The Biden campaign is achieving its intended objectives.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 9:01pm

Witness, for example, this gem from the Nation magazine:

An Open Letter to the New New Left From the Old New Left

All these old luminaries from the SDS, the Students for a Democratic Society, the premier organization for the antiwar Left in the Sixties, are now arguing not only that we vote, but also that we campaign, for Joe Biden.

Some of us think “endorsing” Joe Biden is a step too far; but we who now write this open letter all know that we must work hard to elect him. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment.

We can do it! The Left can save society from the Republicans by electing those who can't! I am waiting for the stay-at-home period to end so that all of the old Sixties radicals can at last move to swing states to campaign for Joe Biden, only to find that Joe Biden's campaign doesn't want them, and that they have very little to say in favor of Joe Biden except that he's not Donald Trump.

Oh and love the reference to Hitler. They said:

We were mindful then of the cataclysm that befell German democracy when socialists and communists fought each other—to death—as Hitler snuck by and then murdered them all.

So dramatic! Indeed, a few months before Hitler's appointment, the SPD and the KPD were given a chance to form a coalition government. They refused, because the SPD had sold out to the capitalists whereas the KPD was taking orders from Stalin. Today nobody is taking orders from Stalin whereas a lot of people are selling out to capitalists. So there should be no problem. When Joe Biden is elected thanks to the intervention of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, the former SDS members can give the resultant government their blessings while a Citigroup executive forms his cabinet for him.

Oh, and do you remember how Hitler attained power? He was appointed Chancellor of Germany on 30 January of 1933, by Paul von Hindenburg. This occurred nine months after von Hindenburg won an election, running as the lesser-evil "capitalist democrat" candidate against Hitler the "protofascist." Fortunately the lesser-evil candidate won that election, and Germany was in safe hands.

The letter continues:

Now we fear that some on the left cannot see the difference between a capitalist democrat and a protofascist. We hope none of us learn this difference from jail cells.

Because what's really important at this point is whether or not the Left can make appropriate distinctions, not whether the Democrats they plan to campaign for are the least bit interested in stopping Trump.

Tags:

SDS

Letter

nation magazine

Joe Biden

donald trump

Vote

Comments

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 9:14pm

I'm a captialist democrat (small d)

I never thought I would wind up to the Left of the SDS!

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 9:29pm

I don't think the problem of the old SDS is a political one.

@The Voice In the Wilderness At least not from their perspective. From their perspective, the Left is to be imagined as a collective Superman, capable of leaping tall buildings at a single bound and of molding society to its collective will. In this case, they think they can rally everyone of like mind together to give the world President Biden. Now is the time!

It's the same sort of delusion that caused the old SDS to split into various "revolutionary" factions at their 1969 convention. They're folks who still need to go back to read their Gramsci -- you win the war of maneuver AFTER you win the war of position.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by Marie on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 10:28pm

Perhaps you unknowingly moved left

@The Voice In the Wilderness over the decades while SDS consciously moved right? Econ 1A and 1B informed my socialism early and easily and have yet to hear/see a better argument.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 10:51pm

Oh, I've definitely moved left.

@Marie
but not so far that I'm willing to abandon capitalism. Capitalism is a tiger. I don't want to shoot the tiger. I want to tame it. Laissez-Faire is letting the tiger roam freely. Socialism, pure original socialism, is shooting the tiger. Communism is shooting pussy cats as well.

And yes, I remember the story of the Lady who rode the tiger and wound up inside. Always a danger. Republicans exalt CEO's and practically deify them. I consider them gangsters who need to be disarmed. Maybe I'm a Rockefeller Republican at heart. Bernie's betrayal has hit me hard.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Marie on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 12:53am

wth is "pure socialism?"

@The Voice In the Wilderness And there's no such thing as "pure capitalism" either. The state is a factor in any economic organization. Capitalism is really terrible at many functions necessary to life and well being -- such as banking, education, public health and medical care, drinking water/sewage -- it's only good at exploiting inventions by others including states, mostly wants/toys that aren't vital to survival, for profit. Often enough that exploitation is short-lived. it's also good at stealing from the commons which ends up with people paying more for less.

Submitted by mimi on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 4:44am

hmm, a teenage boy's wet dream perhaps? /s

@Marie

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 10:20am

No, that's Brave New World

@mimi
Free drugs and turning down requests for sex being socially unacceptable.
We thought it was utopia, not dystopia, and I'll bet most male C99'ers felt the same as teenagers.
Social status/politics aside. We ALL felt that way. Brothers in the dark. Or should that be Dark Brothers?

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by mimi on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 10:57am

Sorry, I made just a silly comment, because

@The Voice In the Wilderness
I have Corona-Phobitis. No offense meant, culturally I can't keep up with you guys, never could and still can't. But i love you all.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 6:28pm

Thank you Mimi!

