This is, perhaps, a really minor thing that reflects how low the bar is, but I was impressed during the Scottish independence referendum how clear the question was. Canada's gone thru a couple of them with Quebec, and the US is doing some re. abortion access, and the questions are poorly worded—intentionally so, I don't doubt—to confuse or widen the interpretation of the results. That alone impressed me about Sturgeon.
I honestly don't know about her politics beyond the to be or not to be question of independence, but I would watch her occasionally giving her daily covid briefs and the contrast with Johnson was incredibly stark. A couple of times i heard her apologise for things they got wrong which shouldn't be that big of a deal, but just is. Jacinta Ardern is another. I wonder what 101 would have made of her politically, but her focus and clear-headedness around that time stood out for me. But you're spot on, it is kind low bar stuff all round really.
Canada was damned lucky the Liberals were in charge during covid. Conservatives have treated government as a means of score-settling and wrecking the idea of common good. The Liberals are corrupt as fuck, but they see government as having a basic managerial function and that it’s their birthright to run it. That distinction was huge the past three years, as demonstrated by the massive incompetence in the Western right-wing run provinces. Saying liberals are as bad as conservatives has therapeutic value on the left, but there are distinctions and in some situations lives are saved or lost.
Absolutely without question. I mean i think you could examine the performance of liberal governments in preparing economies for crises - the UK liberals, for example, spent 5 years enthusiastically embracing austerity in coalition that devastated health and other frontline services - but once that crisis arrives, it's odds on they'll manage and alleviate it better. I'd like to think a socialist government would perform at least as good if not better, though there's not many western examples to test the temperature on that. Further afield, Vietnam and Cuba excelled in several aspects.
I think it comes down to whether a party believes in the common good. Those who do will strive to fulfill that. They might fail or overreach at times, but they will try. Those that don't are fine to encourage predatory behaviour. Which is why I maintain Thatcher's "There is no such thing as society" ranks as one of the most disgusting things a leader of a democratic nation has said in the past sixty years or so.
Yeah, I’ve really come around to this view. I would even prefer a competent but mildly conservative government if they also favored the common good.
The Dems leave something to be desired when it comes to competence and the common good but they aren’t scorched earth lunatics like the Republicans at least, who seem to identify with the Joker for some reason.
But yeah, give me a competent government that thinks it’s part of the job description to care for the common good.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman
I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy
Because there is no society, everybody is equal and therefore if you are down and out, in a dead end job, it is a consequence of the bad choices you have made, your indolence or a combination of both. And i know you are angry we're cutting your benefits and making you pay for GP appointments but, trust us, this is for your own good, just go and get a top executive job. We are an Aspiration Nation, you can be anything you want to be. If I (Liz Truss) can be prime minister, anybody can!
God, I remember back in the 80s and 90s, seemingly sensible people actually believed that horseshit.
There's no such thing as "seemingly sensible people".
Stay out of the KISS thread, man.
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
Because there is no society, everybody is equal and therefore if you are down and out, in a dead end job, it is a consequence of the bad choices you have made, your indolence or a combination of both. And i know you are angry we're cutting your benefits and making you pay for GP appointments but, trust us, this is for your own good, just go and get a top executive job. We are an Aspiration Nation, you can be anything you want to be. If I (Liz Truss) can be prime minister, anybody can!
God, I remember back in the 80s and 90s, seemingly sensible people actually believed that horseshit.
There's no such thing as "seemingly sensible people".
Stay out of the KISS thread, man.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
Yeah, I’ve really come around to this view. I would even prefer a competent but mildly conservative government if they also favored the common good.
The Dems leave something to be desired when it comes to competence and the common good but they aren’t scorched earth lunatics like the Republicans at least, who seem to identify with the Joker for some reason.
But yeah, give me a competent government that thinks it’s part of the job description to care for the common good.
The older I've gotten, and read more and thought more, I do find some virtues in traditional conservative community values. Not without some reservation or criticism, of course, but the ideals of a group identity and concern for members of the group. The right has completely abandoned that—covid has exposed the right as actively anti-social—but the left's often kneejerk rejection of traditional values makes me wince.
