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Givemeliberty's avatar

There’s no mystery to what is happening. It’s about dismantling anything and everything that is even remotely tied to individualism. That, above all, is what the left despises.

All of these preposterous dated or vague terms of “corporatism” and “working class” (do wealthy people not work?) obscure the real philosophical difference:

It is either individualism or collectivism.

Socialism is collectivist

Communism is collectivist

Fascism is collectivist

State run mixed economies are collectivist with a pretense of liberty.

The goods and services in all of these centrally planned, dreary, shitty collectivist systems has to come from somewhere. So they allow for just enough pretense of liberty to keep *some* people working for the unearned benefit of others.

But ultimately the phony concern for the “working class” is just that: phony. What the left cannot tolerate is anyone being free of state compulsion. They simply cannot bear it. They have see people subjugated. And the politicians simply use the whole lie as a means to gain, consolidate, and maintain power.

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Mitigated Disaster's avatar

I listened to this while I was cleaning my guns. That struck me to be pretty funny. Were it not for Glenn Greenwald, I would have zero exposure to Ben's new book. I always appreciate a nuanced discussion even if I don't agree with the conclusions. That is the marketplace of ideas in action.

To that end, Ben and Glenn touch on a number of very important issues. First, the left now exists to uphold the political hierarchy and the centers of power. They are able to maintain support through signaling on key issues without challenging established norms. This is not unlike the right.

Secondly, they both acknowledge that the left has been coopted by a puritanical brigade of assholes. Political and moral purity has displaced the liberal ethos of the innate human right to self-determination. Curiosity and humility has been replaced with moral certainty.

I was raised in the church but now, I consider myself to be an agnostic because the moral certainty for atheism and orthodox religion is too much to swallow. I choose the side of humility. I know what I don't know.

I am definitely not good or moral enough to be on team blue. I am not a proponent of a welfare state but the constant drone of moralism on the left is what makes me want to vomit. It is like an insidious virus that has infected every political issue.

It is just as creepy as it was on the religious right. I'm okay with going to hell if the religious left is who I can expect to find in heaven.

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