It looks like a safe bet that Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th after successfully campaigning on returning the murderous and oppressive Orwellian US empire back to its pre-Trump “normal”.
The problem with this, apart from the obvious fact that it was an embarrassingly close victory only made possible by the Covid outbreak, is that returning to the pre-Trump “normal” is returning to the exact positions which created Trump. It’s like using a time machine to prevent a train wreck, but only going back to one millisecond before the train wreck occurred.
It is clear that Trump’s election was the result of the easily exploited dissatisfaction caused by years of neoliberal austerity at home and neoconservative bloodshed abroad which Obama forcefully expanded and facilitated throughout two terms as president. Trump voters famously defended opting for the reality TV star over the anointed establishment favorite Hillary Clinton as a middle finger to the Beltway orthodoxy which did nothing but enrich the “swamp” Trump pretended to oppose on the campaign trail while ordinary Americans suffered.
Obama openly defends his murderous drone wars in his new book.
He also praised parts of Bush's bogus "War on Terror," writing, "Unlike some on the left, I’d never engaged in wholesale condemnation of the Bush administration’s approach to counterterrorism" https://t.co/73kiSL4MNp
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) November 17, 2020
And from all appearances it looks like Biden is going to be worse.
Unlike Obama, Biden did not campaign on hope and change, he campaigned on opposing the socialist inclinations of Sanders progressives and an aggressive foreign policy of planetary domination. He assured rich donors that nothing will fundamentally change under his presidency and his transition team is full of corporate sociopaths, war pigs and propagandists. Biden has been a corporatist warmongering authoritarian throughout his entire career, and as his mental capacity continues to deteriorate he will function as nothing more than an empty vessel for his establishment handlers to advance their most pernicious agendas through. The empire has not gotten less desperate since Obama was in office, it has gotten more desperate.
If I prove right about this, the Biden administration will generate backlash just like that which arose in response to the Obama administration, and that backlash will be more severe than its previous iteration. This is absolutely guaranteed. You can only oppress, neglect and enrage a population so much before the discontent begins to grow.
There is absolutely nothing American leftists can do to prevent this backlash from coming. They will have absolutely no say in this administration’s policies or behavior; BidenCorp has no reason to listen to them, has made no pretense of having any interest in listening to them, and is even freezing Sanders and Warren out of cabinet roles already.
All US leftists will have any control over is whether this backlash will break to the left, or if it will break to the far right.
The Biden-Harris Transition Team released names of people who are on their "agency review teams," which will prepare Biden and his Cabinet for their administration.
Let's examine some of the individuals who are notable because of their backgrounds. #BidenTransition pic.twitter.com/jvoHJdsyfW
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) November 11, 2020
Contrary to what many mainstream liberals seem to have been imagining, American racism and far right extremism did not begin with Trump, and will not end with Trump. The white supremacists, xenophobes, ethnonationalists, QAnon cultists and right wing militias are not going anywhere after Biden takes office, and the backlash against his administration and its worst impulses will be inflamed and co-opted by mainstream Republican narrative managers. This will set the stage for something a lot uglier than Trump down the road if it’s successful.
What the left can do is get ahead of the game. Take control of the anti-Biden, anti-establishment pushback by leading the charge–sooner, more aggressively, and more compellingly than the far right does. Use the awfulness of the Biden administration to ignite a true leftward zeitgeist in mainstream America that is so strong it eclipses the inevitable rightist backlash in energy and appeal.
We already know the American left has the ability to pull this off. The grassroots, populist support for Bernie Sanders during his two primary campaigns has been one of the most energized and inspired political forces I’ve ever witnessed, consistently forcing aggressive responses from the establishment narrative managers to contradict the damage it did to their preferred candidates.
The problem with Bernie Twitter and the rest of his powerful support base is that it only exists for a few months at a time, fizzling out when it becomes clear that their candidate has had the door shut to him and then reluctantly diverted into support for the establishment candidate under the guidance of Sanders himself.
The only thing more depressing than watching Bernie Twitter devolve from soaring energy and inspiration to petty sectarianism and infighting is watching it happen a second time.
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) September 2, 2020
But imagine if that did not happen. Imagine if the US left realized how extremely urgent it is to control the unavoidable backlash against the Biden/Harris administration so that the right does not and built momentum in a healthy direction instead, not for a few months but for years on end. Seizing every disgusting, ridiculous and hilarious thing this government does and attacking it, lampooning it, mocking it, creating funny and interesting content absolutely wrecking it, and taking control of the dominant narrative.
An actual, energized counterculture could be created which could reshape US culture as a whole. The Breitbart crowd recognizes that politics is downstream from culture while the left has generally failed to make this connection, which is arguably why their guy is in the White House right now and the left’s guy isn’t. A Biden administration will provide ample fodder for attacks against status quo politics, and this can be used to galvanize America’s hidden progressive impulses into a movement vastly greater than any one candidate.
But the ball needs to start rolling on this now. Not after the Georgia runoffs, not after Biden takes office, not after the midterms: now. The longer US leftists wait to start pushing this thing forward, the less of a head start you’ll have on the rightists while they’re fixated on Trump’s recounts and legal challenges. You’ll only be able to lead the backlash if you get in early and hit the ground running as fast as you can.
