I wonder if it is anti-semitic to enquire as to how AIPAC became so powerful. Where does the money come from? How was it acquired? Is it in fact American taxpayer's own money being funneled back from donations to Israel into donations to politicians, thus the US taxpayer pays to corrupt their own government?
AIPAC is doing what all Americans do, buying the worst government that money can buy. See Mearsheimer’s book The Israel Lobby. AIPAC is no where as big as the fossil fuel lobby which includes countries like the KSA, SOQ, and the UAE.
Except they're acting solely in the interest of a foreign country and they actively wield their power to remove non-compliant politicians. Let's not normalize AIPAC as just another lobby group.
Jack Z, the only way to have a decent Congress is to get all private and lobbyists money out of elections. The only way not to have bought Representatives and Senators is to allow ONLY public money, distributed equally, to be accessed. That would allow Congressmen/women to be ethica (now they're craven cowards). BTW, have you noticed that the DNC and RNC have switched places? Republicans spoke at the Dem convention. The Dems are the censors and insist on forever wars. At least Trump (Not Harris) hates censorship and forever wars, as does RFK, Jr. Interesting.
S T O P - it IS NOT antisemitic to ask these moral questions - do not allow others to tell you it is - NEVER accept or give in to what others may try to label you as - My status is as one who stands against genocide 100% of the time - it is the correct moral path - period. Trust your own observations and feelings -- KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE is IMMORAL.
chris, money rules. If the Palestinians had unlimited resources to buy our government, unlimited resources to neutralize all Israeli sympathizers, and it is the Israelis who don't have two nickels to rub together, our government would have an ''ironclad'' commitment to the Palestinians against the ''terrorist'' Israeli invaders. Because we didn't have the brains to fund our elections by ''We the People'', instead of warmongers and tax bandits, we have gone from the U .S. of A., to the U .S. of I., to the U .S. of Humpty- Dumpty. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
the Zionists are daft enough to think that the Christian Right would hesitate for a micro second to bomb them to oblivion once the Muslims are dealt with.
That's been the traditional "Christian" way to deal with them. I feel sorry for the Muslims and the Jews. And for all of us if the Christian Right accumulates more power.
And the Rosenbergs. I'm becoming very concerned about what protesting against the U.S. of A. means for protestors like me. Deportation? Prison? Execution? We are on an extremely slippery slope.
When asked who he will vote for in 1980, Baldwin says John Brown. If they are not talking about abolishing prison camps we are voting for monsters that are graded by their level of evil. We literally say the lesser of two evils, today magnified with genocide. "And the only way this will take place is if enough Americans make clear they have no intention of supporting any presidential ticket or any political party that fuels this genocide."
This a beautiful sermon from my only pastor, in this singular temple of truth.
Thank you once again for giving heart and soul, substance and shape, to our thoughts.
One thing we must learn, in the face of this tsunami of lies, is that Zionism itself is antisemitic. That’s an opinion from an orthodox Rabbi. There’s no shame in condemning what Israel does, regardless of what they call us. Staying silent because you’re afraid to be called antisemitic is like being afraid to go swimming because someone may call you a fish.
Just as genocide is not political it should not be part of any true religion.
We must repeat this to all the feckless liberals until they understand that the most real, the most deadly, “hate speech” of all got 58 standing ovations in congress last month . Those are the real antisemites.
Thank you so much, Chris. Your words are so deeply ingrained in badly needed human decency, I was moved as I read them, and indeed hope they will reach the heart and the conscience of many human beings that are still in the comfort zone of ambiguity and make them understand that taking this stance is the only way out of this harrowing reality. It’s been a while we’ve reached the stage where no midway is acceptable
I've followed the work of Chris Hedges over many years - read most of his books - attended lectures, etc. I know where the man has been and what he has witnessed along the way. I tip my hat to his integrity and courage - pray for his well-being and safety. I recall an observation he made a long time ago that stuck with me -- it is this: 'every decision we make has a moral imperative.' I feel that too. But never could I have imagined that on this day, in 2024, in this country, we would allow an active genocide - paid for by the US. Killing innocent people is and will always be 100% immoral. And - I sure as hell refuse to Vote for any of it or support those who do ! Thank you.
This is a devastating time I hoped would never arrive. We must focus on the solution. I suggest we start at the county and town levels and get those people engaged. We grow from there. But the base must be solid.
