The DSA would eliminate Americans’ constitutionally guaranteed right to criticize elected officials (by, among other things, nullifying the Citizens United decision)
The DSA would eliminate Americans’ constitutionally guaranteed right to criticize elected officials (by, among other things, nullifying the Citizens United decision) or to petition them for redress of grievances (by abolishing lobbying)
Right because those are the problems everyone has with those two things, definitely nothing else
There’s a reducto ad absurdum type argument that “the amount of spending allowed will go down until the only one who can speak is the State” (insert spooky sounds here)
Conservatives always do this this fear mongering where “the State” is framed as this ethereal other when the State could be a force for good or bad depending on who makes up it’s people
I want a strong State if it is controlled by comrades with strong principles and committed to real representation instead of this farce we currently have.
I want to destroy a State that gives corporations control over politicians, lets bigots and racists use religion as a weapon to terrorize people, sics cops on any political opponents and kills piles of people every month…
So those two things didn’t exist before 2010 according to this logic
I mean they didn’t, but
holy shit, two cakes
Wait this isn’t satire?
This works so well as satire.
Impossible to tell these days isn’t it?
America is distinct because of its antidemocratic elements, not its democratic ones.
This but with a [derogatory] tag
This is the guy who thinks repealing Citizens United is a threat to the freedom of speech
Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.
The “dsa must be stopped” narrative is out in full force. At least Democrats and Republicans can agree on something
can agree on something
Other than forever wars and giving unlimited money and weapons to The Genocidal Entity, you mean?
It says less about the DSA and more that neither party has anything to put forward.
TIL America was a totalitarian nightmare where you couldn’t even criticize the state until 2010…
How does eliminating lobbying prevent anybody from criticizing elected officials? I hate this batshit backwards idiocy. I hope we can correct the mistakes of the past and make a better future for everybody.
“Calling your congressman’s office and leaving a message is basically the same thing as giving that congressman 50 million dollars, I am very smart”
“Bribing a congressman to vote in my personal interests because I have the most money is much better than working together to make the best decisions for everybody. I am very smart.”
A vampire telling you they’re against legislation banning bloodsucking isn’t a contradictory position. In fact I’d be more surprised to see one for that lol (love you Engels)
A vampire telling you they’re against legislation banning bloodsucking isn’t a contradictory position
I need more information. Are they bullshitting? Where is the blood coming from?
They earned that blood fair and square. All those mooching virgins are just freeloaders.
I got tripped up by the double negative 🙃 Now I understand, lol, thank you
– ACLU
that greatest of all guarantors of liberty: property.
wut?
The DSA, in the name of democracy, proposes to remove all buffers between the individual and centralized national political power wielded on a purely majoritarian basis.
In the name of democracy, they want to introduce democracy. Yay!
This is a formula for mob rule, of course
The mob of common people who are fed up with your bullshit? Sounds much better than the current gangster-style mob boss setup. Down with the don.
The DSA promises that it will use this only to do good for the People, which is, of course, the same promise various peoples heard from the Jacobins before their Reign of Terror, from Lenin and Stalin before their terror, from Mao before his terror, from Hitler before his terror—and from Donald Trump, who murders and oppresses and steals and terrorizes while promising that his only ambition is to “Make America Great Again.”
You have highlighted the problem with dictators. Let’s try true democracy.
I do not mind if the ladies and gentlemen of the DSA wish to call that “democracy,” which is what John Adams called it. But, if you ask me, terror is terror.
It is natural to be scared. The future is unknown, change can be uncomfortable. But change is necessary for growth, for improvement. I wonder how much we could accomplish if we all cooperated. And we should! We share this existence, this planet, these resources. It is in our best interests to work together.
But, if you ask me, terror is terror.
He knows he deserves to be on the chopping block.
When our turn comes … and so on.
Conservatives have fearmongered about “mob rule” since the Roman Republic and earlier[1]. It’s the most telling of the racism, classism, ableism, misogyny etc all implicit in liberal thought
Michael Parenti’s Assassination of Julius Caesar is a good investigation of this fear as it related to Caesar’s assassination, as he pursued certain policies that lent modest increased power to the masses ↩︎
Chuds: “Anyone to the left of Hitler is a coastal elite out of touch with ordinary model citizens in the suburbs of Ohio!”
Also chuds: “We’re right because we simply are, ok? And it’s good that rubes like you have no say! Leave this to The ExpertsTM!”
It’s actually somewhat nice to see chuds and porks be the ones nailbiting over ‘saving democracy’, and watching their populist fervor deflate into blind reverence for the institutions they once opposed.
On top of these is the broader American order that counterbalances political power per se with private power, including civic institutions explicitly protected by the Constitution (the press, religious bodies, private associations) as well as that greatest of all guarantors of liberty: property.
Of course, we must protect the “liberty” of property owners against the vulgar renters. Typical libertarian
I just had a boomer relative post on Facebook quoting Khrushchev saying the US is now fully communist. So congrats everybody!
Can’t wait for the state to wither away
I’ve got $500 on Kalshi that says it’ll wither by 2030
This is the kind of article (and author) that the Chapos started both the Reading Series and the Duck Hunt for.