If we know anything for certain, it’s that US power structures find it infinitely preferable to deal with a right-populist movement that can be appeased by some obnoxious tweets and an 8chan psyop than with real leftist populism. They’re more than happy to throw the far right a tax cut and some immigration restrictions, but real revolution can only come from the left. There is an opportunity to create an opening for that to occur, but it needs to happen before this thing can be steered rightward.
I know I’m regarded as a bit of a crackpot in some leftist circles; I’m the girl a lot of lefties read in private but don’t share in public. But this is a really important idea that needs to get out there, and I’m hoping it reaches the eyes of some leftist thought leaders who can advance it in their own words in their own way. This is very urgent and the more people understand this the better shot we’ll all have at creating a healthy world for everyone. Please get thinking about this, everyone.
________________________________
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88 responses to “Biden Will Likely Be Worse Than Obama. The Left Must Lead The Backlash, Or The Right Will.”
Too late–the right is already leading the backlash, investigating and sounding the alarm about the overwhelming evidence of fraud in swing states. Dead people voting, software glitches all favoring Biden, late ballots accepted….and denial, conspiracy theory shaming or crickets in response from the dems(considered ‘left’ in Murka).
Professional fraud investigators opinions;
https://monsterhunternation.com/2020/11/12/i-asked-one-simple-question-to-people-who-work-with-fraud/
Yeah, Biden gives the left a serious “Fuck You!” but it is the left, who swallowed hard and helped get him elected who are the “terrorists.” But, who actually thought old Joe would change his MO this late in life?
Also thought it might interest you or some readers here to see that John Michael Greer references this article in a comment on his dreamwidth page:
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/111369.html?thread=12552201#cmt12552201
[sorry if this is duplicate – something strange happened with captcha and not sure my comment went through]
Hi Caitlin – say you know someone who loathes social media and avoids it like the plague – do you feel that this person might be most effective by holding their nose and start making noise on these social media, start sharing links to writers and broadcasters and activists that they trust are truthful voices that need to be more widely heard and read? And also get involved in these discussions, even if their impulse is to run a million miles away from it all?
I ask because I’m wondering what I should do. And there are probably many more like me.
Hi Caitlin – say you know someone who loathes social media and avoids it like the plague – do you feel that this person might be most effective by holding their nose and start making noise on these social media, start sharing links to writers and broadcasters and activists that they trust are truthful voices that need to be more widely heard and read? And also get involved in these discussions, even if their impulse is to run a million miles away from it all?
I ask because I’m wondering what I could do. And there are probably many more like me.
i rather suspect still that folk will be starting to talk about the Supreme Court and the 12th amendment very soon….
“The conditions/positions which gave rise to Trump” have been institutionalized since the Constitution abetted slavery and established anti-democratic inequality in the Senate and Electoral College. In the past few decades it has only been solidifying. Half the country is brainwashed to believe Biden is a socialist. The Left has a minimal voice at best in corporate media, while the theo/corporate authoritarian Republicans are allowed to continue to define terms and frame issues. Corporate media and the corpo-dems play along.
The Big Lie trick has worked, and the ensuing swarms of ceaseless additional lies have been welcomed and absorbed. The US is rigged for minority rule, and constitutionally programmed with poison pills that assure it. Suppression of public education and journalism, along with social media manipulation are the hammer to that anvil. The Left has been shut down since the triangulation of the Clinton Administration. Progress has been limited largely to ballot initiatives, our last vestige of democracy.
Meanwhile the enemies of truth, democracy and equality are still winning.
USA: 1776-2000. RIP
Folks, suddenly the Larouches are making perfect sense to me. I always thought they were absurd, until I investigated their history lessons more completely. Particularly pay attention to Webster Tarpley and Harley Schlanger, and maybe you will start to get it. They explain that the Deep State as we know it is a product of British MI-5, MI-6, and an extension of British neo-imperialism. They are using us as their “dumb giant,” their hired muscle to continue their old empire and traditional wars with their enemies. They are irredentists that incredibly plotted to recover the United States colonies into their sphere of influence. Those that say we are fighting a New American Revolution of freedom from the racist oligarchs in the City of London are closer to the truth that we realize. FDR and JFK died because they wanted the UK to drop it’s colonies after WWII. Eisenhower warned us. There is a reason we are one of Brits’ Five Eyes, and there is a “Special Relationship” between the UK and the US. There is a reason we are fighting perpetual wars against Britain’s traditional rivals in Russia, Iran and Central Asia, where we have no interests. There is a reason our progressives are under attack by the Atlantic Council and the Integrity Initiative, both creatures of Brittania. Check out this site and do your own investigation. https://orientalreview.org/2019/07/06/the-british-roots-of-the-deep-state-how-the-round-table-infiltrated-america/. You will be surprised.
