The world's economy runs on a lot more than oil and war.
As for the Trump and Clinton daughters I assume you're not really suggesting that this is evidence of a conspiracy between them, but that because they are both entangled in the capitalist economic system that means that they approach things in a common way. If that is what you're suggesting I think you're giving way too much respect to the power of the system and way too little to the ability of people to think outside that system.
Capitalist attitudes drove both the reparations demands of the Versailles Treaty after World War 1 and the Marshall Plan after World War 2. The former seemed extremely harsh (Germany only finished paying in 2010, despite the original sum due being reduced three times), while the latter seemed extremely generous. However, there was a clear link between the demand for reparations and the huge economic cost of World War 2, just as there was between the Marshall Plan and future trading opportunities. It's pretty clear to me which approach was ultimately more beneficial economically as well as in other ways.
There's been a lot of discussion in this thread about health care arrangements in the US. The lack of universal access to health care there is not a consequence of the capitalist system, but of choices made by people within that system - and those choices can be changed. There's evidence in the world today, both within and between countries, of enormous differences in the way decisions are made and resources allocated in capitalist countries. That suggests to me that there's plenty of opportunity to work within the system to improve it, rather than saying the system needs to be totally rejected.
The word conspiracy, is used by some, to be dismissive or to negate someone. I hope you are not using it that way with me. Just by using the word conspiracy over and over I see that you are being dismissive.
It certainly wasn't intended to come across that way. My post specifically said I assumed that you were not claiming there was a conspiracy, but rather that both Clinton and Trump were caught up in the system.
The Gold standard doesn't exist anymore. Oil is the standard now. Ron Paul understood this, just capitalism isn't ready to think outside of the system yet.
I agree oil is still important, but it's nowhere near as predominant a force as you're suggesting. It's not that long ago that coal was also very important, but almost no-one believes that to be the case now (Donald Trump being one of the few who does of course). Comfortably within my lifetime I expect to see the same happen to oil (though I am aware that you can argue that products may change, but the system lives on).
Please don't think I'm saying capitalism doesn't work or is broken. It's doing exactly what it was envisioned to do. Not allow the middle and lower class to think at all. Just consume whatever tripe they put on that magick mirror and keep our heads down. Do not think outside the system.
You seem to be saying that capitalism is designed to prevent people think. I believe the exact opposite is true. The capitalist system puts a premium on education and rewards innovation (think of firms like Google and Tesla for instance). It's no surprise that, like Karl Marx, most of those who have historically developed ideas about alternative systems of governance have done so by taking advantage of the opportunities provided to them by the capitalist system.
re: kneeling during the anthem is not disrepecting the country and its ideals
Shouldn't people be able to (non-violently, (there's not even any disruption here, it's just as long with people standing or kneeling)) disrepect their country anyway, when they find that said country does nothing to deserve respect?
The destruction of jerseys is pretty much the same type of protest that kneeling on the field is. It is a symbolic message that will garner attention but will change nothing.
It will be interesting to see what will happen next week and if Trump can keep his twitter hole shut and see if the kneelers are still in the Hundreds.
If so, expect the anthems to disappear from th games (in all sports) next season.
The destruction of jerseys is pretty much the same type of protest that kneeling on the field is. It is a symbolic message that will garner attention but will change nothing.
It will be interesting to see what will happen next week and if Trump can keep his twitter hole shut and see if the kneelers are still in the Hundreds.
If so, expect the anthems to disappear from th games (in all sports) next season.
I'm not sure it's the same. 1 jackass Joe Sixpack burning a jersey or 10 individuals separately doing it is different from whole teams of star athletes making a statement.
If those jersey burners can gather 100 like minded persons to burn together it would be a different story. Even still thousands of people have got together to protest Trump and it has not exactly yielded results yet.
The destruction of jerseys is pretty much the same type of protest that kneeling on the field is. It is a symbolic message that will garner attention but will change nothing.
