“I’d rather vote for something I want and don’t get it, than vote for something I don’t want and get it.” - Eugene Debs
“The fact that Eugene Debs, for instance, is either completely unknown or considered a kook by many who have merely overheard his name in bogus conversations about kooks and somebody like Theodore Roosevelt is immediately recognized and considered a hero for giving birth to both modern-day Imperialism and the Teddy Bear is truly indicative of a system deliberately structured to guarantee subordination of any group or class preferring social justice and pluralism over the politics of the Big Stick, state propaganda, and the sort of rugged individualism that discourages the formation of any organized form of self-government capable of nurturing a meaning of life unrelated to the stock market or the status quo.” - Mr. Fish
"a system deliberately structured to guarantee subordination of any group or class preferring social justice and pluralism over the politics of the Big Stick, state propaganda, and the sort of rugged individualism. . ." Mr. Fish demonstrates why the waters of Earth teach its inhabitants how to self-regulate. Debs is a hero of mine, because he went to jail to stand behind an idea and a practice in the biological world of non-humans that worked amazingly well. The biggest fish in the world's waters is a vegetarian whale shark. The biggest mammals in the oceans are invertebrate-eating omnivores. Their food source is a few weeks removed from the plant-based diet that created it. Those who scream the loudest about freedom are the ones who deny it to others and cannot get beyond their own fears of it. So the alternative is to Self Gaslight, creating an internal Newspeak of propaganda that uses thousands of repetitive Big Lies to install mindless 'predation' of the very base of life. Self-gaslit, self-flagelation Stockholm Syndrome, self-addicted destructive habits that lead to suicide/genocide/speciesism. This is why the human animal acts completely crazy most of the time - it simply cannot get out of its own mental/emotional prison, so it has to kill off anything/anyone who is actually free of delusions.
This guy knows what he's talking about. However, we have even more deep rooted problems than just the Republican and Democrat parties; which are more alike than not; nor MAGA or DSA. I am old enough to remember the early days of JFK in the early 60's and my father who was considered maybe upper middle class paid a tax rate of about 78%; not the the top rate, but plenty; and he never complained because those taxes had helped put the new interstate highway system in place, build our new community state-of-the-art hospital, and yes, run electricity and phone service out to our very own little piece of the boondocks! And so it was up until about 1967. It was after the civil rights was passed in 1965 that so many started shutting their pocketbooks; even knowing full well that by doing so it would affect them poorly also. They just didn't want no people of color getting anything that they, the the white folks had worked for. And so we are where we are. That is why when we ask ourselves why do so many people vote for people who they know will enact policies that will negatively affect them. It is for this very basic and sad reason. They would rather have nothing themselves than give one red cent to a person of color to share. We have never overcome our original sin!! Even though we like to pat ourselves on the back and say we have; it is a lie. I have watched it play out and I am so greived. What this country really could have and accomplish if only we would overcome our prejudices!! We have allowed the extreme wealth inequality that has created the 1st trillionaire (how many 0's is that anyway!) all because we will take anything, do anything, be degraded by forces working against us; all to protect our personal biases. What a sad state we find ourselves in and I don't know if we can correct it at this point. It will take a whole lot more than an election or two, this is going to take changing a large portion of a country's deep rooted mind set. God help us!
Well... that's one factor. I'd also credit the long-term war waged by $ of the likes of Joseph Coors and his founding of the Heritage Foundation, and Charles Koch's CATO Institute with the success of unregulated capitalist authoritarianism. They didn't want a middle class. It was too expensive. They wanted a return to monopoly profits of unregulated extraction of the planet's resources, (which had been historic ruling norm, and always resulting in a boom then crash), but with the main robber barons growing fatter. Buying up the pieces for pennies on the dollar -- via disaster capitalism.
Hence, here we are again -- the authors of Projtct 2025 raping and pillaging us right off the climate change disaster cliff.
Simple answer here. Your children will stop paying taxes and supporting Military Wars. If the economy collapses around them, when that happens you as a family and they as connected people in your community, will carry on with life, business and culture, fun sadness and creative ventures, They will do this seeing how you do it now, helping those you can and recieving from thos who can give. Support living sustainably, in any way you can and learning to see and understand what is going on around you. Schools are incredibly important and connections made, can connect families to social nerworks they can rely on. This can be and is being cultivated now, in response to government and economic stress. Keep solutions going and connect with your peers and in neighborhoods. Togerher you become the lifesavers and the bearers of a positive future.
So who’s the true “communist”? Trump and Miller and the rest of the MAGGOTS who love Putin. Who admires North Korean military parades? Trump. Who gives a pass to Xi and China? Trump. Who has put oligarchs in control as in Russia? Trump. Who unabashedly profits from being in office, as Putin does? Trump!
