As America spins into fascism, with masked goons terrorizing citizens and the Administration clearly plotting to subvert or cancel elections, the real left and moderate left are bickering over who is to blame. Maybe it’s time to fight the Right first, and fight one another later.
Bickering at the Death Camp
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The TMI Show" talk show. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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But the “moderate” left IS the right.
I’ve lost track of how many of the “moderates” have actively thwarted anything truly progressive. Universal health care? No, no. Our corporate masters don’t want that. So here’s Obamacare. It’s kinda like UHC but it isn’t. But the money still goes into for-profit pockets, so that’s the important thing. It’s a complete sellout, but it’ll fool enough people.
No-cost college? Forgiveness of student loans? Well, we can’t. It’s bad precedent and what about all those people who paid their loans after decades of hardship for those useless degrees that don’t open any doors? If we make college free, next we’d be expected to eliminate polio. Some people ended up in iron lungs for their entire lives. You need to stop being so entitled. I’ll explain it some more after I get back from voting “Yes” on bailing out the bankers. They’re really suffering. Some of them are only getting 12% raises this year.
The right isn’t the problem. I don’t expect tiger sharks to debate propositions from Spinoza. I don’t expect kindness from botulism. The right is doing what it does: short-sighted, mean-spirited cruelty informed by a superstition-based mindset predicated in hierarchies dominated by white male landowners.
The “moderate” left? After the revolution, when the trials are being held? Make sure the “moderates” are fingerprinted, photographed, and charged as well.
Perhaps only the poor should be allowed to vote. No one spots the problems quite as well as the people who have to deal with their consequences.
Yeah, it was bickering over Harris — some arguing that she was too pro-Israel and others arguing that she was too pro-Palestine — so people on both sides of that issue didn’t vote for her, and now we have Trump. It’s fine to argue about this stuff in the primaries but, when we get to the general election, we have to focus on where the real opponent is, pinch our noses as needed, and vote for the lesser of the two evils.
I don’t recall any “bickering over Harris.” She made it unequivocally clear that she had no problem with anything the Blinken administration did, which included supplying Israel with money, arms, and intel in order to carry out the Gaza genocide, plus which the Dems pushed for the suppression of any and all criticism of Israel as “Antisemitism.” Add to that their support for all of Trump’s aggressive empire-building and it’s clear the Dems aren’t “the opposition.” They’re just “kinder, gentler” fascists, sulking because the mean kids get to be the ones pulling it off.
Yes, there were many who interpreted her stances as not sufficiently pro-Israel and declined to vote for her because of it. I know some of them.
Nonetheless, I agree that Harris would have been bad when it comes to Palestine. But Trump isn’t any better. And there are a host of other issues where she isn’t right — climate change, helping those in poverty, healthcare, etc. — but she is markedly better than Trump. Although I would gladly have someone besides either of them, I nonetheless mourn that Harris lost to Trump.
Welcome to the *pragmatic left* Ted!
I always get so completely depressed when I read Ted rall and the comments here. It always makes me feel like nothing matters, anything I do or think is always wrong and literally everything and anything is evil and the worst decision no matter what anyone does. Charity is all wrong and motivated for the wrong things, any and all politics is evil, any financial transaction is hopeless and all good things actually have evil motivation. It makes me just want to do nothing because no matter what I’m terrible and we can’t atone for anything historically bad.
I’m not too concerned about the possibility pictured here. The Trump regime is on very shaky ground in ways most people–certainly the Trumpsters themselves–don’t even realize, and is more likely to fall apart than congeal.
I like you optimism. What scenarios are you envisioning for the downfall and how can I help to accelerate them? (I’m talking politics, not violence.) Thanks!
I’m trying to reply, Lee, but the site keeps eating my response.
OK, that loaded. Let’s see if this works. Here’s what I wrote:
There is likely to be some violence, but I agree that the government has enough of a monopoly on force so that a “popular revolution” is unlikely to succeed. First of all, the guy is old and in poor condition, and there is simply nobody with his charisma who could replace him. Without a strong figure like him, all the egos he has marshaled will quickly fall to fighting among themselves. Second, the world is increasingly walking away from financing the US by buying US Treasury IOUs. This will have a strong negative effect on not just the US consumer economy but also the ability to fund that 1.5 trillion dollar military budget. Third, a major military disaster that cost the US dearly would undermine Trump’s support. Fourth, the increasing pace of climate disasters will outrun the government’s ability to help people–an ability the Trump crew has already seriously undermined. This would result in serious erosion of support. Fifth, as the people of Minneapolis and Chicago, among other places, have demonstrated, there is a critical mass of Americans who won’t take shit from their government. And finally, the “deus ex machina”–the possibility of a coronal mass ejection from the sun that would fry 99% of the electronics on the planet, or maybe just on the side of the planet that was exposed. The only one we know of was mid-19th century, when it blew up telegraph lines, which were the only major electrical usage at the time. We don’t know when the previous one was, because there was no electrical usage before then, so we have no idea how frequent these events are. As a PS, I think shortages of the material needs of our high-tech culture, from fossil fuels to rare earths, will start eroding our ability to maintain our political institutions and lifestyle, but I think that’s longer term than the next 2-4 years. Thanks for asking!