In fact, let me complete this argument. They had us completely captured under the Bushes, the Clintons and Obama, but they lost us under Trump, and they are mad as hell about it, and now they want us BACK, and are willing to do any dirty trick it takes to recapture us. Whether you like Trump or hate him, and there is a lot to hate, you have to stand up for him in getting us out and keeping us of the pedophile satanist regime of the ridiculous British Royal Elites. It’s a tough job but we need to keep at it. This COVID hysteria is just the latest trick they are throwing at us in desperation. Remember Blair’s 1984 took place in London and we are starting to look just like the fictional dystopia it describes.
So why then do the leftists gate Trump?
He was the only option. We had a chance to unshackle ourselves but the left fell prey to the same, tired story.
The only oppression is the globalist oppression of us all. Sure pray people start waking up and stop fighting amongst ourselves.
Cancel, woke….it’s all a big fat lie. Just keeping folks chasing their tails ad infinitum.
Let’s call the enemy out. Globalists. Not climate change, not white people, not Trump…..
Globalism is goodbye to everything we’ve taken for granted. Best get busy.
Start by blocking HR1.
Brilliant analysis Caitlin. There is hope — all the protests around the world inspired by the death of George Floyd and those in USA organized by Black Lives Matter. This is left-wing populism. Like the yellow vest movement still going on in France (which has been communicating with BLM around how to counter police brutality).
https://newspunch.com/six-former-us-presidents-warn-about-invisible-shadow-government/
Is not the “invisible-shadow-government” coming better into focus day by day, despite lie after lie?
One does not simply grab hold of and control any prevailing narrative unless one fully controls 90% or more of all forms of readily accessible mass media. News flash… “They” do!
Obama has praised Ronald Reagan and even George W. Bush more than he has ever praised FDR. The majority of Democrats today think Bush was a great guy. He wasn’t. He was worse than Trump.
Biden and Obama are both neoliberal center-right corporation-friendly warmongering Democrats. Obama with his eloquence, Black face, youthfulness, and considerably higher intelligence may have been the more effective evil, simply because he was a better con artist. 90% of Democrats still fawn over him – so much that I often refer to him as Saint Barack. I see some of the same fawning over Biden, but it is hollow and lacks real passion.
This bernie sis watched the chess game with dnc and mainstream media cheating bernie 2020. The young in America clearly see the need for bernie’s Green New Deal, M4A, Free College, Federally funded elections and an end to widespread corruption.
With each election, more people get convinced of the Progressive path until at some point we overcome every obstacle and fraud put in our path.
“IF voting really mattered, they wouldn’t let us do it.” Mark Twain.
” I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain.” George Carlin./Why I don’t vote:
A sign of a true lefty is somebody who attacks Democrats and Republicans equally while holding on to a vision of our collective identity and our common interests. As far as coming together and consolidating our power, I have found some internet websites besides this one which have opened my eyes to the deep state Imperium and its machinations. These are:
jimmydorecomedy.com and
blackagendareport.com.
In particular, I have found Black Agenda Report to be particularly good at showing how the system works to oppress people. Black people in the US are like the canaries in the coalmine. They are being attacked by the Imperium because they have less power than more privileged Americans. This power is being refined on them so that it may be effectively turned on all of us some day. As Caitlin says, we lefties had better wake up soon.
Big interest from Caitlin’s readers, but all should know by now that elections are mere political theatre to make people believe their votes make a difference. None of the US presidents are better or worse. They are all psychopaths but not the real problem. They only puppets of the Deep State whose agents operate within the CIA, FBI, NSA, Fed, etc.,
I agree, Ms Johnstone, but I really think the Covid-19 virus and its ramifications are seriously underestimated–maybe to everyone’s surprise? Biden is talking tests for all while being against universal healthcare; the republicans are pontificating about universal liberty while people at community gatherings get sick…and die. Last time I checked CNN (just a site everyone has access to), 2 000 a day were dying in the States. That’s a lot of people plus Bloomberg is reporting over 10 million Americans have been infected. I can’t figure out what the Americans are doing and I think it is scary, and is going to change the political ‘normal.’ Biden might want to go back to Obama world, but that’s not going to happen. And, I suspect it is arrogant to not anticipate change.
Suspect you’re right about Covid preventing the U.S. from returning to any sort of normalcy. Wouldn’t be surprised if this stubborn, unpredictable pandemic wound up bringing down the entire neoliberal world order. To breathe, the predatory shark of hyper-capitalism must swim to breathe, swim relentlessly and at full speed. How will it survive being intermittently frozen in place, being repeatedly and unforeseeably disrupted?
That is the point. This entire plandemic is to reset society since the current system can no longer be sustained.
And Kabala Harris is just the woman to see us through the GR (Great Reset)!
If you are quoting CNN you need to find a new source of information. They spew 100% propaganda. The truth is closer to the exact opposite.
“It looks like a safe bet that Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th after successfully campaigning on returning the murderous and oppressive Orwellian US empire… it looks like Biden is going to be worse.”
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Biden himself of course is an empty suit… and an empty much more. It is those who propped him up on the stage and whose words he tries to mumble that are the real vultures.
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“You can only oppress, neglect and enrage a population so much before the discontent begins to grow.”