Democrats, independents and democratic socialists need to call out the true ugly communists in DC—- Trump’s minions!
Every time Trump points his stubby fingers at someone, it’s a self-own. His new McCarthy campaign is a self-own!
One more time; Trump is a symptom of institutional rot, of political parties, academia, government, the church, etc, and the rot is extensive. Getting rid of the symptom does little to address the rot. Liberals need to clean/fix their house, otherwise, we continue to circle the drain.
The USSR was state capitalism. The state replaced the capitalist. The worker was just as fucked. China is more interesting. It's industrial capitalism, like the U.S. in the late 19th century, except the state treats banking and capital as a public utility, to be used for the greatest good but kept under party control, definitely away from businessmen. There's an element of industrial capitalism that Americans confuse with socialism, and Republican types are either too dumb to understand it or all too happy to let people identify it as socialism. That is, in industrial capitalism, you want people's labor to be as cheap as possible on the international market, so you do everything you can to reduce their cost of living. Ideally, the government provides workers with free everything. People assume socialism does that regardless of how uncompetitive it makes workers in the world labor market. In much of Europe, it does. But in a world where workers of the world still compete against each other in different markets, there are very good reasons why you want to keep monopolies and other economic parasites out of your economy.
Which is, truth be told, not capitalism and not competition at all. The rust and corrosion of 'words and memes' as reality has buried humanity in its own filth. Huamans either solve problems to make life safer and less painful, or they modify problems selfishly to avoid the work needed to solve them. That 'work' is labeled competition but is actually sacrifice of what is desperate panic, to gain a balanced and workable life that involves cooperation. Socialism, and the core element of communism, is community, a big community in which all beings sacrifice more or less equally, depending upon contexts, so that every being gets most of what it needs to find harmony. Harmony is what the planet is running on, not always a smooth ride, but at least a ride that does not crash and burn every 15 seconds, which is what humanity is bound to do via its massive addicitons, the biggest being Fear of Death. The only completely unavoidable, un-conquerable, un-deniable truth in all of biotic life. But that fear is unfounded. Life never dies, it just changes energies to adapt to the changes that the solar system forces, because it too is changing constantly. Go With The Flow, stop killing, and stop breeding like you are cancer cell. Both are insane, and solve nothing.
It got a little late last night before I could put forth my vision of American communism. There's two major elements to Marxism as I see it and neither the USSR nor the Chinese really addressed the alienation inherent in the capitalist exploitation of labor, nor the necessity for workers to seize the means of production. I'd do it with a ballot initiative, which would avoid the violence bothe the USSR and the Chinese resorted to.
All you need is an initiative declaring that wage slavery is in fact slavery as defined by the 14th Amendment and henceforth businesses and corporations in the state must operate as co-ops in which all workers are entitled to vote on all substantive issues. The initiative includes a bunch of rules explaining how co-ops run, labor rights and so on. There's no expropriation because the old businesses aren't worth anything anymore. Whoever owned the old businesses is entitled to the physical assets. I could explain my vision further but I would encourage everyone to ponder long and delightfully how they would like to see a society unfold in which their time at work was transformed from a dictatorship into a democratic cooperative.
I hadn't thought of it this way before! Obama proved it. He could have adopted single-payer medicine if he felt a strong counterforce in that direction. Instead he bailed out the bankers and adopted Romneycare. When the Republicans stupidly ran Romney himself against Romneycare, Obama won easily. It was a political win and a real loss for the country.
The WPA converted local politicians in the Plains just as TVA did in Tennessee. Local politicians were Republicans until the people gained the experience of building new courthouses, parks, roads, schools and irrigation systems. The pride and the product were unarguable.
Keep up these great teaching articles, Corbin. Voters need to be re-educated out of the anti-socialist propaganda and the fear it promulgates. Our first socialist president defined it as a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
While Corbin makes some great points, he keeps ignoring some important myths/fallacies that are core problems:
Myth: The reason for the failure of the USSR and other authoritarian systems (that claimed to be Socialist), is because they were "socialist."
Fact: The reasons all authoritarian systems eventually fail is because they're "authoritarian" (run by an individual, or a small group of individuals) who own and control most of the wealth. It is the wealth inequality that causes the failure.... not the "socialism," which actually opposes wealth inequality.
Myth: Socialism and Communism are forms of government, but Capitalism is only an economic system.
Fact: Both Socialism and Communism can be economic systems or forms of government, or both. And any form of government that embraces a Capitalist economic system always eventually becomes an authoritarian plutocracy due to Capitalism's innate generation of wealth inequality. So, with a capitalistic economy, whatever form of government is originally in place, over time, it will be purchased/bought off/corrupted by the wealthiest. That's what we now have in the US.