I know, for example, there are more than 100 agencies trying to shut down Sde Teiman, a torture camp run by Israel.
This is an opportunity to form a coalition geared towards peace.
We must foster the opportunity. And bring our Palestinean doctors, nurses, and staff to an international audience.
Good suggestions Veda. I would like to see (seeing is believing and makes the viewer feel sick and disgusted) more photo images of dead children and blood flowing as well as the testimony of Palestinian doctors and nurses who are expected to treat the injured without supplies or anesthesia.
I don't have the need or desire to influence these people, or for that matter, give them a listen because they are considered influencers by some. They are not an influence for me.
Although Gaza is the most urgent issue, and we cannot turn our eyes from them, there is increasing settler violence and land confiscation in the West Bank, aka illegally Occupied Territory. Here’s a group we can support, made up of committed Israelis and Palestinians working together to protect the Palestinians there.
Work on the Ground: Transforming Lives in Israel-Palestine — American Friends of Combatants for Peace
The same right to self defense enjoined by the Israel construct is unfairly denied for Palestininians. Justice denied is only justice delayed for a time.
Israel, the oppressor has no right of self-defense. Occupied Palestine the oppressed has got absolutely yes the right to self-defense. including deadly force ... That's the law.
It’s the new GIG economy in the USA: Genocide Is Good. The only thing keeping the so-called economy going in the USA is exporting death and destruction around the world and at home. Gotta keep on producing those weapons on behalf of the military industrial complex.
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
The identitarian Left gravitates towards Gaza, because it is a good fit for their "settler-colonial" thesis.
Three-quarters of a million Slavs killing each other is not nearly as interesting.
Plus, if you opposed the State Department-created war in Ukraine, you would be associated with "icky" people like Majorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz or Thomas Massie.
CodePink & JVP refused to stand on the same stage with Ron Paul and Tulsi to Rage Against the War Machine.
I am against every war, sanction, or coup, since 1968. If the Republicans or any subset of either party is also against it, I align with them.
The captured Left within the Democratic Party is, as Glenn said the other day, impotent. There is no way for Democrats to lose without Republicans winning. Ordinary Americans understand this, and flow seamlessly from party to party.
But the predominately PMC Left has had their ruthlessness taken from them, obliterated, they are indoctrinated beyond being able to reason. There are no adults within the Democratic Party.
So whomever you define as "the identitarian Left" must all think identically. That's the very definition of prejudice--they're all alike.
Usually the charge of "identity politics" is either the right wing castigation of "woke" or the dogmatic leftist's insistence that class is the only issue and anything else is dismissed as "divisive," such as BIPOC and LGBTQ. Most often armchair theorist white guys who've never had to fight to be recognized as who they are. Whose culture is not trying to survive despite an at best ignorant majority and at worst one openly hostile. And to top it off, have never held a tool in their lives.
I was a blue collar union rank and file activist for 28 years and a local Dem campaign mgr. I also fall within both sets of letters; it's not either/or--as if one "identity" precludes another. Like my grandfather the Wobbly, (I.W.W.) I know we workers can manage our own economic and political movements. We don't need some self-appointed vanguard dictating what we should do.
As for Dems, my knowledge of them is from long and bitter experience. I fought the usurpation of the party by the neolibs who then dumped the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class. Sure, the Ds have no problem with your race, or religion, or gender, or sexual orientation. As long as you are Ivy League elite or the equivalent. We of the letters can see that just because someone has the same set doesn't mean we have the same interests. We realize the Ds only represent the10-20% administrative and professional class. People who don't worry about mass layoffs, healthcare, or local schools. Who don't question the neocon wars of empire. People who are fine with the destructive trickle up econ system and whose political campaigns are funded by the corporations they serve.
I'm pretty sure that I agree with you but don't understand two of your terms: "the identatarian left" and the "PMC left". I personally gave up on the US "Left" years ago.
Read my comment above that takes apart the smug assumptions of leftist ideologues about class v. race, etc. It's not either/or. I'm BIPOC, LGBTQ, and working class! We workers are not so feeble that we need them to tell us what to believe and what to do.
"Identitarian" meaning seeing every conflict through race & gender; PMC as Professional Managerial Class, what we called in the New Left 1960s "petit bourgeois."
