USA Politics

[arpeggio]

I was a music major.  The only radical thing I studied was Webern.

[milk]

Are you sure you're remembering this right? Even then, the professor in this class may have intended to be "thought provoking".

And there was no one in that class who asked how come men did not give birth?

Obviously much of the man / woman differences are part of cultural ideology (another key word in Marxist theory). But that doesn't mean all differences are 100% cultural.

You're not up on your feminism.

[71 dB]

Forget the Marxists already. The Overton Window is so right in the US politics, you can't see Marxists through it.

I was a music major.  The only radical thing I studied was Webern.

That's a good one! Could be a line in a movie, but only 1 % of the audience would get it.

[greg]

If I understand the question the answer is I do not know.

Yeah, me neither.

This is the wrong forum if you want serious, fact-based answers.

Well, for this particular question, facts are helpful, but can only get us part of the way.

Any other countries throughout history have the same issue and fixed it?

There is also the problem that most, or almost all, of these cases that people are protesting don't even deserve a protest. Surely there's more protest-worthy examples out there?

Anyways, maybe make some law requiring video evidence of police murder to be sent to some court case? Idk how the process works but I'm assuming they can get away without a trial sometimes...

[arpeggio]

One of the cheapest debating tricks is to make an assertion without any documentation to back it up.

They will state that Democrats are whatever.  The only way for a person to respond is to spend hours researching the 'whatever' to disprove it.

Like the accusation that we do not provide 'facts'.  I have read many contributions where the writer provides all sort of documentation to support their positions.

I am not going to waste my time rummaging through this forum to find examples of 'facts'.

[Daverz]

Forget the Marxists already. The Overton Window is so right in the US politics, you can't see Marxists through it.

That's a good one! Could be a line in a movie, but only 1 % of the audience would get it.

Right, there's no representation of Marxists in our politics.  Not even notionally. 

[71 dB]

Right, there's no representation of Marxists in our politics.  Not even notionally.

However, corporations and the rich have a very strong representation in the US politics as about 90 % of the politicials* are brided by them.

* 100 % of the Republicans and about 80 % of the Democrats.

[milk]

Right, there's no representation of Marxists in our politics.  Not even notionally.

BLM's coalition partner is M4BL (movement for black lives). They're not purely Marxist, if such a thing exists. Maybe just a little bit influenced in their explicit anti-capitalism?  My disclaimer is that I don't necessarily support or oppose anything they say specifically. Anyway, you can are a look at some of their ideas. I find these kinds do things interesting and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of young protesters believed in this stuff - maybe some old ones too.
BTW, ironically, they're underwritten (in a roundabout way) by the Ford Foundation, Morgan Stanley, and Ben & Jerry's.

Excuse my cherry picking from their website:
We believe and understand that Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global racialized capitalist system...
[we call for] Reparations...in the form of full and free access for all Black people...to lifetime education including: free access and open admissions to public community colleges and universities, technical education...retroactive forgiveness of student loans...guaranteed minimum livable income for all Black people...corporate and government reparations focused on healing ongoing physical and mental trauma, and ensuring our access and control of food sources, housing and land... mandated public school curriculums...
A reallocation of funds at the federal, state and local level from policing and incarceration...
The retroactive decriminalization, immediate release and record expungement of all drug related offenses and prostitution...
A constitutional right at the state and federal level to a fully-funded education...A progressive restructuring of tax codes at the local, state, and federal levels to ensure a radical and sustainable redistribution of wealth...
We demand a world where those most impacted in our communities control the laws, institutions, and policies that are meant to serve us...Direct democratic community control of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies..
[the government shall] Provide reparations to survivors of police violence and their families, and to survivors of prison, detention and deportation violence, and their families....Decriminalize youth under 23...Interrupt and end criminalization and deportation of Black women...Ensure that Black women have access to resources that will enable them to escape and avoid interpersonal and community violence, including living wage employment; quality, accessible, and affordable housing; immigration status; universal, quality, and accessible health care; comprehensive, culturally appropriate community-based mental health care; universal, quality, and accessible childcare; and healthy environments...

