"We are calling on every member of the incoming 120th Congress to vote against Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker in January 2027 and choose a different candidate."
I don’t reject you because of who you are, I reject you because you have a pattern of using the same rhetoric.
I believe I’ve already explained this. Maybe I haven’t said it directly to you. Perhaps I didn’t expect you to engage with it seriously if I did. But I’ll state it now.
Chaos is not better than order, if it can be avoided. The system has not failed us yet, although it may be hanging on by a thread. There’s still a chance we can use it for the good by working within it. It looks unlikely at times, even hopeless or desperate, yes. But the recent election shows that it’s still possible when people come out to vote and actually use the system the way it’s designed.
I don’t deny that it’s an uphill battle. But violence doesn’t benefit anyone, and things could still be much worse. In the military, there’s a saying. “Things could always be worse.” Even when bullets are whizzing past your head, it could still be worse. One of them could have landed in you. You could be getting shelled. Things could always get worse.
Combat is not glorious, and I take serious issue with anyone who tries to romanticize it. It won’t solve your problems. You’ll fucking lose anyway. You’re neither equipped, trained, nor organized to take on the MIC. And if you try, you’ll only give them a firmer foothold on power.
They would love to implement martial law. They’ve threatened to, they’ve tried to, but they can’t. Don’t give them the pretext. Not as long as the electoral results are respected, and the duly-elected governments are seated as mandated by the constitution.
If that ever fails, the country is already gone. So at that point, do whatever the fuck you want. But until that day, don’t fire the first shot. Because you will lose. You wouldn’t last a week.
We have never not been able to use the system the way its designed. The problem is that the way its designed is as a selection for which wing of the capitalist class gets to dominate society, not a way for the working class to direct society. The fact that the working class is not in control has not been challenged by the recent midterms.
There’s still a chance we can use it for the good by working within it.
I do not see why you believe this. Every time socialism has been implemented through largely peaceful means, such as Allende in Chile, the capitalist class oversteps the boundaries of legality to directly sieze the state, because they already own the economy and can do so at will. How do you grapple with this without revolution?
And no, revolution isn’t something you just do, it requires an organized working class, a mass socialist revolutionary party of trained cadre, and a crisis in the capitalist class. That’s how you make a revolution, by advancing the former while awaiting the latter, which is made inevitable by capitalism.
They would love to implement martial law. They’ve threatened to, they’ve tried to, but they can’t. Don’t give them the pretext. Not as long as the electoral results are respected, and the duly-elected governments are seated as mandated by the constitution.
They absolutely can implement martial law at any time. They do not need pretext to do so, that just helps them save face. The state is not a neutral body, it’s something that co-evolves along with the mode of production, and therefore rests upon the property relations therein.
If it’s in response to the capitalist class overstepping the boundaries of legality, then it’s not revolution. It’s counter-revolution. Which is precisely what I stated is the one contingency in which it would be justified.
If they could implement martial law any time they want, they would have already done so. They’ve even tried and it’s been shut down, because the system is still working in some ways, even while it fails in others.
The only thing it will take to put control in the hands of the working class is for the progressive caucus to overcome the establishment Dems, place progressives in the congressional leadership positions, and for the people to elect a progressive president. Then they only need to deliver.
We’re working on those things, and we’re closer than we’ve ever been before. In two years, we may just do it. But rhetoric like yours is only throwing stumbling blocks in our way.
The capitalist class is already in control. A counterrevolution in the US would be the slaveocracy taking power once again, or a socialist replacement for the US being retaken by capitalists.
The reason the capitalist class doesn’t implement martial law is because it breeds resentment and resistence towards the system. The electoral system is a revolutionary pressure valve, the capitalist class uses it to give workers the illusion of democracy without actually being beholden to the working class. The bourgeois democratic shell is the most stable defense of capitalism that presently exists, fascism is a system for emergencies when this no longer works in favor of capitalism. The fascist button is in the hands of capitalists, not the state.
If the entire state is controlled by a progressive party, that does not translate to working class control. The capitalist class controls the commanding heights of the economy, and therefore the state is subservient to the capitalist class. This is my central point. Why do you believe Allende was couped? The long line of reformist progressives getting nakedly overthrown by their domestic capitalist class because they have not actually confronted the ownership of capital in their economy isn’t a series of flukes, but the rule.
