Just call me comrade Droopy

[Droopy]

I just placed an order for a year subscription to The Socialist, the Socialist party's official magazine. I've been pushed to the fringe. God help me. :) It was only ten bucks, btw. I think it's worth that just to be exposed to a different point of view regardless of your political beliefs.

[Droopy]

1. kick

Where are all the socialists?

[Heidi]

2. Our resident socialist

is still asleep. :hi:

[Droopy]

3. Hi Heidi

How's things? I went out art shopping today for my new condo. I wanted to buy from a local gallery, but it was too pricey. I ended up getting a couple of framed prints, some pottery, a decorative box for the coffee table, and a fake tree. Still lots of shopping to do though in that regard.

[Heidi]

4. Sounds like you've had fun!

Nice to see you, friend! :hug:

Look what CMW is giving our nephew (who dreams of becoming a truck driver) for his fourth birthday. :)

[Droopy]

5. Excellent!

A Mack is a damned fine truck, too. Notoriously tough. I drove one for about 6 years and it never let me down. When your nephew gets a little older, refer him to me and I'll give him the low down on the trucking biz. Might be a little different in Europe, but I bet the issues of trucking are the same.

[Heidi]

6. I thought you might approve, Droopy.

;)

This is what I got the nephew for his birthday:

[Droopy]

7. Cool

At that rate he'll be ready for driver's ed by the time he is 6. :)

[zippy890]

8. good morning comrade droopy

and welcome to the glorious revolutionary way of thinking that is socialism.

don't let the brainwashed middle class people make fun of you or try and tear you down for your open-mindedness. They don't know any better.

here's something to inspire you,

"The only reason for living is being fully alive;
And you can’t be fully alive if you are crushed by secret fear,
And bullied with the threat: Get money or eat dirt!
And forced to do a thousand mean things meaner than your nature,
And forced to clutch on to possessions in the hope they’ll make you feel safe,
And forced to watch everyone that comes near you lest they’ve come to do you down

Without a bit of common trust in one another we can’t live.
In the end, we go insane
It is the penalty of fear and meanness, being meaner than our natures are.

To be alive, you’ve got to feel a generous flow,
And under a competitive system that is impossible really.
The world is waiting for a great new movement of generosity
Or for a great wave of death
We must change the system, and make living free to all men and women,
Or we must see them die, and then die ourselves"

-D.H. Lawrence 1929

American socialism would be different than anything else ever tried in any country, because of our deep traditions in individual rights and liberties.

Its about people before profits. Brotherhood and sisterhood, nobody's better than anybody else and everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect.

:hi:

[Droopy]

9. And a good morning to you, comrade zippy890

Thanks for the poem and the kind thoughts. I've been doing a lot of reading lately. A couple of Noam Chomsky books and "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. Like you alluded to, I especially like the aspects of liberty and equality in American socialism- democratic socialism.

I've long been a very liberal Democrat. I'm a big fan of Kucinich. And I think that as a country we will have to eventually turn to socialism if only as a means of survival. I will be voting for Kucinich in my state's primary election, after that I don't know because he will probably not win the nomination barring some miracle.

How long have you been a socialist? What are some good books to read and movies to watch?

[KG]

10. welcome camrade! you've taken a big step toward your politcal enlightenment.

now, rise for your new international anthem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk9wqNXH6AY

The Internationale

Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

[Droopy]

11. Thanks for the song, KG

How long have you been a socialist? What are some good books to read and movies to watch? I've been reading Zinn and Chomsky and I've recently viewed The Corporation, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, and Beyond Treason: What You Don't Know About Your Government Could Kill You.

[KG]

12. i don't consider Chomsky to be a socialist, he just tells the truth about how things are

The Communist Manifesto: http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html :)

here's the website of the International Socialist review: http://www.isreview.org/index.shtml

lots of material out there, shouldn't be hard to find at your local revolutionary bookstore...

[Droopy]

13. He calls himself an anarcho-libertarian socialist

Which I learned is just a fancy name for anarchist which would actually put him on the radical right. But I think he has socialist ideals on how society should be organized- just without a state. It seems to be an odd mixture of far left and far right ideology.

Thanks for the links. I did a search for socialist book stores in my area and didn't find anything. They're probably out there, but it might take a little investigating to find them.

[KG]

14. don't worry, when you get your first issue of 'the socialist'

it comes with the decoder ring, secret handshake, and ways to contact your fellow travelers! :hi: