As some one who lives in Appalachia you're part right. There is extremely strong hate for all politicians and the system that keeps them in power. They know there is not a single person in Washington that gives a wet shit about them, allot of people around here have gone from "drain the swamp" to "kill all politicians." However most of them have no clear idea of what comes after that and mentioning socialism/communism tends to lead to a fairly reactionary response. You have to be pretty tight with someone before you can move beyond "government bad"
You gotta make sure they make the link between politicians being shitty and politicians loving capitalists, otherwise they're just gonna become lolbertarians
mentioning socialism/communism tends to lead to a fairly reactionary response
This is why it's so important to de-stigmatize these terms, even if in doing so you're associating socialism with positive stuff that isn't technically socialism. When a politician says some nice social safety net in a well-liked capitalist country is "socialism," we shouldn't respond with pedantic leftist theory, we should run with it, and only start talking theory to those who soften a bit from "better dead than red."
Well what if the ordinary people took over and formed a government of our own. One where we hold the political power. A sort of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Honestly we just need to get them to read the communist manifesto.
As some one who lives in Appalachia you're part right. There is extremely strong hate for all politicians and the system that keeps them in power. They know there is not a single person in Washington that gives a wet shit about them, allot of people around here have gone from "drain the swamp" to "kill all politicians." However most of them have no clear idea of what comes after that and mentioning socialism/communism tends to lead to a fairly reactionary response. You have to be pretty tight with someone before you can move beyond "government bad"
You gotta make sure they make the link between politicians being shitty and politicians loving capitalists, otherwise they're just gonna become lolbertarians
Also: highlight how the private sector fucks you over as much as, if not more than, any government policy.
"That damn government is robbing me blind in taxes!"
"Oh yeah? How much did you pay in rent last year?"
This is why it's so important to de-stigmatize these terms, even if in doing so you're associating socialism with positive stuff that isn't technically socialism. When a politician says some nice social safety net in a well-liked capitalist country is "socialism," we shouldn't respond with pedantic leftist theory, we should run with it, and only start talking theory to those who soften a bit from "better dead than red."
What next?
Well what if the ordinary people took over and formed a government of our own. One where we hold the political power. A sort of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Honestly we just need to get them to read the communist manifesto.
make such a difference.
Unless Marx talks about hunting and fishing a lot more then I remember that's gonna be a pretty tough sell.
Marx talks about capitalist alienation.
It's written to radicalize people.