It will be interesting to see what will happen next week and if Trump can keep his twitter hole shut and see if the kneelers are still in the Hundreds.
If so, expect the anthems to disappear from th games (in all sports) next season.
The rub is the teams never did this (stood for the anthem) before 2009. They were still in the locker room. Then the Pentagon and NFL basically decided to partner in a propaganda effort to boost recruitment (likely because Bush's wars had killed enlistment and deprived them of fresh cannon fodder). It hasn't even been going on long enough to be called a tradition.
huh. The NHL has been playing anthems (with the players swaying side to side on the ice or on the bench) in the NHL since 1946, according to this random guy on the internet.
I guess the NHL is a tad different though as it is two-national league (more than any other major league) and is steeped in at least international politics from The Summit Series, to the defection of Mogilny and other Soviet era players that I think it'd be out of place if there wasn't someone singing both songs prior to a game.
I agree oil is still important, but it's nowhere near as predominant a force as you're suggesting. It's not that long ago that coal was also very important, but almost no-one believes that to be the case now (Donald Trump being one of the few who does of course). Comfortably within my lifetime I expect to see the same happen to oil (though I am aware that you can argue that products may change, but the system lives on).
Oil is everything. It's the pillar of our economy and arguably our civilization. Aside from being the world's primary energy source and the fact that it's empowering globalization, it's used in thousands and thousands of products that most people take for granted. For instance, without oil we'd have no computers (at least any that the public could afford) and this conversation wouldn't be taking place. I hope to goodness that they come up with a replacement for oil, but the powers that be sure aren't going to make it easy.
Trump finally goes to Twitter to talk about Puerto Rico.....and opines about how much money they owe to Wall Street and banks. While they have no electricity or safe drinking water. This is what happens when a President realizes his base doesn't give a shit about the victims of the hurricane down there. These people are American citizens. And he spent 90% of his tweets about the subject basically saying they deserved it:
Whether he says stuff like this because he simply doesn't have a single ounce of empathy or sense of the moment in his body, or because he honestly feels like it is good politics for him to rip on the territory because most of his supporters view it as "foreign", does it really matter?? Either way he is a dangerously incompetent buffoon who is destroying anything good that was left of this country. The only reason Puerto Rico won't become his Katrina is because most Americans don't really give a shit about Puerto Rico. But, then again, alot of Americans didn't give a shit about the people stranded in New Orleans for a week either.
For those who would argue it is too hard or takes time to get things like this done, David Simon, creator of some of the best television shows in history, just reminded everyone on Twitter that over 50 years ago, we kept West Germany from starving for weeks with prop planes flying into one open airport. If the government can't respond to disasters in a timely matter, of ALL THINGS, the what the f**k good is it??
Trump can't help Puerto Rico, must pass tax cuts for billionaires in the form of tax cuts and a Obamacare repeal. There's a ticking clock for the latter.
There's a ticking clock in Puerto Rico but that doesn't affect Trump's personal wealth.
But that's also super f'ed up that it seems Trump wants to punish them NOW while this is ongoing.
Anthony Weiner has been sentenced. It seems he will be in jail for 21 months, just shy of two years, and will have to attend therapy for sex addiction.
If the government can't respond to disasters in a timely matter, of ALL THINGS, the what the f**k good is it??
That's what the right wing would say.
Our right wing government screw up and can't run government, then they cut budgets and services that actually help people and cut taxes then turn around and say the government doesn't work. Then when due to their governance it doesn't work they want to cut more rich peoples taxes as if that's the answer.
It's like when there's a school shooting or mass shooting Republicans call for MORE guns. When there's a government failure they call for more government failure.
Many people have declared war on the left, not because it is the left, but because it opposes nationalism.
I personally hold to pretty far-left economic views (total liquidation and nationalization of healthcare, free college, collectively owned natural resources, etc). But I cannot get on board with this idea that, as westerners, we must not only accept our cultural displacement - but celebrate it as well. No other people on Earth are brow-beaten with this type of socially engineered, hyper-altrusitic, internationalist rhetoric. No doubt a result of hyper-capitalism and the need to keep the proletariat divided and at each other's throats - after all, the most homogeneous societies are the most socialistic.
