Garden Statesman

Happy to have you represent me.

Honestly, I fundamentally don't get why anyone at all liked what they saw from him on The Apprentice. Like, before that show my view of him was basically just famous rich real estate guy. That show coming on was the first time I got like, an active distaste for him. Just a blowhard clown.

Ok I know this is old-man irritability but I don’t care if Mahmoud Khalil has a pregnant wife, I don’t care if he and his wife are childfree, I don’t care if he’s in a fucking polycule with a hedgehog and a jar of mayonnaise, NOBODY should be detained for protected speech, including singletons.

Right. It has further muddled everything. I would really love to see a movement of like Actual Liberals who believe in Liberalism. Like a Liberal counter to something like the DSA.

And to clarify, this is obviously a poor understanding of what Socialism is. I suspect that if you did a survey you would find a very large difference in the number of Americans who support "Socialism" and those who believe private individually owned businesses with employees should be abolished.

Conservatives spent decades telling people that normal Liberal policies like government services are "socialism". A lot of people grew up hearing that and said, oh, if that's what socialism is, then I guess I'm a Socialist.

this, though i would also note: there are those of us who are in fact just liberals. i get that the left thinks this is bad, but also they are wrong. but that's okay! it's fine for there to be collegial disagreements within the antifascist coalition!

Keep in mind that there are genuinely illiberal people on both the left and the right that do not value liberty and freedom over other things. Conservatives have been fighting against liberty in this country since day 1.

There's nothing really "beyond" Liberal. The Left-Right spectrum is not literally true. Socialism, Liberalism, Anarchism, Conservatism are all just different ideologies.

When I get surveyed when they ask whether I identify as Liberal or Conservative I respond Very Liberal. And by that I do not mean socialist-leaning. That would be less Liberal! I believe in Liberalism. Very much so.

I feel like there is a constant problem with people using the term "liberal" loosely to mean like random adherents to the Democrats Party platform instead of adherents of "Liberalism" as a political philosophy. There are plenty of politicians people call "liberal" who actually have illiberal views.

I associate "leftism" with a fundamentally illiberal philosophical outlook that happens to have a lot of the same short and medium-term goals as me in our current situation.

Can't for the life of me understand why any Democrat would support Sherrill in a primary after she endorsed Mike frigging Bloomberg to be president. I haven't considered her worth a damn ever since.

We're 32 months away from the next federal elections. Scandals don't last that long in the public consciousness.

If Democrats scream crisis for the next 32 months straight will people tune them out?

I don't know the answer to that or the best strategy, but I guess other people think they do know?

I dunno. Dems have been accurately and relentlessly talking about the dangers of Trumpism for almost a decade at this point. I don't know what way they can say it at this point that will make the public suddenly care.

Maybe. But like, most people don't pay any attention to politics. The Sunday shows are useless for politically engaged people, yea, but politically engaged people already are in the fight.

The problem of the actual lying GOP having credibility and the Dems not, is not a trivial thing to overcome.

Seems that you are both saying they need to be talking to reporters and also saying them going on Sunday shows talking to reporters will do zilch.

Why do you feel like you need to add all that couching? RFK Jr is obviously crazy and the people voting for him are bad actors.

My wife and kids are both Canadian. There's no hate here. Just having some fun on the internet.

More that we are backsliding away from republicanism and into monarchy :x

I would literally be required to do that to become a Canadian citizen. He's coming to your money soon, if you can fit the ears on the coins.

I have long supported Canadian republicanism.

That's part of the Oath of Canadian Citizenship. vOv

Listen, Canada is nice. But I'd sooner perish here fighting against Trumpism than voluntarily swear allegiance to King Charles.

Ostensibly, they are owned by our most powerful adversary that don't have any institutional checks that would allow TikTok to resist their government's attempts to meddle.

Really all of these social media sites are poisoning people's brains and getting people off all of them would be good.

the trend towards monopoly and corruption also explains the hostility to liberalism. the thing about liberal neutrality is that it is an obstacle to the kind of patronage relationships that are facilitated by corruption.

I volunteered on her first campaign. Been pretty disappointed since tbh. She endorsed Mike Bloomberg and Tammy Murphy.