You’ve done great job of articulating points that are difficult to explain without assorted obscenities and spittle being thrown (at least in my case).
My college age daughter and I were discussing the potential for a rebound “empathy enhanced” economic and political model to reclaim some of the soil salted by Musk and Trump’s fascist Ayn Rand-ian snark. I feel that we are well beyond any rhetorical “crossroads” analyses offered by the CNN types. It’s difficult to explain the gravity of the current situation to a generation that has only the absurd reference points of perpetual war, pandemics, and mind altering tech devices to fall back upon. The more I find myself referencing (for her) history in the form of the rise of fascism in pre-war Europe, the internment camps for Japanese Americans, etc., the more I frighten myself with my own arguments.
Joshua, this is what the USA needs, and what the rest of the western world needs. We're all in these hollowed out neoliberal so-called democracies, and until we face this fact and get organized, it's only going to get worse.
1) Humanity, collectively, faces global challenges.
2) They are not being addressed anywhere near adequately, and nothing seems to be changing this.
3) The system of nation-states & their inter-national relations is incapable of the truly global (planetary) perspective needed.
=BUT=
4) The means absolutely do exist for building an integrated, pragmatic, extra-governmental global movement of immense power.
5) "IMMENSE": potentially harnessing the knowledge, skills, passion, creativity, etc., of every single person who hopes to develop conditions that support JUSTIFIED OPTIMISM for the medium-term future of humanity.
It's really amazing, to me, that nobody seems to have figured out how to do this.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools." -MLK Jr.
"Now it is becoming less clear why the ruling elite would not just kill the new useless class. “You’re totally expendable,” he told the audience. … “We don’t need you. But we are nice, so we’ll take care of you.” -Harari
I’m going to a rally today at my GOP congresswoman’s office because she has never held a town hall. It’s a small event but it’s something. I love how you said Musk is so unoriginal he is copying Milei. I needed that laugh!
Americans will not be motivated until they truly suffer. Trump & Musk will use the military to hurt protesters. I’m okay to die for my beliefs. I mean if Medicaid goes away I’ll die so what are my choices? I’ll take a bullet for that & become a martyr. Maybe. Or I’ll just be erased. Disappeared like the administration is already doing. Like Argentina did in the 1970s. I hope Trump & Musk didn’t read that part of Argentine history!
Hi JP, I'm disappointed in your representation of Schumer's position. While I can't personnaly say which is worse, the let the shutdown happen or to do what Schumer did, his reasons had some validity and I have heard them articulated. Schumer's belief is that a shutdown would have given Trump dramatically more leverage than he already has because he would have legally been given authority to define what constitutes "essential services." He could then, even more freely, go about shutting down all range of things that we currently are fighting against through the Courts. During a shutdown, these Court cases wouldn't stand a chance.
Like I said, I don't know what the right tactical decision was but it wasn't Schumer caving to Trump. His was a tactical decision that he thought was the best choice for our country. Disparaging him the way you did is not useful. We can disagree on tactics but we shouldn't throw allies under the bus.
I think the main complaint I have heard about the dems, is that they had time to come up with a cohesive plan, but they didn't, and they are attacking each other, instead of who is really the problem. I don't profess to know the best way to fight, other than we need to do it as much together as we can. And utilize all the best thinking.
Problem is that all this seething anger and righteous protest is not likely to go anywhere except to revitalize, eventually, the other wing of the capitalist uni-Party led by the so called Democratic Party. This would be true even if someone like that opportunist warmonger, Bernie Sanders, rose to the helm and ousted Trump at the next election. These people have zero vision beyond the taken for granted framework of a capitalist buying and selling society in which the vast majority are foredoomed to be wage slaves working to further enrich the tiny parasite class who own and control the means of wealth production. Trump is the logical outcome of the failure of the reformists to see beyond the system they have sought to tinker with. You can’t get the leopard to change its spots. You can’t humanize a system based on the competitive accumulation of capital out of profits realized from the sale of commodities. With Trump gone and the so called Democrats back in power, we will merely be back to where we started in the pre-Trumpian era. If you don’t learn from the mistakes of the past you are certain to repeat them….
Better than 20% of Senate Democrats turned Vichy at the first opportunity. Not a good sign at all. No wonder Trump and company feel empowered. I would too, if everyone was too afraid to stand up to me.
Another great, sincere article Josh: very well said. I feel so sorry for the American people. The election of the Orange Beelzebub was perhaps the logical conclusion of your very brutal form of capitalism. There isn’t a democracy is America, as you know, you are governed by one party with slightly differing cheerleaders. Certainly, the dreadful Kamala Harris, and the continually useless Democrats deserved to lose the last election, not least for their bankrolling a genocide in Palestine, but the saddest thing is that you don’t have a representative democratic system. Perhaps when the dust settles after the overt(unelected) Nazi Musk and the vile Trump are violently removed(I can honestly see this happening), Americans will have the opportunity to sit down and produce a fairer system of government that really benefits the population. Until then, stay safe, good people.
Such a great article! Thank you for this. I hope everyone will join us at shutdown315.org for resources on community building - it’s the first step to freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oligarchy.
You really shouldn’t write about things you know very little about. Go to Argentina and talk with people, not just the ex-government workers who have taken advantage of the government for decades.
You’ve done great job of articulating points that are difficult to explain without assorted obscenities and spittle being thrown (at least in my case).
My college age daughter and I were discussing the potential for a rebound “empathy enhanced” economic and political model to reclaim some of the soil salted by Musk and Trump’s fascist Ayn Rand-ian snark. I feel that we are well beyond any rhetorical “crossroads” analyses offered by the CNN types. It’s difficult to explain the gravity of the current situation to a generation that has only the absurd reference points of perpetual war, pandemics, and mind altering tech devices to fall back upon. The more I find myself referencing (for her) history in the form of the rise of fascism in pre-war Europe, the internment camps for Japanese Americans, etc., the more I frighten myself with my own arguments.
Thanks again for your efforts, Well done.
Joshua, this is what the USA needs, and what the rest of the western world needs. We're all in these hollowed out neoliberal so-called democracies, and until we face this fact and get organized, it's only going to get worse.
I'd like to see us organize on a global scale.
1) Humanity, collectively, faces global challenges.
2) They are not being addressed anywhere near adequately, and nothing seems to be changing this.
3) The system of nation-states & their inter-national relations is incapable of the truly global (planetary) perspective needed.
=BUT=
4) The means absolutely do exist for building an integrated, pragmatic, extra-governmental global movement of immense power.
5) "IMMENSE": potentially harnessing the knowledge, skills, passion, creativity, etc., of every single person who hopes to develop conditions that support JUSTIFIED OPTIMISM for the medium-term future of humanity.
It's really amazing, to me, that nobody seems to have figured out how to do this.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools." -MLK Jr.
"Now it is becoming less clear why the ruling elite would not just kill the new useless class. “You’re totally expendable,” he told the audience. … “We don’t need you. But we are nice, so we’ll take care of you.” -Harari
Please read this if you can find the time JP, bad things are brewing and this explains and offers solutions for them: https://tritorch.substack.com/p/united-we-stand-divided-we-fall
I’m going to a rally today at my GOP congresswoman’s office because she has never held a town hall. It’s a small event but it’s something. I love how you said Musk is so unoriginal he is copying Milei. I needed that laugh!
Americans will not be motivated until they truly suffer. Trump & Musk will use the military to hurt protesters. I’m okay to die for my beliefs. I mean if Medicaid goes away I’ll die so what are my choices? I’ll take a bullet for that & become a martyr. Maybe. Or I’ll just be erased. Disappeared like the administration is already doing. Like Argentina did in the 1970s. I hope Trump & Musk didn’t read that part of Argentine history!
Hi JP, I'm disappointed in your representation of Schumer's position. While I can't personnaly say which is worse, the let the shutdown happen or to do what Schumer did, his reasons had some validity and I have heard them articulated. Schumer's belief is that a shutdown would have given Trump dramatically more leverage than he already has because he would have legally been given authority to define what constitutes "essential services." He could then, even more freely, go about shutting down all range of things that we currently are fighting against through the Courts. During a shutdown, these Court cases wouldn't stand a chance.
I recommend this post, https://www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/how-a-shutdown-could-empower-trump, from Gabe Fleisher, to see what Schumer was talking about. [Late addition to this comment: Fleisher quotes Schumer making his explanation in today's post: https://www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/schumer-folds-what-got-done-this]
Like I said, I don't know what the right tactical decision was but it wasn't Schumer caving to Trump. His was a tactical decision that he thought was the best choice for our country. Disparaging him the way you did is not useful. We can disagree on tactics but we shouldn't throw allies under the bus.
I think the main complaint I have heard about the dems, is that they had time to come up with a cohesive plan, but they didn't, and they are attacking each other, instead of who is really the problem. I don't profess to know the best way to fight, other than we need to do it as much together as we can. And utilize all the best thinking.
We are all we have.
https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/
https://www.mutualaidhub.org/
Democrats serve corporate and Israeli interests, not the people.
Problem is that all this seething anger and righteous protest is not likely to go anywhere except to revitalize, eventually, the other wing of the capitalist uni-Party led by the so called Democratic Party. This would be true even if someone like that opportunist warmonger, Bernie Sanders, rose to the helm and ousted Trump at the next election. These people have zero vision beyond the taken for granted framework of a capitalist buying and selling society in which the vast majority are foredoomed to be wage slaves working to further enrich the tiny parasite class who own and control the means of wealth production. Trump is the logical outcome of the failure of the reformists to see beyond the system they have sought to tinker with. You can’t get the leopard to change its spots. You can’t humanize a system based on the competitive accumulation of capital out of profits realized from the sale of commodities. With Trump gone and the so called Democrats back in power, we will merely be back to where we started in the pre-Trumpian era. If you don’t learn from the mistakes of the past you are certain to repeat them….
Better than 20% of Senate Democrats turned Vichy at the first opportunity. Not a good sign at all. No wonder Trump and company feel empowered. I would too, if everyone was too afraid to stand up to me.
Another great, sincere article Josh: very well said. I feel so sorry for the American people. The election of the Orange Beelzebub was perhaps the logical conclusion of your very brutal form of capitalism. There isn’t a democracy is America, as you know, you are governed by one party with slightly differing cheerleaders. Certainly, the dreadful Kamala Harris, and the continually useless Democrats deserved to lose the last election, not least for their bankrolling a genocide in Palestine, but the saddest thing is that you don’t have a representative democratic system. Perhaps when the dust settles after the overt(unelected) Nazi Musk and the vile Trump are violently removed(I can honestly see this happening), Americans will have the opportunity to sit down and produce a fairer system of government that really benefits the population. Until then, stay safe, good people.
Such a great article! Thank you for this. I hope everyone will join us at shutdown315.org for resources on community building - it’s the first step to freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oligarchy.
You really shouldn’t write about things you know very little about. Go to Argentina and talk with people, not just the ex-government workers who have taken advantage of the government for decades.