Personally, the American flag don't mean much to me aside from the fact that I recognize the societal need for a "big other", and the need for all members of a national society to adhere to this "big other" - whether it be god, religion, a belief in a leader, whatever - society functions best (i.e people are happiest) when people live their lives among like minded people. Everyone wants their own values espoused from the highest of places - which is why people vote, and it's why that in universal, hyper-democratic societies, a country's leader is seen as a manifestation of popular sentiment. This is when people are happiest. In America, god and country is the "big other", and such an "other" demands complete, universal adherence - and there is no escaping it. Otherwise you ultimately end up with anarchy and the breakdown of society beginning at the family level.
While I have respect for those who truly fight for social change, I have no respect for those limousine lefties who virtue signal from deep within their gated white enclaves. It's so easy to take a stand when surrounded by a pop-cultural, mass-media establishment that so enjoys the aroma of it's own flatulence.
Trump is not effective as an agent of change and has made foolish errors - which, aside from his conservative, deregulatory, pro-big business agenda, is the main source of my opposition to his presidency.
I think Americans are, by and large, illiterate, lazy, politically correct (or intentionally divisive) morons. If you take up for white people you have to qualify yourself as not hating black people - and yes, among certain communities the culture is quite discriminatory against blacks. But I would argue that this is not systemic in any real sense, but merely used for political gain, the msm, and so that self-righteous people can feel virtuous, as if they themselves constitute agents of positive change. As if they themselves were freedom fighters. They are not. They are cowards, traitors, and hypocrites the lot of them.
What we need is a mass-movement that brings the whole of the American populace, in totality, into a unified whole. To radically collectivise the nation, through mass-action and hyper-democracy, into a single-party, democratically centralized State, in which the Leader is the manifestation of the mass-sentiment of working class elements.
"The State is god walking on Earth". The "big other" must become "big brother".
In the Doctrine of Fascism, Giovanni Gentile, the national syndicalist revolutionary ghost writing for Mussolini, stated thus: "Grouped according to their several interests, individuals form classes; they form trade-unions when organized according to their several economic activities; but first and foremost they form the State, which is no mere matter of numbers, the suns of the individuals forming the majority. Fascism is therefore opposed to that form of democracy which equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number; but it is the purest form of democracy if the nation be considered as it should be from the point of view of quality rather than quantity, as an idea, the mightiest because the most ethical, the most coherent, the truest, expressing itself in a people as the conscience and will of the few, if not, indeed, of one, and ending to express itself in the conscience and the will of the mass, of the whole group ethnically molded by natural and historical conditions into a nation, advancing, as one conscience and one will, along the self same line of development and spiritual formation. Not a race, nor a geographically defined region, but a people, historically perpetuating itself; a multitude unified by an idea and imbued with the will to live, the will to power, self-consciousness, personality. In so far as it is embodied in a State, this higher personality becomes a nation..."
Technically, yes, Puerto Rico borrowed all that money and thus, legally, they are obligated to repay it. Had they been a State, though, they would not have been forced into that position and they wouldn't be having their current economic problems. I have been advocating for Puerto Rican Statehood for 10 years now (admittedly, on other boards but it has been an idea I have been supporting for that long).
What we need is a mass-movement that brings the whole of the American populace, in totality, into a unified whole. To radically collectivise the nation, through mass-action and hyper-democracy, into a single-party, democratically centralized State, in which the Leader is the manifestation of the mass-sentiment of working class elements.
So essentially you want a form of socialism, a system of social organization based on the collective ownership of the means of production and distribution, and you want to achieve this via a socialist party which incorporates the entire nation, yes? Some sort of a national socialist party, right?
I suspected from some of your previous posts that you were just trolling; with this post, I have the proof I need.
