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Progressive - Promoting or favoring progress toward better conditions or new policies

1. America needs a strong Left

2. We are here to figure out how to do that

3. The fake Left is the biggest obstacle

If you still have questions, take a long hard look at the following diagram.



If you are to the right of the green line, this website is not for you.

If this is not clear, read further...

'The Fake Left'

Confusion often stems from misunderstanding the real meaning of 'leftist' in terms of political and economic thought. In popular discourse the 'left' commonly refers to certain positions on culturally-divisive social issues (like abortion, gay rights, etc). This is dangerously misleading and serves to distract from understanding our economic reality.

People talk about 'democracy' and 'freedom' as if they can exist without economic democracy. The very concept of economic democracy rarely enters the discourse. Yet it is the key to all of these 'issues' we struggle with piecemeal in our legislative system - poverty, environmental damage, income disparity, weak education system, health care, and so forth.

Many people identify themselves as liberal AND leftist. These are contradictory positions. Liberalism, first and foremost, is an ECONOMIC theory, not a social platform. Not only that, LIBERALISM IS A RIGHT WING ECONOMIC THEORY. It is no accident that people have been taught to think otherwise.

Many people look to the liberal 'social democracies' of western Europe as some sort of people-oriented balance between capitalism and socialism, where the living standards are high, education, health care, labor rights etc are great. However, this perspective falls apart when we look deeper and see the relationship of these capitalist countries to the rest of the world. They still rely on the exploitation of other people's labor to keep their high standards. Those standards are applied only to those within their borders while the rest of the world continues to suffer. Make no mistake about it - these romanticized countries are generally nationalistic and protective. And the bottom line is that they are capitalist.

The ideals of the true left are universal, global. They do not stop at one country's borders at the expense of poor people elsewhere. They require the end of capitalism.

Yes, we are talking about the class war. Yes, we are talking about socialism. Yes, we are pointing to capitalism as the root of our problems.

Now for the 'rules', insofar as we have any.

NO RED-BAITING. Believe me, we've seen it enough to recognize it in its many disguises. There are plenty of other places to go if that's your game.

BE HONEST. Don't be afraid of looking uninformed. It's even ok if you're confused - billions of dollars have been spent to confuse you your whole life. No passive-aggressive games either.

NO WHINING. Is someone being mean? Tough it out. These are words on a screen, not kids on a playground. Don't take things personally. Substance trumps civility here. This is not a free pass for being an asshole, but everyone has a different style.

This is one place where we don't constantly have to defend the most basic leftist views. Challenges are fine but the impetus is on the status-quo protector.

"The radicals have the easier case to make. They have only to point to the discrepancies between the operation of the modern economy and the ideas by which it is supposed to be judged, while the conservatives have the well nigh impossible task of demonstrating that this is the best of all possible worlds. For the same reason, however, the conservatives are compensated by occupying positions of power, which they can use to keep criticism in check... The conservatives do not feel obliged to answer radical criticisms on their merits and the argument is never fairly joined."

http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj71/harman.htm

To existing members who are upset/confused about this - recent events have demonstrated that we can't waste our time distracted by defending against attacks from the status quo. Sorry if it ruffles your feathers, but the reality is that if there will ever be real change, there needs to be a fight. The battle lines are being drawn here, and you need to pick a side. It's that simple.

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