I mean, yeah. And all of that is by design and reinforced at all times.
There is no real left anyway. If there is one, I as an individual represent a significant portion of it. Probably tells you enough.
There's a decent amount of what I'd call "left curious" (workshop needed). Basically very nationalistic (they wouldn't like this identification but it's true) socdem types who would absolutely sign off right now on nuking any country on earth if they received healthcare in exchange. A lot of Bernie, AOC, etc. generic supporters fall in here I think. "Salvageable" people who recognize some of the solutions domestically, but their knowledge of foreign affairs and how it all ties together is lacking, to say the least. Non existent. By design, by the way. The Overton window allows juuuuust a small room for discussion of things like nationalized healthcare, maybe abolishing private insurance and stuff. But divestment from Israel or ending NATO- absolutely off the table for actual political discussion. And bringing it up a bit too much might result in jack booted thugs stomping your face at some protest.
But anyway, as for the struggle part, communists in China and Russia and elsewhere struggled because they had no option. Capital pushed them to the point of actually having nothing to lose. In the US, material conditions are definitely relatively bad (compared to even Canada and definitely many European nations- although the inequality is crazy. Many people are "ok" but the ones who aren't, the working poor and homeless, are very very not ok.) but also good overall. So while it gives an impression at all times, to those of us who pay attention, that "what the fuck? This shit sucks. We should organize and fix this" in reality most people have enough food, have entertainment, lots of it, and while things are absolutely getting worse, it just isn't bad enough yet.
From a purely human or even animalistic standpoint, if someone knows they can get by right now, but it feels bad, or they can risk their life (literally) in a grand struggle to win it all... hard to convince people to gamble. Yes, if you're ideologically there then you're there. But most people aren't, they don't care, and they won't care until things are incredibly far worse than they are now.
I mean, yeah. And all of that is by design and reinforced at all times.
There is no real left anyway. If there is one, I as an individual represent a significant portion of it. Probably tells you enough.
There's a decent amount of what I'd call "left curious" (workshop needed). Basically very nationalistic (they wouldn't like this identification but it's true) socdem types who would absolutely sign off right now on nuking any country on earth if they received healthcare in exchange. A lot of Bernie, AOC, etc. generic supporters fall in here I think. "Salvageable" people who recognize some of the solutions domestically, but their knowledge of foreign affairs and how it all ties together is lacking, to say the least. Non existent. By design, by the way. The Overton window allows juuuuust a small room for discussion of things like nationalized healthcare, maybe abolishing private insurance and stuff. But divestment from Israel or ending NATO- absolutely off the table for actual political discussion. And bringing it up a bit too much might result in jack booted thugs stomping your face at some protest.
But anyway, as for the struggle part, communists in China and Russia and elsewhere struggled because they had no option. Capital pushed them to the point of actually having nothing to lose. In the US, material conditions are definitely relatively bad (compared to even Canada and definitely many European nations- although the inequality is crazy. Many people are "ok" but the ones who aren't, the working poor and homeless, are very very not ok.) but also good overall. So while it gives an impression at all times, to those of us who pay attention, that "what the fuck? This shit sucks. We should organize and fix this" in reality most people have enough food, have entertainment, lots of it, and while things are absolutely getting worse, it just isn't bad enough yet.
From a purely human or even animalistic standpoint, if someone knows they can get by right now, but it feels bad, or they can risk their life (literally) in a grand struggle to win it all... hard to convince people to gamble. Yes, if you're ideologically there then you're there. But most people aren't, they don't care, and they won't care until things are incredibly far worse than they are now.