Many people have declared war on the left, not because it is the left, but because it opposes nationalism. .... But I cannot get on board with this idea that, as westerners, we must not only accept our cultural displacement - but celebrate it as well. No other people on Earth are brow-beaten with this type of socially engineered, hyper-altrusitic, internationalist rhetoric. No doubt a result of hyper-capitalism and the need to keep the proletariat divided and at each other's throats - after all, the most homogeneous societies are the most socialistic. .... While I have respect for those who truly fight for social change, I have no respect for those limousine lefties who virtue signal from deep within their gated white enclaves. It's so easy to take a stand when surrounded by a pop-cultural, mass-media establishment that so enjoys the aroma of it's own flatulence.
You say "many people are against the left because they oppose nationalism", yet you also say later that "the American flag don't mean much to me". I'm not picking on you here just trying to show a different view but don't you see that saying that opposing nationalism when it doesn't mean much to people is a bit of a contradiction?
What is cultural displacement? I don't really get that. The people that are outside of culture, if they get more numerous, they are going to want a bigger say in things. I don't see how it affects you or me or anyone as long as the dominant culture adheres to American ideals like the first Amendment. Things are going to change. This sounds like the complaint of every crotchety old man ever "why those crazy kids with their long hair and their rock and roll music, I don't like it, it's cultural displacement! Where's my Swing music!" You know what I mean? Things change, nothing is static.
Trump is not effective as an agent of change and has made foolish errors - which, aside from his conservative, deregulatory, pro-big business agenda, is the main source of my opposition to his presidency.
I think Americans are, by and large, illiterate, lazy, politically correct (or intentionally divisive) morons. If you take up for white people you have to qualify yourself as not hating black people - and yes, among certain communities the culture is quite discriminatory against blacks. But I would argue that this is not systemic in any real sense, but merely used for political gain, the msm, and so that self-righteous people can feel virtuous, as if they themselves constitute agents of positive change. As if they themselves were freedom fighters. They are not. They are cowards, traitors, and hypocrites the lot of them.
Cowards, traitors, and hypocrites the lot of them? I think that may be giving them too much credit. I'd say they are just corporate owned tools who say what their bosses require them to say for 80% of it and 20% is their opinion and personality that they can feel one way or the other about.
What we need is a mass-movement that brings the whole of the American populace, in totality, into a unified whole. To radically collectivise the nation, through mass-action and hyper-democracy, into a single-party, democratically centralized State, in which the Leader is the manifestation of the mass-sentiment of working class elements.
That's fine. But as I said, not everyone adheres to the same cultural ideals or one groups version of them. Can we bring asian americans, white americans, black americans, latinos, iranian americans, gay people, straight, trans, etc together and expect them to all to hold the exact same values? These groups don't even agree with each other!
This coming together might require some compromise. The coming together can't be all one sided. To me that's what the left wants. Actually to allow people to come together and not have one particular groups values. Live and let live brothers and sisters. I'd say the left does not oppose nationalism but is not afraid of change in the Christian Conservative status quo. Time is a moving target and doesn't go backwards. Change might not be so bad, in fact it might replace some aspects of life that suck.
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
I wouldnt call them incompetent, they did well in both Florida and Texas.
Lack of compassion for those who dont effect your political future on the other hand...
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
I wouldnt call them incompetent, they did well in both Florida and Texas.
Lack of compassion for those who dont effect your political future on the other hand...
Oxygen tanks for the elderly are nearly depleted. Dialysis patients are nearing death. But Trump is going to "visit" next Tuesday, further diverting the scant resources already on the ground. There should be a full-scale military effort going on right now. And I GUARANTEE you that Hillary Clinton has probably had a contingency plan for dealing with Puerto Rico losing power in a hurricane ready to go for years prior to her even running. Because that is what meticulous, wonky overachievers do. They plan for things im advance.
And I GUARANTEE you that Hillary Clinton has probably had a contingency plan for dealing with Puerto Rico losing power in a hurricane ready to go for years prior to her even running.