@mimi
That was sweet. Not offended at all, Schwester.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 6:51am

Capitalism eventually ruins everything.

@The Voice In the Wilderness This is because there is nothing to it beyond the notion that if anything is to happen, there must be a capitalist profiting off of it and taking credit for it.

The original conditions for the rise of the capitalism were characterized by 1) Europe's conquest of the world and 2) a conceptual revolution which redefined "nature" as a machine which could be retooled to mass-produce whatever the capitalists wanted to sell. These conditions became, in turn, the basis for economic propaganda. The term "economic propaganda" is a redundancy, for all economics is propaganda. Karl Marx had it right in Chapter 26 of Capital:

This primitive accumulation plays in Political Economy about the same part as original sin in theology. Adam bit the apple, and thereupon sin fell on the human race. Its origin is supposed to be explained when it is told as an anecdote of the past. In times long gone by there were two sorts of people; one, the diligent, intelligent, and, above all, frugal elite; the other, lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living. The legend of theological original sin tells us certainly how man came to be condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow; but the history of economic original sin reveals to us that there are people to whom this is by no means essential. Never mind! Thus it came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort had at last nothing to sell except their own skins. And from this original sin dates the poverty of the great majority that, despite all its labour, has up to now nothing to sell but itself, and the wealth of the few that increases constantly although they have long ceased to work. Such insipid childishness is every day preached to us in the defence of property. M. Thiers, e.g., had the assurance to repeat it with all the solemnity of a statesman to the French people, once so spirituel. But as soon as the question of property crops up, it becomes a sacred duty to proclaim the intellectual food of the infant as the one thing fit for all ages and for all stages of development. In actual history it is notorious that conquest, enslavement, robbery, murder, briefly force, play the great part.

But such a paragraph merely outlines the initial conditions of capitalism. There are several trends which define this ruination of everything:

1) The commodity cycle. The capitalist system defines everything as "natural resources," to be converted to raw materials, thus to consumer products and in the end to various species of waste and trash.

2) Standardization. To fit the commodity cycle, products must be all the same, so that their prices can uniformly fit each one. This problem shows up most distinctly in food production, in which what was once a vast variety of different foods has become apples and oranges. Heirloom varieties are an attempt to discover what existed before the standardization of the food industry.

3) Exploitation. Not only are workers not paid what they're worth -- and this must necessarily be so, otherwise the capitalist would not be able to sell the company's tendencies to profit upon the open market -- but the rest of the world, human and nonhuman, must perform innumerable acts of unpaid labor if the capitalist is to be enthroned as the protagonist of society. Eventually all this unpaid labor becomes a drain upon everything, and so (and this is especially visible in what is left of the Rust Belt) you have worn-out workers toiling steadily upon a worn-out planet.

4) Co-optation. What might seem genuine as intellectual or artistic product eventually becomes a string of cheap cliches meant to coerce money out of buyers. The academies eventually find ways of generating intellectual crap to meet the demand for more; art becomes derivative for the same reason. The trend extends to politics, in which original revolt becomes a means of advancement for the rebelling parties.

Capitalism triumphed, and triumphs, because it is more efficient at accumulation than any competing system; the ultimate outcome of the capitalist process, however, is a world of scared plutocrats with empty brains presiding over a world of steady degradation.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 10:22am

