Mind you, I’m biased since I’m not from the US, I’m Balkan. So a quick heads up there. Plus I’m a hardline commie so yeah. Just did some research on this because It caught my eye.
I haven’t really noticed this here or at Lemmygrad. But a lot of online “leftist” spaces, especially on Reddit, are over hyping this shit too much lmao.
Zohran so far:
- denounces Hamas
- denounces Venezuela and Cuba as dictatorships
- intends to keep zionist Jennifer Tisch as police commissioner
- hired Obama staffers
- ‘don’t sell out bro!’
This circlejerk about a social democrat getting elected is doing my head in, people are acting like the October revolution happened.
Just don’t act surprised when magically not much actual change happens in New York. Also don’t give me “Oh but the pipeline!!!1!”. Yeah If the pipeline actually worked, Bernie and AOC supporters would have been actual marxists by now (Also as a Serb, fuck Bernie, Parenti was right about your dumbass).
I have a pet peeve with American “anti-capitalists” in general. Where they constantly just whine how everything is expensive, no public transport and no free healthcare. Yet they’d probably be fine with the world suffering as long as they got those three things + whatever treats they want.
Don’t forget to join a good org nearby you, read and organize folks!
I think what OP is saying gets across a lot better if you don’t treat it as a value judgement and instead just a statement of where people’s interests are. If FDR2 came and won the presidency together with a giant progressive blue wave in the US, they fix the imperialism machine to keep it going for a few more decades before we’re at +4C, would there be any significant mass of Americans who would have a genuine interest in dismantling their empire? Sure, in the Trump years when the empire machine is broken it does seem like there is a trajectory where masses will just keep getting radicalized further and further. But if the collapse of empire plateaud or reversed momentarily, who’s gonna get it back on track?
It would have to be the most marginalized, alienated, and oppressed people; yet we know that the ruling class is capable of giving enough concessions to contain those threats.
Bottom line is, the question of whether social democracy winning is productive for the purpose of dismantling empire is at least worth considering.
maybe you could dismantle it on the back of liberal support for the troops and the 30+ year old idea of a peace dividend. it’s never happening because all of us yanks became third-worldists.
Imma be pedantic and say: it depends. A timeline where the fascist slide eventually reverses is also likely one where China’s rise continues. If it reaches a point where the fossil fuel dominance the American empire is built on is no longer sustainable and China’s sitting on all the tech and resources needed for batteries and renewables, America isn’t going to have much of a choice but to play by the rules of a new global order. Which is to say, just as the imperial core uses the periphery to maintain itself, changes in the periphery can collapse the empire; the Vandals cross the Rhine.
While the American empire is something that should come to an end, there can be a Monkey’s Paw element to thar. A post-imperial America that’s just a collection of fragmented, fascist states that’s constantly destabilizing global politics is not ideal. The “how” of the collapse is important.
Now, that’s not to say I think social democracy has revolutionary potential. I just see the core limitation being that the bourgeoisie only tolerate it as long as there’s largesse to go around and the moment things tighten, social democracy is the first thing to go. And history has made it clear there’s not a revolutionary response to that.