Ah yes, New Left. What I referred to as the "I hate my parents" school of revolution. In the late '60s-early '70s as an activist union member, I was trained by people who'd been hard core union organizers in the '30s. (C.I.O.) Who knew by experience that building community coalitions was hard work over many years. Not just rousing your own naive kind on the local campus lawn. I never forgot what the labor trainers told me: "liberals are the ones who leave the room when the fight starts." And they did.
I was UAW 16 years (1976-1993). I went to school in my late 30s; one problem with social media is you don't know who you are f*cking with. (Half the time they are cops).
My radicalization began when I was 16, at Kent State. Nixon and the Republicans were the bad guys.
I understand the critique of the New Left; they were white, petit bourgeois privileged kids.
But I would submit that the Port Huron Statement is a pretty sturdy document and a principled statement of anti-war and anti-imperialism.
I want to be clear: both parties are really really really really bad; but the Democrats are a teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy bit worse, that's why they gotta go first, that's why all the populist energy is currently on the right.
There is one theory, that is that there is no such thing as right or left populism, there's just populism, and you follow the people.
We all abhor war in any form, I am just observing that "left Democrats" have been given permission, under the "worthy victim" rationale, to bitch about Gaza, but not about Ukraine, and they are so programmed that it didn't even occur to most of them to bitch about Ukraine.
Plus they are gutless, afraid of Trump-Russia hoax and Putin-puppet neo-McCarthyist smears.
Maybe an illustration helps: I love Sean Fain, he is doing great job with the UAW. I don't blame him for endorsing Biden-Harris, but no effing way am I following that, just like I did not follow Bernie endorsing HRC. They gotta do what they gotta do; I don't.
Well now that clarifies things! I was a Berner also; what he presented was New Deal, not at all rabidly left. Of course I liked that his hero was Eugene Debs.
No way was I going to vote for HRC, either. Nasty, cold, vicious neolib/neocon. I'll never forgive her for that "basket of deplorables" bit; the Ivy Ds are so certain of their own superiority. They really mean they see the entire working class as in that same basket. So do I, but for very different reasons.
That nice liberal Ds like the ones who comment on Jim Hightower's site buy into the Trump-Putin propaganda is amazing to me. It's a willful blindness; like how young and middle-aged people with families don't want to see how the econ system is destroying the planet, either. I understand that--I've been aware of many things for many years yet couldn't quite acknowledge the full horror. Because then what? (Took me awhile to recover, but I do have some answers based on indigenous knowledge, local ecosystems, and co-op economics. The natural world is mostly symbiotic.)
That well educated people won't take the time to look into Russia-Ukraine recent history is bad enough. That they refuse to see that the Ds have become the party of Russia (Red) scare is outright cognitive dissonance.
For years I've been asking D party apologists if they support neolib economics. Never a real reply, just personal attacks and deflections. Now I add neocon and ask if they're okay with Cheney trained neocons running Biden's State Dept. I think they think I'm making that up--and they for sure aren't going to check. More don't want to see.
No way I'm voting for the Ds except maybe for local offices. Harris is simply another elitist neolib. Walz seems like a good guy but I doubt that matters. Will they keep the neocon agenda? There's slight movement re: Gaza, but not a word contrary to the blatant pro-Ukraine propaganda... never mind the Nazis, there since Bandera WWII--nothing "neo" about it.
As I wrote at Les Leopold's site, if the Ds turn out to be people who actually are for the working class, he can pick out the hat or crow I'll be eating. (Check out Leopold's 2024 book //Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What To Do about It)//
My tales are anecdotal; his are facts--years of research and sound stats. Which BTW prove we're not a bunch of stupid bigots. And which would be a huge winning issue for the Ds. But that won't happen since they'd have to admit their decades of econ neoliberalism was wrong plus they'd totally offend their corporate sponsors.)
So, ergo the title: consistency. Medea did in fact go to Rage ATWM; Codepink stayed home and whined about the other speakers.
Kind of like your whining about Republicans, even the anti-interventionist ones.
Any Member of Congress will last 10 minutes if they denounce Israel, ask Cori Bush or Nina Turner. That's why it's up to us; power really does come from the bottom.
