren).
True. It’s usually clear by context. Like when a Republican is ranting about socialism then you can just substitute “welfare” or “state capitalism.” And if you’re reading some dissident political philosopher or anarchist blog then socialist probably means socialist. But when the two mix together it’s kinda confusing. One socialism wants to destroy capitalism, the one wants to save capitalism from itself.
AUDIT THE FED!
Paulbot jokes aside, they really do put some wild ideas out there. As opposed to Hillary, for example. Mainstream, sensible, pragmatic. She’ll go down to Wall St. and tell them to “cut it out.” And that’s her campaigning to libs.