I get liberal defeatism. If the foundation of power is elections and procedures, power can be totally, endlessly captured. But I’m truly shocked by the defeatism of the left. A premise of our politics is that institutional power is *already* captured, but it ultimately depends on the power of labor. - ThreadSky

dmiyasaki.bsky.social • 7 days ago

I get liberal defeatism. If the foundation of power is elections and procedures, power can be totally, endlessly captured. But I’m truly shocked by the defeatism of the left. A premise of our politics is that institutional power is *already* captured, but it ultimately depends on the power of labor.

Comments

pat4cats.bsky.social•6 days ago

Anecdotal take but a lot of leftists tend to have more online or political communities, conservatives often have personal ones through church. Friends who left the church say it’s harder to find help w/ things like moving or babysitting, stuff that came easily when they had that support system. 1/4

pat4cats.bsky.social•6 days ago

If you don’t have local support beyond politics, it’s easy to feel like you’re on your own if things go south, which just feeds defeatism. Liberals and leftists deal with the same individualistic culture as conservatives, we just call it “being introverted.” 2/4

pat4cats.bsky.social•6 days ago

Leftists are individualistic in personal ways, we flake on brunch or ignore texts. Conservatives are individualistic on a large scale but not a personal one. Example, new young moms are drawn to trad wife groups because of support they get than ideology. The ideology comes later. 3/4

pat4cats.bsky.social•6 days ago

And yes mutual aid organizations exists but w/ churches it feels like friendship. Americans are socialized to view “handouts” as a failure & that’s how some view mutual aid. Until leftists figure out true community versus aid I just don’t see our forces growing or being active hence defeatism. 4/4

cathoderayzone.bsky.social•7 days ago

I’m not surprised that a coalition that couldn’t manage to defeat the easiest opponent imaginable doesn’t know what to do now that he’s won.

dmiyasaki.bsky.social•7 days ago

I mean the socialist left, often not wholehearted members of the coalition, in part because actively pushed out. I’m not surprised they don’t know what to do, but by suggestions that nothing can be done (“there will never be free elections again,” “if Trump disobeys courts, it’s all over.”)

cathoderayzone.bsky.social•7 days ago

Oh, I think that sort of futility is absurd. As for being “pushed out,” we all need to be grownups and understand how zero sum games — like presidential elections — work and not make the perfect the enemy of the good. We can have our internal disputes later.

dmiyasaki.bsky.social•7 days ago

Agreed. Most socialists voted for Harris despite liberals’ efforts to alienate them. If only liberals had followed their example and not insisted on their idea of perfect: refusing mild messaging and policy concessions to Palestinian-Americans, trying to win new votes only from the right, etc.

cathoderayzone.bsky.social•7 days ago

We see how things went down very differently. It wasn't liberals who refused to vote for Harris. I hope the coalition will hold together or else we will be out of power for a generation.

dmiyasaki.bsky.social•7 days ago

I don’t think heated pre-election debates tell us how people actually voted and socialists weren’t a decisive factor: the refusal to court Arab-American and Latino votes was a bigger factor. The coalition’s future is entirely up to those with power, who must convince the minority it’s mutual.

rick-rolled.bsky.social•7 days ago

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see a lot of helplessness. I see a lot more people realizing they need to do something. Give it another month or two and things will really be rolling.

neuroyogacara.bsky.social•7 days ago

I’m not confident that there’s anything that’s usefully picked out by the term “the left” in the US—and I think that’s been true since at least the turn of the millennium

dmiyasaki.bsky.social•7 days ago

That’s true, but here I just mean self-described socialists.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply