…. about the upcoming election, and the rally today at the Mall. His conclusion is a must read (emphasis added by me):
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say a few things that might sound stupid, but bear with me:
1. Collective action is the only possible way to change shit. Large numbers of collectivized nobodies rallying to demand what they want—a better cut of the pie, and a better world to live in. It’s the only thing that power-elites fear and the only way to get them to negotiate. There must be thousands of billionaires’ unions—whether the Chamber of Commerce or the gazillions of libertarian networks—and the only thing they hope and dream about and invest their effort into is planting a seed into your vain Gen-X brain that makes you think it’s lame to collectivize. That’s it, that’s the only thing they care about while they’re plundering away. You’ll have to stomach being around people who are lame, and who say lame things, and you’ll feel lame—so you’ll have to decide which is lamer: the fear of being lame, or forming an alliance with people lamer than you in order to struggle against people far meaner, far more greedy and destructive than the lame people you hate—people who have no qualms about being lame when they collectivize, so long as they destroy you and grab everything they want. Tough choice, I know.
2. The problem with the Left wasn’t that they were too fixated on proving they were right, or that they didn’t make enough noise before the war about the lies that led us into that war…the problem is that the Left doesn’t stand for anything Big because it’s not guided by a vision or an Ideal. What does the Left stand for? Let me suggest a few things in people’s own personal interests in these decaying times that the Left should stand for: first, people need money. Then if they have money, they need Life. Then they might be interested in “ideals” set out in the contract that this country is founded on. Ever read the preamble to the Constitution? There’s nothing about private property there and self-interest. Nothing at all about that. It’s a contract whose purpose is clearly spelled out, and it’s a purpose that’s the very opposite of the purpose driving Stewart’s rally, or the purpose driving the libertarian ideology so dominant over the past few generations. This country, by contract, was founded in order to strive for a “more Perfect Union”—that’s “union,” as in the pairing of the words “perfect” and “union”—not sovereign, not states, not local, not selfish, but “union.” And that other purpose at the end of the Constitution’s contractual obligations: promote the “General Welfare.” That means “welfare.” Not “everyone for himself” but “General Welfare.” That’s what it is to be American: to strive to form the most perfect union with each other, and to promote everyone’s general betterment. That’s it. The definition of an American patriot is anyone promoting the General Welfare of every single American, and anyone helping to form the most perfect Union—that’s “union”, repeat, “Union” you dumb fucks. Now, our problem is that there are a lot of people in this country who have dedicated their entire lives to subverting the stated purpose of this country. We must be prepared to identify those who disrupt and sabotage our national purpose of creating this “more perfect union” identifying those who sabotage our national goal of “promoting the General Welfare”—and calling them by their name: traitors. You who strive to form this Perfect Union and promote General Welfare—You are Patriots.
3. Anytime anyone says anything libertarian, spit on them. Libertarians are by definition enemies of the state: they are against promoting American citizens’ general welfare and against policies that create a perfect union. Like Communists before them, they are actively subverting the Constitution and the American Dream, and replacing it with a Kleptocratic Nightmare.
4. A slogan, a line from Blade Runner: “Then we’re stupid, and we’ll die.”
Awesome. Love point 2. Well put. I hope something positive comes out of this. It’s heartbreaking to think (know) that very few of our elected representitives care more about political posturing and keeping their jobs than making our country a better place to live.
Oops… strike that, reverse it. “very few of our elected representatives care more about *making our country a better place to live than political posturing*”
I think the reason that liberals are hurting right now is because most of the country doesn’t identify with them.
An article I was reading recently – was it on slog? I’ll try and find it – said that out of a couple thousand people polled nation wide, 35% identified Republican/Conservative, 20% identified Democrat/Liberal, while 45% identified Independent.
Those independents tend to go with whoever’s got the momentum. In 08, it was Obama’s wave of hope. This year, the conservatives have them. God knows what 2012 will bring.
