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Inequality and the rise of Authoritarianism


Jamie_B

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I had been predicting some sort of mass movement like the labor movement since 2008, I never had this on my radar but I am not entirely unsurprised by it either. Still hopeful that out of it some sort of new labor movement can happen. This is long but its very well worth listening to.

 

https://www.cfr.org/event/inequality-and-rise-authoritarianism

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All those "Right to Work" laws have had a few years to fuck people over.  Trump fucked himself by aligning with all the "White Par" inbreds.  He's isolated now & losing what little political capital he had.  When you try to pass yourself off as the authority figure and can't get shit done you just look like a blow-hard, & that's him exactly.  Who still respects this guy, even among his supporters? Labor, community, civil rights groups etc are all exploding. Moderate Republicans are a thing again! The fight is by no means over but at least it looks as if there's going to be one. 

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18 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

All those "Right to Work" laws have had a few years to fuck people over.  Trump fucked himself by aligning with all the "White Par" inbreds.  He's isolated now & losing what little political capital he had.  When you try to pass yourself off as the authority figure and can't get shit done you just look like a blow-hard, & that's him exactly.  Who still respects this guy, even among his supporters? Labor, community, civil rights groups etc are all exploding. Moderate Republicans are a thing again! The fight is by no means over but at least it looks as if there's going to be one. 

 

You have more faith in the idea of Moderate Republicans than I do.
 

 

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23 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

 

You have more faith in the idea of Moderate Republicans than I do.
 

 

 

"Faith" might be a stretch but I'm still happy to see some of them speaking out, even if it's just positioning.  It's certainly not hard to look like a moderate when compared to a crass, petulant loudmouthed man-child.

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2 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

Lol @ Jeb! That was one sad campaign. 

 

Just curious, Jamie: any such thing as a "moderate" Democrat? At least one who is talking? 

 

I would suggest Obama is moderate. 

 

I'm a Sanders/Warren guy, so for me Obama is pretty moderate. 

In fact had Romney chosen anyone other than Paul Ryan I wasn't gonna vote for Obama the 2nd time.

 

And I didn't vote for Hillary thats for sure.

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Moderates can't get elected in most districts because they are all drawn up for one party to win.

 

When the competition is just between people of the same party (which is the case where I live and many other places) then the most extreme candidate usually wins.  Moderates can't win because they are painted as being too much like "the other side".

 

I wish more seats in the House were "at-large" instead of coming from gerrymandered districts.  More moderates would have a chance.  

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I agree that Gerrymandering is a problem and I like what Ohio did this past election to address it

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/05/ohio_redistricting_reform_amen.html

 

But I'm not entirely of the belief that moderates would do what we need to do to break the backs of those that are causing the inequality issues.

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What we need is some sort of viable third party or parties.  They don't have to be big powerful parties have to be big.  Even 5 to 10 percent of the seats in Congress would keep one party from having a majority.  This would be enough to force the two major parties to make some concessions and form temporary alliances with a third party (parties) in order to get specific bills passed.

 

But it is impossible for any third party to gain traction in the current system.  The big 2 control all the money.  It would take going to publicly funded elections to give any small party a chance.

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On 8/23/2017 at 8:56 PM, Jamie_B said:

I would suggest Obama is moderate. 

 

I'm a Sanders/Warren guy, so for me Obama is pretty moderate. 

In fact had Romney chosen anyone other than Paul Ryan I wasn't gonna vote for Obama the 2nd time.

 

And I didn't vote for Hillary thats for sure.

People like you are why we got dumbass.

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Just now, kennethmw said:

Actually, the simpleton is the moron you see in the mirror.

Let me guess Hillary's book blaming Bernie came out and because you can't think for yourself you're here to rehash why she lost. Essentially taking no responsibility for it herself or the Democratic party at large for abandoning their core principles as the party of the working class and becoming Neoliberal themselves. 

 

Nope none of that it's all Bernie and his people's fault. 

 

Does that about recap it Kenny?

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3 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

Let me guess Hillary's book blaming Bernie came out and because you can't think for yourself you're here to rehash why she lost. Essentially taking no responsibility for it herself or the Democratic party at large for abandoning their core principles as the party of the working class and becoming Neoliberal themselves. 

 

Nope none of that it's all Bernie and his people's fault. 

 

Does that about recap it Kenny?

No, Dumbass, that doesn't recap it.  Only one of two people could win.  You could vote for someone that might not move past the status quo much, or a fucking nightmare, and your dumbass said "SQUIRREL"!  That's the recap, Jamie.

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Just now, kennethmw said:

No, Dumbass, that doesn't recap it.  Only one of two people could win.  You could vote for someone that might not move past the status quo much, or a fucking nightmare, and your dumbass said "SQUIRREL"!  That's the recap, Jamie.