Identitarians on the other hand, have no excuse, they are just captured. At this point in time, the Democrats are simply worse, they are the more captured and they are perfecting every bad idea the Bush Republicans started.
I know that's a hard pill for Chris and you to swallow, but that is the current state of affairs.
The Democrats will erect a One Party System before the Republicans will: Exhibit A, the Republican actually held a primary.
I have friends throwing their arms in the air and saying, with relief: "The democrats, finally, now they can win!" referring to Kamala and Walz. I get it, and I think in a few areas Walz has been good to his state. But he is not the presidential candidate and has not shown that would confront the zionist terrorism.
All this is to say that I am being the friend who throws cold water in the enthusiastic crowd. I am not voting for Kamala or any other democrat. I just ask my friends to show me what is worse than genocide. If they can convince me that there is anything worse than that, I will vote for their candidate. I am very aware of the dangers of Trump but the danger is all around us, Trump, republicans, most democrats, lobbyists, billionaires controlling everything. There is no point in hoping the powerful will do anything good. Only a revolution (revolt?), however it comes, will bring change - maybe.
I am tired of voting to "save democracy". Democracy in the US of A has been dead for a while and humanity > democracy
Morality & Truth are linked together. Morality, is also something that has to be inculcated in people by their communities. All functioning communities have similar moral beliefs that were expressed by the 10 commandments.
However, those who would like to rule us, also like to twist and bend our morals. They do this because it interferes with them acquiring power. This has been true throughout history. In the past it was religious people who twisted religious faith so as to justify their actions. Then they used our tribal instincts to get us to kill the other, more recently it has been our desire to own things that the 'savages' had such as land or minerals, or ethnic nationalism to make us think that we are more deserving than others.
Fundamentally, if we stick to the basics such as "thou shalt not have any other gods before me" then we know that "we are not gods who can make our own rules". If we stick to "thou shalt not steal" then we know that we shouldn't take the other guys stuff. I we stick to "thou shalt no kill" we know that killing other people to take their stuff, because we are superior & more deserving people is wrong.
Our modern leaders twist these basic precepts to justify everything they do.
Hello Rhana, I have found deep philosophy in bumper stickers which I believe are anonymous and belong to accumulated grass-root wisdom. here are two more:
"I chose to grow up instead of being born again"
"Hate won't make us great"
This last one I have it in my car hoping not to offend a vicious troglodyte and also
"My dog is smarter than the president" Once in a gas station a customer demanded that I revealed to which president I was referring to. My answer was all of them.
Do you care to guess on this one?
"Nature or Nurture, either way your parents are guilty"
It's attributed to Voltaire. Love bumper stickers but only have one on my car. It's an obsessive compulsive thing about clutter. Although you wouldn't know that looking at my "office". :-) Take care.
Yes, Chris…genocide is not a policy issue. It is a moral issue. period. Thank you for this.
I wonder if it is anti-semitic to enquire as to how AIPAC became so powerful. Where does the money come from? How was it acquired? Is it in fact American taxpayer's own money being funneled back from donations to Israel into donations to politicians, thus the US taxpayer pays to corrupt their own government?
AIPAC is doing what all Americans do, buying the worst government that money can buy. See Mearsheimer’s book The Israel Lobby. AIPAC is no where as big as the fossil fuel lobby which includes countries like the KSA, SOQ, and the UAE.
Except they're acting solely in the interest of a foreign country and they actively wield their power to remove non-compliant politicians. Let's not normalize AIPAC as just another lobby group.
Considering it's pretty much running your Govt.
They should not be allowed but who is going to move them.
It's like a silent coup d'etat which the US does in many places in the world. Latest one being Bangladesh.
aye
Jack Z, the only way to have a decent Congress is to get all private and lobbyists money out of elections. The only way not to have bought Representatives and Senators is to allow ONLY public money, distributed equally, to be accessed. That would allow Congressmen/women to be ethica (now they're craven cowards). BTW, have you noticed that the DNC and RNC have switched places? Republicans spoke at the Dem convention. The Dems are the censors and insist on forever wars. At least Trump (Not Harris) hates censorship and forever wars, as does RFK, Jr. Interesting.
I have done some research and AIPAC gets its funding from wealthy American jews.
I think in between 80 - 100 million dollars range - so the government is quite cheap to buy!
USA has always been cheap.