That's why it needs to be kept on a leash. n/t

@Cassiodorus

#1.2.1 This is because there is nothing to it beyond the notion that if anything is to happen, there must be a capitalist profiting off of it and taking credit for it. The original conditions for the rise of the capitalism were characterized by 1) Europe's conquest of the world and 2) a conceptual revolution which redefined "nature" as a machine which could be retooled to mass-produce whatever the capitalists wanted to sell. These conditions became, in turn, the basis for economic propaganda. The term "economic propaganda" is a redundancy, for all economics is propaganda. Karl Marx had it right in Chapter 26 of Capital: This primitive accumulation plays in Political Economy about the same part as original sin in theology. Adam bit the apple, and thereupon sin fell on the human race. Its origin is supposed to be explained when it is told as an anecdote of the past. In times long gone by there were two sorts of people; one, the diligent, intelligent, and, above all, frugal elite; the other, lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living. The legend of theological original sin tells us certainly how man came to be condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow; but the history of economic original sin reveals to us that there are people to whom this is by no means essential. Never mind! Thus it came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort had at last nothing to sell except their own skins. And from this original sin dates the poverty of the great majority that, despite all its labour, has up to now nothing to sell but itself, and the wealth of the few that increases constantly although they have long ceased to work. Such insipid childishness is every day preached to us in the defence of property. M. Thiers, e.g., had the assurance to repeat it with all the solemnity of a statesman to the French people, once so spirituel. But as soon as the question of property crops up, it becomes a sacred duty to proclaim the intellectual food of the infant as the one thing fit for all ages and for all stages of development. In actual history it is notorious that conquest, enslavement, robbery, murder, briefly force, play the great part. But such a paragraph merely outlines the initial conditions of capitalism. There are several trends which define this ruination of everything: 1) The commodity cycle. The capitalist system defines everything as "natural resources," to be converted to raw materials, thus to consumer products and in the end to various species of waste and trash. 2) Standardization. To fit the commodity cycle, products must be all the same, so that their prices can uniformly fit each one. This problem shows up most distinctly in food production, in which what was once a vast variety of different foods has become apples and oranges. Heirloom varieties are an attempt to discover what existed before the standardization of the food industry. 3) Exploitation. Not only are workers not paid what they're worth -- and this must necessarily be so, otherwise the capitalist would not be able to sell the company's tendencies to profit upon the open market -- but the rest of the world, human and nonhuman, must perform innumerable acts of unpaid labor if the capitalist is to be enthroned as the protagonist of society. Eventually all this unpaid labor becomes a drain upon everything, and so (and this is especially visible in what is left of the Rust Belt) you have worn-out workers toiling steadily upon a worn-out planet. 4) Co-optation. What might seem genuine as intellectual or artistic product eventually becomes a string of cheap cliches meant to coerce money out of buyers. The academies eventually find ways of generating intellectual crap to meet the demand for more; art becomes derivative for the same reason. The trend extends to politics, in which original revolt becomes a means of advancement for the rebelling parties. Capitalism triumphed, and triumphs, because it is more efficient at accumulation than any competing system; the ultimate outcome of the capitalist process, however, is a world of scared plutocrats with empty brains presiding over a world of steady degradation.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Creosote. on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:20pm

And conformity

@Cassiodorus
the ruling value everything must be masked in.

#1.2.1 This is because there is nothing to it beyond the notion that if anything is to happen, there must be a capitalist profiting off of it and taking credit for it. The original conditions for the rise of the capitalism were characterized by 1) Europe's conquest of the world and 2) a conceptual revolution which redefined "nature" as a machine which could be retooled to mass-produce whatever the capitalists wanted to sell. These conditions became, in turn, the basis for economic propaganda. The term "economic propaganda" is a redundancy, for all economics is propaganda. Karl Marx had it right in Chapter 26 of Capital: This primitive accumulation plays in Political Economy about the same part as original sin in theology. Adam bit the apple, and thereupon sin fell on the human race. Its origin is supposed to be explained when it is told as an anecdote of the past. In times long gone by there were two sorts of people; one, the diligent, intelligent, and, above all, frugal elite; the other, lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living. The legend of theological original sin tells us certainly how man came to be condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow; but the history of economic original sin reveals to us that there are people to whom this is by no means essential. Never mind! Thus it came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort had at last nothing to sell except their own skins. And from this original sin dates the poverty of the great majority that, despite all its labour, has up to now nothing to sell but itself, and the wealth of the few that increases constantly although they have long ceased to work. Such insipid childishness is every day preached to us in the defence of property. M. Thiers, e.g., had the assurance to repeat it with all the solemnity of a statesman to the French people, once so spirituel. But as soon as the question of property crops up, it becomes a sacred duty to proclaim the intellectual food of the infant as the one thing fit for all ages and for all stages of development. In actual history it is notorious that conquest, enslavement, robbery, murder, briefly force, play the great part. But such a paragraph merely outlines the initial conditions of capitalism. There are several trends which define this ruination of everything: 1) The commodity cycle. The capitalist system defines everything as "natural resources," to be converted to raw materials, thus to consumer products and in the end to various species of waste and trash. 2) Standardization. To fit the commodity cycle, products must be all the same, so that their prices can uniformly fit each one. This problem shows up most distinctly in food production, in which what was once a vast variety of different foods has become apples and oranges. Heirloom varieties are an attempt to discover what existed before the standardization of the food industry. 3) Exploitation. Not only are workers not paid what they're worth -- and this must necessarily be so, otherwise the capitalist would not be able to sell the company's tendencies to profit upon the open market -- but the rest of the world, human and nonhuman, must perform innumerable acts of unpaid labor if the capitalist is to be enthroned as the protagonist of society. Eventually all this unpaid labor becomes a drain upon everything, and so (and this is especially visible in what is left of the Rust Belt) you have worn-out workers toiling steadily upon a worn-out planet. 4) Co-optation. What might seem genuine as intellectual or artistic product eventually becomes a string of cheap cliches meant to coerce money out of buyers. The academies eventually find ways of generating intellectual crap to meet the demand for more; art becomes derivative for the same reason. The trend extends to politics, in which original revolt becomes a means of advancement for the rebelling parties. Capitalism triumphed, and triumphs, because it is more efficient at accumulation than any competing system; the ultimate outcome of the capitalist process, however, is a world of scared plutocrats with empty brains presiding over a world of steady degradation.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 9:40pm

"You should vote for Trump"

And "you should vote for someone else." That was what Biden told people who disagreed with what he stands for so he gave me permission to not vote for him.

