the democrats should do something about this
Earlier today, I saw a poll that said people dislike the president being advised by billionaires. One of the reactions to this on BlueSky (where I waste my non-video game time), as is the reaction to many news items, is that the Democrats should capitalize on this. The Democrats should come out as the anti-billionaire party. The Democrats should embrace a more openly left-wing economic agenda.
It’s not that I disagree. I think the Democrats should become a socialist party. I also think the Republicans should become an anti-racist party, Jeff Bezos should use his wealth to turn Amazon into a worker-owned co-op, and the NBA should make the Oklahoma City Thunder move back to Seattle.
These things aren’t going to happen, and there’s really nothing I can do to make them happen, either.
American political culture sucks because, after decades of Republican vs Democrat being a TV show, people see all politics as fundamentally a TV show or a sporting event. Just like I yell at my TV for Jamal Murray to pass the ball instead of dribbling around, liberals yell at their politicians to do something about all the problems. It’s a fundamentally passive view, one that resigns people who, according to middle school civics class, have democratic control over their government to pure spectators whose political activity is confined to discussing their politics TV show with people they know who watch the same show.
Should someone take advantage of the clear anti-billionaire attitude common among disengaged or even conservative Americans? Yes. You should. Not as an individual, of course; a key part of left-wing thought is collective action over the individual.
Join or form some kind of group, instead. I’m a DSA member. Hate DSA? You’ll be in good company in DSA, it’s a key part of our ideology as a big-tent socialist organization. But, do something about it, even if it’s just five of your friends meeting up and you end up wheat pasting your neighborhood. Be the organization that other people post should be doing something about the problems.
For some reason, there’s a stereotype that anarchists are the wild-eyed utopians, and Democrats are the sensible pragmatists who can Get Things Done. The opposite is true, because a key part of anarchist ideology is the empowerment that we, not some gigantic political party, are the ones who can and must take action.