:)
If it is anti-semitic to ask such questions then we should gladly accept that status!!
S T O P - it IS NOT antisemitic to ask these moral questions - do not allow others to tell you it is - NEVER accept or give in to what others may try to label you as - My status is as one who stands against genocide 100% of the time - it is the correct moral path - period. Trust your own observations and feelings -- KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE is IMMORAL.
seems an odd way to phrase - but I think I know what you mean...
chris, money rules. If the Palestinians had unlimited resources to buy our government, unlimited resources to neutralize all Israeli sympathizers, and it is the Israelis who don't have two nickels to rub together, our government would have an ''ironclad'' commitment to the Palestinians against the ''terrorist'' Israeli invaders. Because we didn't have the brains to fund our elections by ''We the People'', instead of warmongers and tax bandits, we have gone from the U .S. of A., to the U .S. of I., to the U .S. of Humpty- Dumpty. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
Even with no money the Zionists would win because of the Christians helping Israel to accelerate the second coming.
the Zionists are daft enough to think that the Christian Right would hesitate for a micro second to bomb them to oblivion once the Muslims are dealt with.
That's been the traditional "Christian" way to deal with them. I feel sorry for the Muslims and the Jews. And for all of us if the Christian Right accumulates more power.
A more accurate of identifying them is "The Christian Wrong".
yup!
so there's no one to vote for in this election.
Jill Stein
yes!
Look up Rothschild!
And the Rosenbergs. I'm becoming very concerned about what protesting against the U.S. of A. means for protestors like me. Deportation? Prison? Execution? We are on an extremely slippery slope.
I would love a deep dive on this.
Chris Hedges interview with Ilan Pappe is very informative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m6S1iXlsqw
Why would Israel want a ceasefire or any kind of negotiations?
The status quo delivers a flood of benefits and no real cost. The alternative does not.
Israel will continue to behave sociopathically, until it is clear that *the* *leaders* must pay a cost for doing so.
When asked who he will vote for in 1980, Baldwin says John Brown. If they are not talking about abolishing prison camps we are voting for monsters that are graded by their level of evil. We literally say the lesser of two evils, today magnified with genocide. "And the only way this will take place is if enough Americans make clear they have no intention of supporting any presidential ticket or any political party that fuels this genocide."
This a beautiful sermon from my only pastor, in this singular temple of truth.
Thank you once again for giving heart and soul, substance and shape, to our thoughts.
One thing we must learn, in the face of this tsunami of lies, is that Zionism itself is antisemitic. That’s an opinion from an orthodox Rabbi. There’s no shame in condemning what Israel does, regardless of what they call us. Staying silent because you’re afraid to be called antisemitic is like being afraid to go swimming because someone may call you a fish.
Just as genocide is not political it should not be part of any true religion.
We must repeat this to all the feckless liberals until they understand that the most real, the most deadly, “hate speech” of all got 58 standing ovations in congress last month . Those are the real antisemites.
Thank you so much, Chris. Your words are so deeply ingrained in badly needed human decency, I was moved as I read them, and indeed hope they will reach the heart and the conscience of many human beings that are still in the comfort zone of ambiguity and make them understand that taking this stance is the only way out of this harrowing reality. It’s been a while we’ve reached the stage where no midway is acceptable
I've followed the work of Chris Hedges over many years - read most of his books - attended lectures, etc. I know where the man has been and what he has witnessed along the way. I tip my hat to his integrity and courage - pray for his well-being and safety. I recall an observation he made a long time ago that stuck with me -- it is this: 'every decision we make has a moral imperative.' I feel that too. But never could I have imagined that on this day, in 2024, in this country, we would allow an active genocide - paid for by the US. Killing innocent people is and will always be 100% immoral. And - I sure as hell refuse to Vote for any of it or support those who do ! Thank you.
thank you. i agree.
This is a devastating time I hoped would never arrive. We must focus on the solution. I suggest we start at the county and town levels and get those people engaged. We grow from there. But the base must be solid.
I know, for example, there are more than 100 agencies trying to shut down Sde Teiman, a torture camp run by Israel.
This is an opportunity to form a coalition geared towards peace.
We must foster the opportunity. And bring our Palestinean doctors, nurses, and staff to an international audience.
