tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post6738939378054631951..comments2024-03-17T00:23:24.896-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: The Anti-SJW Left should not be Hijacked by the New Classical LiberalismLord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-24379267650477475732017-07-14T21:53:50.804-07:002017-07-14T21:53:50.804-07:00Also, The High Tory perspective is that
(a) Cult...Also, The High Tory perspective is that <br /><br />(a) Culture, tradition, and spirituality are prior to economics, no matter what specific platform and strategy is adopted. <br /><br />(b) Economically, the COMMON GOOD must be secured. Money must serve people, and the people are a qualitative whole (as opposed to an aggregate of desires). Classical liberalism, neoliberalism, and libertarianism have no concept of the common good. Pineapple-in-Chief https://www.blogger.com/profile/14084082303168958999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-50878511520237571032017-07-14T21:45:14.315-07:002017-07-14T21:45:14.315-07:00You may find this alt-right view of economics inte...You may find this alt-right view of economics interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys7iCmJqHFIPineapple-in-Chief https://www.blogger.com/profile/14084082303168958999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-50059574734331674862017-07-08T18:49:47.516-07:002017-07-08T18:49:47.516-07:00"..that libertarianism is astrology for men&q..."..that libertarianism is astrology for men"<br /><br />A wonderfully accurate and succinct description of this wretched school of 'thought' (sic). <br /><br />.jingelichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09998585247772423235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-30409956878756201362017-07-07T09:51:45.078-07:002017-07-07T09:51:45.078-07:00Mmm...interesting and sincere read here...refreshi...Mmm...interesting and sincere read here...refreshing against the noise of chaotic sloganeering in the great disruption we find ourselves in...I appreciate the sorting going on and the resistance to mob mentality that comes from any extreme ideology that is frankly oppressive...however, i can't away from a simple conclusion that, with due respect to the gentlemen here, that libertarianism is astrology for men...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05197080933857378498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-35723846103966033192017-07-06T20:17:24.003-07:002017-07-06T20:17:24.003-07:00Some very interesting ideas here, Ivan. I would ag...Some very interesting ideas here, Ivan. I would agree with you that markets can drive efficiency, innovation and productivity. I'd go even further to say that markets are currently limited and underperforming because of the ownership models that apply in most parts of the world. Employees are harder to motivate than business owners. Anyone who has owned or operated a small business will know the truth of this. <br /><br />The issue - for me - is that corporate capitalism invests the ownership of large businesses with shareholders, who often don't even KNOW that they are the businesses owners.<br /><br />This is why paleo-socialists prefer to focus on questions of ownership, rather than on debates about the market vs the state. There is definitely a role for the state, but there is also a role for the market. The market would perform more efficiently and more humanely if businesses were owned by those who work in them and the state maintained an environment conducive to their success.<br /><br />In Australia, we look to Juan D Peron as an example of a leader who balanced the roles of the state and the market in the best interests of his nation. The New Zealand writer Kerry Bolton has written an excellent (if hard to find) book which focuses on the ideology of Peronism, as opposed to the many biographical books on both Juan and Eva Peron that are available. Readers outside of Argentina may find Bolton's book well worth a look.<br /><br />.jingelichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09998585247772423235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-49766953952347588002017-07-06T01:10:34.534-07:002017-07-06T01:10:34.534-07:00Completely agree with your analysis here, LK.
In ...Completely agree with your analysis here, LK.<br /><br />In Australia, a small number of us paleo-socialists have witnessed the degeneration of the left into post modernism and personal identity politics with dismay since the early 1980's.<br /><br />Our position has often overlapped with that of the Australian nationalist right, who share a national, communitarian outlook with us - even if they sometimes get tangled up in their traditional 'right wing' economic baggage or neurosis about trade unions etc.<br /><br />Clustered under the Red Eureka, we look to pre-Marxist forms of socialism for inspiration. William Lane, WG Spence, Jack Lang, William Morris, Robert Owen and even the original Diggers (Winstanley et al) provide all the inspiration necessary for a rebirth of socialism in the 21st century.<br /><br />Aussies interested in this line of thought should check out the website of the National Republicans (Australian) or even Australia First.<br /><br />.jingelichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09998585247772423235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-36960289159340344082017-07-05T17:46:04.835-07:002017-07-05T17:46:04.835-07:00It is so delightful to find out that there are oth...It is so delightful to find out that there are other people with the same concerns than me.<br /><br />I don't know jackshit about economics. I've been studying by myself the basic concepts, most of them from neoclassical theory, but I'm still full of doubts. At the moment I'm following a falsificationist criteria, discarding the ideas that I find empirically unsound, being the marxist theory of value the only one going to the trash at the moment. The austrian business cycle may be following next, but I'm not sure at all yet.<br /><br />What I want to mean is that even giving a fair benefit of the doubt to libertarian economics, I find the core of their reasoning system very flawed. The whole thing is just about giving more freedom to the market. The rest doesn't matter, you just start with the conclusions and look how to get there again.