I am with you Thom, excellent article. I consider myself a real progressive, unfortunately there are those on the left that are in reality unredeemed Marxists, and in my opinion Marx was a proto libertarian. He was a free trader, opposed Britain's Corn laws (tariffs), chastised editors in Charleston and the south for slavery, telling th…
I am with you Thom, excellent article. I consider myself a real progressive, unfortunately there are those on the left that are in reality unredeemed Marxists, and in my opinion Marx was a proto libertarian. He was a free trader, opposed Britain's Corn laws (tariffs), chastised editors in Charleston and the south for slavery, telling them to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages.
His partner Frederick Engels owned a textile mill and had to buy cheaper and inferior Egyptian Cotton because of the high price of cotton shipped from Charleston, SC.
He was also a gold bug. He claimed that gold was the standard of value (not labor as believed), and the Soviet Union made gold the basis for their ruble. Valuing a ruble at .91 grams fine gold, and only issued enough rubles as were there gold to back it up. The result was a perpetual depression because of a shortage of rubles, and Soviet customs scoured outgoing luggage and packages for rubles, it was a capital offense to take rubles out of Russia, as a holder could present the ruble to the NordBank in Paris and demand gold, which reduced the supply of Rubles in Russia.
Also the 1936 Soviet Constitution, Art 12, says in essence, if you don't work you don't eat, which is pure libertarian.
But I have wandered off the topic. The topic being the affinity of the old left with Russia,Putin has inherited the Soviet Union's mantle, and the old left what the Brits called Tankies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie have this romantic love affair with Russia, and although I have admired Chomsky and Democracy Now as well as the folk at the Nation, I consider them tragic and disgusting, they indeed would rather be Red than dead, only Red this time is not communism, but right wing fascism.
If these people are the left, then I am not a leftist, I am not a libertarian, and I am not a right wing fascist.
I have no label except that of a true small d democrat. I really need to define myself, and that is so hard to do in this factionist world, which Thomas Jefferson warned about.
I used to read Bill Blum until I figured out that the only imperialism he was opposed to was American while Russian and Chinese imperialism was just fine. I have a great deal of admiration for Chomsky and am sad that he has gone the same route as Bill Blum.
I've stopped reading The Nation for their all-too-frequent references to Karl Marx. There has not been one successful, prosperous Marxist nation to date that I have see. The economic advancement of China only began when they moved away from Marxist?Maoist dogma. That said, Marx did bring many of the great evils of capitalism to light....
I quit the NYT because they were too pro Russia. I never read the WSJ.
Unfettered Capitalism is a disaster. Monopoly game in real life. The evils of capitalism must be controlled. Governments are to provide the common good and set and enforce the rules for the private good. Political parties ought to be formed on how best to do both but one of them usually gets bought out by the capitalists and want to do as little as possible of either.
I still believe that America can beat the fascists but I worry that voting alone will not over come the loaded dice at the state level.
I am with you Thom, excellent article. I consider myself a real progressive, unfortunately there are those on the left that are in reality unredeemed Marxists, and in my opinion Marx was a proto libertarian. He was a free trader, opposed Britain's Corn laws (tariffs), chastised editors in Charleston and the south for slavery, telling them to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages.
His partner Frederick Engels owned a textile mill and had to buy cheaper and inferior Egyptian Cotton because of the high price of cotton shipped from Charleston, SC.
He was also a gold bug. He claimed that gold was the standard of value (not labor as believed), and the Soviet Union made gold the basis for their ruble. Valuing a ruble at .91 grams fine gold, and only issued enough rubles as were there gold to back it up. The result was a perpetual depression because of a shortage of rubles, and Soviet customs scoured outgoing luggage and packages for rubles, it was a capital offense to take rubles out of Russia, as a holder could present the ruble to the NordBank in Paris and demand gold, which reduced the supply of Rubles in Russia.
Also the 1936 Soviet Constitution, Art 12, says in essence, if you don't work you don't eat, which is pure libertarian.
But I have wandered off the topic. The topic being the affinity of the old left with Russia,Putin has inherited the Soviet Union's mantle, and the old left what the Brits called Tankies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie have this romantic love affair with Russia, and although I have admired Chomsky and Democracy Now as well as the folk at the Nation, I consider them tragic and disgusting, they indeed would rather be Red than dead, only Red this time is not communism, but right wing fascism.
If these people are the left, then I am not a leftist, I am not a libertarian, and I am not a right wing fascist.
I have no label except that of a true small d democrat. I really need to define myself, and that is so hard to do in this factionist world, which Thomas Jefferson warned about.
Did I just coin a word?
I used to read Bill Blum until I figured out that the only imperialism he was opposed to was American while Russian and Chinese imperialism was just fine. I have a great deal of admiration for Chomsky and am sad that he has gone the same route as Bill Blum.
I've stopped reading The Nation for their all-too-frequent references to Karl Marx. There has not been one successful, prosperous Marxist nation to date that I have see. The economic advancement of China only began when they moved away from Marxist?Maoist dogma. That said, Marx did bring many of the great evils of capitalism to light....
I quit the NYT because they were too pro Russia. I never read the WSJ.
Unfettered Capitalism is a disaster. Monopoly game in real life. The evils of capitalism must be controlled. Governments are to provide the common good and set and enforce the rules for the private good. Political parties ought to be formed on how best to do both but one of them usually gets bought out by the capitalists and want to do as little as possible of either.
I still believe that America can beat the fascists but I worry that voting alone will not over come the loaded dice at the state level.