I tweeted this article and asked if Trump is so dangerous then why do democrats keep helping him pass his legislation? You can bitch at me when democrats stop being the fake opposition party.

I love this:

whom they see as a representative of Wall Street

Duh. He is and always has been. And of the private prison industry and countless others.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 10:24am

I would definitely buy a bumper sticker

@snoopydawg
That said "Biden told me to vote for Trump". Or "Biden told me to vote for someone else"

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 9:44pm

Schumer has let McConnell appoint those judges

He let him fast track 15 at a time with no opposition from democrats so they could go home early and start fundraising. He did that more than once. And ole Joe Manchin, DiFi and other democrats have actually voted for some of them. Quit telling us it's our fault what Trump is doing.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by magiamma on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 10:08pm

Every time I read one of your essays

On this (and thank you for them). All I can muster is - Fuck you Bernie - Just fuck you. Eom. (Not moving to my prefrontal much.)

—

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 10:28pm

It seems that --

@magiamma in this moment of mass trauma, none of the parties voicing an opinion seems to have a clear vision of things. Rather, a nostalgia for the past, shared by all sides, seems to compel outcomes which are likely to be horrific and grotesque. Let us hope for a lot of disillusionment (and subsequent clear vision) in the days to come.

As for Bernie Sanders, who knows what Barack Obama said to him? If you're looking for someone who just needs to go away, my vote is for Barack Obama, most overrated President ever.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by magiamma on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 11:01pm

One really wonders

@Cassiodorus
What was said to Bernie by He Who Needs to Go Away? Cannot imagine. Have often wondered.

And it is mass ptsd. Complete mass abuse and The Mass just keeps coming back. Too afraid to fight back? Appalled at each turn of events. Well the tide is turning. There is No Way byedone gets elected. I just don’t see it happening.

—

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 11:23pm

Well Joe is designed to fail.

@magiamma And you might vote for him if the spirit moves you when November rolls around. But, yeah, one purpose of his "presumptive nomination" appears to be inspiring one half of the so-called Left to get the other half to shut up. And if that purpose succeeds it becomes a fait accompli. You might as well wait for 2021 to come around on the calendar. Here's an inspiration: let's organize small-scale!

As I've suggested in all the previous essays, most of the "urgings" of those addressing the "Left" voice a vast overestimate of its power while it's being silenced.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by magiamma on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 12:06am

It does seem that way

@Cassiodorus
Designed to fail. If so, what then. Clearly more of the same regardless of name. Then it’s just another distraction and another windmill to chase. Not a waste of time but an intended retooling of our very organized energy. Dissipated. So fuck yeah organize on small scale at the very least. Right?

—

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 11:44pm

Speaking of mass PTSD

@magiamma

Or mass stupidity someone wrote a open letter to Biden asking him to get the credit card companies to lower interest rates during this economic shit storm. The tip jar got hide rated. Why? He said that the black caucus also let blacks down. This was racist diatribe apparently. And don't dare bring up any of his other horrible bills. But gee maybe the guy who MBNA of Delaware owes Biden a few favors. It doesn't seem right that they keep getting bailed out or low interest rates and then they charge us 29% on our cards.

What Obama lied about when he ended ByeDone.

This sums up their disastrous time in office quite well.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sun, 04/19/2020 - 7:21pm

Jimmie Dore does a nice job on Obama's Biden endorsement

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhzhCKw60Y&t=115s]

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 2:42pm

Brilliant

@Alligator Ed

Jimmy nailed it. DId you read the article I linked? It's a killer and destroys the silly meme that Obama was the best pres since FDR. ANYONE who believes that has taken a break from reality.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 4:11pm

After your prodding, I read the article

@snoopydawg

Barely 24 hours later, Obama and Biden presented a Biden administration as a continuation of Obama’s—in other words, a right-wing, pro-corporate government that would wage war on behalf of American imperialist interests around the world, while attacking the working class and democratic rights at home. One only has to recall some of the main “accomplishments” of the Obama-Biden administration (2009-2017) to see the gross deception involved in presenting a future Biden administration as “progressive.”

Obummer--why do so many adore him? But then again, why would people vote for ByeDone?

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 3:34pm

In Gernan I would say he has been

@Alligator Ed
a "Märchenonkel"(an uncle who tells fairy tales) and believed in his own "Märchen." Obama me ear picking (2).jpg
I wished I had picked his ear a little harder. Yeah, that is really me, but I am not that pretty so I cut myself out of the photo. I picked his ear in my lunch breaks, regularly.
Sigh. What a waste of effort...