<br /><br />When the market gets things done is a triumph of the market. I agree that sometimes it is the case. But when market fails, it is because it wasn't free enough. Being in a country like Argentina (Where we tried privatisations and freer markets in the 90's and got utterly screwed up in a matter of a decade) I know that a more laissez-faire approach wasn't necessary the only cause of that (could be a post hoc), but pretending that it is all a matter of letting capitalism work alone, to me, seems like alchemy at this point.<br /><br />One time ago I had an arguing with libertarians about Peru. Peru reduced a lot of it's poverty by freeing macroeconomics (apparently), so libertarians were glorifying that. But I pointed out that Peru also applied a lot of gubernamental investement in infrastructure and human development, specially in favour of the lower classes. They didn't care, under their reasoning it was only because of the wonderful market.<br /><br />Their beliefs are unfalsifiable. And they will use labels like "statist", or loaded questions like "what do you have against freedom/liberty?". Nothing wrong with economic freedom, but don't confuse it with irresponsible debauchery. There has to be some kind of sane restraints for the greater good, we can discuss it, there are a million ways to do it. But you can't get away with anything you want.Iván Beiselhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04122015270003047155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-80116878552340067522017-07-05T16:52:03.577-07:002017-07-05T16:52:03.577-07:00Classical liberalism is the idea that people matte...Classical liberalism is the idea that people matter. Austrianism is the theory that dollars matter. They are not the same at all. Ken Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08207803092348071005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-61838007727266359072017-07-05T14:04:03.741-07:002017-07-05T14:04:03.741-07:00The fact that so-called "libertarians" a...The fact that so-called "libertarians" are weenies when it comes to private discrimination has nothing to do with "libertarianism". I've been griping about the problems of multi-ethnicity for 45 years. 98.2% of "Libertarians" have no interest in the topic at all or they are too afraid of being called "racist" by the SJWs.<br /><br />http://krugman-in-wonderland.blogspot.com/2011/07/stagnation-or-stagflation.html?showComment=1312132348508#c3371684533910107208Bob Roddishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17263804608074597937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-14313887557939420972017-07-05T11:11:59.540-07:002017-07-05T11:11:59.540-07:00Agent commie i am always more than happy to read y...Agent commie i am always more than happy to read your blogs and comments.disequilibriumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09760922141392402211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-28647441480204426012017-07-05T11:05:52.705-07:002017-07-05T11:05:52.705-07:00Seeing the members of the alt right who are leanin...Seeing the members of the alt right who are leaning left on economics, especially the so-called Nazbols (Nazi Bolsheviks), I wonder if they will become the new advocates for leftist economics once the other members of the left get distracted with SJWism.Prateekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15287835907015065883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-5238541148920540932017-07-05T10:11:00.230-07:002017-07-05T10:11:00.230-07:00Ah, Che Guerra shirts, mass produced for adolescen...Ah, Che Guerra shirts, mass produced for adolescent leftists who want to cosplay as Leninist revolutionaries. Is there any commodity on this planet that is a greater testament to the complete victory of capitalism over communism?<br /><br />Sargon's understanding of history leaves a great deal to be desired, as well. He had a video shortly before the election comparing the US to Rome which was chockful of inaccurate statements and projecting modern opinions and conflicts onto people living in antiquity. One of the more bizarre comments was a parallel between democrats supporting welfare programs and patronage among the ruling class of the Roman Republic. If I'm remembering previous parallel accurately, it's not too surprising to see Sargon devolve into Austrian economics. Sargon is the master of weaponized trolling, though, and that more than makes up for his other flaws in my book.<br /><br />Tangibly related LK, but I seem to recall you making a comment months ago that reading up on GamerGate confused the hell out of you. Can I assume from your opening sentences that you're confident in your understanding of said incident now?SHNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-87154011863513522132017-07-05T10:08:55.917-07:002017-07-05T10:08:55.917-07:00You're quite right about these (non or false) ...You're quite right about these (non or false) integrative types morphing into the alt right. They think they've found some kind of truth but it's still just orthodoxy with a new label because it's not an actual integration of the truths, workabilities and highest ethical considerations in opposing perspectives and the simultaneous deletion of the untruths, unworkabilities and moralistic considerations in same. I have debated the libertarian/Austrian types online for the last 10 years and unfortunately you couldn't change the mind of 99% of them with a phaser set at disintegrate to their temple let alone with mere words. The world is beset by rigidly opposing dualities and most have neither the willingness nor the ability to think in terms of third alternatives despite the fact that the signature of Wisdom and scientific breakthrough being thirdness and greater oneness. My Wisdomics-Gracenomics is a true integration of Keynesianism and Austrianism in that its policies seamlessly integrate what these types hold onto with terminally grasping orthodoxy and unwillingness to combine, namely the necessary additional monetary stimulus of Keynesianism and the desire for price deflation of Austrianism.