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In The Exceptional Nation, discontent is simmering toward a full boil. The problem with that is it will turned and used against the boiling and abused public to further bring The Big Hammer Down by The Hidden Hand. Heads, They win. Tails, the people lose.
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“…American racism and far right extremism did not begin with Trump, and will not end with Trump.”
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Racism is built into just about every culture. There is something twisted in the human soul that seems to need to have a group of people to dehumanize. It is a perversion that’s built into the software of human society. And despite all the Woked Up people in the world, there seems to remain general resistance to rid the human race of this perversion.
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“An actual, energized counterculture could be created which could reshape US culture as a whole.”
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What is going to energy the world is the have-nots getting their bellies filled with disgust at the obscene wealth being collected at the top and getting tired of being evicted from their apartments and having to eat cheap crap. They fill form the counterculture whether they know it or not. And as aforesaid, this will be turned against them by The Hidden Hand.
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Right now it’s all a big experiment to see how much you can abuse people before you get a response.
FWIW, I think there will be another George Floyd type of incident soon, one where Americans see that their lives aren’t worth very much to their rulers. Trump will be gone, and Biden will get the backlash the article is talking about.
Mass casualty false flag. The Dems will bring back these operations to get at the guns.
The “real left” died 40 years ago.
The “real left” exist only in Boomer’s keyboards.
The “real left” is how Boomers try to pretend they didn’t spend their children’s future.
The “real left” carry on about problems far away cause they are too lazy to clean up their own backyard.
The “real left” haven’t fooled younger generations which is why 2 fossils are fighting to rule an imaginary empire.
A coward’s sword is his tongue.
I remember the line ” you services are no longer required ” as Sherlock Holmes girlfriend collapsed and died after being poisoned by Mr. Moriarity. The ” U.S. regime change ” is working brilliantly. The vote was rigged for Joe Biden to win and the millions of Donald Trump voters know that he and them actually won the election. The economy, and the government, are poised to crash and the democrats will get all of the blame. The owners and the masters will make millions from the ensuing chaos and the ” undesirables ” will have been eliminated. The ” Constitution ” will be thrown out and ” martial law ” will be enacted and sternly enforced. The ” free country ” farce will no longer be required! Welcome to the new and improved United States of America!
Could not agree more, Caitlin. This piece is getting shared and WIDELY. THANK YOU for some actual truth! I am so sick of right-wing people parading as mildly left, denying they are right-wing, and undercutting the support of programs to help the common human. As an example, as an NP for many years, I support Medicare For ALL. And that means ALL of us here in USA who do not have “affordable” healthcare in spite of and because of, the ACA. Everybody IN, nobody out! Leftists, unite and push, push, push.
Affordable health care yes. Health care that spends billions trying to keep us alive in our final years no. Just because it is possible medically doesnt mean we should do it. However, the wealthy elites will get it all but for everyone else to make it affordable, we must learn to settle for less. We need to stop using medical facilities for optional surgeries as well. Much must go to make it affordable.
With the “real left” so effectively cut out of the electoral process by the Democratic establishment and corporate media, I find it hard to envision the rise of a socialist, anti-imperialist movement, at least not one organized to the point of competing with the ubiquitous power structure on its own turf. Politics is downstream from culture, but the flow is regulated by a massive infrastructure of dams that protect the political process from being overwhelmed by the will of the people, the “real” expression of culture.
It is up to every individual to think, speak, and act independently, in every available social, political, and economic venue, each voice adding to a collective howl that will correctly redefine culture in human terms, and each act a drop of floodwater that the dams can no longer hold back. Only from such an irresistible wave of anarchy will come a movement (mechanism, order) that must “join the people” rather than offering terms of compromise under which people may “join the movement”.
Real change will come when the dollar is no longer the world currency. Once they digitize the dollar its prominence will end as all the paper money used worldwide will be useless. There is more paper dollars being used outside the US than within
I agree with the analysis & wishful thinking you outline here Caitlin; but I am not sure I hold out much hope for it. The American Left seem hopelessly co-opted and bewildered and controlled by Neoliberalism; which in my book is a fascist form of Capitalism – corporate and transnational. The US Left is lost in feelings and sentiments and has no clue at all as to the reality of the US or the world. I see very little of socio-political value or use in them. I think they are a lost cause. Utterly hopeless.
I think the Right is the only real hope. I dont mean the looney Alt-Right and the crazed Supremacists and such; I mean the right of centre conservatives. I want to see neoliberals waking up to the reality of Neoliberalism (fascism) and beginning to listen to and cooperate with conservatives. In other words a broad convergence and alliance of the centre Right & Left.
What you refer to as “the American left” are fake leftists, thinking of themselves as progressive. They are really bourgeois. The REAL left consists of Marxists, not of people who just mouth left-sounding phrases and hope to be taken for left. The Socialist Equality Party is the only true left party, the only true Marxist party, and the party that I support. We work for the overthrow of the evil and corrupt capitalist system and its replacement by genuine socialism. If that does not happen, humanity is doomed.
