My vision of C99P
Unlike a certain web site, which claims that a militaristic neoliberal is a "progressive", C99P actually is reality based.
In that spirit, I'm going to state the obvious: Bernie's chances have gotten pretty slim.
As far as I'm concerned, a candidate's chances have absolutely nothing to do with the decision of whether you should vote for him/her or not. Personally, I almost always vote for someone who is obviously going to lose.
But don't try to sell me with the "rah, rah" stuff. Let's keep it real.
If you came to C99P just for the Bernie campaign I would just like to say, "Thanks for visiting. I hope you are enjoying your temporary stay."
The same is true if you came only because you were mad at Markos.
This essay is for everyone else.
While it's cool to check out a new site, I'm trying to make C99P my new blog home.
That's why all the 2-sentence essays are starting to get annoying. I consider them the blog equivalent of "tagging".
If you are seriously fed up with GOS, and you want C99P to be your new blog home, then put some effort into your essays.
I've seen the list of user names. Pretty much everyone here is capable of making wonderful essays, and has a history of doing so.
So just do it! This place can be special with a little bit of work.
My idea of C99P is a place for sharing cutting-edge leftist thought, with no allegiance to a political party.
I cherish values and ideologies, not team uniforms.
If you feel differently then let me know, because then I'm under the wrong impression about C99P.
It's obvious that most Democrats simply aren't ready to revolt against the establishment like Republicans are doing.
But that will change in the next four years, because we are about to elect one of the most unpopular presidents in American history, and it will only keep getting worse. (for reasons of both recession and imperial overstretch)
GOS is going to look more and more out-of-touch and hysterical as the years go by, and Hillary becomes hated by almost everyone.
So this place needs to be more than just an "I hate GOS" blog.
It needs to have its own identity.
This site IMHO needs to expand the Overton Window, and challenge assumptions.
Assumptions like, we have to be at war with bad guys everywhere.
Assumptions like, we have to accept whatever our ruling elites will allow us because its "pragmatic".
Anyway, give me some feedback. I'm curious what everyone else thinks.
Comments
As long as we talk about sports, everything will be fine.
Politics are just too depressing anymore.
SF Giants baby
2010, 2012, 2014, 2016
I was thinking the NCAA wrestling championships
this weekend. Penn State looks like a lock, but NC State could make some noise.
Its all about Bracketology
The tournament.
Yeah baby!
Chicago Cubs...
1908.
Woke up this morning
still depressed at what happened, I think his path to the nomination is pretty-much over, however, I felt incredible pride and joy that a democratic-socialist message is still available to push, the fight is far from over.
Just wish it could have been Bernie ya know... I really trust him.
Sigh.
Progressive to the bone.
Bernie
Bernie has never doubted for a moment that this would be a herculean task. His objectives for this run have been at least these:
1) wake up the American voter (And damn he woke up the millennials and has been able to bring in activists from several different movements.)
2) create new activists and a new connection for those activists. (I am on the outside of this and I have no idea how successful this is, but looking at his spokes people and the people who have stepped up to do ads I suspect that he HAS been successful at this and we will see it bear fruit in the next decade. BUT we have to create the space for these activists to do their thing.)
3) bring the issues to the forefront and screw the personality stuff. (The media has given tons of free press to the Donald just because of this and DAMN the media hates talking about the issues. They will talk about ANYTHING other than the issues. Partly because they are always monitoring ratings and they feel that policy stuff and issues are BORING! So this has been a so so win by Bernie. They put him on and he talks about the issues for as long as he gets in between some kind of personality game they got going or some kinds of gotcha game.)
I went to bed depressed and woke up kinda dizzy because of a sinus overload and decided I would wait and see what to think about those races. I mean I know they are losses to our side and I know they auger more pressure for Bernie to quit. But we still have races coming up and we still need to jerk Hill to the left (she keeps moving back to the right as fast as she can dammit.) So I decided after a bit that Bernie got into this for us and I want to have his back so I made yet another donation. (Not the answer to the problem but a signal that I do so appreciate his YUUUUGE effort and energy he has put into this. I know it has taken their team a time to decide what they want to do as well cause they weren't quick out of the chute with an email on the subject. And I cannot fault them for that.
glitterscale
Agreed
and to be clear I don't think his campaign is over. That work continues, as do my donations!