<br /><br />wisdomicsblog.comAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10115431758912669755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-42304999876162108812017-07-05T09:43:42.218-07:002017-07-05T09:43:42.218-07:00Now that's one problem I had with the cultural...Now that's one problem I had with the cultural libertarians and the SJWs alike. Another problem I had with them is that both were economically blind, and that this blindness was actually driving a lot of the toxic narratives on both sides. No, Ms. Intersectional Feminist and Mr. Neoreactionary neither the patriarchy nor the elders of Zion are out to ruin your life. You're victims of rapacious global capitalism. <br /><br />The social injustices sustained by women and people of color, as well as the economic dislocation suffered by working class white males, had no means of articulating itself via economic theory, so the only thing either one could do was to keep doubling down on a cultural or identitarian critique that had no chance of addressing their real grievances because the whole realm of political economy was essentially invisible to them. This situation seemed hopeless to me until I saw the public enthusiasm for the campaign of Bernie Sanders for POTUS. Of course Sanders was far from perfect, but he showed that there was potential for a candidate running as a socialist, even in the USA.<br /><br />The anti-SJW left is in a tricky position. It's turned out to be difficult to disentangle the culture of leftism - the revolutionary romanticism, as I think of it - from the actual economics of publicly or cooperatively owned (or at least regulated) economic institutions. It comes naturally to me because I have actual experience in housing cooperatives, labour unions and non-profit societies that are actually run by the same kinds of people who operate heavy machinery and crunch numbers in cubicles all day, instead of deconstructing the patriarchal elements of Shakespeare or LARPing as anarchist revolutionaries on college campuses. The real problem, though, is that the organs of the left have long since been hijacked by the kinds of people who figure that African blacks were the real lost tribes of Israel or that all penetrative sexual intercourse equates to rape. This loss of direction began innocently enough back in the 1970s, but is likely to be next to impossible to recover from regardless of how harmful it is to the left. Narratives hold a powerful grip on the human mind.<br /><br />Cultural libertarians and the skeptical community have a mirror image of the same problem. Their admirable message that free speech should be absolute and that the mob and the state have no business in the bedrooms of the nation gets too easily hijacked by people who figure a Jewish conspiracy is behind the decision to abandon the gold standard, or that the emergent trans-acceptance movement is the latest wedge of a cultural Marxist plot obsessed with destroying western civilization.<br /><br />People like Lord Keynes and myself are in a difficult position. We are navigating between Scylla and Charybdis, and the raft we're doing it on is not at all that seaworthy. The Alternative Lefthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06860796776058970124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-17025299839632057252017-07-05T09:21:16.225-07:002017-07-05T09:21:16.225-07:00When I began with my various internet personas in ...When I began with my various internet personas in the spring of 2016 - the Alternative Left Facebook page, Ernest Everhard (then called Agent Commie) and the Samizdat blogs and YouTube channel, I did so largely in reaction to what I saw as being the flaws, sins and omissions of the anti-SJW, anti-cultural left movement that had emerged since Gamergate and the migrant rape crisis in Europe.<br /><br />I had very mixed feelings about the so called cultural libertarian movement. On the one hand, I was delighted to see some kind of systemic critique and pushback against the excesses of intersectional, postmodern leftism. But I had as many problems with a lot of these pundits as I did with the regressive left. It was as a result of these problems, the successes at the time of the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders campaigns, and some personal and private successes that I'd had in my own activism in the real world, that pushed me to the point where I decided I couldn't stay silent any longer.<br /><br />The issues that I have with the cultural libertarian and skeptical communities were basically these: 1) I distrusted the libertarian stance on economics and 2) I saw these movements and their supporters repeatedly overshoot the mark in their opposition to political correctness, and often descend into genuinely hateful and spiteful views. It's one thing to rightly object to the campus feminist's love of censorship or bouts of misandry. It's quite another to attack her personally, and engage in doxing, threats and so on. Plus, I notice that Breitbart's readership doesn't seem to have a problem with the no-platforming of views they disagree with, or with people losing their jobs for saying stupid and offensive things about Donald Trump and so on. Like the social justice warriors, the cultural libertarians - who inevitably succumb to capture from the alt-right, were essentially postmodern: they're movements of identity and self serving moral relativism, not movements of principle.The Alternative Lefthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06860796776058970124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-26459384628154477762017-07-05T07:07:02.572-07:002017-07-05T07:07:02.572-07:00Those two movements are fairly distinct, are they ...Those two movements are fairly distinct, are they not? Anarchism is socialist and anti-capitalist, while classical liberalism is pro-capitalist (though a few classical liberals such as John Stuart Mill showed sympathy for socialism). Of course, you might say that both have an anti-authoritarian aspect, which i certainty wouldn't consider a bad thing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00737940350382307015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-81236113465961999922017-07-05T05:54:42.696-07:002017-07-05T05:54:42.696-07:00Classical liberalism from the Gamergate crowd has ...Classical liberalism from the Gamergate crowd has more in common with Internet Anarchism. <br /><br />The IT industry is very fond of the idea that they can just get a machine to run things and then they don't need no stinking government. <br /><br /><a href="http://anarchism.pageabode.com/afaq/index.html" rel="nofollow">The Anarchist FAQ</a> has been part of various Linux distributions since as long as I can remember. <br /><br />NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.com