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 4:08pm

mimi, I like the picture

@mimi BHO in the picture looks like a cardboard cut-out, which in reality is not much different than the alleged soul of the man.

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 6:22pm

i'm 99% positive

@Alligator Ed

that it IS a cardboard obomba. seriously; they usually come with frohickies on the back to keep them...upright.

they're often used at indoor campaign events when the actual-factual candidate is AWOL. surely you've seen them?

on edit: ELIZABETH WARREN Presidential Candidate CARDBOARD CUTOUT Standee Standup Poster | eBay

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 6:19pm

frohickies, hmmm?

@wendy davis You didn't mean whatjamadoodles did you?

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 8:38pm

yeah, bit i was tripping on

@Alligator Ed

one of the Lone Gunmen dudes on the X-files. 'doohickies', maybe? but look above.

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:25am

Or, as monks in A Canticle for Leibowitz spelled it, “doohickii”

@wendy davis
“Doohickii” are an unspecified kind of part salvaged from long-buried electronic circuitry, whose original function is a complete mystery and which are accordingly treated as sacred religious relics, in the novel’s post-apocalyptic future.

Much as Obama (in German, a Pappkamerad or figure made solely out of [political / cultural] cardboard, if there ever was one) seems to be a sacred relic for many in this historical timeline.

Submitted by wendy davis on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 11:24am

i'll take 'doochici' for $800,

@lotlizard

alex'. thank you, amiga. obomba was only too effective as a Capitalist tool for wall street, war, inc., sanctions as 'war by other means', massive numbers of drone assasinations on his Terror Tuesdays, massive #s of deportations to the global south, kids in cages, then his grand chessboard 'pivot to asia' confronting the great powers china and russia...

remember him addressing a convention of WS banksters? "i'm the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks.' the most effective evil', glen ford used to call' him back in the day. like bubba clinton, he got away with murder by smiling. have you seen him now? it's as though the evil broke thru and shaped his visage accordingly.

Submitted by mimi on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 1:17am

sure it was, we had a cut-out cardboard of Mitt Romney

@Alligator Ed
as well. I had once a photo but can't find it anymore, where I embraced Obama with Mitt Romney tightly in my grip to strangle him.. Hmm, how fucked up was I at that time? (As you may guess correctly I worked in a German TV studio in DC back at those days).

Oh yes, in my current corona prison of what is my shelter place here, I woke up with this song in the radio (I listen a lot to our public radio channel in Hamburg). They do a good job to keep us smiling in the whole mess.

Yesterday
Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hangin' over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Yesterday lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

PS. You should know I never lie. I mean that. What do you think, should I start lying a bit these days? Those fuckers would deserve it, no?

Nah, I won't lie. Over my dead body, I wouldn't.

Be well and have peace.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 10:46pm

"Time to get real"

"Look, fat..."

The 45,000 - 68,000 Americans who die every year bc they don’t have basic healthcare aren’t laughing @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/c9lsqFZHXx

— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) April 17, 2020

"But I will lower Medicare to 60. Is that good enough to get you to vote for me?"

Did you see this article joe posted tonight?

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/04/16/neverbiden-isnt-privileged-suppo...

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Roy Blakeley on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 10:47pm

Among the former leaders of SDS

Mark Rudd is the only name I recognize.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 04/16/2020 - 10:59pm

Maybe the sane ones --

@Roy Blakeley have joined #NeverBiden. I'm thinking we also need a #WhateverBiden...

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 10:34am

Todd Gitlin is

@Roy Blakeley the only other major name I saw on that list. Author of a well received book on the 60s written a few decades ago. Haven't heard much from him in recent times but he's apparently still around.

Overall they make a decent argument. And the description of Trump as a racist protofascist is spot on.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 12:56pm

So do you think the Left --

@wokkamile can save America from Trump while the people it (the Left) plans to elect will not do so?

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 6:27am

My thoughts on the Left

@Cassiodorus are basically it will see fewer defections from the D nominee in the fall compared to 2016 as HRC was much more of a despised figure. Biden picking a VP with good enough lib/prog credentials can help, and in fact it's necessary.

The left needs to continue to pressure Joe to get out of his tepid moderate mindset and go bold to meet the times and esp not get outflanked on the left by some cagey Trump/GOP moves in that direction. Neoliberalism is on the defensive and is being exposed. So is Trump. There is hope.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 6:56am

Aw yeah.

@wokkamile After Joe has spent fifty years in politics and developed what appears to be initial-stage dementia, we're going to "pressure" Joe (who always has the opportunity to turn us down without any consequences) to become something he's not.

That will totally work.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 12:44pm

There aren't many

@Cassiodorus good options for the Left after another losing campaign. They could always do what they do best, sit on the sidelines and bitch and moan about the DNC and Obama and TPTB screwing them yet again and thereby allow the corpDems to continue calling the shots while authoritarian Donald maybe gets another 4 yrs.

