• krothotkin [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Honestly, probably yee haw anarchism. I firmly believe that most Americans are more receptive to anarchist ideology than MLism. This is a somewhat biased take considering it's based on where I grew up, which was rural and super anti-government; maybe things are different for city natives. Even then there's municipal :LIB: ertarianism, though, which I've often found people to be very receptive to because it seems superficially benign.

    Other potential aspects:

    • Absolute rejection of traditional leftist icons like Marx or Kropotkin. Lots of gross praise for (and recharacterization of) founding fathers.
    • Mandatory public service after high school. Not necessarily with the military; would likely see options for industrial work, possibly as a way to cut down on infrastructure costs, and also an option for fighting the massive fires that continue to appear every summer. Rich kids would somehow get an exception.
    • Continued struggles with immigration issues.
    • Increasingly decentralized agriculture, with municipalities beginning their own agricultural production efforts.
    • Public housing that sucks and is poorly maintained, but probably more of it. People who live in public housing are still stigmatized.
    • Drugs. Lots of drugs.
    • Religiosity, free speech, and firearms.
    • Bitter conflict with the Southern states, which resent the new form of government and are always on the verge of forming a breakaway.
    • Universal healthcare that is expensive as shit because there's a public option but medicines/other medical technologies are still produced privately and sold to the government at inflated costs.
      • REallyN [she/her,they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I think it would be easier to portray these people and communist/socialist as an extension of the revolution of the founder's/the american project, then it would be to get people to reject the founders wholecloth.

        • gammison [none/use name]
          ·
          4 years ago

          That's partially the argument aziz Rana makes in the two faces of American freedom, that radicalizing republicanism in a truly emancipatory way is socialism, and there's a variety of forgotten American socialist figures to draw from for that.

      • gammison [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        I mean don't forget people like William manning and Thomas Skidmore, Skidmores working man's party in 1830 directly inspired marx to some extent.

    • star_wraith [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Absolute rejection of traditional leftist icons like Marx or Kropotkin

      I'm chuckling at the idea that any American who isn't already a leftist having any clue who tf Kropotkin is...

    • pooh [she/her, love/loves]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Continued struggles with immigration issues.

      This wouldn't be popular with chuds, but I'd love to see a long term plan for a larger socialist union in the western hemisphere. The western hemisphere alone has almost every resource needed for an advanced socialist society that encompasses everyone, especially with an efficient system of democratic, decentralized (where it makes sense), and AI-assisted economic planning. Without the capitalist US/CIA to interfere with socialist revolutions in Latin America, this wouldn't be that far-fetched.

      Also, imagine a free high speed rail network that spans the entire hemisphere, including passport-free travel from one country to another.

      • krothotkin [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        This would own, but I worry about whether America is capable of being a good faith member of this kind of union. Something else I should have included - continued imperialism and no sign of overseas military bases shutting down. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, though.