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
Yeah, I’ve really come around to this view. I would even prefer a competent but mildly conservative government if they also favored the common good.
The Dems leave something to be desired when it comes to competence and the common good but they aren’t scorched earth lunatics like the Republicans at least, who seem to identify with the Joker for some reason.
But yeah, give me a competent government that thinks it’s part of the job description to care for the common good.
The older I've gotten, and read more and thought more, I do find some virtues in traditional conservative community values. Not without some reservation or criticism, of course, but the ideals of a group identity and concern for members of the group. The right has completely abandoned that—covid has exposed the right as actively anti-social—but the left's often kneejerk rejection of traditional values makes me wince.
Japan has a lot of problems and some serious sickness around capitalism but I think they’d be a good example of what a competent conservative government looks like. Still a lot of awfulness but there’s at least some visible concern for the common good.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman
I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy
Sounds like we're all ready to just go ahead and become Social Democrats!
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
I sort of jettisoned away from where a fair amount of the left, post Bernie election losses, seems to be going with its soviet nostalgia and advocacy for populist strongman illiberalism (I find a lot folks demands for Biden to take control of the DoJ and start locking up political enemies to be... very weird). Doesn't really comport with what I found attractive about left-libertarianism. Since I was never a Marxist to begin with, I feel like I'm sort of functionally just back aground to SocDem views (which I think is what I claimed I was when I first started posting here, so there's several decades of political thought down the drain!) even if I still intellectually support anyone whose joining anarchist gun clubs and getting ready for the revolution and whatnot. As you and I have both said: really, it sort of doesn't matter what we think. There's something liberating in realizing that.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
First you'll have to purge all the Democratic Socialists!
Ahh, the purges. The true sign of a healthy, vibrant leftism.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
I sort of jettisoned away from where a fair amount of the left, post Bernie election losses, seems to be going with its soviet nostalgia and advocacy for populist strongman illiberalism (I find a lot folks demands for Biden to take control of the DoJ and start locking up political enemies to be... very weird). Doesn't really comport with what I found attractive about left-libertarianism. Since I was never a Marxist to begin with, I feel like I'm sort of functionally just back aground to SocDem views (which I think is what I claimed I was when I first started posting here, so there's several decades of political thought down the drain!) even if I still intellectually support anyone whose joining anarchist gun clubs and getting ready for the revolution and whatnot. As you and I have both said: really, it sort of doesn't matter what we think. There's something liberating in realizing that.
Yeah, I just don’t see Americans getting over their cultural selfishness enough to have the discipline to accomplish a revolution any time soon. It’s hard enough getting any electoral or labor organizing done, let alone something as risky (and often without reward) as revolution, which requires immense sacrifices to pull off.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman
I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy
Yeah, I’ve really come around to this view. I would even prefer a competent but mildly conservative government if they also favored the common good.
The Dems leave something to be desired when it comes to competence and the common good but they aren’t scorched earth lunatics like the Republicans at least, who seem to identify with the Joker for some reason.
But yeah, give me a competent government that thinks it’s part of the job description to care for the common good.
The older I've gotten, and read more and thought more, I do find some virtues in traditional conservative community values. Not without some reservation or criticism, of course, but the ideals of a group identity and concern for members of the group. The right has completely abandoned that—covid has exposed the right as actively anti-social—but the left's often kneejerk rejection of traditional values makes me wince.
Japan has a lot of problems and some serious sickness around capitalism but I think they’d be a good example of what a competent conservative government looks like. Still a lot of awfulness but there’s at least some visible concern for the common good.
Right—those Pacific rim nations never embraced the individualist ideal when they adopted capitalism, so there is still a value on the social whole. Not without problems, but a lot to admire, too.
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
"Japan without the occasional dips into insane ethno-nationalism" would be a perfectly cromulent center-right governing style, I suppose.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
Stay out of the KISS thread, man.
