I've said for years now that everyone is fed up with status-quo liberalism and that the popularity of people like Trump comes in no small part because of that. Liberals think its 1994 still and you can have a president who maybe does one small thing here or there but otherwise does nothing and the population won't care. Most people might not consciously think "I'm disenfranchised from neoliberalism" but they are, and it'll just keep getting worse from here
This is actually one of the ways that liberalism always collapses into fascism. Liberals dismantle left wing movements which threaten capital, then inevitably collapses due to changing material conditions under capitalism. This means that fascist power structures have a very easy time taking hold, both systemically and ideologically as there is no alternative ideology to oppose it.
The 90s had a rise in the rate of profit after the decline in the 70s. People didn't care cause times were good and the economy was growing (not nearly as good as 50 to 69).
Even still, capitalism hadn't cannibalized that much of the imperial core yet. Sure, unions had been dismantled and neoliberal systems like NAFTA already existed, but the impact exploitation had on the average American worker wasn't yet where it is now. Rent was much less, prices were less, the quality and quantity of products were greater, and above all there was no 2008 financial crisis allowing capitalists to cheaply loot the economy. That's different now, we're struggling more, and you can't pitch a system like liberalism to your working class if their exploitation is too great. Liberalism requires the wealth of empire to placate proles with a good enough quality of life, of which the US no longer has any semblance
That or liberals align with fascist to keep what power they have still
Interesting he's not getting the "rally 'round the president" bump from the shooting and the Ukraine war. Usually those things work.
I wonder if the dems are shell-shocked by the fall of Roe, covid, monkeypox, the liver problems in kids, mass shootings, and the panic about inflation. If somebody charismatic like Bill Clinton or Obama were president right now - they could distract the libs from hellworld.
I think libs are desperate for hopeful rhetoric but Biden either gives them some line about "working with the republicans" or he doesn't say anything at all. I think Biden must say something about guns in particular. Libs aren't expecting the truth - Obama lied to them like a priest for 8 years - but they just want to hear soothing words.
Not only is Biden anti-charismatic - 24/7 Biden seems to be so worried about making a mistake that his coping mechanism for most problems seems to be for his administration to go radio silent and wait for things to go away. I think right not that's a gigantic loser. I saw a tweet that said there were no members the administration on the Sunday news shows talking about guns. I think silence on gun violence is in particular a big (if not huge) mistake.
It's pretty clear that Biden isn't there mentally. Even if he was, he's been wrong about every public policy for 50 years. I'd link to the video of his racist speech in favor of the 1994 crime bill, but Youtube censored it. There's palace intrigue galore going on, which even if the media was curious about, which they're not, they wouldn't report anyway because it would reflect negatively on Biden. He's being controlled by his advisors, and he constantly says things he obviously heard in meetings but wasn't supposed to say in public. Like "we will militarily defend Taiwan" even though there is no such treaty and strategic ambiguity has been a cornerstone of US policy since the 50s. Then the White House immediately contradicts him and instructs the press to bleat that the president didn't really mean what he said, despite him clearly saying it. It's a poorly coordinated shitshow, with people fighting in the shadows.
JFK wasn't killed by the CIA, he was killed by a sniper enthusiast who had a stutter just as he was driving by
speech in favor of the 1994 crime bill, but Youtube
Damn, do you know if it's mirrored elsewhere?
edit: is this it https://www.c-span.org/video/?59489-1/crime-legislation-democratic-reaction ?
mass shootings have already been metabolized by the American public as normal and we already anticipate the cycle going from outrage, then endless debates over gun legislation or video games or something, then it all calms down as no one gets an answer.
The war in Ukraine does nothing for Biden because only news addicted liberals care about it. Conservatives do not give a single shit and swing voter types barely even know what's going on. Americans in general don't care about what goes on in Ukraine, it's some foreign country they hadn't even heard of until this year.
The mood I'm getting locally among my friends and neighbors is that our politicians are cowards. We don't want to rally because we don't see Biden on our side, because he's not. Most well meaning libs in my area just look dumbfounded and confused. They hit the :vote: button as they were told, and all it got them was more babies getting shot.
The other mood is, "Fuck this I'm out." Myself and my friends are planning to leave the country. Other friends are leaving for farms or communes in the middle of nowhere. The ones who can't do either have emotionally checked out. They can't leave, but they've "left".
Myself and my friends are planning to leave the country.
I want to so badly, but I can't figure out how. I'm just kind of hoping to position myself well enough that when my company does a European expansion soon-ish, I can worm my way into it.
We got very, very lucky. My closest friend is friends with someone who owns a company overseas. Their boss is chill with trans people and happy to help them escape.
Myself, my family fled a European country during a genocide and because of that history I have right to citizenship after a year of residency in my new country. Still, I have to hire an immigration lawyer and jump through hoops. I am very lucky that I can afford to do this (tho just barely)
There are other options line digital nomad visas for people who work remotely. You might have more options than you realize. If you believe that things are going to get "that bad" then it's worth it to try. Let people in your network know as well. You might be surprised to find that there are people who know people in the country you are looking at.
I hope it works out for you and thank you for the advice. I'll definitely be looking into it. And yeah, not to be overly doomer, but I'm not really sure how conditions in the US can improve from a leftist perspective. The right wing is off the deep end and the libs are too busy punching left to mount any kind of reasonable push back. Plus, I'm LGBT and things are starting to seem very sketchy here in the states again.
Yeah I'm an older gay/trans masc and I don't want to have my future here. I'm gay and I want safety, cheap apartment, no car, and eat hot chip.
Part of me thinks that there is hope long term- but it will only come after violent bloodshed and balkanization. There are leftist movements among black and brown communities, but those movements will not be televised. Some areas will be more stable than others, but I don't think it's "doomer" to assume that we're in for a bloodbath. I mean , looking at all the shootings, it's already started.
I think people are going to continue being in denial until the next presidential election- then it's open fash time.
If you can't get out, there is plenty of time to prepare and build community. A lot of my friends have formed mutual aid networks and communes with older, wiser, gays. I'd recommend reaching out to local orgs. It helps!
I wonder if liberals are starting to grow tired of the "assault weapons" thing, cause its really just a scary euphemism to use when you dont feel like you can actually do anything against semi automatic rifles and pistols in general.
It feels like a compromise position that makes no one happy except people who are stuck in a desperate "we need to do anything" position.
watch this get blamed on ''the tankies voting third party'' and not the mere fact that Joe Biden is senile, useless and undistinguishable from the other party
"I'd like to remind my republican friends that I reduced the deficit. I did it. Big numbers became smaller. Big then smaller. Then the sky opened up, the clouds parted, and Jesus came down and he said to me 'Thank you, Mr. President Joe Biden.' Or maybe what a movie? Anyway - who's a big boy in their big boy pants? Me - President Joe Biden..."
C'mon, Jack! Those are rookie numbers. We can go lower, you know like back when I was in high school and we'd break into the boiler room and there was a stairway... err that was rusty so we'd always bring toothbrushes and lemon juice to give old rust bucket a clean, you see we called the area rust bucket, but anyways we'd say, "you can always go lower" because there was that stairway and sometimes we'd use it.
Well, the Dems did pick someone only about 5% better than Trump so it checks out