Maybe you haven't been paying attention (you haven't) but the status quo wasn't acceptable anymore from either side. 

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3 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

Maybe you haven't been paying attention (you haven't) but the status quo wasn't acceptable anymore from either side. 

Well then, maybe you should stop bitching about "Not Status Quo", just because it isn't the "Not Status Quo" you wanted.  Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Helen Keller could see what this "Not Status Quo" was going to be.  

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Just now, kennethmw said:

Well then, maybe you should stop bitching about "Not Status Quo", just because it isn't the "Not Status Quo" you wanted.  Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Helen Keller could see what this "Not Status Quo" was going to be.  

Me and a whole bunch of other people didnt want it either. 

 

 

Oh and for the record I voted Stein in a state that Clinton won, so no you are mathematically wrong (and wrong in so many other ways) when you try to pin it on me.

 

But hey we could have just had the status quo and not addressed any of our problems....you know like many in the Dem Party want to go back to that good ole status quo ....that has lost them election after election going even further than Trump, and eventually someone who is even more of a Fascist than Trump is...but isnt as big of a dumbass would be even more dangerous.

 

But hey I supposed those who want to keep their heads up their ass, and not address the deeper underlying issues instead of whining about "you only had 2 choices" clearly think the snitch of the status quo isnt as smelly as their farts.

 

TL;DR? Get fucked.

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I would hazard to guess that more Trump voters were disgusted by Clinton corruption & Hillary's smug sense of entitlement than particularly fond of Trump as a candidate.  I also think a lot of younger people, first-time voters especially, voted for Trump because they thought it would be funny to elect an unhinged Internet Troll.

 

In other words, privileged enough to overlook his rabid bigotry and racism because it didn't threaten them personally.

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I don't discount that there is a segment of his voters that are outright racist, as are there a segment of his voters (and those of us who voted 3rd party) who don't like Clinton (and with good reason) 

 

But I urge folks to not throw away the idea that inequality has played a huge role in the rise of totalitarian authoritarianism, and not just in the US but all over the world. This has always been a problem, I might argue that the sanctions against a war torn Germany post WW1 aided in the rise of Hitler. 

 

We are witnessing the rise of global authoritarianism on a chilling scale

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59 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

I don't discount that there is a segment of his voters that are outright racist, as are there a segment of his voters (and those of us who voted 3rd party) who don't like Clinton (and with good reason) 

 

But I urge folks to not throw away the idea that inequality has played a huge role in the rise of totalitarian authoritarianism, and not just in the US but all over the world. This has always been a problem, I might argue that the sanctions against a war torn Germany post WW1 aided in the rise of Hitler. 

 

We are witnessing the rise of global authoritarianism on a chilling scale

 

It was a problem pre-Trump and will continue to be post-Trump.  I don't think we elect-a-President our way out of that one.

 

What I find interesting is that so many people have so little faith in the process that they voted for someone for laughs.

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Just now, T-Dub said:

 

It was a problem pre-Trump and will continue to be post-Trump.  I don't think we elect-a-President our way out of that one.

 

What I find interesting is that so many people have so little faith in the process that they voted for someone for laughs.

Oh yeah Trump ain't fixing our problems. :lol:

 

I can't say I've ever run across someone who voted for him because it would be funny to watch him troll. 

I know there are people who like him because he makes liberals angry and they get their jollies off that, country be damned, but I've never seen anyone who has voted for him because of that.

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On 9/5/2017 at 9:53 PM, kennethmw said:

People like you are why we got dumbass.

Ken, if you are not familiar with Paul Street, I'd like to introduce him. He's my kind of writer/activist: tough, confounding, and challenging. Not a huge fan of politics-as-usual, nor a Bernie fan. A lot of the time I find myself disagreeing with him--but I wouldn't miss what he has to say. This piece, released today, suggest why many folks, including myself, refused to vote for Clinton. Should I feel bad about accusations that it is "my fault" that we have Trump now because of the way I cast my vote? No. Quite the contrary. First, it isn't true. Second, the Democrats selected the wrong candidate. Trump should have been defeated but "my team"--the one I've voted for consistently since Jimmy Carter--was so fucked up that they put up a candidate that was even worse than Trump.

 

So, I also voted for Stein. "We came, We saw, He died" was just a bridge too far for me. I don't feel personally responsible in the slightest, though I do feel bad for the populace as a whole.

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18 minutes ago, Homer_Rice said:

 

So, I also voted for Stein. "We came, We saw, He died" was just a bridge too far for me. I don't feel personally responsible in the slightest, though I do feel bad for the populace as a whole.

 

Hillary & the DNC lost that election through their own malfeasance.  

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