Myth: Democracy requires Capitalism.
Fact: Democracy is the antithesis of Capitalism. They cannot coexist because they are polar opposites. Democracy requires that every individual who is governed has an equal voice in how they are governed. Clearly, in a democracy, the majority would never vote for allowing some individuals to own most of the wealth, and others to exist in poverty. So in a democracy, the very basis of Capitalism is not acceptable, because Capitalism, by definition, preserves the right of any individual to accumulate unlimited wealth... no matter the resulting impoverishment of the majority.
Corbin Trent you are correct as usual, sir, and not because I have essentially argued the same thing in my commentary for Raw Story from one week ago today--Why is $30M of MAGA cash funding this Dem's [Haley Stevens] fight against her progressive [Abdul El-Sayed] rival?
We won't get anywhere in this country if we continue to fall for the red-baiting by reactionaries and "liberal" cowards. The most consistent champions of the labor, women's anti-racist, peace, anti-colonial and national liberation movements have been the communist and socialist parties around the world. Why is an unblemished record required of them when it is not required of our major parties in the "free world," let alone of our major religions? The exploiters and profiteers have always feared communist and socialist analyses of history and social forces because they expose the crimes and the weaknesses of an economic system that places the ever-richer haves over the have-nots.
Every democratic nation has Universal Healthcare and free education. That we are NOT a democracy was made absolutely incontestably clear by the Supreme Court decisions from 6/24/2024 through 7/1/2024. The most notorious of these being Trump v US; declaring that presidents have absolute immunity for acts committed as president within their core constitutional purview, at least presumptive immunity for official acts within the outer perimeter of their official responsibility. Justice Sotomayor in dissent noted that the President could order a Seal Team to kill an opponent; or really just anyone. So we can rest easy knowing that those 220ish people in small boats off Venezuela or Columbia were Murdered Legally!
Biden had that power for 6 months. I aborted my campaign (I was the D nominee in FL CD3) to argue that it would be far better that Biden's Seal Team ask the bloody 6 justices to resign - with removal of that fatal Precedent.
To my astonishment, an FDP team who'd developed a super efficient mass in-district email capability offered their services. I ordered 3 mailings. Made my first submission - pretty strong resemblance to the above. They cancelled my order declaring that I was a reputational hazard to the FDP. I was flattered - I adamantly oppose genocide, wars of choice, and the overthrow democracies - which is exactly what "our" Supreme Court has condoned.
I've been walking talking at many public events since July 2024, always opening with: 'The Supreme Court is our supreme problem', 99.9% stop and talk. Around the 30 days ago I finally found a facially un-Constitutional ruling where the 6 set a new record for brutality. In Mullin v Doe the Court held that the temporary protected status (TPS) statute bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims; ergo Mullin, the Head of Homeland Security - on his sole discretion - can terminate TPS. I suspect 14A wants a word here: Section 1: ". . . nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Relevance: State Attorney Generals in NY and GA had no trouble forcing Trump to appear, and then convicting him. The Constitutional precept that 'No One Is Above The Law' absolutely applies. I've lost track of what states ICE has killed folks in - match these up with determined State Attorney Generals and start indicting
There remains the problem of hundreds of un-Constitutional Precedents. I hope-trust-believe that the 3 un-indicted Justices can be convinced that 'Stare Decisis' (let the decision stand) must yield to 'let the Constitution Stand'
Those deposed Precedents include "Qualified Immunity", which in practice is the same as Absolute Immunity; all the crap about corporations being people or money being speech - it is Bribery.
Lastly: How do we fund elections? That is singular omission in the Constitution. It is understandable as no one until Andrew Jackson (#7) campaigned for President. Every registered voter gets a $200 FEC debit card. Candidate taking anything else? Well I'm open: disqualification? penalty fee?
Last Lastly: Ban, decommission all AI Data Centers: 1)Environmental issues are extreme: Water tables, CO2e. 2)I read today an article pointing out content bias 'in training' - which I had noticed and expected. MegaB'naires - the "1984" truism that she who controls the Present controls the Past - so controls the future. 3)China has won this market.
You may want to contribute your ideas regarding what we need to do to get "The Constitution We Need" instead of what's left of the one we now have......
The empire is collapsing, so the oligarchs must steal all they can while they can. Drumpof is just the standard-bearer, the hard chancre that appears while the spirochetes rot the whole body.