Wild speculation is wild.
Shouldn't the oversight committee Obama set up be working getting crews to Puerto Rico to work on the grid, as well as the food/water/medicine they need? That committee is the agency most directly in charge of Puerto Rico these days so some of the responsibility is theirs. It has been almost a week now and you are correct--no large-scale relief effort is underway. Trump will have to own this failure (but he probably won't).
And I GUARANTEE you that Hillary Clinton has probably had a contingency plan for dealing with Puerto Rico losing power in a hurricane ready to go for years prior to her even running.
Wild speculation is wild.
Shouldn't the oversight committee Obama set up be working getting crews to Puerto Rico to work on the grid, as well as the food/water/medicine they need? That committee is the agency most directly in charge of Puerto Rico these days so some of the responsibility is theirs. It has been almost a week now and you are correct--no large-scale relief effort is underway. Trump will have to own this failure (but he probably won't).
Since the main undercurrent of Trump's Presidency is an effort to erase everything Obama did, the likelihood is that Trump gutted any such committe if he had the power to do so, or at the very least rendered them impotent until he could personally restructure it. That is just speculation.
You may recall just last week Don Jr. gave up his Secret Service detail because he wanted more "privacy". Now, merely days later, he has had that detail restored. There is only one reasonable question to ask about this, which is "What was Don Jr. doing (or who did he meet with) that he didn't want any witnesses to??"
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
Yeah, Looks like the military could be more involved with this to support FEMA, esp. given they were already stretched to the limit on funding. Given the infrastructure of PR I suspect it will stake more and longer to get things going 'smoothly' again.
The San Juan mayor this morning confirmed that essentially nothing meaningful is being done in Puerto Rico by FEMA even at this hour today. Navy ships should be en route as we speak. They aren't. Planes should be airlifting supplies en masse. They aren't. This is what happens when you put incompetents in charge of your government.
Yeah, Looks like the military could be more involved with this to support FEMA, esp. given they were already stretched to the limit on funding. Given the infrastructure of PR I suspect it will stake more and longer to get things going 'smoothly' again.
The FEMA release is dated on the 23rd. Even if 1.1 million meals arrived, that would have been enough for a 1/3rd of the country for ONE day. It's now the 27th. And food isn't even the main concern. Based on those numbers, the vast majority of people on the island don't have drinking water. God forbid we use our military for something other than dropping bombs.
I suspected from some of your previous posts that you were just trolling; with this post, I have the proof I need.
If you suspect somebody of trolling, the only acceptable response, per the Site Rules, is to report the alleged trolling to the moderating team. Do not try to fight it out in-thread.
The last thing we need is people throwing out accusations of trolling. We have never seen anything good come of it. The accusation itself, if issued in public, is against the Site Rules.
I suspected from some of your previous posts that you were just trolling; with this post, I have the proof I need.
If you suspect somebody of trolling, the only acceptable response, per the Site Rules, is to report the alleged trolling to the moderating team. Do not try to fight it out in-thread.
The last thing we need is people throwing out accusations of trolling. We have never seen anything good come of it. The accusation itself, if issued in public, is against the Site Rules.
This is why it's helpful to not really believe trolling, as it is commonly defined, actually exists. There may be cases where people exaggerate their point for effect or to get attention (I do it myself), but deep down, people are saying some form of what they actually believe 95% of the time.
Separate topic is Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke feels that a third of Interior's staff, career government workers, are not loyal to him personally and Trump and threatens 'huge changes'. Nefarious.
So like after Trump is out, we'll have throw out all the people personally loyal only to Trump? Does he not realize he won't be interior secretary for life?
Technically, yes, Puerto Rico borrowed all that money and thus, legally, they are obligated to repay it. Had they been a State, though, they would not have been forced into that position and they wouldn't be having their current economic problems. I have been advocating for Puerto Rican Statehood for 10 years now (admittedly, on other boards but it has been an idea I have been supporting for that long).
