Anonymous #1 2w

Who is they?

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Anonymous #1 2w

Liberalism is made with billionaires in mind, not you or me, which is exactly why I’m a socialist

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Anonymous #1 2w

Oh I was meaning more like political polarization not economic ideology… so like Charlie Kirk… maga.. these are deep political divides.. I’m seriously worried about it

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Anonymous OP 2w

“They” are the neoliberal capitalists in charge of the Democratic Party, the guys who told you to vote for the lib candidate who won’t actually fix anythinf

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Anonymous OP 2w

The economic stuff is actually tied to the polarization.

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Anonymous #2 2w

Very true

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No I just genuinely don’t believe Marxism will work, I support social democracy more

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Anonymous OP 2w

Those people are and were fascists, people who use liberal democracy to gain power and then completely abandon it once they get that power, that is how they operate. People have called me alarmist for years for calling Trump a fascist, but it’s clear to anyone with eyes NOWADAYS that it was a correct characterization.

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Also it’s not about me being fine lol, it’s about the country being fine

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

How so

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Anonymous #1 2w

Literally what does that have to do with half the country voting for a president who undermines the rule of law… we are talking about two different things

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Anonymous OP 2w

Very easily, actually, since liberals always hate socialists more than fascists. The socialist hates to conceal his ideas. The fascist, on the other hand, is an adept liar. The fascist lies, says the socialists are the real threat, and the liberals go along with it. All of a sudden it’s criminal to oppose the regime (look up NPSM-7), and the liberals just keep going about their day because nothing is different FOR THEM

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Anonymous OP 2w

If you can make money by manufacturing political influence and seizing power and sowing division, it will be done. That’s just capitalism. Every political division has some roots in economics. We had slavery because enslavers wanted to make money, they manufactured a racial division so they could have a permanent workforce that didn’t need to be paid.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

That’s right.

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Anonymous OP 2w

our economic system is the root of most of our stratification. things that are the fault of said stratification get blamed on other people (it’s their own fault, it’s the immigrants, etc) because it’s a simple answer. each attempt to solve issues that doesn’t address the underlying economic/material aspect only pushes people to further extremes. nazi germany didn’t come out of nowhere, they were in a dire economic crisis before the rise of the party.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

These people don’t do it because they’re just evil and like hurting others, they do it because they can get rich doing it. I think that’s more evil, and more cold.

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Anonymous #1 2w

Thanks twin <3

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

Ok I think this part is actually wrong, our politicians act in a way that does not help most of us because it helps THEM. They are rational actors, they have reasons for acting the way they do. It’s not just « oh they’re bad”

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

This is true, but I’m having a hard time trying to see the root of all this that led to MAGA.. like it’s just so… big There is almost no common ground with them and these books are NOT helping

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Anonymous #1 2w

Theoretically yeah, politicians are supposed to help us, but I think they’ve perverted the system enough that it’s just about them now, and they need to beg our approval enough to keep it going. If democrats actually worked for us we would not be in the place we’re in

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I think the founders designed the system some what well… people will never agree on anything. ever. period. So a system with consent of the governed that allows for small incremental changes (generally, ofc not always) when there isn’t a clear consensus and swift changes (civil rights act) when there is… I think overall is a better system

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Anonymous OP 2w

We’re in a capitalist world where money is power and power is money. I’m not a political theorist, but once you realize it’s about the betterment of a few, and the division is a tactic they’re using, it makes more sense.

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Anonymous #2 2w

I’ve read a little about this, I wish my public policy classes went deeper lol

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

Like George santos isn’t working for anybody but George santos. And honestly we love him for it but there’s no contract between him and his constituents other than him parroting some talking points to get a seat in congress.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

I think it’s because the wealthy have figured out how to pervert the system… like politicians spend so much time fundraising / being scared of attacked for voting for what they believe in

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

I agree with this part, I think the interests of the elite and the interests of the general population are fundamentally different. Which is why I say the politicians are acting in THEIR rational interests, not OUR rational interests.

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Anonymous #1 2w

Agree 100%

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Anonymous OP 2w

I would say they’re perverting public trust, but they aren’t quite perverting the system. Yes in our founding documents all people are equal, but we are legally able to REPEAL the voting rights act, which kind of begs the question of whether people are really considered equal at all. Like if we are what we say we are none of this should be possible.

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Anonymous #1 2w

Like, I’m a socialist, I believe that the means of production should be distributed among the productive class. I do not hide this when I speak, however, you loon at a lot of Conservative figures today, and you’ll notice they constantly try to hide what they want in metaphor.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

So, I think the overwhelming response is not really lol… my point wasn’t that there aren’t explanations for why this is happening… but it so heartbreaking that it is happening

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

Ok, last note before I stop delaying bedtime, watch Innuendo Studios on YouTube. It’s not entirely academic but they have good thoughts on the current/past political state of America

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

especially the death of a euphemism episode

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My fault I care about the soul of America

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

We would have to change the constitution for that? Also what would your alternative be

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Anonymous OP 2w

It can be explained by the greed of the elite and the (manufactured) complacency of the poor, and the fact that democracy is vulnerable to manipulation. We aren’t a pure democracy by any means, but it’s easy to destroy the democratic process through legal maneuvers and just by being a fucking liar.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

You know that’s right.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

If you’re a poor white person, and your boss is underpaying you, he’s going to tell you the reason you’re poor is because of your brown neighbors. That’s manufacturing division and it’s happened since forever, all throughout history.