Or they could wisely use this economic crisis to agressively push their policies and values into the forefront and not settle for crumbs compared to the big corporate powers. It sure looks like they have the evidence on their side with the scandalous GOP corporate bailout, and increasingly people will wake up to how Main St is getting shafted compared to Wall St.

With millions out of work suddenly, the time is ripe for a new order that could put neoliberalism on the run for good. And the situation is such that something must give -- either TPTB will have to begin taking care of ordinary people, or they will see revolution in the streets. Continuing with the status quo of just listening to the rich and not the remaining 99% will soon lead to disaster that will make the antiwar protests of 1968 look tame in comparison and will rival and maybe exceed the anxiety and anger people felt in late 1932/early 1933 when they were demanding federal action or else.

Biden, with some guidance from strong voices on the left which could be channeling people's righteous anger into a positive great force for real change, could be forced to accommodate them to a much greater extent than would have seemed possible a year before. This could happen if the Left doesn't just slink away and become again a non-factor in the discussion. Taking your toys and going home is so easy to do, and can lead to terrible consequences, as McCarthy and many of his backers did in 1968 which gave us Nixon and 4 more yrs of war.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 1:52pm

Oh that's rich.

@wokkamile

They could always do what they do best, sit on the sidelines and bitch and moan about the DNC and Obama and TPTB screwing them yet again and thereby allow the corpDems to continue calling the shots while authoritarian Donald maybe gets another 4 yrs.

The "Left" has the power to ALLOW the corpdems to continue calling the shots, after NOT having the power to stop the corpdems from selecting doddering fool Joe Biden as the party's candidate (despite a lot of effort put forth, including mine). Uh-huh. I want to live on your planet, because it's definitely not mine.

Or they could wisely use this economic crisis to agressively push their policies and values

As if a bunch of people who were disenfranchised by the primary process had any power to "push" for anything when they're going to vote for Joe Biden anyway.

With millions out of work suddenly, the time is ripe for a new order that could put neoliberalism on the run for good.

That isn't going to happen through Joe Biden. I personally know that organizing for what I want doesn't mean organizing to elect someone who won't give me what I want.

Taking your toys and going home is so easy to do, and can lead to terrible consequences, as McCarthy and many of his backers did in 1968 which gave us Nixon and 4 more yrs of war.

Another baked-in result blamed on the so-called "Left." Are you going to move to a swing state after the stay-at-home period is over, and campaign for Joe Biden?

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 2:30pm

Bernie -- good man with

@Cassiodorus some very good policy proposals. But a very flawed candidate, and maybe the only one on the progressive left available at the time. Which speaks to the thin ranks and weak bench of the progressives, though things might be changing for the better as current economic-political forces create a favorable backlash opportunity.

And even Humphrey likely could have been pushed from the left back in 68 on his VN War stance had the left, and McCarthy, not picked up their toys and gone home. Biden, this year's version of the Hube, more or less, can also be moved. Circumstances almost dictate it. The left just needs to not give up and resort to moaning and whining as they usually do.

On swing states, Biden and even Godwin, here is the view of long-time lefty Noam Chomsky

"Failure to vote for Biden in a swing state amounts to voting for Trump."

In an interview with me, Noam Chomsky compares the #NeverBiden ppl to Communists in the 1930s who refused to ally with social democrats against the Nazis: "We know where that led."pic.twitter.com/WQCruRrh5n

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 17, 2020

Not everyone on the Bernie side will agree of course, which is understandable.

Me, I'm planning on staying put here a while longer in safely Blue CA, so I have a lot of latitude with my voting decision. And 7 more months to think it over. Biden's VP pick will be a major factor in my decision.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 2:41pm

Chomsky's comparison is wrong.

@wokkamile The SPD and the KPD actually had a chance at a coalition government. The #NeverBiden people don't have any chance of governing at all. Y'all so obsessed with them and not at all with the folks in the swing states whose votes Biden will need if he is to win the election. And what makes you all think you can influence the Biden campaign to do anything more than make a bunch of empty promises? Biden's been in politics for fifty years, and so he's had ample time to display a legislative record and to make up his mind about what he wants to do with government. And he's not going to change.

And "circumstances" don't demand anything. If the ruling elites cared the least about what we think, they'd have done something about the thousands of people who die each year because access to health care is all too often predicated upon personal bankruptcy, which Joe Biden made worse in 2005.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 3:17pm

What were once

@Cassiodorus the very unfortunate hardships and personal tragedies of low-income/inadequate or unaffordable health care for millions, which could be countered by establishment arguments about maintaining the employer-based private health care system, are now now being put front and center as millions more enter the ranks of the poor w/o health care, and the arguments in favor of private health care and not taking care of the unemployed don't look so good.

