The Radical Idea of Democracy

I have a read a total of one book on Karl Marx's communism -- and it was actually a comic book. I was slightly disgusted at the supposition that humans are seen as commodities for the machine of capital. The thought that one of my measurable "contributions" is that I birthed two more cogs in the wheels is awful. No one can think this way, right? I mean, the cynicism of how horrible humans can think on the way to the bank is overblown, right? I have been hopeful.

But... in defending the hair guy and his campaign and arguing against the idea that the hair guy gets much of his support from middle- and lower-income, non-college graduates, someone just wrote:

"Sorry, that's incorrect. Those are socialist talking points."

"I'm a math major graduate and a business owner and TRUMP is clearly all about bank."

"And if you can't make money...and don't know about basic supply and demand economics then you are what is wrong with idiot America."

Comment on: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/269431-gop-slugfest-in-south-carolina (user: Lynnbaby @disqus_PGzoPAeD3e)

Apparently, education doesn't always illuminate the mind with compassion and humane understanding. And, here's a "business owner" who would look upon her employees with disdain because they can't make money like she can make money. What would she pay her employees? What does she think of her customers? Is anyone who is not "clearly all about bank" really what's wrong with "idiot" America?



If this is a capitalist in America... maybe I should take another look at Marx [I write facetiously]. No, not really, that is why the possibilities of real democracy where one person, one vote and whereby each of those folks are equal is my hopeful and radical idea. Yes, majorities have been known to be wrong, but with enough education, with enough tolerance and compassion, that arc does bend towards justice. Provided, of course, your personal inclination is towards compassion first and some don't have that inclination.

So maybe it's not because Lynnbaby is a capitalist that she thinks money is all that it's about and that's why the hair guy is awesome, maybe it's because she is an authoritarian. "Authoritarianism is not a new, untested concept in the American electorate. Since the rise of Nazi Germany, it has been one of the most widely studied ideas in social science. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not," Matthew MacWilliams writes on Politico in an article about how you can tell a Trump supporter from the rest of the crowd.

I have found that it's the reliance on rules that many self-identified capitalists equate with success. So obviously you're the problem in America if you can't follow the rules that supposedly work in the U.S.: get an education, get a job (or a business) and earn, earn, earn like a motherfucker. And stop complaining. And don't expect hand outs.

That's not what anyone is asking for, especially not my Presidential candidate, the "socialist" that Lynnbaby would probably never support. Bernie Sanders. And, Theo Adams, on In These Times, makes the case that, "What makes Sanders a radical, and what constitutes the essence of his revolution, isn’t his commitment to certain spending priorities or a particular economic plan—it’s his fierce commitment to democracy." He quotes Bernie Sanders,

“Change never takes place from the top down,” he told his audience at the University of Chicago. “It always takes place from the bottom up. It takes place when people by the millions, sometimes over decades and sometimes over centuries, determine that the status quo—the world that they see in front of them—is not the world that should be, and they come together. And sometimes they get arrested. … And sometimes they die in the struggle. And what human history is about is passing that torch from generation to generation to generation.”

The U.S. should come together. And when we do, maybe some socialist ideas come into place, because we have decided that we're in it together. And, then, maybe the world comes together for the same reason. It's a radical idea that our forefathers envisioned, tempered by the reality of both the times and their own limitations. Other countries have taken that and moved forward, and still not succumbing into the depths of hell that red-baiters want to think of socialism or communism. But, we have seen what happens when the unfettered capitalist authoritarian takes the reins.  I would choose democracy.  Even though Marx himself once wrote (or at least he might have according to the internet and quotable quotes):




P.S. In an L.A. Times article from Dec. 11, referencing a survey released by SurveyMonkey, the hair guy's supporters are split among class lines, "He has consolidated support of the party’s blue-collar, non-college-educated wing, while the party’s more affluent, college-educated voters remain split among several candidates." This is one story, among many citing the socialist talking point.