What we need is a mass-movement that brings the whole of the American populace, in totality, into a unified whole. To radically collectivise the nation, through mass-action and hyper-democracy, into a single-party, democratically centralized State, in which the Leader is the manifestation of the mass-sentiment of working class elements.
So essentially you want a form of socialism, a system of social organization based on the collective ownership of the means of production and distribution, and you want to achieve this via a socialist party which incorporates the entire nation, yes? Some sort of a national socialist party, right?
I suspected from some of your previous posts that you were just trolling; with this post, I have the proof I need.
But understand that national socialism isn't socialism at all, but a uniquely German manifestation of fascism (which added racism, German mysticism and esoteric/occult elements). But if I were a fascist, it certainly wouldn't be Hitler's perversion of it (which Mussolini repeatedly disavowed before being forced to eventually accept due to military reliance on Nazi Germany).
In reality, I am nothing - or at least as an individual i am nothing. And certainly neither fascistic or communistic. But if this forum hasn't already figured it out, I am an absolute collectivist, and for good reason which we've poured over again and again...and both communism and Mussolinean/Gentilean fascism (Fasci means "bundle") are revolutionary collectivist ideologies (the two major ones we've had in the modern era) that stress the good of society over that of the individual... and while often on opposite ends of the spectrum, there are good and bad ideas inherent in both (provided we are talking about the fascism that evolved out of Sorelian national syndicalism and the communism espoused by Lenin).
Yes, I believe in hyper-democracy (which would spell the destruction of republicanism and representative democracy), as well as either social ownership of capital and the means that produce it, or at least some kind of by proxy control of it, by a dominant, all-encompassing, centralized State, driven by the social apparati upon which the totality of the human existence (in our country) rests.
Human happiness is the single most important thing. And people are most happy among universal likemindedness.
Comments
I agree oil is still important, but it's nowhere near as predominant a force as you're suggesting. It's not that long ago that coal was also very important, but almost no-one believes that to be the case now (Donald Trump being one of the few who does of course). Comfortably within my lifetime I expect to see the same happen to oil (though I am aware that you can argue that products may change, but the system lives on).
You seem to be saying that capitalism is designed to prevent people think. I believe the exact opposite is true. The capitalist system puts a premium on education and rewards innovation (think of firms like Google and Tesla for instance). It's no surprise that, like Karl Marx, most of those who have historically developed ideas about alternative systems of governance have done so by taking advantage of the opportunities provided to them by the capitalist system.
Shouldn't people be able to (non-violently, (there's not even any disruption here, it's just as long with people standing or kneeling)) disrepect their country anyway, when they find that said country does nothing to deserve respect?
It will be interesting to see what will happen next week and if Trump can keep his twitter hole shut and see if the kneelers are still in the Hundreds.
If so, expect the anthems to disappear from th games (in all sports) next season.
If those jersey burners can gather 100 like minded persons to burn together it would be a different story. Even still thousands of people have got together to protest Trump and it has not exactly yielded results yet.
I guess the NHL is a tad different though as it is two-national league (more than any other major league) and is steeped in at least international politics from The Summit Series, to the defection of Mogilny and other Soviet era players that I think it'd be out of place if there wasn't someone singing both songs prior to a game.
Whether he says stuff like this because he simply doesn't have a single ounce of empathy or sense of the moment in his body, or because he honestly feels like it is good politics for him to rip on the territory because most of his supporters view it as "foreign", does it really matter?? Either way he is a dangerously incompetent buffoon who is destroying anything good that was left of this country. The only reason Puerto Rico won't become his Katrina is because most Americans don't really give a shit about Puerto Rico. But, then again, alot of Americans didn't give a shit about the people stranded in New Orleans for a week either.
For those who would argue it is too hard or takes time to get things like this done, David Simon, creator of some of the best television shows in history, just reminded everyone on Twitter that over 50 years ago, we kept West Germany from starving for weeks with prop planes flying into one open airport. If the government can't respond to disasters in a timely matter, of ALL THINGS, the what the f**k good is it??