Edited to add: The fact that the nation, now has a progressive leader, even though he's 74, is also yuuuge. We've needed one of those as well.
Progressive to the bone.
It appears to be a Bernie Sanders/Democratic party blog
to me, at least now it does. Seems most of the new people are from Daily Kos and since then it's been all Bernie all the time. And to me, that definitely means the Democratic party. It's either about Clinton, Sanders or Trump and it appears it will stay that way until the election is over.
Right now it feels useless to me to write diaries about the issues I favor (antiwar, anti-imperialism, Peace) as the reception is basically the same I got on DK before being banned and they scroll so quickly down the list now that it doesn't seem worthwhile.
I'm afraid I won't be able to participate much if it stays like this.
Big Al, come on man. Make it what you want it to be.
You have the power! Take off your editor hat and get to writing essays that you want to read.
I agree
Please help me with additional information and knowledge on various other important matters. I admit that I stupid and need help, please do not stop helping the uniformed.
Power to the People.
I love that saying. Maybe I'll write one on that, Power to the People. Which is what we still need or nothing else matters.
I'm sure this is just a phase, the timing and all of the DK purge and the culmination of the primaries. I think what g has written is good, it's important to clarify goals and agendas.
I disagree...
I think that anti-war, anti-imperialism is a big part of the focus of this election, and the more voices heard from the better.
Yes, at least until the primaries are over a huge part of any progressive blog is going to be about that election because it will help define the direction that will be taken in going forward. Your topics are important to that conversation.
Do the topics slide out of view too soon? Most likely. Not as bad as DK, but it could use some work so new stories are given at least a full day to be digested and responded to. One of my main disagreements with mass media is that information goes by so fast that there is little to no time to reflect on it.
Maybe, there could be a new category in the list (currently on the right side of the window). E.g., Today's/New Articles--the current Community Content--and a second listing of articles that are currently still generating discussion.
My 2 cents.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
That's not what I see. Not necessarily here but
with Bernie supporters in general I'm seeing a lot of selling out and rationalizing regarding Bernie's foreign policy stances. Not to mention ignorance and outright silence. I've seen comments over and over about how Sanders can't talk about the MIC or can't talk about U.S. imperialism because then he wouldn't get elected, or it would hurt his chances. While he can talk about Wall St, wealth inequality, billionaires, which are basically all in the same food group.
I've seen rationalizations admitting that while Sanders is an imperialist, he at least is saying the right things about the economy and such and the "revolution" will eventually lead us to the antiwar promise land.
I'm not buying it. I think it's the same syndrome that left the antiwar movement in tatters after the protests against the Iraq war and especially after Obama took office. Now I'm seeing Move on and others want to protest Trump which is in effect forcing them to help Clinton, or Sanders if he somehow pulls it out. There's no talk about the wars and the killing.
I will admit...
that I have not thoroughly checked into Sanders regarding war issues, I do know that his is anti-US imperialism. He stated as much at the debate from Telemundo when they showed the tiniest bit of a clip that made it look like he supported Castro. The "journalists" claimed he did not answer the question. He did, in fact, answer. The entire clip was a denouncement of US interventionism, regime change and imperialism.
In case you have not seen it:
[video:https://youtu.be/f1xrAv9cMqI]
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
No he is not anti-imperialist.
He has said some of the right things about the past, particularly in Latin America, but currently he supports the false narratives and lies concerning the use of the U.S. military, the Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya wars, the War OF Terror and the supposed war against ISIS. He's stated the state sponsor of terrorism, Saudi Arabia, should get it's hands even more dirty. He's said we have to "do something" about Putin's aggression, etc. He's also supported the MIC with the F35 in his state of Vermont. He's voted to remove Gaddafi in Libya. Not to mention his support for Israeli apartheid. What it shows is he is on board with U.S. imperialism. He's basically another Obama, different from the neocons, and Clinton, but an imperialist nonetheless.
