Radicalization

[BigOleDummy]

Last edited Sat Sep 16, 2023, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)

I've been a member here for a long time. I don't post much because others here express themselves much better than I do. But lately I've been thinking about radicalization much more than usual. Because the trump cults batshit craziness seem to suck up almost all the air out of practically any discussion/topic OUR radicalization, the lefts, doesn't seem to get much notice. I have become more radical since the orange idiot has disgraced our country. How about you?

Some vitals on me: I'm old and in very poor health, I doubt if I'll be here for the next presidential elections. Possible but not probable. Been a Democrat since ..... forever. My first foray into politics was working a phone bank for Jimmy Carter in Denver after seeing him at a campaign rally there. Kind of gave up on politics after seeing him savaged by almost everyone (it seemed) during and after his term in office. Plus the fact that Jerry Rubin turned into a STOCKBROKER!!!!! Traveled in my work for 40+ years so it was kind of easy to not tune in to what was happening. Knew Reagon was a disaster for what I believed. Around the first gulf war I started getting my toes wet in politics again. Was ENRAGED by the swift boating of John Kerry! As a veteran I have to double down on that, ENRAGED! Anyway...... starting to ramble now.

I'm more "radical" now than at any point in my life politically. More open to what used to be considered radical anyway. So how about YOU? Would you say the maga era has made you more radical?

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	1 (50%)
	Less radical
	0 (0%)
	About the same
	1 (50%)
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[Firestorm49]

1. I agree with you. It's hard to not become enraged. Whom of us hasn't been affected in a

negative way by what the GOP has done and is continuing to do in our country? I never thought I’d see times like these. “The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.” “Time heals all wounds.” Blah, blah, blah.

Strong action is what’s required. Fight back like we mean it. Get our damn message out there just like they do. Take back municipal courts, stop grossly unfair gerrymandering, …….

Say it loud and say it proud. I believe that there are more of us with a true grasp of reality than there are hopelessly ignorant supporters of fascism, but we need to be screaming it from the rooftops.

[BigOleDummy]

2. Exactly!

WE need the far right kooks' enthusiasm much more than it appears. Some people ARE swayed by repetition and conviction/fervor. WE have to match them on all fronts. I try to do what I can...... have been asked to leave McDonalds more than once for laughing LOUDLY at faux when its on the tv and setting the record straight. (the McDonalds is where all us old guys hang out in the morning for coffee lol) Went out one morning after an especially ..... tense session to find garbage thrown all over my windshield and having a flat tire. Was back the next morning ,same place same bat time with the louder than needed "good try sheeple but you ain't getting rid of me". The table of my main adversaries was looking very very abashed so I counted that as a win for me. Oh..... the morning tv there is now set to CNN.

[keep_left]

3. As for myself, and I probably speak for at least a few others--at the moment, I would be happy...

...with a return to a few of the New Deal economic and social reforms, and perhaps an eventual return to robustly funded and supported JFK-LBJ-era social programs as well. In other words, moderate reforms, not radical ones.

The problem is that the far right in this country since at least the GW Bush era has become so ideological that even basic reform has become virtually impossible. I have a slogan for it: community = communism. Any collective action by a society, no matter how benign, becomes creeping Bolshevism. To one extent or another, this has been going on since Truman tried to create a national health care system, but in the last couple of decades, the trend has greatly accelerated and the politics have also become vicious and personal. Every step back to sanity must always be litigated on talk radio, where there is not even a pretense of good-faith argument.

It's funny that you mention Jimmy Carter, because his once-infamous "Malaise speech" (where the word "malaise" was never used) has been reevaluated by historians in recent years. In many ways, it was a harbinger--and a warning--of what was to come. If more Americans had really listened to and heeded that address instead of ridiculing it, the country would be a much different and better place.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217660503#post3

[BigOleDummy]

4. I submit....

... to you that the New Dealish reforms you speak of constitute radical thinking in these days of maga.

I DO tend a little further left these days though I must admit. I read something somewhere (told you I was old , can't remember crap anymore *blush*) of the rightward drift of our political thought. As we trend towards moderation and shave off the "too leftist" portions of policies/priorities to stay "moderate" the right keeps moving further right so we shave off a few more degrees of thought to stay in the middle. And on and on....... Look at D.D.E. as an example. He couldn't even win a primary in the gop these days, hell he'd make a great Democratic candidate!

I fully support the younger people who take it to the streets and get in the fascists faces personified by Antifa etc. When and if the time comes my old ass will be on the ramparts with them. The magaites seem to think that they are a majority in this country but they are wrong and THAT needs to be driven home much more forcefully imho.

[keep_left]

5. Yes, that's basically what I was saying in my inarticulate way. "Moderate" has become...

"radical" because the political discourse keeps being dragged rightward. The kids call that the "Overton Window". I've also heard it described as a "political ratchet". And any advocacy for "we" or "us" means that a Bolshevik society is headed our way. New Deal programs?! That's communism! Remember what Maggie Thatcher said..."there is no such thing as society".

You are also quite correct about Eisenhower (I'm assuming that's who "D.D.E." stands for). And not only would he be unable to win a GOP primary; it's very possible that Goldwater, Reagan, and GHW Bush wouldn't make it through either.

[Polybius]

6. Interesting results

So far "less radical" is winning.

[BigOleDummy]

7. Indeed

I would have thought otherwise tbh. Well, I DID think there would be more "more radical". I know I am. Just hope we're not whistling past the graveyard. I truly believe chump and his magaites are an existential threat to our country and to us personally and fear that we'll have to give what we get. lol, see my signature ;D