I'mgoing to add something as a p.s. to my long reply, because I already edited the fuck out of that post, and I don't want to mess with it anymore.
None of what I have said will be news to leftists, most of whom know full well that their disagreements with Democrats go well beyond the merely tactical. But I think it’s worth spelling out clearly, because it’s reasonable to wonder just how deep the division really goes, versus how much of it is unnecessary warring over issues of strategy. And while I am a firm believer that the enemy of my enemy is my temporarily politically useful coalition partner, the answer is that the divide goes very deep indeed.
I agree that this is worth spelling out clearly. If we're going to be able to work together at all, all of us need to know where everybody else stands. And if (God forbid) we really aren't going to be able to work together... well, we need to know that, too, the sooner, the better.
As for how deep the divide really is and whether it really is unfixable, I think a lot depends on how many/what percentage of "Democrats" really are on the far left side of the gap, which is something I don't pretend to know.
No replies? I'm disappointed! I was really curious about how people envision this "smashing capitalism to bits" thing being put into practice. Not that I want to do that myself--like I said, it sounds awfully drastic to me--but I would like to understand it better, including how those who want to do this propose to accomplish it.
Ehh. I finally got around to re-reading this thread and it's hard to subjectively talk about "Capitalism" as it's so ingrained into the US that the whole country would have to collapse first.
But yeah. Unrestrained Capitalism, which is what we've had for as long as I've been alive (thanks Reagan, thanks Clinton, thanks all!) is an unmitigated horror. Capitalism as a concept basically relies on eating its own tail (resources) for as long as you can to make things as efficient as you can and screw the rest. The crash in 2008? Unrestrained Capitalism. Huge oil spill in 2010? Capitalism because god forbid BP fix or even acknowledge a problem that might hurt their cash flow. Our healthcare system and how pharma, hospitals, medical equipment were all made to actually make more money and not make people better? Also Capitalism. Planned obsolescence, subsidizing gas companies because somehow that keeps the price low, lifelong college loans (And believe me - every part of college is designed to squeeze money from students, not provide them with education), credit card debt, lobbying and PACs, forcing people at Wal Mart to make only enough money to where they can ONLY shop at Wal Mart are all facets of Capitalism.
Capitalism isn't going away, and I fully acknowledge that, but it needs some brakes and regulations and then some. And private companies HATE regulations because it cuts into profit margins. You don't have the wealth disparity in Socialist countries you do in Capitalist ones and the whole thing is on really shaky ground because you need a middle class to keep things running... which Capitalism cannot support because you need the cheapest labor imaginable.
FWIW as well, damn near every single poll I've seen and read there are more Millennials that approve of Socialism over Capitalism so that may be what the article refers to. It has to do with the 2008 crash obviously, and a lot of it is also the drying-up job prospects and the student loan debt crisis. And that will be a crisis, sooner or later. Capitalism loves bubbles and unsustainable systems to feed off of more profit. Sooner or later, something's gotta give somewhere. The twist was just that Communism (well, Russian kind, which is dictatorship disguising as an economic system) gave out first.
I'mgoing to add something as a p.s. to my long reply, because I already edited the fuck out of that post, and I don't want to mess with it anymore.
None of what I have said will be news to leftists, most of whom know full well that their disagreements with Democrats go well beyond the merely tactical. But I think it’s worth spelling out clearly, because it’s reasonable to wonder just how deep the division really goes, versus how much of it is unnecessary warring over issues of strategy. And while I am a firm believer that the enemy of my enemy is my temporarily politically useful coalition partner, the answer is that the divide goes very deep indeed.
I agree that this is worth spelling out clearly. If we're going to be able to work together at all, all of us need to know where everybody else stands. And if (God forbid) we really aren't going to be able to work together... well, we need to know that, too, the sooner, the better.
As for how deep the divide really is and whether it really is unfixable, I think a lot depends on how many/what percentage of "Democrats" really are on the far left side of the gap, which is something I don't pretend to know.
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But yeah. Unrestrained Capitalism, which is what we've had for as long as I've been alive (thanks Reagan, thanks Clinton, thanks all!) is an unmitigated horror. Capitalism as a concept basically relies on eating its own tail (resources) for as long as you can to make things as efficient as you can and screw the rest. The crash in 2008? Unrestrained Capitalism. Huge oil spill in 2010? Capitalism because god forbid BP fix or even acknowledge a problem that might hurt their cash flow. Our healthcare system and how pharma, hospitals, medical equipment were all made to actually make more money and not make people better? Also Capitalism. Planned obsolescence, subsidizing gas companies because somehow that keeps the price low, lifelong college loans (And believe me - every part of college is designed to squeeze money from students, not provide them with education), credit card debt, lobbying and PACs, forcing people at Wal Mart to make only enough money to where they can ONLY shop at Wal Mart are all facets of Capitalism.
Capitalism isn't going away, and I fully acknowledge that, but it needs some brakes and regulations and then some. And private companies HATE regulations because it cuts into profit margins. You don't have the wealth disparity in Socialist countries you do in Capitalist ones and the whole thing is on really shaky ground because you need a middle class to keep things running... which Capitalism cannot support because you need the cheapest labor imaginable.
FWIW as well, damn near every single poll I've seen and read there are more Millennials that approve of Socialism over Capitalism so that may be what the article refers to. It has to do with the 2008 crash obviously, and a lot of it is also the drying-up job prospects and the student loan debt crisis. And that will be a crisis, sooner or later. Capitalism loves bubbles and unsustainable systems to feed off of more profit. Sooner or later, something's gotta give somewhere. The twist was just that Communism (well, Russian kind, which is dictatorship disguising as an economic system) gave out first.
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