Yes the American left is bourgeois; the New Liberals. They are not Marxist as you say, and I did not claim they were Marxist. For me the traditional or Marxist Left is practically extinct. I am speaking in terms of what is currently referred to as Left in the US – ie the new liberals.
The politics of the left and right are full of idea people unsure how to put it into action. The party of soundbites. When put into concrete action all the lofty ideas fall to the wayside. No thought of the consequences of their ideas.
There is a lot of craziness in the Left and the Right in the US. The hope of the future is a broad coalition of the centre.
Caity, I agree with most of what you say, but not everything. It’s true; both parties are corrupt and that Biden will revert to more of the same old, same old. However, your attribution of altruism to Trump supporters couldn’t be much further off the mark.
The oligarchs fan the fighting between Democrats and Republicans as a means of misdirection that is intended to hide the worst of oligarchic intentions.
The truth of the matter, at least in the U.S., is that there is a huge part of the population that, just like Trump, himself, acts out of a sense of insecurity that demands that they hate others unlike themselves, even to the point of racism and other forms of bigotry. Hate is learned – usually in the home. But it does exist and is pervasive. Hate forces individuals to plan and/or perform horrid acts of violence. These are people who cannot feel better about themselves unless they are bringing others down.
Conversely, people who are content to go-along-to-get-along haven’t the need to hurt others. Some, in fact many, may harbor their own sense of bias, but out of that group, the real leftists are born.
Given the pressures against them, including outright illegality, distortion and coercion, I honestly do not see the U.S. strategy, or its collective population, significantly changing in the immediate future, if ever.
There are those of us, true leftists, but we are in the vast minority, as the protest against ending net neutrality proved. Millions made Obama, finally, take action to keep that campaign promise of his. But, all it took was the appointment of a new head to the FCC to reverse course. Even were there 5 million leftists, how do you really expect it to change the minds of the other 315 million or, at the very list, those on the right. That requires a society to mature – and I see no indication that ours is moving in the direction of maturation, nor that it has any intent to do so.
That saddens me.
“I know I’m regarded as a bit of a crackpot in some leftist circles; I’m the girl a lot of lefties read in private but don’t share in public.” Caitlin Johnstone’s self-description hits the nail!
With Joe Biden, the war hawks are back in power. Biden’s presidency will be a return to the past.
Only if those to whom Caitlin is speaking allow it to be so.
The sufferings that human beings endure at the hands of other humans is supposed to urge decent people towards empathy and concern, However if the ” suffering ” is being endured by a group that our masters despise; all care is quickly brushed aside.
Get Out!!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55882.htm
Thanks for the heartbreaking link. With the possible exception of the U.S., has any current “developed” nation turned its back more decisively on the Jewish Prophetic tradition?
Oh boy…..only the left has real solutions to what ails our nation. Right? All that is required is to destroy enough mom and pop businesses, by looting, smashing and burning; by attacking those who have the nerve to disagree with the left progressive policies which by the way are responsible for much of the problems America is facing.
It is leftist progressive policies that have enslaved Black Americans in the welfare system for decades. It is progressive policies in colleges and universities that now promote woke politics with all the inherent destructive policies towards free speech and the Orwellian atmosphere of self censorship and outright fear of losing your job because some little snowflake was offended. It promotes illogical and outright fantasy like ideas.
The progressive movement is over 120 years old and in all that time, especially since Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, which was a disaster for Americans, not to mention other nations, the use of progressive policies to ” bring democracy to others” by mean of waging wars, has been an outright failure and disaster.
when ever someone mentions progressive ideas….run for the hills.
There’s truth in what you say about what has passed for the left in American history and right now. Much the same, of course, could be said, even more strongly, against the American right. Most readers of this blog see what Caitlin sees: one vicious bird of prey (half eagle, half vulture) with two only seemingly-separate wings. If you’d really talk to a genuine leftist, a principled progressive, with mutual and respectful give and take, you might find more common ground than you imagine. And those are precisely the kinds of conversations we must encourage and foster if America is to survive and even begin to embody its ideals, betrayed while the ink dried on the slave-owners’ DOI signatures.
Words for the wise from one of the most incisive thinkers in our midst. Don’t let the blog format fool you. Caitlin is on the cutting edge of political analysis, and you’ll learn things here you will not learn elsewhere. I know I’m largely preaching to the choir, but sometimes you’ve just got to say something even when you know others know it. THIS post is about as pointed and practical as political commentary and strategy can get. Let those of us in the U.S. take in Caitlin’s message and then run with it until we drop. And when we jump with both feet on Biden & Co., let us do so in a way that includes all ordinary Americans and invites them to join us.
It’s hardly news to the actual Left that Biden is the return of Obama, neocon war, and neoliberal plutocracy for the rich and austerity for the poor — if possible. A lot of the conditions under which Obama operated have changed, so a full return may be impossible. The question is what any leftists, or anybody else, is going to do about it. Under Mr. O the answer was ‘Nothing’ for the most part. I don’t believe electoral politics is very effective, at least not in the US, but if it’s your thing, I suggest constructing a leftish movement within the Democratic Party and breaking it off to form a new party in a few years, sort of the same flavor as the Greens but effective. Given the way Americans vote, that will mean finding some Green moneybags, I suppose. Anyway, the time to start planning and acting is now, not 2024. Call it the Democratic Alternative, or (to recall Mr. Dean) ‘The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party’. You can still pretend that Trump is the worst thing that ever happened, although objectively he managed to get far fewer people killed than any president since Carter, or maybe Calvin Coolidge.