Good suggestions Veda. I would like to see (seeing is believing and makes the viewer feel sick and disgusted) more photo images of dead children and blood flowing as well as the testimony of Palestinian doctors and nurses who are expected to treat the injured without supplies or anesthesia.
Tell that to the likes of major influences like Bill Kristol and Peter Berkowitz.
I don't have the need or desire to influence these people, or for that matter, give them a listen because they are considered influencers by some. They are not an influence for me.
There is no greater influencer than the truth.
The spirit of truth to be more precise.
Although Gaza is the most urgent issue, and we cannot turn our eyes from them, there is increasing settler violence and land confiscation in the West Bank, aka illegally Occupied Territory. Here’s a group we can support, made up of committed Israelis and Palestinians working together to protect the Palestinians there.
Work on the Ground: Transforming Lives in Israel-Palestine — American Friends of Combatants for Peace
https://www.afcfp.org
The right of Israel to defend itself allows for genocide. There should be no such right.
Here in the US our two major parties proclaim that Israel has a right to defend itself. That proclamation is morally indefensible.
The collateral damage of supporting genocide is the evisceration of free speech and freedom of assembly here in the US.
Therefore there is a real threat to individual and collective freedom that results from supporting either major party.
The same right to self defense enjoined by the Israel construct is unfairly denied for Palestininians. Justice denied is only justice delayed for a time.
Israel, the oppressor has no right of self-defense. Occupied Palestine the oppressed has got absolutely yes the right to self-defense. including deadly force ... That's the law.
It’s the new GIG economy in the USA: Genocide Is Good. The only thing keeping the so-called economy going in the USA is exporting death and destruction around the world and at home. Gotta keep on producing those weapons on behalf of the military industrial complex.
we've been in a war supported economy my whole life and before
Got a diamond heart.
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate
Also we can all support the brave doctors who have gone to Gaza: https://palestinian-ama.networkforgood.com/projects/206145-gaza-medical-supplies-oct-2023
Or
Surgeons to Gaza
https://fajr.org/donate/
Let us make our donations to honor Aaron Bushnell, in memory of Hind Rajab, or Dr Jumann Afra.
Here’s a petition to excommunicate Joe Biden: https://www.change.org/p/excommunicate-president-joe-biden-bf979783-ac08-4576-a53f-c786ea23dc9c
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
Thank you for the links!
CONSISTENCY.
The identitarian Left gravitates towards Gaza, because it is a good fit for their "settler-colonial" thesis.
Three-quarters of a million Slavs killing each other is not nearly as interesting.
Plus, if you opposed the State Department-created war in Ukraine, you would be associated with "icky" people like Majorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz or Thomas Massie.
CodePink & JVP refused to stand on the same stage with Ron Paul and Tulsi to Rage Against the War Machine.
I am against every war, sanction, or coup, since 1968. If the Republicans or any subset of either party is also against it, I align with them.
The captured Left within the Democratic Party is, as Glenn said the other day, impotent. There is no way for Democrats to lose without Republicans winning. Ordinary Americans understand this, and flow seamlessly from party to party.
But the predominately PMC Left has had their ruthlessness taken from them, obliterated, they are indoctrinated beyond being able to reason. There are no adults within the Democratic Party.
So whomever you define as "the identitarian Left" must all think identically. That's the very definition of prejudice--they're all alike.
Usually the charge of "identity politics" is either the right wing castigation of "woke" or the dogmatic leftist's insistence that class is the only issue and anything else is dismissed as "divisive," such as BIPOC and LGBTQ. Most often armchair theorist white guys who've never had to fight to be recognized as who they are. Whose culture is not trying to survive despite an at best ignorant majority and at worst one openly hostile. And to top it off, have never held a tool in their lives.
I was a blue collar union rank and file activist for 28 years and a local Dem campaign mgr. I also fall within both sets of letters; it's not either/or--as if one "identity" precludes another. Like my grandfather the Wobbly, (I.W.W.) I know we workers can manage our own economic and political movements. We don't need some self-appointed vanguard dictating what we should do.
As for Dems, my knowledge of them is from long and bitter experience. I fought the usurpation of the party by the neolibs who then dumped the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class. Sure, the Ds have no problem with your race, or religion, or gender, or sexual orientation. As long as you are Ivy League elite or the equivalent. We of the letters can see that just because someone has the same set doesn't mean we have the same interests. We realize the Ds only represent the10-20% administrative and professional class. People who don't worry about mass layoffs, healthcare, or local schools. Who don't question the neocon wars of empire. People who are fine with the destructive trickle up econ system and whose political campaigns are funded by the corporations they serve.