This is a major part of how circumstances have changed, and Biden will ignore them at his electoral peril. The left can be there in numbers and strength to remind him not to ignore the grim reality on the ground.

On the swing states: again, my position is that in this cycle there will be far more of an anti-Trump vote than was seen in 2016, far fewer defections from the left and fewer voters going 3d party. Yes, Biden will need to do more than just show up (on video), and so all the more reason for leaders and grassroots progs to help Biden adopt a more populist tone.

that said, here's a counter argument from Glennwald re Chomsky, Biden and LOTE voting. I think he omits/underestimates my "circumstances" argument, the vastly changing times which will lead to more pressure against the old neoliberal/corporatist ways, but nevertheless GG is worth listening to:

[video:https://youtu.be/RSSnaGCXanA]

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 4:50pm

Joe Biden's "electoral peril"

@wokkamile

This is a major part of how circumstances have changed, and Biden will ignore them at his electoral peril.

Right now Joe Biden is worried about whether or not his next speech will be coherent.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:18pm

I'd recommend that Joe

@Cassiodorus resume using whatever useful pharmaceuticals he was likely on recently -- was it the last debate? -- which caused him to actually sound coherent for most of the program. It was like winding the clock back 15 yrs.

Biden didn't make it to even my top 10 Dem choices. I think he was somewhere back in the pack behind Hickenlooper and Swallowell. And I had him being forced to drop out way before IA even, as voters woke up to realize the mental decline. Stupid me for overestimating the stupid voters.

Submitted by Creosote. on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:30pm

My sense is that Biden was chosen

@Cassiodorus
specifically to be easy to replace. I spoke to a good friend today who was immensely cheered that Warren could be VP (I was appalled).
But with Biden safely housed in a care home, who will Warren (read: DNC) then select?

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:37pm

I'm imagining Biden's selection --

@Creosote. as Michael Bloomberg. He needs the money.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by Creosote. on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 9:10pm

That sounds right

@Cassiodorus
and don't they share the same views?

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 5:21am

Good Morning, Counselor!

Oh and love the reference to Hitler. They said:

We were mindful then of the cataclysm that befell German democracy when socialists and communists fought each other—to death—as Hitler snuck by and then murdered them all.

So dramatic!

Good Morning, Counselor Godwin!

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 12:41pm

I recognize that it's a popular thing --

@thanatokephaloides but I'm not a big fan of Godwin's Law. There are lessons to be learned from Hitler's appointment. The main one is not to trust a bunch of elites who place no stock in democracy. We're not learning that lesson here in the United States.

"Trump equals Hitler," however, is not one of those lessons. Trump is more like Nero, fiddling while Rome burns.

And history isn't going to have another Hitler. Really. Today's technology is too advanced, and nobody will want to conquer a planet cast into ruins by capitalism anyway. What they prefer to do is to pick the planet to death like buzzards feeding on a carcass, more or less like what's happening in Africa today.

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by Creosote. on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 6:41pm

Precisely as you've identified it:

@Cassiodorus
"[H]istory isn't going to have another Hitler. Really. Today's technology is too advanced, and nobody will want to conquer a planet cast into ruins by capitalism anyway. What they prefer to do is to pick the planet to death like buzzards feeding on a carcass, more or less like what's happening in Africa today."
We are now nothing more than short-lived monitized specks of food or water in a vanishing environment.

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 7:44pm

Godwin's Law

@Cassiodorus

I recognize that it's a popular thing -- but I'm not a big fan of Godwin's Law. There are lessons to be learned from Hitler's appointment. The main one is not to trust a bunch of elites who place no stock in democracy. We're not learning that lesson here in the United States.

As Counselor first proposed it, all that was actually said was that the longer any political discussion carries on, the more likely a Hitler mention would occur. As this is observed fact, there's nothing wrong with the original Godwin's Law.

The deprecation of all such mention, even when truly apropos to the discussion in question, (the commonest invocation of Counselor Godwin's name today) is the product of the PC/IdPol crowd, is featured on blogsites of a certain kind, and has nothing to do with Counselor Godwin himself.

Indeed, it is my understanding that Counselor recognizes the genuine need to bring Hitler into the discussion (and Nero as well, for that matter) for the very reason you specify: Never Again!

Hence, the way I render my tribute to Counselor Godwin. Yes, I too have an agenda here: to liberate Counselor's reputation from the damage and the censorship done in and to his name by the aforementioned PC/IdPol bullies, of which Counselor is not one.

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 8:34am

To paraphrase an old Citibank advertising slogan / TV commercial

@Cassiodorus
“(Take over and enslave everyone?) There’s a hard way and an easy way. (Hitler tried to do it the hard way.) Citibank is the easy way.”

Submitted by Snode on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 9:01am

So the point of this

is the old new left is getting senile too? Makes sense. New new left, please take note.

