Something I learned years ago from studying Rightwing organizers is that they are incredibly clear-eyed and focused on their end goals at all times. They don't mistake reprieves for "wins." And that's something I think progressives can learn something from.
Yeah the mifepristone isn't so much the SCOTUS reaffirming access to the drug as it is they passed on hinging their decision on a trash fire of a case. This isn't a win it's a mulligan.
And that is exactly what McConnell knew would happen when he got Citizens United passed by saying "unions can spend as much money as corporations do if they want."
What kills me is the "mentorship" structures of the right-wing groups.
They take ideological apprentices into their organizations.
Even if one of them retires or dies there is a brand new, 70 more years to live, steel-eyed & focused baby authoritarian hand picked to replace them.
Something I've seen mentioned before—it's probably been studied somewhere—is how part of the backlash to the 60s social movements was making sure the actual social organizing methods of the left were made available to the right. More than just suppression, it was a kind of expropriation.
naomi klein's "doppelganger" has these pages about Bannon's "War Room" podcast which shocked me. he's always thinking "what's an issue that others are taking for granted? who's disaffected?" and immediately looking for someone to speak to that group and swarm them with conspiracy theories
something you said earlier has stuck with me. if someone sees something wrong, one of the essential questions is "how can i get educated on this topic?" and you're right, and a lot of the education we're doing is reactive to the news cycle, and it means the depth of injustice is rarely realized
Bannon concluded that the methods terrorist organizations used to recruit young men in the Middle East would work just as well on weebs and bronies in America. Sadly, he was right.
yeah, the thing is it is such cheap nonsense -- he's just trying to be "first" and get some talking points and an action plan out quick. Klein talks about how he is giving the disaffected something to do and not sneering at them, so he gets their loyalty. it does coalition build, unfortunately
why is this something the left struggles with? is it because being clear-eyed and focused on a specific end goal requires some level of consensus of the goal, and the left is more disparate than the right?
The left is struggling for a different world. The right wants to preserve and expand the status quo. It's much easier to have goals that entrench what is than to create ones for a world that is yet to exist. I think that has something to do with it.
It's true that having someone to write policy for you means you change the laws instead of just the conversation, but in my experience a lot of the left is way more focused on ideas than it is on implementation.
I think this is along the correct track. A right-wing end goal is basically anarchy for the rich, and a dismantling of anything that doesn't directly serve you. A left-wing end goal is something more like an end to suffering and that's so much bigger and amorphous.
The right is better at building coalitions as a means to an end; the left considers your lack of focus on their compartmentalized issue to be Part Of The Problem therefore you cannot be trusted or worked with
Yeah, it's also that the Right has a very simple cost of entry, "agree that those guys over there suck."
The Left is composed of so many marginalized groups that are constantly fighting amongst each other, on top of people overcorrecting & debating, that nothing gets done because no one agrees.
I'd say a lot of that comes from the fact that billionaires are raining down money with a fire hose which lets these movements hire professional organizers with specific talking points/goals. The same billionaires funding politicians. They have a systemic advantage on multiple fronts here.
That’s why seeing certain conservative laws/policies that are possibly detrimental on the table is so scary. We know they’ll be unrelenting. If more progressives in positions of power were unrelenting and goal-focused there are so many laws/policies/acts that would’ve actually gone through.
Progressives need to learn now to hate in order to learn how to win. Sorry to say. Alito’s comments, when stacked onto every word uttered by Orange Jesus, should make it clear there is no middle ground for the GOP. Vote all Blue in November and give the GOP four years to push all the crazy out.
The other problem is a more difficult one to solve: What we demand takes work. Most of what the right demands takes dismantling, averting your eyes, or enforcing the ills of the state.
Absolutely, but so many ppl, especially white "liberals" think a small step is enough & go back to their couches, or they think one gathering on a Sunday is enough. It's not. Most aren't willing to do enough.
I think the right benefits from a more unified view of their goals. I think the left struggles to prioritize goals because the left is more of a coalition rather than one focused group. I’d love to see the left get more clear-eyed, but which goals would get top priority? And who picks the goals?
That's a good one. I think we need to learn more from the way the right organizes. Sometimes the lessons seem so amoral to apply. Like keep making stuff up & refuse to focus on facts. But even that has a good lesson another name for making stuff up is an affirmation of what you wish to be true.
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It's a DuopolyScam by Republicans & Democrats.
They never solve any problems in the USA.
Congress is just a GiantGrift.
VoteThemAllOut
#VoteGreen#GreenParty
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Good or bad, they are much more organized and committed for sure. The left has been far too lazy and complacent these last few years, and we’re about to pay for it.
I disagree with your assessment that the Left(s) are lazy and complacent. I think that we have fewer $$ resources AND that we do lack coherent strategy.
It might be harder for us though because their goals are simpler (destroy, tear down), and they aren’t attached to ideals or worried about the effects of their actions. But YES I agree.
This is SO obvious that I don’t understand why other peoples can’t figure this out. All the shit that’s going on now is 20-30-40 years in the making. Long-range planning plus $$$$ = $ucce$$
