Mutualism Left lib unity
I want a Left Libertarian/Mutualist/Anarchist egalitarian inclusive society as mentioned here and here, so like the users on Mutualism and C4ss, so that provides my foundation on our political landscape
My views are not 'both parties equally bad derp derp' . My views on going after Democrats as well as Republicans are rooted in stuff like
1) This thought by David Broader:
"After the much-vaunted failure of state socialism (and the neoliberal turn of social democracy) at the beginning of the 1990s, the ideas of mutual aid and power "from below", outside of the state, had become the norm across large swathes of the Left. The period between the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the millennium and Occupy Wall Street saw the rise of "anarcho-liberalism": the rejection of state action in favor of ideas focused on community self-management, liberated spaces, and "changing the world without taking power."
The late Mark Fisher noted how the belief in the impossibility of state action was itself a product of "capitalist realism": that is, remaining trapped in the ideological perspective provided by neoliberalism itself...
But most people do not have time, resources, or energy to take part in permanent political mobilization or the battle maintain occupied spaces, whatever their merits. Political action is not an end in itself. Permanent mobolization (or "assemblies" based on direct democracy) risks becoming a dictatorship of the bored and available, unable to offer a realistic and reliable prospect of change to a majority. It is a poor cousin of rights guaranteed by states.""
So I call for a range of different strategies to underpin a workers' movement (left wing economic civilists like socialists in office, grassroots movements, alternative institutions etc.),
2) This article (Some Social Challenges That Won’t Magically Go Away With a Biden Presidency from C4ss)
If I don't 'vote blue', at worst I will spoil my ballot or vote for some third party. Now they won't win but they might be able to keep their deposit or gain electoral funding.
But I do dabble in electorialism here and there and try to push Democrats leftward because it might not be enough to abolish hierarchies just so people can do whatever they want. I also want people's lives to be better. So until the US can reach a point where our own structures are a meaningful rival to the state I will be doing what is necessary to keep it docile and maintain my ability to do any meaningful work to improve people's lives
Maybe I will take an accelerationist stance to get there, but I refuse to throw Democrat options away hence why I do strategically use non resistance syncretic and libertarian Democrats as backbencher praxis of mine. But there is a conscientious objector to voting streak in me
Honestly, with the Uniparty in the US I always expect a more subdued, effective and no doubt "diverse" centrist authoritarianism to dominate both national politics and the local politics of places like Portland that bore the brunt of Trump-era demonization.
What would be the point in me getting involved in actively supporting Democrats even though they align with me on more issues than the Republicans do? Anarchists like me have abandoned electoralism since P.J Proudhon's experiment with it in the 1840s. It seems like Anarchists like me would need an awfully shallow understanding of anarchism to throw my lot in with either party when both parties embody pretty much exactly what we Anarchists are opposed to.
I focus on anarchist ideas, rather than me taking part in partisan bickering along Democrat/Republican lines, as this will probably yield better results.
Any fight against the tendencies of hyper-nationalism, fascism, and extreme right-wing populism is only possible while recognizing that these sentiments are not shared exclusively among “outsiders” of the usual political game, or away from what many initially think of as professional, civilized, and decent people — these tendencies are deeply rooted across the entire country. The easy thing to do is think of these sentiments as heading out of Washington along with Trump. The harder thing to do is accept that these sentiments cannot simply be lampooned and laughed off the stage, but need to be countered with serious arguments and genuine public discourse over the long run.
Karl Marx did advocate for the centralisation of the state at times (see his letter to Engels during the Franco-Prussian War), but he also says that "the whole thing begins with the self-government of the commune". There's certainly a bit of ambiguity over this, and to my knowledge, Marx's position in the First International was often conflated with that of the Social Democrats', including on the state, by both the anarchists and later the Bolsheviks. That's probably the source of at least some of the confusion.
I am trying to move Liberal 2.0ers and Democrats leftward as this thread suggests . So my criticism of Democrats/Liberal 2.0ers coming from a place of at worst tough love, and at best constructive criticism . With Republicans/non Liberal 2.0 right they are a lost cause so I am just trashing them because why not?
There is a Democrat in office who has carried forth and doubled down on harmful policies that were initiated while the last Republican was in office. Both parties play off each other while refusing to do anything to drastically raise the quality of life for marginalized peoples.
To believe that the voting process is absolutely not meddled-with would be the only way to have faith that individual votes even matter. There is no reason at all to make that assumption, and many reasons to be skeptical. Then also we can point out the state and corporate collusion that is legally condoned through the existence of Lobbyists. Then there is also the fact that the electoral college exists, an entity that's sole purpose is to hold authority over individual voters in the voting process.
From Liberal 2.0 Gen Z 'Anarchist' on subreddit: "This aggravates me so much. We pay taxes and perform in wage labour to survive, we're participating in the legitimacy of the state and capital every day. But people can't tick a box to prevent the creation of the systems of my genocide. Anyone who isn't actively in complete resistance of the state at all times but won't tick a box because then they'd be "consenting" is no comrade of mine."
Reply from non Liberal 2.0er who reflects and echos what my reply would be to her "Right back at ya. If you're more interested in telling people to vote for war criminals than letting people choose what they do with their own lives then you're probably not interested in anarchy. "Comrade" or not."
The difference is that when Democrat political strategists, journalists, academics etc try to look at what's going on they see discontent rather than apathy. Most of what the Democrats do might be lip service to justice but it's not completely useless, at the least it can move the overton window away from the current madness.
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