I see your anti-imperialist stance strongly in your writings on which most sane people would have to agree. I have always taken your writings to be more anti-capitalist than purely socialist. For pure socialism attempts end up being centralized as well with all its inherent problems. I have thought you to be a left leaning libertarian which cannot be described with a simple term.
Centralized socialism would be pretty corporate under almost any circumstances. I don’t see how local cooperatives would have to be centralized, however, assuming that was the predominant mode of cooperative organization.
I’m no leftist thought leader, but I will share this far and wide. Thanks again, Caitlin. You are so good at saying what I (and many others, I fervently hope) are feeling.
There is little distinct difference between right and left. Both presume holding a gun to people’s heads and forcing them to comply with their dictates is proper behavior. Both are vehemently hostile to the smallest and most abused minority, the individual. Without the variety expressed by the individual, whichever tyrant(s) is/are in charge, left or right, will control the narrative to maintain power, and their constituencies will support them doing so, collectively. Both left and right value one thing above all others. Control. Which is completely antithetical to the individual. If a man prefers wearing women’s clothing, the right will attempt to suppress demonstration of such preference, and the left will grant him power because of it. Neither is preferable. Both are a demonstration of power, force with the threat of violence. Socialism or corporatism, both require it. Which to my mind is morally reprehensible.
Absolutely correct.
Both political persuasions require the use of force and violence to inflict the individual with their particular versions of governance.
Good examples are National Socialism and Communism.
Today we have BLM and ANTIFA to show us just how violent the left has become.
If you think the Left and the Right are the same, you haven’t read history. In any case the fact that you’re confusing the two indicates that you need some new concepts of political organization and a new vocabulary; ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ aren’t doing the job any more.
Some who comment here apparently think that in the total absence of government, people would be nice to each other. Some certainly would be, perhaps even most. But without governmental protection of some kind, what would prevent some thug from killing or abusing me and my family? Sure, I could buy a gun, maybe even organize a neighborhood watch or militia, but what if the thug had a bigger and better gun, a bigger and better organization? On a side note, I also suspect that we need to move beyond traditional characterizations of left and right, now that they’ve been so manipulated and distorted by the MSM.
So there is no way we can get along without a government that has put our posterity in debt when they’re born, has murdered millions, caged billions, and forces you to comply with its insane ideas? Exactly how could “some thug” be more dangerous than a gang of Psychopaths In Charge with nuclear weapons? The only thing I ever needed from the state, it fails to deliver. I need someone to prevent the theft of my stuff while I’m busy elsewhere. They don’t prevent it, and they don’t make you whole afterward.
I have read history extensively in my 66 years. After doing so, it’s obvious that governments only excel at one thing, and one thing only. Killing people. I’m not confusing left and right at all, just pointing out they use the exact same method, the threat of violence including death, to force their victims to abide by THEIR determination of what is right, true, and moral. However insane it may be.
Best to focus on the reality behind those terms. I sometimes mentally replace the term “leftist” with the term “Shakespearist,” as in: “So distribution should undo excess / And each man have enough.” (Act IV, Scene i)
To be a genuine leftist is to be in alignment with the very best in our shared cultural traditions. To be on the right is to be in alignment with the very worst.
And there lies the rub. How to put some party in charge of distribution to undo excess, while preventing them from “distributing” to their own bank account. It’s never been done before.
If by “aligned” you mean forced to align with shared cultural traditions, left or right, how do those traditions ever improve without the occasional new and different idea? Which never appears if alignment is enforced. I refuse to apply “best” or “worst” to either. They are simply two sides of the same coin. Their intent is to enforce their will, at gunpoint if required.
I think the election fraud and electronic vote flipping are so outrageous and shocking that I’m not giving up hope quite yet that Trump will not carry the day in court. I’m sorry you are convinced otherwise. Biden will simply be a catastrophe on every level. More lockdowns, more draconian fake pandemic measures and medical marshall law, more totalitarianism, and more Witch Hillary wanting to throw nukes at China and Russia. Let’s give it another week or so and see then if you’re right to throw in the towel so soon.
The evidence of electoral fraud is compelling, though as you assume the yankee regime is too powerful to be overturned by problems such as legality. Trump’s weakness was that he was too much a part of the system to effectively oppose it, so he went along with war crimes such as the murder of the man who was effectively defence minister of Iran and put his name on the persecution of Assange. The reason people cut him more slack despite these documented crimes is the obvious hostility the permanent regime displays toward him. The election fix is part of this. Think about it. They have now thrown away even the appearance of the rule of law to get rid of him. Since most of what had been the “left” cooperated with and spoke for the fascism represented by Biden and the official regime, they are seriously handicapped in opposing it once it consolidates. “Right and left” become systemic and anti-systemic. Though I agree that socialism and anti-imperialism are desirable, the opposition will be spearheaded by those directly turfed out by the consolidation of what walks and talks like a fascist duck. In fact, under traditional definitions, the triumphant regime is far more “rightwing” than the opposition which once was considered “rightist.” In the end, I don’t see much of a future for anything right now unless the whole system collapses and a reboot occurs, something which could happen with the medicofascism and resulting economic collapse rendering them unable to continue on with the imperialism central to their plans.