...Discrimination, harassment, and violence against Black trans, intersex, queer, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQ+) people pervade virtually every institution and setting...
[the government must] End profiling, criminalization, police, and prison violence against Black trans and gender nonconforming people...
[we demand] A moratorium on all prison, jail, immigrant and youth detention construction, without an accompanying expansion of home arrest or GPS monitoring or other forms of incarceration...
[the government shall] Decommission all prisons, jails, and immigration and youth detention centers not currently imprisoning people, followed by demolition or repurposing for non-­punitive purposes....
....Retroactive elimination of sentences of life without parole (LWOP) and sentences that will result in death by incarceration...
...Eliminate restrictions and exclusions on access to housing, education, employment, social programs and benefits, voting rights, parental rights, and other civil rights based on prior criminal convictions...

[Jo498]

A marxist position would mean handing over the control of most businesses, certainly all key industries to the state or some kind of union, syndicate or whatever, i.e. stop privately owned means of production. Even granted that neomarxism does not only/mainly focus on economics and control of the means of production, I don't see anything in the quoted/bolded excerpts that refers to means of production and without a focus on economy, I wouldn't call a position marxist.

It seems rather like a vulgarized and extended version of welfare state benefits similar to European social democracies, only with a particular (anti?)racial twist.

[milk]

A marxist position would mean handing over the control of most businesses, certainly all key industries to the state or some kind of union, syndicate or whatever, i.e. stop privately owned means of production. Even granted that neomarxism does not only/mainly focus on economics and control of the means of production, I don't see anything in the quoted/bolded excerpts that refers to means of production and without a focus on economy, I wouldn't call a position marxist.

It seems rather like a vulgarized and extended version of welfare state benefits similar to European social democracies, only with a particular (anti?)racial twist.

Perhaps that's true. They do mention an explicit anti-capitalist stance at the beginning or maybe it's the idea that current global capitalism is racist? Why do I get the feeling that Jews are gonna get the blame for this? Maybe I'm just paranoid. Anyway, I support universal healthcare and education in theory. But I think it'd be a bad idea to do it based on race. And immigration based on race? They WILL have to change some laws! Some of that stuff sounds like it was written by college kids who just toked up after walking out of an Angela Davis lecture. There's a famous Marxist.

[Herman]

However, corporations and the rich have a very strong representation in the US politics as about 90 % of the politicials* are brided by them.

* 100 % of the Republicans and about 80 % of the Democrats.

"brided" is a bit of a head scratcher. Perhaps you wanted to say "wedded to", like "beholden"?

[BasilValentine]

"brided" is a bit of a head scratcher. Perhaps you wanted to say "wedded to", like "beholden"?

I imagine by bribed he meant something like: given large quantities of campaign money, much of it dark, in the hope that those who receive it will stay in power and promote legislation favorable to the donors.

[milk]

"brided" is a bit of a head scratcher. Perhaps you wanted to say "wedded to", like "beholden"?

Bribed. Politicians are "bribed." One could look at the system as a kind of legalized bribery. Isn't it true that corporations through lobbyists write the laws and "guide" politicians. It used to be that labor was a counterbalance. In what countries are elections Publicly funded? Seems like American politicians spend half their time begging for money from big donors.

[Daverz]

BLM's

I'm going to put you on my ignore list as this obsession with requiring POC and only POC to moderate themselves is creeping me out.

[Todd]

Which is a more effective online rhetorical tool, publicly pronouncing that someone is being put on the "ignore" list, or publicly pronouncing that one is leaving the site?

[71 dB]

"brided" is a bit of a head scratcher. Perhaps you wanted to say "wedded to", like "beholden"?

Bribed. Sorry my typo.

[71 dB]

I imagine by bribed he meant something like: given large quantities of campaign money, much of it dark, in the hope that those who receive it will stay in power and promote legislation favorable to the donors.

Yes, correct. 

[JBS]

Which is a more effective online rhetorical tool, publicly pronouncing that someone is being put on the "ignore" list, or publicly pronouncing that one is leaving the site?

The former. 71dB announced I'm on his ignore list. Which means there is no sense in my making posts in the vain hope of making him understand why he's wrong, and sharply reduces the temptation to lose my temper and call him an idiot.

[André]

The former. 71dB announced I'm on his ignore list. Which means there is no sense in my making posts in the vain hope of making him understand why he's wrong, and sharply reduces the temptation to lose my temper and call him an idiot.

Actually, he'll read your posts anyway. May even read them first...

[arpeggio]

I am pro-choice, I believe in evolution and I believe in climate change.  So I can understand if a person wants to put me on their ignore list.