It seems there are no adults in our country.
They are all retired. Mostly in long term care.
I'm pretty sure that I agree with you but don't understand two of your terms: "the identatarian left" and the "PMC left". I personally gave up on the US "Left" years ago.
Read my comment above that takes apart the smug assumptions of leftist ideologues about class v. race, etc. It's not either/or. I'm BIPOC, LGBTQ, and working class! We workers are not so feeble that we need them to tell us what to believe and what to do.
"Identitarian" meaning seeing every conflict through race & gender; PMC as Professional Managerial Class, what we called in the New Left 1960s "petit bourgeois."
Ah yes, New Left. What I referred to as the "I hate my parents" school of revolution. In the late '60s-early '70s as an activist union member, I was trained by people who'd been hard core union organizers in the '30s. (C.I.O.) Who knew by experience that building community coalitions was hard work over many years. Not just rousing your own naive kind on the local campus lawn. I never forgot what the labor trainers told me: "liberals are the ones who leave the room when the fight starts." And they did.
I was UAW 16 years (1976-1993). I went to school in my late 30s; one problem with social media is you don't know who you are f*cking with. (Half the time they are cops).
My radicalization began when I was 16, at Kent State. Nixon and the Republicans were the bad guys.
I understand the critique of the New Left; they were white, petit bourgeois privileged kids.
But I would submit that the Port Huron Statement is a pretty sturdy document and a principled statement of anti-war and anti-imperialism.
I want to be clear: both parties are really really really really bad; but the Democrats are a teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy bit worse, that's why they gotta go first, that's why all the populist energy is currently on the right.
There is one theory, that is that there is no such thing as right or left populism, there's just populism, and you follow the people.
We all abhor war in any form, I am just observing that "left Democrats" have been given permission, under the "worthy victim" rationale, to bitch about Gaza, but not about Ukraine, and they are so programmed that it didn't even occur to most of them to bitch about Ukraine.
Plus they are gutless, afraid of Trump-Russia hoax and Putin-puppet neo-McCarthyist smears.
Maybe an illustration helps: I love Sean Fain, he is doing great job with the UAW. I don't blame him for endorsing Biden-Harris, but no effing way am I following that, just like I did not follow Bernie endorsing HRC. They gotta do what they gotta do; I don't.
Peace.
Well now that clarifies things! I was a Berner also; what he presented was New Deal, not at all rabidly left. Of course I liked that his hero was Eugene Debs.
No way was I going to vote for HRC, either. Nasty, cold, vicious neolib/neocon. I'll never forgive her for that "basket of deplorables" bit; the Ivy Ds are so certain of their own superiority. They really mean they see the entire working class as in that same basket. So do I, but for very different reasons.
That nice liberal Ds like the ones who comment on Jim Hightower's site buy into the Trump-Putin propaganda is amazing to me. It's a willful blindness; like how young and middle-aged people with families don't want to see how the econ system is destroying the planet, either. I understand that--I've been aware of many things for many years yet couldn't quite acknowledge the full horror. Because then what? (Took me awhile to recover, but I do have some answers based on indigenous knowledge, local ecosystems, and co-op economics. The natural world is mostly symbiotic.)
That well educated people won't take the time to look into Russia-Ukraine recent history is bad enough. That they refuse to see that the Ds have become the party of Russia (Red) scare is outright cognitive dissonance.
For years I've been asking D party apologists if they support neolib economics. Never a real reply, just personal attacks and deflections. Now I add neocon and ask if they're okay with Cheney trained neocons running Biden's State Dept. I think they think I'm making that up--and they for sure aren't going to check. More don't want to see.
No way I'm voting for the Ds except maybe for local offices. Harris is simply another elitist neolib. Walz seems like a good guy but I doubt that matters. Will they keep the neocon agenda? There's slight movement re: Gaza, but not a word contrary to the blatant pro-Ukraine propaganda... never mind the Nazis, there since Bandera WWII--nothing "neo" about it.