When I was in High School I found out about Socialism and have been one ever since. I knew that the current (the, to now) Athoritain forms were not the point. Meeting regular people's basic needs and allowing freedoms to try new things that works in the world for the future, were. Always a seer I attribute my vision to logic, a propensity to see things as they are and how they could be, and hope that people who love the world and others would see and plan along with me. I am now almost 60 years OUT of High School and am happy that increasing young people and old are joining us for positive change. The giant goddess of Justice is guiding our ways and you know that is happening by the panic among the wealthy and powerful as well as the need for business and corporations to try to exploit and instill fear at every turn, for working people. Hey, we are not stupid. Your kids get it and they won't buy it. Be honest and the truth is what wins, not the ones lulled to sleep by the status quo. Fortunately, the Wins benefit us all.
A strong party on the left might seem to be an improvement. But it would especially be an improvement if there continued to be a sane and healthy party on the right and perhaps a couple other parties on both sides. What we need is a more healthy number of political parties, not just two parties that roughly split the vote evenly in each election. That status quo makes it nearly certain that anyone in office will be opposed (an probably detested) by roughly half of the voters. That is no way to run a democracy.
The problem is far deeper than just having more parties. The core problem is that capitalism is embraced by both parties, and capitalism is the antithesis of democracy! Democracy requires that every individual who is governed has an equal voice in how they are governed. Clearly, in a real democracy, the majority would never vote for allowing some individuals to own most of the wealth, and others to exist in poverty. So in a democracy, the very basis of Capitalism is not acceptable, because Capitalism, by definition, preserves the right of any individual to accumulate unlimited wealth... no matter the resulting impoverishment of the majority. Unfortunately.... BOTH of our 2 major parties are owned by the wealthiest capitalists, so we have a plutocracy that will always sabotage any attempts to have a third party. I think we need to generate a new Constitution. Here is the link to some ideas for what it should include:
There are two distinct issues, one political and the other economic. My own feeling is that to expect any headway on economic issues we have to first make some changes in the political arena. Maybe you can suggest a way to get government, as we now know it, to reform or replace capitalism, but I cannot imagine a path for that to happen. I do see a path for improving out democracy, however, with no need to radically reform our economic system.
I grew up in the mid 20th century when the form of capitalism had been shaped by Roosevelt's New Deal into something that seemed to work pretty well. Taxes fell heavily on businesses and the very wealthy and not so much on what was then a thriving middle class. Workers were unionized and even businessmen seemed accept the importance of treating the public fairly.
It all worked pretty well until Reagan came to office. He broke up the unions and convinced the public that government was so bad that, it needed to be defunded, along with education and services for the public good. De-regulation took over, and it's mostly been downhill since then.
Given the political will we might work back to an economic system more like what we had in the post WW2 era; or perhaps we might try something radically different. With our current, top-down system of two ruling parties however, I have a hard time imagining anything remotely like that happening.
The capitalist system we had in the post WW II period is the same one we have now. It is just farther along in its inevitable transformation into plutocracy. The war and FDR only served to kick the can down the road/put off the inevitable until a later date. Now that the Billionaires own our government, there is no way they are going to allow their own taxes to be increased, or to cede power.
We need all working people to call a nationwide general strike demanding a complete overhaul of our Constitution and our governmental and economic systems to finally put an end to the longstanding, ever-increasing wealth transfer from workers who actually provide all the labor, to those who "let their money do all the work" while they just rake in the profits.
The capitalist system we had in the post WW II period is the same one we have now, EXCEPT THAT:
1. Taxes fell mostly on corporations and the very rich at that earlier time. Now the very rich are to a significant degree exempt from taxation.
2. Monopolies, in those earlier days were, with few exceptions broken up and those exceptions fell under strict government limitations on exercising their economic power. Large monopolistic corporations existed but unlike today they were in the minority. Locally owned and operated businesses were much more common then.
3. The fairness doctrine forced media to present both sides of controversial issues.
4. Unions were encouraged to be strong and to protect the rights of their members.
5. Congress was active and powerful; it had its faults, but it still exacted oversight of the executive and judicial branches.
My point is that all those exceptions were simply temporary because they did not address the underlying problem.... the problem that has allowed those exceptions to be dissolved. So until we rewrite our Constitution to disallow capitalism and any other means of generating wealth inequality, all of our "after-the-fact" efforts (if they are even doable now) will be only temporary measures that will rather rapidly be undone..... again!
Boom!
“I’d rather vote for something I want and don’t get it, than vote for something I don’t want and get it.” - Eugene Debs
“The fact that Eugene Debs, for instance, is either completely unknown or considered a kook by many who have merely overheard his name in bogus conversations about kooks and somebody like Theodore Roosevelt is immediately recognized and considered a hero for giving birth to both modern-day Imperialism and the Teddy Bear is truly indicative of a system deliberately structured to guarantee subordination of any group or class preferring social justice and pluralism over the politics of the Big Stick, state propaganda, and the sort of rugged individualism that discourages the formation of any organized form of self-government capable of nurturing a meaning of life unrelated to the stock market or the status quo.” - Mr. Fish
No politics but class politics.
