01-24-2019, 04:06 PM
(01-24-2019, 03:44 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(01-24-2019, 01:35 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: The American Left was also opposed to the Soviet Union and its Communist system. Before the sixties and the end of the Vietnam War, it was the Democrats who waged actual war on them. Meanwhile, the Republicans like McCarthy and Nixon spent most of their "anti-communist" energy on taking away our basic rights that Americans hold dear, and resisting the movements to expand those rights.In my opinion, there is a difference between the American left and the old left or far left that you represent. As I've said, the America right has already made its decision and the American Left is now positioned as having to make a decision as to which direction/system is best suited for them and their future generations.
Here is what the Left says about America and the totalitarian systems:
The Republicans have opposed the rights of Americans. Trump tries to suppress our rights. But we on the Left are not going to let them turn us around.
The Republicans are only concerned with property rights and lower taxes, and about suppression of the immigrants and lower classes whom they blame for the economic pressures that affect them, and about opposing the government that seeks to make the economy fair to everyone, rather than only to that .01% of the people that Trump and the Republicans are concerned to protect. The Democrats protect union rights, and Republicans oppose them, so workers are still in the right camp if they are Democrats. The Democrats enforced immigration laws already; Trump's campaign against immigrants was merely a campaign gimmick to appeal to your mis-directed fear and anger, and it works on that level. A fair immigration system would protect rights and work well for all; the Republicans in the House stopped it from happening.
The 99% approach always works, and the 1% trickle-down Republican Reaganoid system never does. The 99% approach only seeks equal opportunity for all. It is opposed to a Communist system that would take all property rights and all other rights away, and vest them in an oligarchic elite of political operatives. That system does not work well for the people either. It may protect equality for most of the people, including gender equality, and sometimes ethnic equality (but often deliberate ethnic oppression), but it is equality at a low level.
Greens, Democrats and progressives are true Americans. Those who protect the rights of a few to exploit the many are not. A fair system that makes sure that people get a fair wage for their work, and that people are protected against the frequent capricious and destructive behavior by capitalist pigs, is not a Communist system. It is a mixed system that protects our ability to engage in free enterprise and to have equal opportunity.
But I don't think you understand what people on the left such as myself, David or P.Brower represent. You keep calling us communists, or say that what we advocate is communism, and that we are not Americans. As long as you do this, you are not capable of discerning what anyone on the Left thinks. There are differences among the Left and the Center-Left, to be sure, but the line is very fluid, and the moderates still have an electoral advantage, although this could shift in the next decade.
I suspect many on the Right and the Left alike are firm in a lot of their opinions. Right now those who lean left have about a 51 to 45% lead in opinion polls on various issues and approval/disapproval polls. There is some variation in this, of course. But our hope on the Left is that this lead will grow a bit over the next few years, and that it will be enough to overcome the systemic advantage that you guys on the right have through voter suppression, gerrymandering, the electoral college, the senate, the money in politics, the supreme court, etc.
If we can have a winning streak in elections, then the right wing will shrink and gradually disappear amid the success of the country and the government. If the Left starts to win elections, it will be up to you guys whether to rebel over guns and/or taxes or immigrants, etc., and whether to do it violently. If the Left fails in the coming election years, then the country will decline, and some will exercize the option to move away. The Left historically has not been able to win a revolution unless it is well-organized with state and foreign help. That is also true on the Right.
But I suspect the Left will not be the ones to organize such a successful revolution. We will just keep plugging away while right-wing rule ruins the country, in hopes the younger people will wake up. The more your side wins, the greater the decline our country will face. I suspect it will become quite a steep decline in short order, and fueled by climate change.