@gjohnsit

@gjohnsit

@HenryAWallace

I'm flying the state flag of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha today.

definitions, "center right" means members of the right who (a) self-identify as Democrats or unaffiliated; and who (b) are (sometimes) are more politically correct, at least verbally, than some of their fellow rightists who self-identify as Republicans.

I don't know if the center has collapsed, but I believe it is under attack as more and more of us wake up and stop ooh-ing and ah-ing over the New Democrat* Emperors' new duds. And, for that, I am grateful.

As a tangentially-related aside, today, I watched a bit of The Royal House of Windsor (Netflix). One of the narrators made the point that the British royals, while still known by the German name of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, realized during World War I that, as a constitutional monarchy, their existence depended not upon the second class, but on what some might call the lower classes, aka the hoi polloi (Greece), the rabble (the Founders, esp. Madison), the lumpenproletariat (guess who), etc. So, they changed their name to Windsor (after the castle!) to seem more British.

Very obviously, the name change did not alter their DNA, but nonetheless somehow made them more acceptable to British survivors of the Gotha bombings of England that had killed so many English children and adults. (Earl Spencer's eulogy of Princess Diana described her as a "very British girl," which was widely perceived as an oblique, snarky reference to her in-laws' Germanic heritage.)

Kind of reminded me of those whose DNA is Republican, but who use the name name "New Democrats" so as to seem more acceptable to Democrats who had become Democrats because of certain perceptions abou t FDR, HST, LBJ, etc.**

OK, not the most apt analogy in the world, but that's what I thought as I watched.

*Despite all the brouhaha about the adjective "Democrat" versus "Democratic," New Democrats themselves use "Democrat" as an adjective, as in New Democrat Coalition. https://newdemocratcoalition-himes.house.gov/

**https://caucus99percent.com/comment/359373#comment-359373

@Dallasdoc  
a movement opposed to the European single currency, the euro — neo-liberals’ crowning achievement.

Under Angela Merkel’s endless reign, all of Germany’s major parties became de facto neo-liberal.

The trouble is that, as presently constituted, the E.U. and the ideas that guide its elite are neo-liberal through and through, and all established parties back the E.U.

Once it became clear that in the E.U., as in America, only the top “N” percent were benefiting while everyone else was stagnating or losing ground, the rise of the AfD and other right-wing populist parties was inevitable.

On paper, the E.U. had a principle called “subsidiarity” which said that decisions should to be made on as local a level as possible. That’s not the way things have worked out. The E.U.’s vision seems to be something more and more like the U.S. federal government, with more and more power and authority arrogated to, and centralized in, itself.

European neo-liberals want to “educate” everyone to perceive residual regionalism and nationalism as the equivalent of “states’ rights” in the U.S. — backward, racist, deplorable, something to be eradicated. German, Italian, Polish, Czech: someday it’ll all be as meaningless and interchangeable as historical differences between New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

The joke may be on AfD voters, though. Though they may think they’re voting for neo-mercantilism along the lines of Trump, there is reason to believe that the AfD, if it were ever in government, on economic issues would end up neo-liberal too, only slightly more nationalist rather than thorough-going globalist.

I think that's the common explanation behind the collapse of the center-left and the impending collapse of the center-right. Lefties got sick and tired of the neo-liberals first, but now nativists are starting to figure out that the capitalists are not on their side. Even mouth breathers on the right will eventually figure it out if they've gotten screwed hard enough and long enough.

If Labor or France Insoumise wins a general election, the Empire Strikes Back reaction from the oligarchs is going to be fierce. Leftists better be ready to fight just as hard, and to warn the rich that they have a hell of a lot more to lose than the followers of the left ruling parties. And they better be ready to hit hard and fast. The Democrats here are no threat to their paymasters, alas.

@Snode  
https://www.countrysideamishfurniture.com/products/leg-tables

How about the “Cypress Creek” dining table on that page? Reasonably priced, I’m sure — they’re Amish, after all — starting at $3,023.

Or here, the top of the line one that prices out at $8,205:

https://www.erikorganic.com/dining-room/dining-table-round-craftsman.shtml

Is that Pelosi, Schumer, and most of the rest have kitchen table that prob. costs more than we make in a year, set by kitchen staff and eat food prepared by a hired cook. This is what happens if you "make it". They need people to tell them what to be concerned about, read the polls, unless something pops into their field of vision that offends them. They don't live in our world anymore, if they ever did. I was going to say that European governments appear to be more nimble than in the US, but the republicans seem prepared from day one to start their implementing their agenda. No rule or dept. too small to alter to their ideology. The democrats seem disorganized, unprepared on which special interest voting group to pander to first. They just stroll along bickering about what's really important and celebrating the most minor victory as if it was a major win.

I have not heard much from the WSF or the Left of Central and South America these days, but Mexico just had a tremor in the capitalist framework.

After I realized that the EU was a neoliberal project to "compete" with America and China, the WSF and the Global South were kind of the last hope from outside the West.

They keep getting smashed and regime changed though... fancy that. I wonder how that happens. Maybe we should ask Brennan, Clapper, or Woolsey. I'm sure they know, and we can trust them.

I'm anticipating the good old fashioned Russian terrorist ploy. Same as it ever was... /snark

@Cassiodorus

from "Right" to "Left," was based upon the seating arrangement of the Estates-General, that assembly of nobles, clergy, and commoners that the French Kings could call upon when they were in trouble, as King Louis XVI was when France was bankrupt.

It no longer applies. "Center-right" and "Center-left" are mere names for the parties of capital, the "Center-left" a bit nicer on the social issues than the "Center-right." "Left" and "Right" imply parties of capital with extra foot-stamping.

There are, of course, groups of people in the world who want to end the rule of capital. I suppose we should call them "utopians," since there is no solid plan at present and since the rest of the world seems happy to coast along with the rule of capital until climate change disasters or some version of social chaos interrupts everyone's regularly scheduled program. The world's most powerful social forces, after all, are the US military and the world's trust in the value of money.