[Peace-discuss] Fwd: NYTimes.com: The Democratic Party Is in Worse Shape Than You Thought

Fri Jun 9 00:42:25 UTC 2017

"Capitalism is the first mode of production in history in which the means whereby the surplus is pumped out of the direct producer is ‘purely' economic in form - the wage contract: the equal exchange between free agents which reproduces, hourly and daily, inequality and oppression. All other previous modes of exploitation operate through extra-economic sanctions - kin, customary, religious, legal or political.” [Perry Anderson - the ‘Hegemony’ man…]    

Pending the abolition of class society, the “purely economic” extraction can be made more or less oppressive.   

Liberal politics (the New Deal, etc.) try to make it less oppressive by “welfare measures.”

Identity politics insist all should be ‘free agents’ subject to oppression, without extra-economic discrimination (such as by race, sexuality, etc.)

"...the core of a left politics is its critique of and resistance to capitalism — its commitment to decommodifying education, health care, and housing, and creating a more economically equal society. Neither hostility to discrimination nor the accompanying enthusiasm for diversity makes the slightest contribution to accomplishing any of those goals. Just the opposite, in fact. They function instead to provide inequality with a meritocratic justification: If everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, there’s no injustice when some people fail.” [W. B. Michaels]

—CGE

> On Jun 8, 2017, at 7:00 PM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ron’s assertions based upon the article in the NYT’s, I think is accurate. When I speak with family members, they always complain about the high cost of health insurance etc., and how having worked all their lives it irritates them to see people they know, who don’t work, drink, do drugs and live off the system of welfare. This is and always has been promoted by mainstream media. 
> 
> Carl’s suggestion, if implemented properly, appears to be a good solution, I would be happy. However, we would still be living within a Capitalist system, which means control of funds by our corporate owners, so how long before they squeeze us and reduce it to less than a living wage, and how would it prevent wars of imperialism?. 
> 
> Anything short of “system change” is likely to be temporary. 
> 
> 
>> On Jun 8, 2017, at 16:15, Carl G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net <mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>> 
>> Ron—
>> 
>> If you’re right, it would seem that a universal basic income at the level of a living wage - in place of “welfare measures” - would go a way to answer the problem.
>> 
>> Of course education, housing, and healthcare should be decommodified - i.e., taken out of the 'free market’ and provided at public expense. 
>> 
>> Those are things people have a right to, not just a right to purchase if they have the money.
>> 
>> The failure of the Democratic party to support these things - in spite of tentative gestures from the Sanders campaign - indicates its irrelevance.
>> 
>> —CGE
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jun 8, 2017, at 4:03 PM, Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net <mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> A too-plausible diagnosis.  What the data seem to show is that a simple thesis of economic deprivation is (again) wrong.
>>> What we have seen instead is a symptom of class resentment & defiance, esp. of the lowest quintile (20%) by the next higher quintile (20%—40%, the “working class"), who think the “tax & spend” Democrats are taxing them, the lower middle class,  to buy the votes of the lowest 20% with welfare measures.  ~~ Ron
>>> 
>>> <My dependents.jpeg>
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> From: r-szoke <emailthis at ms3.lga2.nytimes.com <mailto:emailthis at ms3.lga2.nytimes.com>>
>>>> Subject: NYTimes.com <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__NYTimes.com&d=DwMGaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=yrSDwnyT-HYZWF2AGeCoaps98AxMJxD5Ez9G0M5zmbU&s=a3eS4kdbTl0dZm_M6k2590mkl0ow9ouZbllC-cy-xvw&e=>: The Democratic Party Is in Worse Shape Than You Thought
>>>> Date: June 8, 2017 at 12:25:33 PM CDT
>>>> To: <r-szoke at illinois.edu <mailto:r-szoke at illinois.edu>>
>>>> Reply-To: <r-szoke at illinois.edu <mailto:r-szoke at illinois.edu>>
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> Sent by r-szoke at illinois.edu <mailto:r-szoke at illinois.edu>:	
>>>> 	
>>>> CONTRIBUTING OP-ED WRITER
>>>> The Democratic Party Is in Worse Shape Than You Thought <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__p.nytimes.com_email_re-3Flocation-3DpMJKdIFVI6og8d-2BofNlzG9PGflSBE-2BOV-26user-5Fid-3Dee7558d54531b290bd05280f4b7d6eb4-26email-5Ftype-3Deta-26task-5Fid-3D1496942733155846-26regi-5Fid-3D0&d=DwMGaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=yrSDwnyT-HYZWF2AGeCoaps98AxMJxD5Ez9G0M5zmbU&s=giqfZUMLTOqlwe9E9qhj2tJxejO64Vsn_KRjaNsnAnM&e=>
>>>> BY THOMAS B. EDSALL
>>>> 
>>>> Declining turnout among minority, young and single voters is even more dangerous for Democrats than white flight.
>>>> Or, copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://nyti.ms/2sWcprI <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__p.nytimes.com_email_re-3Flocation-3DpMJKdIFVI6og8d-2BofNlzG9PGflSBE-2BOV-26user-5Fid-3Dee7558d54531b290bd05280f4b7d6eb4-26email-5Ftype-3Deta-26task-5Fid-3D1496942733155846-26regi-5Fid-3D0&d=DwMGaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=yrSDwnyT-HYZWF2AGeCoaps98AxMJxD5Ez9G0M5zmbU&s=giqfZUMLTOqlwe9E9qhj2tJxejO64Vsn_KRjaNsnAnM&e=>
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>>>>  
>>>> 
>>> 
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