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Anonymous OP 2w

I don’t know what my alternative is, I just know things aren’t working. And the constitution was made to be changed, that’s one of the few things they got right. I don’t think one person has all the answers but step one is identifying the problem.

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

Which makes me think, because you are exactly right in my opinion… what system of government is there that can prevent this from happening… Like free speech right.. but how do we balance it so that demagogues who lie don’t gain traction

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Anonymous #1 2w

Liberals, people who believe in the norms of our system, can never understand that I despise the entirety of the system. Conservatives play upon that by aiming at the people who NEED the system to change, but blaming their problems on people who had nothing to do with it. Both ways, the extremely wealthy people with the sway over the current system maintain their power.

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Anonymous #1 2w

I was thinking that was ur angle, I’m not really of that “hate the whole system” mindset but some of your points are valid

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

I really like your perspective, what’s ur major btw

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Anonymous OP 2w

If you care about the system at all, realizing it needs change is just a necessary reality. I’d probably put myself more in the reform camp but I’d still say there’s things we need to drop entirely. Welcome to leftism lol, the woke mob has successfully indoctrinated you 😈

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Anonymous OP 2w

I mean, I don’t 100% believe the system is bad in its entirety. We must learn from the current system to build something better, it can’t just start from scratch. But I think liberalism and capitalism have their fundamental flaws, and there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

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Anonymous OP 2w

I’m an art major💀I promise I am not the stereotype of one despite the politics

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

Also I’m gonna add that moderates have more in common with leftists than we all think we do and coalition building is vital right now. We can have theory book club later

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

HELP and im the political science student… i probably should be more familiar with these theories … but tbh im really studying public policy because im interested in transportation and infrastructure

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Anonymous #1 2w

Maybe I should read an honest book on Marxism… just seems like all the conversations to be had are so distant and not likely to actually happen in the USA anymore

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Anonymous #1 2w

I’m taking a Constitutional Law class right now about the rights of the individual, and I think a lot of the way the *objectively liberal* SCOTUS rules, a lot of what they’ve ruled in the past is GREAT! That being said, using the texts the current system is built on, it is quite easy to dismantle that system from the inside. I believe we need something smarter and stronger, to prevent the issues we see in modern American politics.

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Anonymous OP 2w

We need people who understand the world as it is now and people who are invested in the world as it can be. There’s this guy called Unlearning Economics on yt that I like, he explains economics and how it pertains to leftism which is something we need when a lot of lefties ignore it entirely

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Anonymous smithereen 2w

also in any society worth living in we need transportation and infrastructure! we can’t build a woke communist utopia without bridges and engineering codes (or I guess my like, UBI-environmentalist utopia, still figuring out my own ideology here).

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Anonymous #1 2w

I mean “small L liberal” btw, as in “people should have liberty” which is a great goal, but often seems damn near impossible under the current Constitution, which was written by a group of SLAVERS no older than the group of people in this comment section.

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Anonymous OP 2w

understand that marxism isn’t necessarily communism (unless you’re talking marxism-leninism) it’s a social/political theory that the economic and material realities we live in have a fundamental effect on everything else culturally. you can find lots of work that uses marxism while discussing things that aren’t communism (nowadays it’s more likely to be labeled some variation of critical theory)

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Anonymous #2 2w

That’s right, I first learned about Marxism as “Conflict Theory” within Sociology (I took Sociology my freshman year of HS, sophomore year was Econ, Marx is a founding father of Sociology in general) and it fundamentally made sense to me, which is probably why I view my academic pursuits through a Marxist lens to this day.

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Anonymous #2 2w

Wait I thought Marx came up with communism and socialism by extension 😭

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Anonymous #1 2w

omg twinsies

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Anonymous #1 2w

Where did u go to high school, teaching Marx in highschool in the south would cause riots

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Anonymous OP 2w

Marx did come up with Communism, and wrote the Communist Manifesto, but he was never actually in charge of a country. Marx-Leninism, the ideology of the Soviet Union, differs from what Marx had to say in a number of ways it’s too late at night for me to get into. So while MLs derive their ideology from Marxism, it is an evolution from 40 years after Marx died and not quite the same as what he wrote.

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Anonymous OP 2w

North Carolina, actually

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Anonymous OP 2w

We got taught the other two major sociologists too, the guys behind Functionalist and Interactionalist Theory, as well as Marx’s Conflict Theory, I just like Marx’s Conflict Lens the most as someone who knows how to look through all 3 👍

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Anonymous OP 2w

he did but bro has a huge body of work. marx was a political theorist, historian, philosopher, economist, and journalist too. the communist manifesto is a very small drop in the bucket when it comes to the entirety of his work (tho it is probably the most broadly known) tho his critique of capitalism is consistent. marxism typically has an element of praxis, or changing the system for the better, but that doesn’t mean communism for everyone.

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Anonymous #1 2w

wait that’s sick as hell i had to wait til college for that

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Anonymous #1 2w

Especially since Functionalism itself fits under the Marxist perception of Conflict Theory. Almost every argument for Functionalism is also an argument for Marxism. But that’s college senior level philosophy and sociology, which again, it is too late for me to get into the nitty gritty of.

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Anonymous #1 2w

like man I’m watching Naruto, I’m not about to explain the difference between Auguste Comte and Karl Marx at 1:30am

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