Submitted by MrWebster on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 12:40pm

Time has gone by, and we know results of voting democrat.

Since the Clinton admin developed a strategy of running corporatists and shoving them down the throats of the left, we now have a history of what that strategy produced. The history of democrats since Clinton to Trump has produced a class war that has devastated good parts of America. This devastation was regardless if they were in power or not.

History has shown that the democrats are not the lesser of two evils, but co-evil with the republicans. Depending on what issues one cares about, they are actually worse.

As an analog, what if Hitler remained in power. Who do you want to replace him? Himmler or Goering? That is no choice.

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 7:49pm

American analog

@MrWebster

As an analog, what if Hitler remained in power. Who do you want to replace him? Himmler or Goering? That is no choice.

When faced with that choice (replacing George W. Bush), Americans chose Goebbels.

Twice. (O'Bomber and Chump)

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 3:36pm

Deceptive and not at all impressive. SDS was a huge

loosely affiliated organization with "leaders" on every major campus in the USA. That handful represents nothing, and, if they did, it would simply be an instance of the genetic fallacy. Perhaps they've always been of the "work from within" and "compromise, compromise, compromise" faction of the organization. Color me unimpressed.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 1:40pm

I can't say, and probably

@enhydra lutris neither can you, exactly to what extent that group of ex SDSers represented the group, as all but two of the names are not well known. Perhaps though, 55 yrs later, they might well represent the surviving members.

In any case, after roughly 1966, as antiwar protests began on campuses, the SDS experienced division in their ranks, and factions arose, as loud voices were increasingly heard to demand the SDS go in a more confrontational and even violent direction. (Todd Gitlin and Tom Hayden believed this may have been a result of provocateur infiltration from the FBI/local police. Seems very plausible.)

As I recall the history of the group, it started in the early 60s as a peaceful revolutionary movement seeking to change the established order from within. Like the Bernie movement today. Bernie always represented the establishment wing of the progressive wing. By 1967, the SDS was developing aggressive factions which represented more violent/by any means necessary revolutionary change from outside the establishment.

Tom Hayden seems to be one of those who migrated from the peaceful early days to a more violent, confrontational stance by the time of the Dem 1968 convention. Gitlin, one of the signatories of that letter, was probably always more in the peaceful revolution wing, although he didn't hold his nose for Humphrey in 68 but later regretted it. Gitlin and the others on that letter probably do represent at least the early, original group of SDSers.

Submitted by travelerxxx on Sun, 04/19/2020 - 12:23am

Witness

@wokkamile

In any case, after roughly 1966, as antiwar protests began on campuses, the SDS experienced division in their ranks, and factions arose, as loud voices were increasingly heard to demand the SDS go in a more confrontational and even violent direction. (Todd Gitlin and Tom Hayden believed this may have been a result of provocateur infiltration from the FBI/local police. Seems very plausible.)

I personally saw this happen. An acquaintance of mine, a friend of many of my friends, is probably still rotting in prison over this ...if he's still living. Set up like a bowling pin. At some point we learned that those advocating violence and destructive acts were almost always the man. I doubt anything has changed over the years.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sun, 04/19/2020 - 5:21am

Sorry to read about your friend-of-a-friend.

@travelerxxx Though isn't the idea behind the "war of position" that before any great revolution is to happen, we need to win over the public in some important way?

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati

Submitted by travelerxxx on Sun, 04/19/2020 - 6:22pm

Yes, almost always.

@Cassiodorus

I say "almost," but I really can't think of any reason that you would not. I'd say that it should be "self evident," if possible. As opposed to "manufacturing consent" as TPTB do when, say, promoting a war.

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 3:36pm

it almost makes me wish

that i were allowed into the Nation love-fest for biden. sadly, they say i'm in Incognito Mode, which i'm not. i do remember when the Nation Rag (prof. stephen cohen notwithstnding) was 'the first 4 hits are free! then you pay!'

not much worse to see than old, worn out comprador sell-outs, though.

'New Left, Old Left'; hilarious.

Submitted by wokkamile on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 2:02pm

I don't know about

@wendy davis "old, worn-out comprador sell-outs", but The Nation has long been considered of the Establishment Left, willing to bend and compromise as necessity dictates, sometimes mushy and soft, sometimes AWOL on highly controversial issues. A profile in courage it is not.

Bernie probably has a lifetime subscription.

Me, apparently a very valued reader, I still get my 4 articles/month free. Maybe if you send Katrina a nice letter, using proper punctuation, she might agree to treating you the same. Remember to tell her that wokkamile sent you.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 3:38pm

A brief rebuttal to this sorry bullshit from a real old new

leftist.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 04/18/2020 - 11:11am

Extra content!

https://afflictthecomfortable.org/2020/04/17/older-and-wiser-and-vote-sh...

—

"the Democratic Party is not 'left'." -- Sabrina Salvati