So when maga fascists call for open revolution at the behest of the capitalist class, what do you call the leftwing resistance if not counter-revolution?
It sounds like you’ve had your nose so buried in textbooks for so long that you can’t read the current situation, because you’re projecting what you’ve learned about prior situations in different times and different places. That’s a failure to discern. An overgeneralization.
the state is subservient to the capitalist class.
If we want to make the capitalist class subservient to the state, we need to elect a progressive government. That is the only way out of this mess.
Your dreams of armed conflict are a dead end. I’m not following you down that path, and if I have to spend my time persuading as many people as I can to also not follow you, then that’s just what I’ll have to do.
I’d much rather spend my time and energy fighting fascism. So all you’re doing is drawing fire away from our mutual enemy. Are you proud of yourself?
The capitalist class is already in control. The MAGA wing of the capitalist class couping the Democrat wing of the capitalist class isn’t a revolution, but a coup. A revolution implies a transformation in the class that dictates society, not any change in leadership.
It sounds like you’ve had your nose so buried in textbooks for so long that you can’t read the current situation, because you’re projecting what you’ve learned about prior situations in different times and different places.
I’d say you’re guilty of the reverse. You have not learned from history, and because of that you cannot see how the problems of today are connected. Of course there are differences, but you have not demonstrated why these differences add up to an entirely new situation divorced from history. For example, why do you believe Allende was couped? You have not answered this, but it’s core to the following point:
If we want to make the capitalist class subservient to the state, we need to elect a progressive government. That is the only way out of this mess.
You have not grasped the situation at all. Capitalists are not subservient to the state, the state is subservient to capitalists. This is not because the individuals in the state are personally handpicked by the capitalist class, but instead because whoever controls the commanding heights of the economy controls the state. A progressive government has no means by which to appropriate the commanding heights of the economy, this requires worker revolution.
You can try to convince people otherwise, but when they have similar questions to those I have asked you, and you cannot respond except by restating your hypothesis in different ways, then they will abandon your frame of view and seek those who can answer their questions. That’s why Marxism-Leninism is seeing a resurgence around the world.
And yes, I am proud of myself for putting my time and money into studying socialism and organizing and educating the working class. Why wouldn’t I be? All you’re doing is disarming the working class and making us prey to the fascists with no ability to resist when they inevitably use their control of the commanding heights to overturn any progressive government antidemocratically.
You have not learned from history, and because of that you cannot see how the problems of today are connected.
It’s funny how wrong you are about that, but I’m not here to get into an intellectual dick-measuring contest with you.
It doesn’t matter why I think Allende was couped. Because this isn’t Allende.
A progressive government has no means by which to appropriate the commanding heights of the economy,
We’ll see about that.
then they will abandon your frame of view and seek those who can answer their questions.
To anyone who prefers Cowbee’s way, go ahead and follow Cowbee. I won’t try to stop you.
To everyone else, we have work to do. And we don’t have much time left to waste getting tripped up in these thorny vines. We have a path to walk.
To anyone caught in the middle, the ravine is only going to keep widening. So if you can’t choose a path, then I hope you’re flexible enough to do a split without getting yourself injured.
It’s funny how wrong you are about that, but I’m not here to get into an intellectual dick-measuring contest with you.
It doesn’t matter why I think Allende was couped. Because this isn’t Allende.
And this is exactly why you have not learned from history. Do you think that you have a solid chance of surviving jumping off Hoover Dam without a parachute, just because today is not the same as the times when people did before? As I said, of course this isn’t the exact same, but this necessarily requires proof that today is fundamentally different enough to no longer apply. We call this the difference between the generality and the particularity of a thing. Every thing has both general characteristics and particular ones, and you have not proven that the particular characteristics have changed to where the general no longer apply.
You’re stating that the US state is fundamentally unique among all states in history, not merely a particular state but one that has practically nothing in common that we can look to for analysis. That’s hardly a justified view, which is why I have asked either for your analysis on Allende, or your proof that the US is significantly different enough to throw that out. You provided neither, and just restated your hypothesis.
Contrary to what you say, the path is absolutely clear for revolution: organize the working class, and raise the level of political development of the working class. We cannot stumble blindly ahead on vibes, as you insist, but instead must take a scientific study of history, and apply analysis to our conditions today, rather than a stance of historical nihilism.
I don’t reject you because of who you are, I reject you because you have a pattern of using the same rhetoric.
