The liberal pseudo-position and the possiblity of real politics

There's no longer any point debating the liberals or their glorious Democratic Party. They're not a serious bunch, though they mask their unseriousness by the vehemence with which they argue stuff that's of no consequence.

At this point we're only a year away from an eight-year period in which the liberals were mesmerized by "omigod first Black President!" while 900 state legislative seats were flipped Republican. This is the one statistic to remember every time a liberal opens her or his mouth. Do a flowchart. Do the liberals address the fact that their party gives away seats like candy to (Republican) babies to keep politics from being serious? If the answer is "no," then they themselves are not serious.

The idea that Trump is a serious politician, often invoked to promote the Democrat pseudo-cause or whatever they stand for today, is itself laughable. Trump was and is a reality TV star who was doing the whole thing on a lark and who didn't want to win anyway. Unfortunately for him he was running against his good friend Hillary Rodham Clinton, celebrity icon of the Crime Bill, the Welfare Bill, and horrific foreign policy. Trump's booby prize for this whole deal was that he gets to be President, and represent the elite classes in their fight against the rest of us.

Being a liberal means having disingenuous politics. Liberals will support anyone if they have a (D) next to their names, though what "support" means in light of the 900 lost offices may be as nebulous as they please. Maybe they "have principles" or something intended to make them feel good. Being serious wouldn't make it any more consequential, though, so liberal politics remains a great set of items for Facebook or Twitter chatter.

The utopian horizon of "serious" politics at the level the liberals debate remains social democracy. Just for once I'd like to see Bernie Sanders recommend an end to capitalism. The "Left" is restricted to small-scale projects: a community garden here, a donation to a food bank there, and the big thinkers must move to Mexico and be content with Zapatismo while hoping not to be killed by drug gangs. Liberal contentedness with small-scale nicety is of course what justified the "Obama Achievements" catalogue. The small-scale projects, however, have utopian energies that might lead to an end of capitalism. It would be neat if C99% devoted its energies to the small-scale stuff.

Here on the small scale it's pretty desperate -- the garden is not a community garden but rather a DIY/ anarchist project at a college that later became institutionalized as part of the college. I became normalized as part of this formation as a "volunteer." I've even got a "Farm card" now. As for free food, there is no Food Not Bombs around here so I collect food at a farmer's market, and donate it to an honest food bank, one of the few honest charities in existence (most of them being scams). I might be able to do some good in such ways, but not as part of any collective. (Meanwhile, of course, I, like everyone else, continue to labor for wages until such time as I am replaced by a robot.)

Debating politics with liberals, on the other hand, appears to me as a dead end until such time as the Democratic Party is ditched.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

And they did so by doing the Repigs' dirty work for them over the past 40 years. And yet the average pleb who sucks dick for packing peanuts and moldy stale bread if they're lucky continues to believe that these Libruls are 'left-wing', 'socialist', 'communist', 'cultural marxist', 'feminist' or whatever other thoughtless buzzwords help them get their jollies while continuing to work against their own interests.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Cassiodorus's picture

@The Aspie Corner @The Aspie Corner Trump voters were significantly upper-middle-class new money who thought that their political folly somehow magically corresponded to their dexterity in accumulating cash.

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"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

Lookout's picture

That's real...politics are sadly just a corporate sham to make people feel like they have some control. Building all sorts of community projects makes the most sense to me at this juncture.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Arrow's picture

The 'Politics of Low Expectations'. We can't do anything so we won't even try to do anything.
Or, we'll compromise in the spirit of 'bi-partisanship' so, that's all you get. Sorry! (Shrug)

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I want a Pony!

Cassiodorus's picture

@Arrow Those poking underneath start by asking if the Democrats stand for anything at all.

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"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

Pluto's Republic's picture

The great tragedy of our combined generations; the hand we play. It's the fact that we do not have a vision for the future we're supposed to create. No concept, no dream, no aspirations. We are not moving toward anything as a culture and civilization. What a sorry Empire we would make. We got nuttin' for no one. I was passionate about living an extraordinary life, and that is certainly doable. But it's not really consequentual when you're doing it during the Dark Ages 2.0 ™

In keeping with the mood, it seems like everyone is having an identity crisis and rejecting or discarding labels. Dumping "liberal" is right at the top of my bucket list, too. It doesn't mean what we think it means. Most here have already shed that old scaly patch of dead skin called "Democrat."

I ran across a website that sorted the sociopolitical standoffs into "Left," "Hard Center," and "Right." I thought that was smart. "Hard Center" describes it perfectly. Yeah, we got "center" wrong, too. We thought "center" meant compromise — when it is actually an extreme power play designed to screw the other two. Centrists are a de facto Third Party. Now that identity impersonation and ignorant demagoguery has contaminated even the media, I prefer more abstract labels like "Left, Hard Center, Right, and Independent." As in, call me Left or call me a taxi.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
SnappleBC's picture

... they and I do not share a common worldview... not even remotely. We don't share a common understanding of logic, reason, or even basics like "what is a fact". I'm pretty good at entering other people's world views. It's hard but doable. The problem is that in that world view they are correct and all paths to some alternate answer are closed.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

snoopydawg's picture

Do the liberals address the fact that their party gives away seats like candy to (Republican) babies to keep politics from being serious? I

Another thing that the democrats do is let republicans run unopposed. Or the DCCC will not help candidates with their election campaigns if they think outside the box. I recently read about one candidate in a southern state who has some good ideas, but he's getting no help from the democrats. Look what they did to Chelsea Manning for gawd's sake.

Welfare reform and the crime bill could never have gotten passed by a republican president, so Bill worked with Newt to do it during his presidency. Same with deregulation of the banks and social security. He would have privatized it. It was ready for his signature when the Lewinsky scandal hit.

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

@snoopydawg

Dems and Repubs: 2 mimes, but singly bought, two greeds that feed as one...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.