Are you talking from a US perspective? Because I, as an European, don't think you understand leftism. Can you give me an example of a popular leftist that wants to take 'complete control over our lives'? I can't think of any mainstream leftist that is advocating for complete control. Let's just look at the abortion nightmare that is happening in the US right now. That's a good example of an intense violation of womens civil rights. I don't see leftists doing that. Are you sure you're not falling for propaganda, spread by your political side?
And I'm a democratic socialist. We don't want to give control to the government. We literally advocate for democratic socialism, as the name implies. We want to give power to the people and let them have decide over issues. And I don't intend to limit the freedom of people. The opposite is the case actually, I'm libertarian on social issues. I want to give people as much freedom as possible. I want to give a choice to people when it comes to suicide or drugs, for example. How do you explain this? Are you sure you don't mistake centrists with actual leftists?
To play devil's advocate, there seems to be a normalized conflation of the state sector and public sector. Liberals and euro-socialist tend to treat them as one in the same with the "by the people" argument, which essentially legitimizes the state's power by claiming it's ran democratically and so only uses its power in the public's interest. Despite (speaking on the US specifically) the social institution's consistency in actively undermining the public's will, and structurely functions as a plutocracy (arguably an ethno-state until recent times).
Welfare-capitalism and/or a reformist government is not democratic in any meaningful sense, thus is not inclined to act by/for the public's will. So when a liberal or euro-styled socialist advocates for state intervention on behalf of the public, they're advocating for the state to monopolize the decision-making process to resolve an issue at the request of the public. Most seem to think that's democracy, but I don't see how resorting begging is empowering to any entity. (nevermind that if a new country structured its elecoral system like the US, it would not be recognized as legitimate by the UN)
Look at the FDA (The US's main food and drug regulatory agency) its literal job is to promote public health AND protect the country's agricultural industry's interest (aka profit).
Well, according to the FDA glyphosate, anti-depressants, dairy consumption (w. 40% of the population having a 70-90% chance of being lactose intolerant) and dumping chickens in chlorine before shipping them for public consumption all pose no threat to human health...
Trump to me just mirrors everything wrong with modern politics. On a personal level, he comes out with anti-science rhetoric, the sort of crap I debunk sometimes. So without even knowing his policies as I am not an American, I dislike him immensely. Outside of that, It all feels like a divisive cult of personality now. Where winning smiles and pointless soundbites as empty as 'Change' or 'make America great again', or how an MP eats a bacon sandwich dominates the front page of the gutter press. Fed further by the media cesspit of click bait and faux outrage and things that are consistently taken out of context. Both the left and right and other agendas are behaving this way. Both have their corrupt elements that will enrich their tribe at the expense of everything outside of it and will engage in denial out of self-interest to maintain the narrative whatever the cost.
They all have their idiotic extremes that drown out the middle, and nut jobs scream the loudest so get the most attention sadly. Diversity of opinion and civil discussion now lost to insult of libtards or accusations of being an evil Nazi. Amidst this pageantry of shit, we have all come to accept as the new 'normal' where is the focus on costed policies? How they are arrived at and will be delivered? With some accountability to following through on those policies?
If I buy an oven and am given a fridge instead, that is generally a sign something has gone very wrong there. But this behaviour is frequent within politics, with no electorate power to challenge it currently. It is honestly absurd and makes a mockery of what I consider democracy. I was once an idealistic fool. Yet we keep going to the same stupid shop expecting to get what we were meant to be sold and coming away disappointed with our mutant fridge oven that functions poorly in both roles, happens to blow up and turn you into collateral damage in some way. Certainly goes a long way to explaining why people give up on politics and cease to care. You are also screwed if you want a PlayStation because the nature of the shop entrenches only ovens and fridges being a meaningful option in many cases. Weighting sales to those two items through various odious techniques that make you question the mathematical weight of your vote in the first place.
I am sick to death of the left-right pendulum swing that is moving to greater extremes. At either end is tyranny of one sort or another and I am opposed to both. The entire shop at this point is rotten. It is also fascinating to me that voting is viewed as important yet none of the processes involved is taught as standard in schools, certainly not in this country at least. Nor is critical thinking of how to wade through this psychological warfare that exploits hope, fear and clever omissions and the misframing of statistics. I am sure if it was. Someone would raise their hand and say, "Isn't this all a bit stupid? Why is that allowed? How can we do this better with the information we have at our disposal in the information age?"
Trump is just a clever opportunistic salesman with the right patter someone else constructs for him until he goes off script. Doing the exact same thing as every other salesman before him. Like those prior, when your house is burning, that is fine for them, because they will never be hurt by that fire in the first place as they swan off to a well-paid consultancy job insulated by their connections who essentially bought policy through legal bribery that fit their biases and ensured mutual gain. So why be cautious or tentative with changes? Why listen to front line services or experts in their field. The worst that can happen, happens to other people. People you only have to pander to every four years who have short memories anyway.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if our 'betters' were paid a standard wage in line with say teachers. As well as lobbying with a financial incentive or favours was criminalised as a glaring conflict of interest.
I am pretty sure most of the showers of shit we have had would not be standing at all. Maybe the structure of the shop would even be altered or at least experimented with so we can move on from this idiotic repeating pattern. The mathematical weight of my vote would maybe have some integrity. No need for tactics just what I hope for. I have no optimism for such an occurrence in my lifetime. It all just seems terminally absurd these days.
Trump is the US without any make-up caught off-guard on the toilet in a picture. He embodies the innate racism, sexism, ignorance, predatory-opportunism, moral bankruptcy, literal bankruptcy, ineptitude, aversion to reality, narcissism, vulgarity, hate, denial of facts, fish-oil con artist that the US has always been. He has the vocabulary of a dementia patient and the intellectual capacity of Fox News, whom he spends hours watching each day. He is so ingrained and in-tune with the American pathology and propaganda system he was a natural at rallying during the campaign trail because he thinks and speaks just like the average republican voter.
The Dems pretend to have their hair on fire ready to oppose Trump's administration while in the back room they fast-track his SC nominees, expand his surveilance and military capabilities, give the military a $80b BONUS, on top of adding $100b to the military budget. They don't oppose his tax-cuts, or his acts of aggression against Syria, Iran, Venezuala, Mexico or China, and they actively condenm any attempts of de-escalation with N. Korea or Russia. They don't oppose his racist immigration policy either, or the wall (they prefer to call it a "fence" or a "barrier"), truth be told the only thing the Democratic party and the rest of the establishment don't like about Trump are his tweets and vulgarity, A-ok on his policies.
And if he starts another war, likely Iran or Venezuela he's guaranteed a 2nd term as president. All in all, Trump is as american as fortune cookies, confederate monuments, and genocide.
Yes free does not really mean free. That money is taken from someone else.
Taken from the bourgeoisie, who stole their wealth from the public (and state), who stole their wealth from previous occupying forces, who stole their wealth from native inhabitants, who stole their wealth from warring tribes... Hmm, almost like there's a pattern.
www.forbes.com
