As we count down to our next election and then the next general we should start looking beyond the silliness that is this two party system that has actually given this country nothing but grief.
Just have to throw some light on the Left in this country from late 19th century and into the 20th….yes it is a boring history lesson but a lesson that should be taught and learned….there is so much we can do as Americans and we need to be reminded of our strenth and power.
Eugene Debs….a tireless fighter for worker rights and unions….jailed several times for his work and even ran for president from prison….actually he ran for president 5 times starting in 1904 through 1920 and each time he got over 3% of the vote. He was a tireless antiwar spokeman which got him arrested again for his opposition to American involvement in WW1….his voice lead the way for countless others, like myself, to see the problems and protest for a better nation.
Much of U.S. political commentary today oozes with pessimism: red-blue tribalism, the government shutdown, the alt-right … the list of fracture points is long. But for revolutionary socialists—those of us who believe an equitable world is possible if working people rise up and end capitalism—the picture is not all bad. A historic strike wave of teachers rolled across many regions of the country last spring, followed by the recent L.A. teachers’ revolt. Class struggle remains on the agenda, and many want an alternative to capitalism.
Given the increased interest in socialism, it’s worth defining the S-word: Does it refer to European Social Democracy (a la Sweden), the early Soviet Union, Cuba or something else entirely? Many people believe that socialism is foreign to the United States, a view that only reinforces the bourgeois status quo. In reality, socialist politics has a rich tradition in the U.S. and has influenced, as well as led, a variety of social movements. Today’s generation of radicals have the challenge of rescuing the best elements of the American socialist tradition from oblivion so we can effectively learn from the past and prepare for tomorrow.
When Bernie Sanders identified himself as a democratic socialist, Google searches for “socialism” spiked. Millions want to understand the legacy of socialist politics—what was achieved and what failed. In the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America has become the greatest beneficiary of renewed interest in socialism, with membership surging beyond 50,000. As a multitendency organization, the DSA has certain commonalities with the old U.S. Socialist Party (SP), the first anticapitalist party with real influence on American soil.
Most radicals today recognize the important achievements of the SP in the first decades of the 20th century. It led historic strikes, elected hundreds of its members to local and national offices and developed an array of newspapers—in a word, it made socialism relevant to American workers. That Eugene V. Debs, the SP’s most notable public figure, gained about a million votes for president while sitting in a jail cell for opposing World War I is proof positive that the Socialist Party is worth learning from.
https://www.leftvoice.org/from-debs-to-the-dsa-rescuing-americas-revolutionary-tradition/
The argument will be that the US is not going to embrace socialism…..and that is true only because of the distorted visions that the centrist want to present as facts.
Eighty-four percent of independent voters told pollsters last fall that “the United States is in a political crisis.” Democrats and Republicans flip back and forth on these kinds of questions depending on which team won the most recent election. But unaffiliated voters, the largest part of the electorate, are deeply concerned in ways that can’t be soothed by the next swing of the pendulum. Indeed, each “vibe shift” further convinces them that the system is see-sawing out of control.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5873079-american-dissatisfaction-political-system/
All this leaves open for a new way of politics….but will the American have enough energy to find the alternative?
AS it is today I do not think they will….they are too set ion their ways to change…..but as the society deteriorates all things are possible…..and now is the time to start the search for a better tomorrow.
Will we?
Or will we just pick ‘not the other guy”?
What will it be?
Change or more of the same?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
How many people out there even know what the term “socialist” really means? It’s pretty obvious that most of our politicians don’t have a clue judging from the things they say. Trump has pushed the US government into having equity stakes in at least 11 different major companies since he took office so technically he would qualify as being a socialist.
Wisconsin has a long history with socialism. We’ve had three mayors of Milwaukee who were socialists, including David Hoan who served for 24 years and won 10 elections in a row. One of the leading candidates for governor is Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist. She is without a doubt the best of the lot running for the office but probably doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting the office despite her popularity because both the democratic and the republican parties would both bring every resource they could to keep her out of the office. Not just because she’s a socialist but also because she’s female and Asian.