There's a ticking clock in Puerto Rico but that doesn't affect Trump's personal wealth.
But that's also super f'ed up that it seems Trump wants to punish them NOW while this is ongoing.
Our right wing government screw up and can't run government, then they cut budgets and services that actually help people and cut taxes then turn around and say the government doesn't work. Then when due to their governance it doesn't work they want to cut more rich peoples taxes as if that's the answer.
It's like when there's a school shooting or mass shooting Republicans call for MORE guns. When there's a government failure they call for more government failure.
I personally hold to pretty far-left economic views (total liquidation and nationalization of healthcare, free college, collectively owned natural resources, etc). But I cannot get on board with this idea that, as westerners, we must not only accept our cultural displacement - but celebrate it as well. No other people on Earth are brow-beaten with this type of socially engineered, hyper-altrusitic, internationalist rhetoric. No doubt a result of hyper-capitalism and the need to keep the proletariat divided and at each other's throats - after all, the most homogeneous societies are the most socialistic.
Personally, the American flag don't mean much to me aside from the fact that I recognize the societal need for a "big other", and the need for all members of a national society to adhere to this "big other" - whether it be god, religion, a belief in a leader, whatever - society functions best (i.e people are happiest) when people live their lives among like minded people. Everyone wants their own values espoused from the highest of places - which is why people vote, and it's why that in universal, hyper-democratic societies, a country's leader is seen as a manifestation of popular sentiment. This is when people are happiest. In America, god and country is the "big other", and such an "other" demands complete, universal adherence - and there is no escaping it. Otherwise you ultimately end up with anarchy and the breakdown of society beginning at the family level.
While I have respect for those who truly fight for social change, I have no respect for those limousine lefties who virtue signal from deep within their gated white enclaves. It's so easy to take a stand when surrounded by a pop-cultural, mass-media establishment that so enjoys the aroma of it's own flatulence.
Trump is not effective as an agent of change and has made foolish errors - which, aside from his conservative, deregulatory, pro-big business agenda, is the main source of my opposition to his presidency.
I think Americans are, by and large, illiterate, lazy, politically correct (or intentionally divisive) morons. If you take up for white people you have to qualify yourself as not hating black people - and yes, among certain communities the culture is quite discriminatory against blacks. But I would argue that this is not systemic in any real sense, but merely used for political gain, the msm, and so that self-righteous people can feel virtuous, as if they themselves constitute agents of positive change. As if they themselves were freedom fighters. They are not. They are cowards, traitors, and hypocrites the lot of them.
What we need is a mass-movement that brings the whole of the American populace, in totality, into a unified whole. To radically collectivise the nation, through mass-action and hyper-democracy, into a single-party, democratically centralized State, in which the Leader is the manifestation of the mass-sentiment of working class elements.
"The State is god walking on Earth". The "big other" must become "big brother".
In the Doctrine of Fascism, Giovanni Gentile, the national syndicalist revolutionary ghost writing for Mussolini, stated thus: "Grouped according to their several interests, individuals form classes; they form trade-unions when organized according to their several economic activities; but first and foremost they form the State, which is no mere matter of numbers, the suns of the individuals forming the majority. Fascism is therefore opposed to that form of democracy which equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number; but it is the purest form of democracy if the nation be considered as it should be from the point of view of quality rather than quantity, as an idea, the mightiest because the most ethical, the most coherent, the truest, expressing itself in a people as the conscience and will of the few, if not, indeed, of one, and ending to express itself in the conscience and the will of the mass, of the whole group ethnically molded by natural and historical conditions into a nation, advancing, as one conscience and one will, along the self same line of development and spiritual formation. Not a race, nor a geographically defined region, but a people, historically perpetuating itself; a multitude unified by an idea and imbued with the will to live, the will to power, self-consciousness, personality. In so far as it is embodied in a State, this higher personality becomes a nation..."
edit/add So essentially you want a form of socialism, a system of social organization based on the collective ownership of the means of production and distribution, and you want to achieve this via a socialist party which incorporates the entire nation, yes? Some sort of a national socialist party, right?
I suspected from some of your previous posts that you were just trolling; with this post, I have the proof I need.
What is cultural displacement? I don't really get that. The people that are outside of culture, if they get more numerous, they are going to want a bigger say in things. I don't see how it affects you or me or anyone as long as the dominant culture adheres to American ideals like the first Amendment. Things are going to change. This sounds like the complaint of every crotchety old man ever "why those crazy kids with their long hair and their rock and roll music, I don't like it, it's cultural displacement! Where's my Swing music!" You know what I mean? Things change, nothing is static. Cowards, traitors, and hypocrites the lot of them? I think that may be giving them too much credit. I'd say they are just corporate owned tools who say what their bosses require them to say for 80% of it and 20% is their opinion and personality that they can feel one way or the other about.
That's fine. But as I said, not everyone adheres to the same cultural ideals or one groups version of them. Can we bring asian americans, white americans, black americans, latinos, iranian americans, gay people, straight, trans, etc together and expect them to all to hold the exact same values? These groups don't even agree with each other!
This coming together might require some compromise. The coming together can't be all one sided. To me that's what the left wants. Actually to allow people to come together and not have one particular groups values. Live and let live brothers and sisters. I'd say the left does not oppose nationalism but is not afraid of change in the Christian Conservative status quo. Time is a moving target and doesn't go backwards. Change might not be so bad, in fact it might replace some aspects of life that suck.
Lack of compassion for those who dont effect your political future on the other hand...
Shouldn't the oversight committee Obama set up be working getting crews to Puerto Rico to work on the grid, as well as the food/water/medicine they need? That committee is the agency most directly in charge of Puerto Rico these days so some of the responsibility is theirs. It has been almost a week now and you are correct--no large-scale relief effort is underway. Trump will have to own this failure (but he probably won't).
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/09/23/federal-government-moving-resources-support-puerto-rico-and-us-virgin
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/09/the_trump_administration_s_disaster_response_in_puerto_rico_after_hurricane.html
The FEMA press release looks good in a vaccum, until you crunch the numbers and realize they are anemic and paltry when dealing with an island where 3.5 million people are without power. Water and food are DAILY needs. Only a large scale military effort can help.
The last thing we need is people throwing out accusations of trolling. We have never seen anything good come of it. The accusation itself, if issued in public, is against the Site Rules.
So like after Trump is out, we'll have throw out all the people personally loyal only to Trump? Does he not realize he won't be interior secretary for life?
But understand that national socialism isn't socialism at all, but a uniquely German manifestation of fascism (which added racism, German mysticism and esoteric/occult elements). But if I were a fascist, it certainly wouldn't be Hitler's perversion of it (which Mussolini repeatedly disavowed before being forced to eventually accept due to military reliance on Nazi Germany).
In reality, I am nothing - or at least as an individual i am nothing. And certainly neither fascistic or communistic. But if this forum hasn't already figured it out, I am an absolute collectivist, and for good reason which we've poured over again and again...and both communism and Mussolinean/Gentilean fascism (Fasci means "bundle") are revolutionary collectivist ideologies (the two major ones we've had in the modern era) that stress the good of society over that of the individual... and while often on opposite ends of the spectrum, there are good and bad ideas inherent in both (provided we are talking about the fascism that evolved out of Sorelian national syndicalism and the communism espoused by Lenin).
Yes, I believe in hyper-democracy (which would spell the destruction of republicanism and representative democracy), as well as either social ownership of capital and the means that produce it, or at least some kind of by proxy control of it, by a dominant, all-encompassing, centralized State, driven by the social apparati upon which the totality of the human existence (in our country) rests.
Human happiness is the single most important thing. And people are most happy among universal likemindedness.