Human spirituality moves forward, towards enlightenment, because it is compelled to do so and because it seeks Truth.
Politics, on the other hand, regresses until it self destructs, because it is driven by expedience.
Meanwhile, we are stuck in the middle.
Love, live lightly, and laugh as often as you can.
Well what ever is left of the left be it luke warm or whatever better get to it
Mike Pompeo is already pumped for 2024
“Lyin’, cheatin’, stealin’” Mikey P.? Say ain’t so …
Ms Johnstone, I intend to ” keep my head down and say nothing ” that will incite Donald Trump supporters who are now actively seeking out ” victims ” to take their frustrations out upon. The politicians will be protected by the police and the national guard; everyone else will be on their own. The ” leftists ” are the people that are unarmed and extremely vulnerable; in my humble opinion, they should say and do nothing until after all of the shooting finally stops. Many people are going to die within these United States; of that I am certain!
So BLM and antifa are on the right. They seem to be the only groups consistently harrassing and attacking people. You live in a fantasy world. The left have been responsible for most of the destruction and violence.
Liberals can buy guns too. I know some who have and are getting trained to use them. One said to be in a phone conversation, ‘If they come for me I can always take at least one with me.’ I asked her who was going to come for her and she referred me to stuff she had seen on television, of gut-toting right-wingers waving flags and threatening revolution. I will say this for the Trumpoids: they’ve done wonders to convince a lot of liberals that gun control isn’t such a good idea after all.
As AReedJr says: “coming out through the other side” means finding out which way the backlash seems to be moving after some period of time and counter that movement in some manner. judo
“We already know the American left…”
What’s the point of using a textbook example for the word “oxymoron”?
Now you let me down, big time.
“I know I’m regarded as a bit of a crackpot in some leftist circles; I’m the girl a lot of lefties read in private but don’t share in public.”
I chuckled, indulgently, then realised oh shit I haven’t shared anything for ages. I hope others have that oh shit moment and many more to come.
https://youtu.be/-eXvbI-3mYE
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel
I hope you’re talking about Emmanuel Goldstein of 1984.
As desperate “essential workers” are evicted, lose ACA “insurance,” working terrifying 1099 gigs sick, infect loved ones & co-workers. Walk-out strikes, Black Lives Matter, protest of any kind will be between OathKeeper cops, cranked-up MAGA and Boogaloo Boi agents provacateurs (devoid of TV lights and skedaddled white kids?) Creative Class™ & Boomer Yuppies will be aghast at all the “rioting,” “looting” President Harris crushes to restore law and order (after she gnaws through Biden’s spine and out his chest before his hand leaves the Bible, during inauguration?
I read that “politics is downstream from culture” twice and I still don’t understand it.
It means the narratives of a given culture will influence what its politics will be. I included a hyperlink to a Breitbart article; rightists understand this, which IMO is why they got their guy elected.
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2011/08/22/politics-really-is-downstream-from-culture/
Thanks, but I meant that I read the breitbart article twice. I’m not even sure what to ask. I just don’t see the connection with the Right knowing this and the Left not. For starters, by Left, do you mean Biden Left, or real Left? You can consider that rhetorical.
The real left. Of course the Biden “left” knows it, that’s why they dominate.
We have no left left.
What? You mean it’s… left?
Yes, Robin, the Left has left and has left us nothing. That’s rich!
https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/11/wars-inside-bodies.html
Building Back Better, A Respectable Conspiracy, Tessa Fights Robots
A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more individuals to work together toward a shared goal, without disclosing it—or its known or possible implications—to those outside the group. In that sense, our entire history is a collection of conspiracies...
Thus, once somebody is well-fed and financially secure a million times over, the desire to have more turns into a psychosis—which I believe is what we are dealing with today—psychosis on the highest level, plus a very sophisticated machine of manufacturing consent.
Thus, the project of “manufacturing consent” has been around for about a hundred years, notably starting with the legacy of Edward Bernays, the father of “public relations.”…
Psychologically, we are used to accepting certain conspiracies as “normal” and viewing other ones as totally insane. For example, we know not to believe commercials on TV—and we don’t get all that surprised when a particular product suddenly turns out to be bad for us. We expect brands—and politicians—to exaggerate the usefulness of their products and ideas and to downplay the harms. We all know about Big Tobacco. Many of us know about Teflon, sugar vs. fat, glyphosate, asbestos, and DDT—which were at some point marketed to us as “safe” and “beneficial.” We have no problem accepting that kind of a corporate conspiracy. We are also eager to believe that a foreign country could be potentially seeking our demise...