People should join my party. I hate liberal pussies and conservative assholes in equal measure. But I’m pro liquor and pornography.
I think people should be able to put whatever they want into their bodies, whether by eating it or smoking it or whatever. I think our military should not be invading other countries. Do those libertarian statements earn me a spitting?
And another thing. I finally read the article – the whole thing – and Jesus Christ, this guy Ames can’t write at all. He writes a goddamned novel when he could have done it in half the space with twice the power.
I heartily support the “Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear”, but ultimately am unsure about the capacity for mediocrity to truly combat the nuttiness of the right without providing a clear allternative that doesn’t condemn it – loudly and strongly.
Normally, Golob, I’m a fan of yours. But Ames screed is full of holes.
1. “Collective action is the only possible way to change shit”? Seriously? The only way? Lawsuits change shit. Initiatives change shit. Money changes shit (not always for the better). There are all sorts of ways to effect change. Collective action is only one of them.
2. One should not read the Bible literally, Nor should one read the preamble to the Constitution literally. Ames needs a history lesson and/or a political science lesson. The primary reason most colonists moved to N. America from Europe was to seek land of their own. One of the major gripes colonists had with Britain was the monarchical control of land and the lack of private property rights. And if he bothered to peruse the Bill of Rights, he’d find that the notion of private property figures prominently in several of the Amendments to the Constitution.
I’m not entirely sure what his point is, but his supporting arguments are shit.
Wow. Let me try and write something as asinine as this. It’s hard, but if I use his basic structure…
The purpose of the Constitution is right in the preamble; it’s to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to OURSELVES,” not to “each other,” not to the “collective,” to “ourselves.” The definition of an American patriot is anyone looking to secure the Blessings of Liberty for him or herself, except for black people, who should only be looking out for 3/5 of themselves, and those Native Americans who don’t pay taxes, who shouldn’t look out for themselves at all. Oh, and this is a Christian nation too, because by “ordaining” the Constitution, we invested it with priestly authority and made it an amendment to the New Testament.
To be fair, that might be a tad more asinine than this. But only a tad.
These ideologies
1. Everyone for himself
2. Tit for tat
…are pretty damned effective.
They were once summarized by some guy.
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.
Apparently (or quite selectively), you missed the next stanza about “securing the blessings of liberty” — liberty meaning “a condition in which an individual has the right to act according to his or her own will.”
Which means that the “general goodwill” is with respect to liberty. In short, our general goodwill is served when we are left-alone without the burden of intrusive government or the imposition of values and ideals of others that impinge on our own individual interests.
The libertarian party is simply the Live and Let Live party
http://www.filmplus.org/03/libertarian.j…
Deal with it….
Unbelievable. This guy cherry-picks a few sentences from the constitution and uses it as the justification for his entire political agenda, and encourages you to call people traitors if they don’t buy into his rhetoric. I didn’t think it was possible, but we just ran into the liberal version of the Tea Party.
That was freshman college long-winded drivel.
The rally is simply the reflection of people who are frustrated with too much to know what exactly to do about it. So Stewart and Colbert used what little power they had to give them some voice. That, and call bullshit on the media and tea baggers because no one else will.
Your a fool if you try to read into it any more than that.
@9 Not sure if you were being facetious, but tit-for-tat isn’t “do unto others as you would have them do unto you;” tit-for-tat is “do unto others as they actually have done unto you.”
Anytime anyone says anything libertarian, spit on them.
I’m not a libertarian. I believe in universal healthcare and public education. That said, here are some things you could say that Jonathan Golob thinks would merit someone spitting on you (also, these are things that the Obama administration and the Democratic party disagree with):
“We shouldn’t be bombing people in Afghanistan.”
“We need to dramatically decrease military spending.”
“We shouldn’t be detaining terror suspects without due process.”
“We shouldn’t be prosecuting government whistle-blowers.”
“We should let homosexuals get married.”
“We shouldn’t arrest and jail people for possessing or growing marijuana.”
So, I think that the statement about spitting on people who say “anything libertarian” is very, very stupid. Glenn Beck stupid.
Okay, maybe attributing what Mark Ames said to Jonathan Golob is Glenn Beck stupid. But admitting you say something stupid (or agree with something stupid) is the first step to not being stupid. So I’m one step closer (though perhaps still many steps away) to not being stupid.
Mark Ames usually writes better than this; I find the piece only marginally coherent–and horridly verbose. Surprised it resonated.
Actually, this is what’s wrong with the Left: an inability to communicate their ideals simply and succinctly.
When considering concepts like collective action, I must think about it conditionally. I think that collective action can be the most productive political maneuver if and only if that movement seeks to be understood. Collective action with the goal of being heard will have little impact on our system. In order to effect change, contributing to the political discussion through communication with the goal of understanding should be the intent.
I understand the concept of the Tea Party. While I disagree with most of their politics (absent a feeling of disenfranchisement), I tend to believe that their collectivism is a good thing. Except the have gone about their action in an ineffective manner. They shout without conveying a message. They seek to be heard and not understood. And this is their downfall.
Once again, Golob, you drift away from your scientific roots and come up with the worst drivel I’ve ever read. This Ames guy is an asshole who writes with both the intelligence and rhetoric of Fox News. He severely twists things around to fit his blowhard agenda and you bought it?!
First, he misinterprets the purpose of Stewart’s rally to be divisive. Then, he states that the Constitution has nothing to do with private property? Or taxes?! Then, based on this bullshit, he concludes that the founding of this country has nothing to do with either?! Has he even HEARD about the Declaration of Independence?! Maybe he should read it. It is an important document to our nation’s founding, IMHO.
Ames obviously doesn’t get it. You don’t get it. Stick to facts and figures. Stay away from rhetoric. You obviously have bad taste in it.
Gen x? Is this from 1991?
Gen x is not enough of a significant demographic group to really do that much. Unless Ames is talking to himself.
I think he is going overboard when he says Libertarians are traitors, but I do love his citation of the preamble to prove that Libertarianism is not what this nation is supposed to be about. Libertarians seem to think that the US is supposed to be all about low taxes and free markets, but those things are means, not ends. We’ve already seen what happens when capitalism is allowed to run loose, without supervision; we saw it in the Gilded Age. The corporations corrupted the government and systematically reduced the majority of the population to a state of hard labor in wretched poverty in order to massively enrich the few. That is not an economy we should want to return to, and yet we have been steadily backsliding toward that, because the rich have been slowly corroding the structures that were set up in the Progressive Era and the New Deal to check them. We are doomed to fight the battle all over again, and we need to win again, and again, and again to escape the cycle.
lulz I read that screed in Dear Leader’s voice.
I heartily support the rally for sanity. The notion of spitting on another human being because they wear a political label is the very sort of knee-jerk jerkiness it is aimed at. The far left and the far right actually get closer as you go farther out because the true political spectrum is a circle whose poles are violence and moderation. Those who think violence is an appropriate means to solve ones problems are of one mind regardless of their stated beliefs. It is no surprise that history shows us the first folks to get shot in any war are the moderates and peacemakers because they get in the way.
That having been said, liberals do indeed stand for something that goes way back to the roots of the Pilgrims who landed here in 1620. They stand for “the common good” and for each individuals right to openly express their ideas about how to achieve it. The liberal left is partially hampered by their diversity but that is no reason to replace the multiplicity of ideas with a tyranny of lock step agreement. Tyranny gets things done fast but oh so often it gets the WRONG things, that are bad for the common good, fast.
Jonathan, here’s food for thought. Ames writes: “imagine if Jefferson, Diderot, Montesquieu, Madison et al reduced the entire Enlightenment’s struggle against the old feudal order to “I’m against the monarchy because the monarchy’s stupid…”
But he conveniently omits one of the most important Enlightenment figures evah: Voltaire. Who, as you and he and I know is chiefly famous for his sociophilosophical satire Candide which is standard curriculum at least in French schools. He was the leading clown. And he changed the world.
Uh. People who don’t adhere to my political ideology are traitors who deserve to be spit on? What kind of nonsense is this? Why are you wasting my time with this infantile shit, Golob? Were you drunk when you posted this? For the last time, stick to the science.
The stranger staff once again proves that the left can be as stubbornly dogmatic and anti-American as the right. Congratulations.
Since not one person alive today was a signatory to the constitution, or was consulted as to its content, I fail to see why we all feel so bound to this document. It’s not an infallible document, dictated by Jesus. That seems to me to be a very right-wing attitude. It’s a severely flawed, outdated product of a committee. As far as “general welfare” is concerned, yeah, I guess I’m for that in theory, but the fact is I couldn’t care less about the welfare of a bunch of bible-thumping southern rednecks, just as I’m sure they’re unconcerned with the welfare of a gay-friendly, pot- and porn-loving New England atheist like myself.
Will someone explain to me again why we didn’t let the southern states secede when they wanted to?
When Mark Ames suggested that, of the things “that the Left should stand for: first, people need money.”–he lost me.
Money or no money, the Left should stand for the general welfare. Money or no money, the Left should stand for fairness, equality and the ability to experience liberty that does not infringe on the liberty or general welfare of others.
Money is a by-product of civilization–we begin to make the same mistakes as the Right if we start to elevate it to the ultimate authority over us, or our ultimate ideal.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.” — Thomas Paine
This essay is a real piece of shit. Fuck you for suggesting I read it.
@4- No, those Liberal ideas do not earn you a spitting.
It’s the economic policies of Libertarians which are (depending on the spirit they are entered into) either stupidly naive or evil.
@13- I don’t think he’s trolling. I think he really can’t tell the difference between The Golden Rule and The Rules of the Playground.
@27- Thomas Paine, proponent of progressive taxation and the welfare state, it’s nice to hear from you.
@25- We wanted their agricultural output and felt like it would set a bad example. Also, some people wanted to free the slaves.
Whoa. A little long-winded. I do agree that my generation is too accustomed to instantaneous gratification and for that reason isn’t willing to put the work in that real change requires. The idea on the left that Obama alone should have been able to reverse the economic downturn, create millions of jobs, fix all social inequities, give us socialized health care, end the wars, and legalize pot within the last two years, and that so many on the left are so disaffected and dissatisfied because he hasn’t, is ridiculous.
But, I disagree with Ames’ analysis of the rally. Moderates need to find their voice and don’t usually take the time out to express their views. Moderates, by nature, don’t rally. I think it’s an accurate reflection of the times that so many were willing to take the time out of their weekend to come together and say “We’re here, we see you, and we’re sick of the bullshit. And there are more of us in the middle than there are of you on the fringe.”
Nice. This is a great example of why dems are most likely getting their asses handed to them tomorrow and 100% deserve it.
How does the side that won overwhelmingly two years ago get destroyed now? Simple. People who supported you then either don’t vote now or vote for the other side.
I voted for Kerry. I voted for Obama. I’m not voting in this election and probably won’t in the near future.
I’m a left leaning libertarian who feels much stronger about social issues than economic ones. The last two years have been complete failures on that. It isn’t just that Obama hasn’t “fixed” everything. He hasn’t fucking tried. Medical marijuana raids continue in CA and it has been made clear that federal enforcement will continue regardless of prop 19 result. The WoT continues with virtually no change from the nightmare Bush years. And at the absolute tipping point of history on gay rights Obama was been a complete wuss about any form of advocacy beyond making a video for Dan’s wonderful project.
So, thanks for the moronic post that will make me even happier about not taking time out of my day tomorrow. I just wish republicans didn’t suck so bad or I’d take the time to use my vote to figuratively spit on you.