As I wrote at Les Leopold's site, if the Ds turn out to be people who actually are for the working class, he can pick out the hat or crow I'll be eating. (Check out Leopold's 2024 book //Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What To Do about It)//
My tales are anecdotal; his are facts--years of research and sound stats. Which BTW prove we're not a bunch of stupid bigots. And which would be a huge winning issue for the Ds. But that won't happen since they'd have to admit their decades of econ neoliberalism was wrong plus they'd totally offend their corporate sponsors.)
Question: who your favorite candidate for president is? I'm going Green. I had enough of to lesser of evils.
So, ergo the title: consistency. Medea did in fact go to Rage ATWM; Codepink stayed home and whined about the other speakers.
Kind of like your whining about Republicans, even the anti-interventionist ones.
Any Member of Congress will last 10 minutes if they denounce Israel, ask Cori Bush or Nina Turner. That's why it's up to us; power really does come from the bottom.
Identitarians on the other hand, have no excuse, they are just captured. At this point in time, the Democrats are simply worse, they are the more captured and they are perfecting every bad idea the Bush Republicans started.
I know that's a hard pill for Chris and you to swallow, but that is the current state of affairs.
The Democrats will erect a One Party System before the Republicans will: Exhibit A, the Republican actually held a primary.
You, and everyone, shoulda gone to Rage ATWM. End of story.
Blessed were the peacemakers.
I have friends throwing their arms in the air and saying, with relief: "The democrats, finally, now they can win!" referring to Kamala and Walz. I get it, and I think in a few areas Walz has been good to his state. But he is not the presidential candidate and has not shown that would confront the zionist terrorism.
All this is to say that I am being the friend who throws cold water in the enthusiastic crowd. I am not voting for Kamala or any other democrat. I just ask my friends to show me what is worse than genocide. If they can convince me that there is anything worse than that, I will vote for their candidate. I am very aware of the dangers of Trump but the danger is all around us, Trump, republicans, most democrats, lobbyists, billionaires controlling everything. There is no point in hoping the powerful will do anything good. Only a revolution (revolt?), however it comes, will bring change - maybe.
I am tired of voting to "save democracy". Democracy in the US of A has been dead for a while and humanity > democracy
Morality & Truth are linked together. Morality, is also something that has to be inculcated in people by their communities. All functioning communities have similar moral beliefs that were expressed by the 10 commandments.
However, those who would like to rule us, also like to twist and bend our morals. They do this because it interferes with them acquiring power. This has been true throughout history. In the past it was religious people who twisted religious faith so as to justify their actions. Then they used our tribal instincts to get us to kill the other, more recently it has been our desire to own things that the 'savages' had such as land or minerals, or ethnic nationalism to make us think that we are more deserving than others.
Fundamentally, if we stick to the basics such as "thou shalt not have any other gods before me" then we know that "we are not gods who can make our own rules". If we stick to "thou shalt not steal" then we know that we shouldn't take the other guys stuff. I we stick to "thou shalt no kill" we know that killing other people to take their stuff, because we are superior & more deserving people is wrong.
Our modern leaders twist these basic precepts to justify everything they do.
"If someone makes you believe absurdities, later he will make you to commit atrocities" Bumper sticker.
Hi Julio, For 40 points who said that? :-)
Hello Rhana, I have found deep philosophy in bumper stickers which I believe are anonymous and belong to accumulated grass-root wisdom. here are two more:
"I chose to grow up instead of being born again"
"Hate won't make us great"
This last one I have it in my car hoping not to offend a vicious troglodyte and also
"My dog is smarter than the president" Once in a gas station a customer demanded that I revealed to which president I was referring to. My answer was all of them.
Do you care to guess on this one?
"Nature or Nurture, either way your parents are guilty"
(No points offered)
It's attributed to Voltaire. Love bumper stickers but only have one on my car. It's an obsessive compulsive thing about clutter. Although you wouldn't know that looking at my "office". :-) Take care.
Thank you for the information. Next time I will try to win the 40 points.
Guidance and light given to Moses for the benefit of mankind was not very well received by most of his own people.
Absolute power absolutely corrupts
Need any examples?
I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all the examples
When are the 'slaves' in the EU going to stand up and say.....enough is enough?
Forget the UK..they are gone.
This is from France.
Well said. If she does not openly vote against genocide, she silently votes for genocide.
She does not get my vote.