Where the mind stumbles in disbelief is the kind of “domestic” conspiracy whose plot puts us, proud Western citizens, in a position of pests who occupy or contaminate a coveted resource. We don’t like the conspiracies in which we are viewed in the same way a foreign invader views a local population or in a way the European settlers viewed the indigenous... We’re thinking, yeah, everyone is trying to pull the blanket toward themselves—but there are certain things that just don’t happen!
One really has to do a lot of massaging of the physical reality in order to fit this mess into a politically correct explanation. So, there has to be an international agenda—and it just so happens that all major Western leaders are suddenly singing in sweet unison about the Great Reset. They are!
https://tessa.substack.com/p/build-back-better-conspiracy
Look how reasonable Klaus Schwab is.
I don’t see any details, but he wants capitalism to reform itself to be nice to everybody, and he’s already working on it with a lot of the better, nicer capitalists.
No details yet. Soon.. (Thanks Travis).
Of course, we remain far from our goal of achieving a better global economic system for all. The Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics are just one of many initiatives that are needed to get to such an outcome—and time is quickly running out. But in a world where pessimism is increasingly the order of the day, and narrow and short-term self-interest is still alluring, initiatives like these demonstrate that a more inclusive and sustainable model is possible. It is up to us to replicate and follow such an approach. When that happens, those who follow the path of stakeholder capitalism will soon find that it leads to a more inclusive and sustainable economy for all.
https://time.com/collection/great-reset/5900748/klaus-schwab-capitalism/
Own Nothing and Be Happy, The Great Reset’s Vision of the Future:
World Economic Forum’s video tells us about the plans for humanity in the year 2030
(OK, I’ll own nothing and be happy, but then who owns everything? What does “own” mean? Do I have “rights”?)
https://off-guardian.org/2020/11/12/own-nothing-and-be-happy-the-great-resets-vision-of-the-future/
I see racism and others in all its historical brutality as a bent ethology. Humans naturally develop to be pretty altruistic, and cooperative. However, their development can be twisted to a fear based, punitive society by interventions in their early development.
We are all under hypnosis, we either choose our reality ((and build it) or accept the reality presented to us. Televison, and now stupid phones (I refuse to mutilate the language by calling them smart) are part of a mind control matrix.
The question is, how to dispel the hypnosis that has us paralyzed (avolitional, as children of narcissistic parents, or those who have been humiliated and castigated). How to dispel the matrix of falsehoods that anchor a society in slavery and degradation?
Humor is great. We need to mock these cheesy guys like Schwab and his tech-no-logic wet dream. Bill Gates reminds me of Jim Jones. There is a very good documentary about his cult. Those folks didn’t drink the kool aid, they were chased down through the jungle and murdered. Over 500 religious folk, who were sucked into a CIA experiment.
I love that Cait keeps her eye on the ball, and hasn’t got into the divisive narratives of mask/ no mask, and all the other psyop shit being thrown at us.
A big part of the game is to make people police themselves, and love their enslavement. Chuck your stupid phones, folks. Listen to the wisdom of the indigenous, live clean, and fear not! A better world is at hand, if you make it.
Shoot, the next comment was not meant to reply to your post. This one is;
I hope you are being sarcastic! For the exposé on the great Reset see Alison McDowell at wrenchinthegears.com, and Cory Morningstar at wrongkindofgreen.com. Ol Klaus is pushing every altruists buttons just to sell a reworking of the empire; the NWO is the same old shit, with electronic and bio genocide. Its not the 4rth industrial revolution, its the 4rth Reich.
Obama was ‘manufactured’ to usher in the ZWO !
NOBODY remembers him from University – his whole name is a psyop !
Barack – Rhymes with Iraq
Hussein – Saddam Husssein
Obama – Osama
http://themillenniumreport.com/2020/10/finally-conclusive-proof-michelle-obama-really-is-big-mike/
I don’t understand how people still believe the FAIRYTALE !
Yes you are right. How did we get here? Well about 10,000 years ago we crawled out of the forest and began farming. We invented slavery, feudalism and capitalism (which is industrial feudalism). The one percent of us who are genuine psychopaths have been very successful at capturing the positions of power. This still holds true. Our political system breeds psychopathy, inequality, and subservience. The rabble don’t understand the power elite. They think the psycos care about them and they vote for their favorite powerful imbecile every few years. Meanwhile, the Empire continues to send its murderous web around the world. Thanks to global warming, peak oil, nuclear weapons, the death of the oceans, the over harvesting of forests and the inability of humans to curb population growth, we are on the road to disaster. Meanwhile, the American public sits spell-bound in their homes, wearing masks and watching fear porn television, while the Friendly Fascists torture them with massive penalties for disobeying silly rules. Huxley would be astounded that there is no bravery in the Brave New World.
I always love your raw honesty, Caitlin. I’m curious, what is your working definition of ‘leftist’?
I would guess she supports the Green New Deal, but honestly I am not sure. As if that can stop the systemic collapse of American Society which is well under way.
Socialist and (ideally) anti-imperialist.
amen sister Caitlin!