GF you are right….few people actually know what socialism is only what lies they have been told…that is interesting about the candidate….I will be watching that thanx for the heads up chuq
As Grouchy says, how many Americans today really understand ‘Socialism’? They certainly do not understand ‘Communism’, if calling Obama a communist in the past is anything to go by. I fear it comes down to ‘Anyone but Trump’, if you ever want to get rid of the Kim Jong Orange ‘dear leader’ and his dynasty.
Best wishes, Pete.
That is my fear as well…..settle for mediocre over Donny chuq
It’s a Uniparty. I’ll keep repeating like a broken record. Interesting that you talk about Debs. Another blog i followed talked about him too. Never heard about him before today and now I’ve heard about him twice. Will research more. Thank you.
Debs is a fascinating person….we need a firebrand like him now…..Let me know if you need more sources…..chuq
First of all, APPLAUSE for this post! Secondly, from The Hill article:
“When it works well, the two-party system forces coalitional debates to be hashed out within the smaller bodies before being inflicted on the larger public. And when they do their jobs, parties are exceptionally good vehicles for vetting potential leaders. Plus, unlike in a parliamentary system, a two-party republic allows for competition and cooperation between the branches of government. Gridlock can lead to bargaining, allowing the government to address pressing problems even when neither side has a mandate.”
I can’t agree with that. I could cite a long list of high-profile political officeholders who were not properly vetted by the Democratic and Republican parties with Trump being the most obvious one. Also, parliamentary systems are much better at coalition-building and representative democracy because it does not structurally restrict the political representation of different points of view. And gridlock? We’ve watched it spiral out of control in recent years under our presidential two-party system. However, The Hill article then admits the problem of our winner-take-all system:
“But, of course, that’s not what we have now. Americans, bequeathed a republic by our founders, have reverse-engineered a parliamentary system in which no major questions can be addressed unless one party controls both the legislative and executive branches. The incentives of the primary election system forbid bipartisanship, so we just wait for the next wave election and for the tumblers to be reset for the next onslaught of party-line policies.”
Robert I am pleased that you liked the article…..I have a problem with compromise on most issues….that is how we get watered down rights. chuq
I’m hip, chuq. No system is ideal, it seems. Although, ours has badly deteriorated. Compared to the world’s other democracies, voter turnout in the U.S. lags significantly behind and voter apathy is exceedingly high. Proportional representation (as opposed to first-past-the-post winner-take-all systems), Compulsory voting laws, and the lower burden on citizens of infrequent elections (as opposed to the high frequency of elections in the U.S.) have all shown to increase turnout (see: What Other Countries Can Teach Us About Turnout – https://responsivegov.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/What-Other-Countries-Can-Teach-Us-About-Turnout.pdf).
Most democracies have parliamentary systems. One of its advantages (and I’m not asserting they are necessarily better) is that voters have more choices. For example, I – as a progressive (a.k.a. a democratic socialist in European parlance) – have never been able to vote for a progressive candidate at the federal level in my lifetime. That makes me angry, very angry. I feel like I’m being excluded from the political process. That’s a big problem, IMO.
All the world’s democracies have been impacted by neoliberalism and the subsequent nativist backlash against ethnic diversity over the last 50 years. But those issues have been far more impactful here in the U.S. Most of the other democracies have at least regulated (somewhat) corporate abuses while enforcing consumer protections and maintaining more robust social safety nets. Although, they have serious problems too, for sure.
Robert I like the idea of more choices….that is the problem….how to vote when there is no one that represents your ideals…..I can get on boar with the DSA and will as often as I can. chuq
I do not profess to be well educated on this topic. The two party system divides us and I have no leaning toward either party which is a conundrum when it comes to voting. Politicians spend too much time either consuming the poison or fighting it leaving the majority of the country in the diust.
Maggie the problem is people are programmed to the two party system and vote that way….and it will continue to get worse until they break the backs of the 2 parties. chuq
And that needs to be sooner rather than later.
Agreed! chuq