democratic socialists versus libertarian partiers
Monday, January 22nd, 2018The Nation covers the growth spurt of the “Democratic Socialists of America“, what with ten (chapters or members?) in the Tri Cities alone. The moderates are working with the radicals and vice versa…
People are subsuming their discomfort with, say, a commune to campaign for single-payer. Marxists are swallowing their discomfort with, say, our participation in the Democratic primary.
Of course, no one has too much problem with communes popping up. Much.
The red baited candidates pulling forth…
Toward the end of the race, flyers were distributed that showed Carter’s face alongside Lenin’s and Stalin’s, which Christine Riddiough, a 71-year-old IT professional and a member of DSA’s electoral committee, described to me as an attempt at red-baiting.
Unfair. No one in DSA is comparing anyone to Lenin or Stalin. It’s Mao and Trotsky!
Over the summer, three loose coalitions formed, each bearing its own program: Momentum, Praxis, and Unity. When I asked the members of the groups how they differed, I was told that Momentum consisted of “soft Trotskyites†and was the most explicitly Marxist, oriented toward the campaign for single-payer and other overarching policy initiatives. Praxis was “Maoism lite,†with a “from-the-ground-up†approach [Just like the governing approach of the historical Mao!] and the heaviest focus on social justice and questions of identity. *
[…] Both Momentum and Praxis consist predominantly of young people, while the third coalition, Unity, was the least ideological, with an emphasis that was described to me as “old-DSA-ish stuff†(i.e., cooperation with the Democratic Party) and “reform and realignment.â€Â Leftovers from a pre-Trump DSA... tools of the Democratic Party, Mo and Prax probably think.
And meantime, over at the Libertarian Party, a different long term goal setting… the seven year plan of new party luminary Larry Sharpe. He does seem to be overflowing with loud enthusiasm.
We get into debates if people want to see us. If we have someone who’s popular, who people want to see. We get a good celebrity in 2020, we’re in the debates. We get someone like, I don’t know, people talk about Mark Cuban, I don’t know if he’s a libertarian. But whatever, someone like him, or Vince Vaughn, Kurt Russell, The Rock.
Granted, the real third party — the Greens — skipped out on the chance for Roseanne Barr, but it didn’t really work for the fourth party that ran her in 2012.
And trying to assess the large groupings of libertarian celebrities — I must say I must be missing the great public adoration and fanfare that will be driving Penn Jilette to the media firestorm he’s aiming for here — the other noted celebrity that pops to mind, Drew Carey, also falls flat.
I wonder, though. Caitlyn Jenner. I don’t know if she’s aptable to switch parties — she has been the most prominent trans-gendered Republican out there, and I don’t know if her transgendered politics squares with a libertarian stance which would, for instance, not want tax payer money going to any gender reassignment therapy and on to employee mandates and on or what her “small gummint” politics are otherwise — but I do know that she has voiced disgust at her party and Trump. And she would do the best job in driving media attention — more so than Penn Jilette or Drew Carey.
And adding more fractures to a fractious Libertarian Party… and his approach to “alt right” “white nationalist” would be libertarians…
How can I turn you if I can’t talk to you? Come, even white nationalists, come. If I can turn you, I’ll turn you. My hero is that guy Daryl Davis. You know that guy? He’s one of my brothers who was out there trying to get KKK members to turn. And he keeps their hoods as a trophy. He’s turned like 44 of them in 30 years. That’s my hero.
The vast majority of those guys are not Nazis. They’re guys who are lost. There’s a couple guys who are Nazis; there’s always a couple of ringleaders. Those guys are never going to change, no matter what you do. But the big chunk of people who just think this is the right answer now? Turn them. That may take a month. That may take a year. It might take a hundred years. I don’t care …
Spoken like the true Reagan — Bush Republican turned Clinton Democrat turned Perot backer turned Naderite turned Obama supporter turned Libertarian hot shot … so I guess he knows.
Tempting fate here…
[Reason interviewer Matt Welch] So if someone says, “Hey, you know what? My version of libertarianism is I think people should be free to cluster, and I’m going to join a white nationalist community, and I’m going to be a member of the L.P. executive board”?
[Sharpe] Good luck. If you win the election, I’m fine with it. Look, remember something—in a libertarian society, you can have enclaves of socialists, enclaves of communists, as long as it’s voluntary when people try to leave.
After all… we all believe in Communes.
* Worth pointing out, whatever the connection to Chairman Mao, the action taking by the meowists described here is a productive and useful one.
  So, when someone accuses them of spouting out goobley — gook, or asks them to clarify what it is the “B-12” incident, they may just point to their shirt in a state of smug self-assured over-confidence. How this wins over the masses, I do not know.