"a system deliberately structured to guarantee subordination of any group or class preferring social justice and pluralism over the politics of the Big Stick, state propaganda, and the sort of rugged individualism. . ." Mr. Fish demonstrates why the waters of Earth teach its inhabitants how to self-regulate. Debs is a hero of mine, because he went to jail to stand behind an idea and a practice in the biological world of non-humans that worked amazingly well. The biggest fish in the world's waters is a vegetarian whale shark. The biggest mammals in the oceans are invertebrate-eating omnivores. Their food source is a few weeks removed from the plant-based diet that created it. Those who scream the loudest about freedom are the ones who deny it to others and cannot get beyond their own fears of it. So the alternative is to Self Gaslight, creating an internal Newspeak of propaganda that uses thousands of repetitive Big Lies to install mindless 'predation' of the very base of life. Self-gaslit, self-flagelation Stockholm Syndrome, self-addicted destructive habits that lead to suicide/genocide/speciesism. This is why the human animal acts completely crazy most of the time - it simply cannot get out of its own mental/emotional prison, so it has to kill off anything/anyone who is actually free of delusions.
I’ve often said that if my choice is to vote for a Socialist or a Nazi, I’m picking the Socialist every time.
This guy knows what he's talking about. However, we have even more deep rooted problems than just the Republican and Democrat parties; which are more alike than not; nor MAGA or DSA. I am old enough to remember the early days of JFK in the early 60's and my father who was considered maybe upper middle class paid a tax rate of about 78%; not the the top rate, but plenty; and he never complained because those taxes had helped put the new interstate highway system in place, build our new community state-of-the-art hospital, and yes, run electricity and phone service out to our very own little piece of the boondocks! And so it was up until about 1967. It was after the civil rights was passed in 1965 that so many started shutting their pocketbooks; even knowing full well that by doing so it would affect them poorly also. They just didn't want no people of color getting anything that they, the the white folks had worked for. And so we are where we are. That is why when we ask ourselves why do so many people vote for people who they know will enact policies that will negatively affect them. It is for this very basic and sad reason. They would rather have nothing themselves than give one red cent to a person of color to share. We have never overcome our original sin!! Even though we like to pat ourselves on the back and say we have; it is a lie. I have watched it play out and I am so greived. What this country really could have and accomplish if only we would overcome our prejudices!! We have allowed the extreme wealth inequality that has created the 1st trillionaire (how many 0's is that anyway!) all because we will take anything, do anything, be degraded by forces working against us; all to protect our personal biases. What a sad state we find ourselves in and I don't know if we can correct it at this point. It will take a whole lot more than an election or two, this is going to take changing a large portion of a country's deep rooted mind set. God help us!
Well... that's one factor. I'd also credit the long-term war waged by $ of the likes of Joseph Coors and his founding of the Heritage Foundation, and Charles Koch's CATO Institute with the success of unregulated capitalist authoritarianism. They didn't want a middle class. It was too expensive. They wanted a return to monopoly profits of unregulated extraction of the planet's resources, (which had been historic ruling norm, and always resulting in a boom then crash), but with the main robber barons growing fatter. Buying up the pieces for pennies on the dollar -- via disaster capitalism.
Hence, here we are again -- the authors of Projtct 2025 raping and pillaging us right off the climate change disaster cliff.
Simple answer here. Your children will stop paying taxes and supporting Military Wars. If the economy collapses around them, when that happens you as a family and they as connected people in your community, will carry on with life, business and culture, fun sadness and creative ventures, They will do this seeing how you do it now, helping those you can and recieving from thos who can give. Support living sustainably, in any way you can and learning to see and understand what is going on around you. Schools are incredibly important and connections made, can connect families to social nerworks they can rely on. This can be and is being cultivated now, in response to government and economic stress. Keep solutions going and connect with your peers and in neighborhoods. Togerher you become the lifesavers and the bearers of a positive future.
So who’s the true “communist”? Trump and Miller and the rest of the MAGGOTS who love Putin. Who admires North Korean military parades? Trump. Who gives a pass to Xi and China? Trump. Who has put oligarchs in control as in Russia? Trump. Who unabashedly profits from being in office, as Putin does? Trump!
Democrats, independents and democratic socialists need to call out the true ugly communists in DC—- Trump’s minions!
Every time Trump points his stubby fingers at someone, it’s a self-own. His new McCarthy campaign is a self-own!
