did you know that iowa has a homeless population of 2,315
did you know that if he wanted to he could give every homeless person in iowa a free apartment at an average cost of 80k per apartment
did you know that obliterating homelessness in an entire state would probably make you win that entire state because you could just say 'lol i eradicated homelessness in iowa what did these other nerds do'
before I start my half assed criticism, I wanna say I appreciate you volunteering your wages and labor to help the homeless! you've certainly done more than I ever have. but...
would leftism be better off without the two sanders campaigns? should he have suspended the campaign after Iowa and donated to vetted charities?
jacobin's youtube channel just had a decent episode featuring amber talking about how useless basic mutual aid is in terms of building a political power base. I've taken to their attitude of organizing mutual aid through organizations with legit political power. providing for people's material needs through marxist charities has an element of coercion within them; just like with christian charities, folks are smart enough to say their prayers in order to get their food/shelter. the lumpen are aware enough to form resentment towards that type of shit.
I and many others wouldn't be here without sanders. many of us are former chuds. unless you have a serious alternative, this line of thinking is nothing more than a meme(which is fine...i apreciate the content i guess).
what path does socialism have to any kind of triumph? I know things look bleak right now, but just because electoralism looks to be a losing game, doesn't mean there's a better alternative.
Would love to read a bit expanded struggle session / ask chapo post about that part:
Amber.
fuck this meme, amber is the best of the podcast.
Amber.
im not saying he shouldnt have campaigned, im saying his campaign would have been more useful if he actually helped people with it instead of just losing twice and getting nothing out of it
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A lot of people who are leftists today got started on that path through one of the Bernie campaigns. There are also elected officials who've ran and won using the Bernie campaign's blueprint.
Im about to paraphrase Michael Brooks' paraphrasing of Martin Luther King. mlk said something about the dynamism between love and power; "love without power is sentimental and meaningless, power without love is abusive and coercive..."
imo we need to be the middle ground in that dynamic.
helping people is simply not enough in the grand scheme of this struggle. liberals and conservatives 'help' people in their own ideological terms as well.
our vision for a better world ought to be the emancipation of all individuals from the coercive forces of tradition/capitalism. that includes everyone from the most downtrodden to the folks at the top of the labor aristocracy.
it's good to give back to those below you, but theres no path to victory without persuading those at the top end of the normal curve.
again, as Michael Brooks said, we cant cede individual ambition/exceptionalism to liberalism. we need to stand for something more than just egalitarianism. we should seek to be just as powerful as the scum to the right of us.