There's no doubt that under Sanders the show would go on.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/16/sand-n16.html
I am a bit short of time...
and would like to explore this further. I do tend to agree that attacking the MIC in full force would not set well in the GE. That they are the "basically all in the same food group" with Wall St. etc. is not evident when it comes to much of the electorate. Many really do not see the connections. Most see military-industry jobs-network and not the corporations and their interests.
The F35 was not a vote. It was military spending. Was Sanders supposed to turn down jobs for the state he represents for something that was going to be built anyway? Does it really equate with how he would act as president especially in light of his policy of reducing waste in military spending?
I am not sue what Sanders can say against US American involvements that are already in progress. He fervently supports our troops and has voted funding for them.
As for Libya, please see Hillary Clinton says Bernie Sanders voted for regime change in Libya.
What support for Israeli apartheid?? Generally he is pretty quiet about Israel which is understandable as most US Americans still tend to support the state. However, his position is made clear, I think, by his actions and words:
So, I tend to disagree with your conclusion regarding Sanders not being anti-imperialism. For someone who is short of time, it does not stop me from being wordy. = )
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Sanders has several times objected to our ME destabilization
He's said that all our interventions there have had disastrous results.
If we can get rid of the 2-sentence essays
then things won't scroll so fast. That's part of the solution.
We just need to start telling people "Come on man. Give it some more effort."
good point
If you have an idea expand on it. Support it.
Otherwise 2-sentence does not a blog post make .... comment yes. Blog post? Not so much.
That existed at the Big Orange as well
How many diaries were all about primaries, sHillary, tRump ... they occupied once post after another. Why? Because its current topic. They had a large group of contributors and many would get lost in the fray.
What a perfect place to post something other than Democratic primaries? Open up the possibilities to define content on c99
Long before I fled...
DK, I had been in the process during the last two months of looking for another forum that was not toxic to free speech and ideas. I had been going through the list at The Best Liberal Blogs Online but I found most of the listed sites to be not very helpful in terms of what I was looking for. I have bookmarked a number of them as alternate news sources though. I would suggest that someone from here list this site so it can attract people of like mind.
When the censorship landed at DK, I decided that I would have to go it alone as I hadn't found a good open place to discuss ideas as yet. Right before I left, I found the link for c99 and a link to a place that was organizing as a reaction to Kos' statements. I have since left the other place as they too decided that censorship was needed to stifle any discussion that they saw deviated from specifically getting Sanders elected. I see c99 as a keeper.
I have been more than happy to see conversations here that while inclusive of the campaign (it is a huge issue at this time) also are a platform for expanding on and studying issues. I do not go to DK at all any more. While some of my favorite people are still posting there and others feel it necessary to support them, I do not. They made their choice to continue shouting at the deaf. I made mine. Everyone is free to make their own choice, but it would be nice if that choice is not foisted on those of us who have chosen otherwise.
For me, I will not be going back there after the election is over either, so I pretty much ignore the stories here that want to send me there. I am hoping that after the anger and angst wears off that the memory of DK will be relegated to the "Lessons Learned" pile and everyone can move on.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Daily Kos went from supporting OWS to supporting candidates who
voted for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. The place is an absolute farce now.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho
so some of us left GOS in advance of Markos' edict
b/c we saw the writing on the wall. That doesn't mean that's the only reason we left. Ditto for being a bernie supporter. People leave and come here for a host of reasons and it's all (so far) good. There has been no limitation of speech, I can say I will never vote for $hillary w/o being banned, etc.
I hope and thing the site will evolve and grow and will keep it's progressive C99 timbre in tact.
Don't believe everything you think.
Yes, we should focus on issues, principles, and goals
We only need to basically agree on higher-level goals, though. And agreement is best reached through open respectful (if sometimes heated) discussion. Lower level, more specific, goals could change with conditions, and could also be developed through discussion. Then implementation and tactics would follow, for more discussion.
It's interesting that the basic Permaculture principles are Self Care, Earth Care, and People Care. Sounds like that might also be us.
I really do love the lack of hostility here. No ad hoc attacks so far.
Pages