One more time; Trump is a symptom of institutional rot, of political parties, academia, government, the church, etc, and the rot is extensive. Getting rid of the symptom does little to address the rot. Liberals need to clean/fix their house, otherwise, we continue to circle the drain.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/30/the-right-vs-the-right-conservative-liberals-in-the-age-of-trump/
The USSR was state capitalism. The state replaced the capitalist. The worker was just as fucked. China is more interesting. It's industrial capitalism, like the U.S. in the late 19th century, except the state treats banking and capital as a public utility, to be used for the greatest good but kept under party control, definitely away from businessmen. There's an element of industrial capitalism that Americans confuse with socialism, and Republican types are either too dumb to understand it or all too happy to let people identify it as socialism. That is, in industrial capitalism, you want people's labor to be as cheap as possible on the international market, so you do everything you can to reduce their cost of living. Ideally, the government provides workers with free everything. People assume socialism does that regardless of how uncompetitive it makes workers in the world labor market. In much of Europe, it does. But in a world where workers of the world still compete against each other in different markets, there are very good reasons why you want to keep monopolies and other economic parasites out of your economy.
Which is, truth be told, not capitalism and not competition at all. The rust and corrosion of 'words and memes' as reality has buried humanity in its own filth. Huamans either solve problems to make life safer and less painful, or they modify problems selfishly to avoid the work needed to solve them. That 'work' is labeled competition but is actually sacrifice of what is desperate panic, to gain a balanced and workable life that involves cooperation. Socialism, and the core element of communism, is community, a big community in which all beings sacrifice more or less equally, depending upon contexts, so that every being gets most of what it needs to find harmony. Harmony is what the planet is running on, not always a smooth ride, but at least a ride that does not crash and burn every 15 seconds, which is what humanity is bound to do via its massive addicitons, the biggest being Fear of Death. The only completely unavoidable, un-conquerable, un-deniable truth in all of biotic life. But that fear is unfounded. Life never dies, it just changes energies to adapt to the changes that the solar system forces, because it too is changing constantly. Go With The Flow, stop killing, and stop breeding like you are cancer cell. Both are insane, and solve nothing.
I wanted to finish my little thought experiment before I read your comment. I hope my final product met with your approval.
It got a little late last night before I could put forth my vision of American communism. There's two major elements to Marxism as I see it and neither the USSR nor the Chinese really addressed the alienation inherent in the capitalist exploitation of labor, nor the necessity for workers to seize the means of production. I'd do it with a ballot initiative, which would avoid the violence bothe the USSR and the Chinese resorted to.
All you need is an initiative declaring that wage slavery is in fact slavery as defined by the 14th Amendment and henceforth businesses and corporations in the state must operate as co-ops in which all workers are entitled to vote on all substantive issues. The initiative includes a bunch of rules explaining how co-ops run, labor rights and so on. There's no expropriation because the old businesses aren't worth anything anymore. Whoever owned the old businesses is entitled to the physical assets. I could explain my vision further but I would encourage everyone to ponder long and delightfully how they would like to see a society unfold in which their time at work was transformed from a dictatorship into a democratic cooperative.
I hadn't thought of it this way before! Obama proved it. He could have adopted single-payer medicine if he felt a strong counterforce in that direction. Instead he bailed out the bankers and adopted Romneycare. When the Republicans stupidly ran Romney himself against Romneycare, Obama won easily. It was a political win and a real loss for the country.
The WPA converted local politicians in the Plains just as TVA did in Tennessee. Local politicians were Republicans until the people gained the experience of building new courthouses, parks, roads, schools and irrigation systems. The pride and the product were unarguable.
Keep up these great teaching articles, Corbin. Voters need to be re-educated out of the anti-socialist propaganda and the fear it promulgates. Our first socialist president defined it as a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
While Corbin makes some great points, he keeps ignoring some important myths/fallacies that are core problems:
Myth: The reason for the failure of the USSR and other authoritarian systems (that claimed to be Socialist), is because they were "socialist."
Fact: The reasons all authoritarian systems eventually fail is because they're "authoritarian" (run by an individual, or a small group of individuals) who own and control most of the wealth. It is the wealth inequality that causes the failure.... not the "socialism," which actually opposes wealth inequality.
Myth: Socialism and Communism are forms of government, but Capitalism is only an economic system.
Fact: Both Socialism and Communism can be economic systems or forms of government, or both. And any form of government that embraces a Capitalist economic system always eventually becomes an authoritarian plutocracy due to Capitalism's innate generation of wealth inequality. So, with a capitalistic economy, whatever form of government is originally in place, over time, it will be purchased/bought off/corrupted by the wealthiest. That's what we now have in the US.
