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jodymarie aimee

(3,975 posts)
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 11:33 AM Aug 2016

I am the radical left

Yesterday someone started a discussion equating the radical Right to some radical Left. I say some, as I don't know any batshit crazy group on our side. There is no equivalent. I protested the war in 1969-70 in Berkeley. Never stopped being radical. Below is my letter to the editor published in my local paper BACK IN FEBRUARY. I was pro Bernie, knowing there was no chance he would be our nominee. I happily campaign every day for HRC. If you can find something Tea Peoplish in my letter, let me know. If the New Deal and the 2016 version of same is radical I am proud to be radical Left.
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In 1951 America was prosperous with a 90% tax rate. Conservative writer Russell Kirk predicted if the middle class grew to the point where they started to feel their own economic power that would lead to chaos. He contended change was ok if small slow and incremental. Progressives, in line with the new Deal, said just the opposite. Kirk predicted women, minorities, 18 year olds, soldiers, gays would demand their rights. He wrote that we've got to dial back the middle class. Reagan said the middle class is too fat and happy. "Why should I pay for free tuition for some kid who's just going to challenge my policies and call me names?"Reagan did away with tuition free college. Since the 1980s Republicans have promised to grow the economy by cutting taxes, privatizing the public sphere and deregulating. Democrats have mainly promised to limit he damage done by the Republicans.


Why are the middle class voting against their own interests and not demanding what we demanded in the 1930s and 1960s? Right now the only person saying stuff like this is Bernie. Corporate media ignore him, they are too busy fawning over the Vulgarian. Bernie is calling for a political revolution and appealing to our better angels. The seeds of the better have always been there. It is quite simply a new humanity. While we are fortunate to have 2 great candidates on the Democratic side, Hillary is a Corporate Democrat and Bernie is a Progressive Democrat. Bernie has lived his politics for decades, he has no baggage. He will not move to the middle for votes, that is nuts.


Some are rightly scared, they have all their marbles in the system. But, that system is unworkable. The problems we are up against relate to a power structure that is ruining this county. Social inertia. Crystallization means the more pressure you put on coal the sooner it turns into diamonds. This guy has captured the entire minority so that is isn't a minority anymore. .It's a majority of minorities. Bernie's stirring our brains with a spoon. JFK said we are going to do big things, things they say are impossible. The future's about nerve.


You say America won't vote for a Socialist Jew? I say to you, America celebrates a Socialist Jew every December 25th. Socialism didn't poison Flint. Austerity and capitalism run amok did. Some say his policies are pie in the sky. 170 economists beg to differ. They will work, they have worked.


The New Deal and Civil Rights Movement created a country that was for things, not against things. We succeeded in creating a place, for a brief shining moment that embodied all we had been taught to hold dear, that all men were created equal and destined for a place where the pursuit of happiness was an achievable goal. Halfway down the stairs is a stair. Bernie is that stair.

5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I am the radical left (Original Post) jodymarie aimee Aug 2016 OP
I am the radical left (nt) ret5hd Aug 2016 #1
Here's a Radical Left organization. ELF. They are Leftist Extremist Eco-terrorists. MohRokTah Aug 2016 #2
Radical Left is a false equivalency. jalan48 Aug 2016 #3
You're not radical left, sorry. emulatorloo Aug 2016 #4
If Bernie is that stair, Loki Aug 2016 #5

jalan48

(13,798 posts)
3. Radical Left is a false equivalency.
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 11:43 AM
Aug 2016

There isn't a radical left in this country today. Maybe somewhere in the distant past, Weather Underground, Black Panthers, SLA. The real problem is that our country, through the help of the corporate media, has moved so far to the right a puppet like Ronald Reagan is now considered middle of the road or even liberal.

emulatorloo

(43,982 posts)
4. You're not radical left, sorry.
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 11:47 AM
Aug 2016

That being said, primary's over and our candidate did not win. Time to elect the Dem nominee, who is running on the most progressive platform we've had in a very long time.

Loki

(3,825 posts)
5. If Bernie is that stair,
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 11:58 AM
Aug 2016

Then he needs to be out campaigning vigorously against the most destructive Republican candidate ever. He needs to be doing it right now. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope it's coming.

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