Myth: Democracy requires Capitalism.
Fact: Democracy is the antithesis of Capitalism. They cannot coexist because they are polar opposites. Democracy requires that every individual who is governed has an equal voice in how they are governed. Clearly, in a democracy, the majority would never vote for allowing some individuals to own most of the wealth, and others to exist in poverty. So in a democracy, the very basis of Capitalism is not acceptable, because Capitalism, by definition, preserves the right of any individual to accumulate unlimited wealth... no matter the resulting impoverishment of the majority.
Corbin Trent you are correct as usual, sir, and not because I have essentially argued the same thing in my commentary for Raw Story from one week ago today--Why is $30M of MAGA cash funding this Dem's [Haley Stevens] fight against her progressive [Abdul El-Sayed] rival?
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/haley-stevens/.
We won't get anywhere in this country if we continue to fall for the red-baiting by reactionaries and "liberal" cowards. The most consistent champions of the labor, women's anti-racist, peace, anti-colonial and national liberation movements have been the communist and socialist parties around the world. Why is an unblemished record required of them when it is not required of our major parties in the "free world," let alone of our major religions? The exploiters and profiteers have always feared communist and socialist analyses of history and social forces because they expose the crimes and the weaknesses of an economic system that places the ever-richer haves over the have-nots.
Competition accomplishes division. Cooperation achieves goals.
Every democratic nation has Universal Healthcare and free education. That we are NOT a democracy was made absolutely incontestably clear by the Supreme Court decisions from 6/24/2024 through 7/1/2024. The most notorious of these being Trump v US; declaring that presidents have absolute immunity for acts committed as president within their core constitutional purview, at least presumptive immunity for official acts within the outer perimeter of their official responsibility. Justice Sotomayor in dissent noted that the President could order a Seal Team to kill an opponent; or really just anyone. So we can rest easy knowing that those 220ish people in small boats off Venezuela or Columbia were Murdered Legally!
Biden had that power for 6 months. I aborted my campaign (I was the D nominee in FL CD3) to argue that it would be far better that Biden's Seal Team ask the bloody 6 justices to resign - with removal of that fatal Precedent.
To my astonishment, an FDP team who'd developed a super efficient mass in-district email capability offered their services. I ordered 3 mailings. Made my first submission - pretty strong resemblance to the above. They cancelled my order declaring that I was a reputational hazard to the FDP. I was flattered - I adamantly oppose genocide, wars of choice, and the overthrow democracies - which is exactly what "our" Supreme Court has condoned.
I've been walking talking at many public events since July 2024, always opening with: 'The Supreme Court is our supreme problem', 99.9% stop and talk. Around the 30 days ago I finally found a facially un-Constitutional ruling where the 6 set a new record for brutality. In Mullin v Doe the Court held that the temporary protected status (TPS) statute bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims; ergo Mullin, the Head of Homeland Security - on his sole discretion - can terminate TPS. I suspect 14A wants a word here: Section 1: ". . . nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Relevance: State Attorney Generals in NY and GA had no trouble forcing Trump to appear, and then convicting him. The Constitutional precept that 'No One Is Above The Law' absolutely applies. I've lost track of what states ICE has killed folks in - match these up with determined State Attorney Generals and start indicting
There remains the problem of hundreds of un-Constitutional Precedents. I hope-trust-believe that the 3 un-indicted Justices can be convinced that 'Stare Decisis' (let the decision stand) must yield to 'let the Constitution Stand'
Those deposed Precedents include "Qualified Immunity", which in practice is the same as Absolute Immunity; all the crap about corporations being people or money being speech - it is Bribery.
Lastly: How do we fund elections? That is singular omission in the Constitution. It is understandable as no one until Andrew Jackson (#7) campaigned for President. Every registered voter gets a $200 FEC debit card. Candidate taking anything else? Well I'm open: disqualification? penalty fee?
Last Lastly: Ban, decommission all AI Data Centers: 1)Environmental issues are extreme: Water tables, CO2e. 2)I read today an article pointing out content bias 'in training' - which I had noticed and expected. MegaB'naires - the "1984" truism that she who controls the Present controls the Past - so controls the future. 3)China has won this market.
Peace
You may want to contribute your ideas regarding what we need to do to get "The Constitution We Need" instead of what's left of the one we now have......
https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/0114e5ee-58d3-46af-b205-e8eb4b527f7f?
The empire is collapsing, so the oligarchs must steal all they can while they can. Drumpof is just the standard-bearer, the hard chancre that appears while the spirochetes rot the whole body.
When I was in High School I found out about Socialism and have been one ever since. I knew that the current (the, to now) Athoritain forms were not the point. Meeting regular people's basic needs and allowing freedoms to try new things that works in the world for the future, were. Always a seer I attribute my vision to logic, a propensity to see things as they are and how they could be, and hope that people who love the world and others would see and plan along with me. I am now almost 60 years OUT of High School and am happy that increasing young people and old are joining us for positive change. The giant goddess of Justice is guiding our ways and you know that is happening by the panic among the wealthy and powerful as well as the need for business and corporations to try to exploit and instill fear at every turn, for working people. Hey, we are not stupid. Your kids get it and they won't buy it. Be honest and the truth is what wins, not the ones lulled to sleep by the status quo. Fortunately, the Wins benefit us all.
I couldn't agree more. On top of that, the time for incrementalism is over. We do not need more status quo democratic so-called leadership.
A strong party on the left might seem to be an improvement. But it would especially be an improvement if there continued to be a sane and healthy party on the right and perhaps a couple other parties on both sides. What we need is a more healthy number of political parties, not just two parties that roughly split the vote evenly in each election. That status quo makes it nearly certain that anyone in office will be opposed (an probably detested) by roughly half of the voters. That is no way to run a democracy.
https://www.opednews.com/articles/What-is-so-Special-about-B-Approval_Balanced-Voting_Voting_Voting-Machines-241208-232.html
The problem is far deeper than just having more parties. The core problem is that capitalism is embraced by both parties, and capitalism is the antithesis of democracy! Democracy requires that every individual who is governed has an equal voice in how they are governed. Clearly, in a real democracy, the majority would never vote for allowing some individuals to own most of the wealth, and others to exist in poverty. So in a democracy, the very basis of Capitalism is not acceptable, because Capitalism, by definition, preserves the right of any individual to accumulate unlimited wealth... no matter the resulting impoverishment of the majority. Unfortunately.... BOTH of our 2 major parties are owned by the wealthiest capitalists, so we have a plutocracy that will always sabotage any attempts to have a third party. I think we need to generate a new Constitution. Here is the link to some ideas for what it should include:
https://democraticconstitutionblog.substack.com/p/0114e5ee-58d3-46af-b205-e8eb4b527f7f?
There are two distinct issues, one political and the other economic. My own feeling is that to expect any headway on economic issues we have to first make some changes in the political arena. Maybe you can suggest a way to get government, as we now know it, to reform or replace capitalism, but I cannot imagine a path for that to happen. I do see a path for improving out democracy, however, with no need to radically reform our economic system.
I grew up in the mid 20th century when the form of capitalism had been shaped by Roosevelt's New Deal into something that seemed to work pretty well. Taxes fell heavily on businesses and the very wealthy and not so much on what was then a thriving middle class. Workers were unionized and even businessmen seemed accept the importance of treating the public fairly.
It all worked pretty well until Reagan came to office. He broke up the unions and convinced the public that government was so bad that, it needed to be defunded, along with education and services for the public good. De-regulation took over, and it's mostly been downhill since then.
Given the political will we might work back to an economic system more like what we had in the post WW2 era; or perhaps we might try something radically different. With our current, top-down system of two ruling parties however, I have a hard time imagining anything remotely like that happening.
The capitalist system we had in the post WW II period is the same one we have now. It is just farther along in its inevitable transformation into plutocracy. The war and FDR only served to kick the can down the road/put off the inevitable until a later date. Now that the Billionaires own our government, there is no way they are going to allow their own taxes to be increased, or to cede power.
We need all working people to call a nationwide general strike demanding a complete overhaul of our Constitution and our governmental and economic systems to finally put an end to the longstanding, ever-increasing wealth transfer from workers who actually provide all the labor, to those who "let their money do all the work" while they just rake in the profits.
The capitalist system we had in the post WW II period is the same one we have now, EXCEPT THAT:
1. Taxes fell mostly on corporations and the very rich at that earlier time. Now the very rich are to a significant degree exempt from taxation.
2. Monopolies, in those earlier days were, with few exceptions broken up and those exceptions fell under strict government limitations on exercising their economic power. Large monopolistic corporations existed but unlike today they were in the minority. Locally owned and operated businesses were much more common then.
3. The fairness doctrine forced media to present both sides of controversial issues.
4. Unions were encouraged to be strong and to protect the rights of their members.
5. Congress was active and powerful; it had its faults, but it still exacted oversight of the executive and judicial branches.
My point is that all those exceptions were simply temporary because they did not address the underlying problem.... the problem that has allowed those exceptions to be dissolved. So until we rewrite our Constitution to disallow capitalism and any other means of generating wealth inequality, all of our "after-the-fact" efforts (if they are even doable now) will be only temporary measures that will rather rapidly be undone..... again!
Good luck with that.