I believe I’ve already explained this. Maybe I haven’t said it directly to you. Perhaps I didn’t expect you to engage with it seriously if I did. But I’ll state it now.
Chaos is not better than order, if it can be avoided. The system has not failed us yet, although it may be hanging on by a thread. There’s still a chance we can use it for the good by working within it. It looks unlikely at times, even hopeless or desperate, yes. But the recent election shows that it’s still possible when people come out to vote and actually use the system the way it’s designed.
I don’t deny that it’s an uphill battle. But violence doesn’t benefit anyone, and things could still be much worse. In the military, there’s a saying. “Things could always be worse.” Even when bullets are whizzing past your head, it could still be worse. One of them could have landed in you. You could be getting shelled. Things could always get worse.
Combat is not glorious, and I take serious issue with anyone who tries to romanticize it. It won’t solve your problems. You’ll fucking lose anyway. You’re neither equipped, trained, nor organized to take on the MIC. And if you try, you’ll only give them a firmer foothold on power.
They would love to implement martial law. They’ve threatened to, they’ve tried to, but they can’t. Don’t give them the pretext. Not as long as the electoral results are respected, and the duly-elected governments are seated as mandated by the constitution.
If that ever fails, the country is already gone. So at that point, do whatever the fuck you want. But until that day, don’t fire the first shot. Because you will lose. You wouldn’t last a week.
We have never not been able to use the system the way its designed. The problem is that the way its designed is as a selection for which wing of the capitalist class gets to dominate society, not a way for the working class to direct society. The fact that the working class is not in control has not been challenged by the recent midterms.
I do not see why you believe this. Every time socialism has been implemented through largely peaceful means, such as Allende in Chile, the capitalist class oversteps the boundaries of legality to directly sieze the state, because they already own the economy and can do so at will. How do you grapple with this without revolution?
And no, revolution isn’t something you just do, it requires an organized working class, a mass socialist revolutionary party of trained cadre, and a crisis in the capitalist class. That’s how you make a revolution, by advancing the former while awaiting the latter, which is made inevitable by capitalism.
They absolutely can implement martial law at any time. They do not need pretext to do so, that just helps them save face. The state is not a neutral body, it’s something that co-evolves along with the mode of production, and therefore rests upon the property relations therein.
If it’s in response to the capitalist class overstepping the boundaries of legality, then it’s not revolution. It’s counter-revolution. Which is precisely what I stated is the one contingency in which it would be justified.
If they could implement martial law any time they want, they would have already done so. They’ve even tried and it’s been shut down, because the system is still working in some ways, even while it fails in others.
The only thing it will take to put control in the hands of the working class is for the progressive caucus to overcome the establishment Dems, place progressives in the congressional leadership positions, and for the people to elect a progressive president. Then they only need to deliver.
We’re working on those things, and we’re closer than we’ve ever been before. In two years, we may just do it. But rhetoric like yours is only throwing stumbling blocks in our way.
The capitalist class is already in control. A counterrevolution in the US would be the slaveocracy taking power once again, or a socialist replacement for the US being retaken by capitalists.
The reason the capitalist class doesn’t implement martial law is because it breeds resentment and resistence towards the system. The electoral system is a revolutionary pressure valve, the capitalist class uses it to give workers the illusion of democracy without actually being beholden to the working class. The bourgeois democratic shell is the most stable defense of capitalism that presently exists, fascism is a system for emergencies when this no longer works in favor of capitalism. The fascist button is in the hands of capitalists, not the state.
If the entire state is controlled by a progressive party, that does not translate to working class control. The capitalist class controls the commanding heights of the economy, and therefore the state is subservient to the capitalist class. This is my central point. Why do you believe Allende was couped? The long line of reformist progressives getting nakedly overthrown by their domestic capitalist class because they have not actually confronted the ownership of capital in their economy isn’t a series of flukes, but the rule.
So when maga fascists call for open revolution at the behest of the capitalist class, what do you call the leftwing resistance if not counter-revolution?
It sounds like you’ve had your nose so buried in textbooks for so long that you can’t read the current situation, because you’re projecting what you’ve learned about prior situations in different times and different places. That’s a failure to discern. An overgeneralization.
If we want to make the capitalist class subservient to the state, we need to elect a progressive government. That is the only way out of this mess.
Your dreams of armed conflict are a dead end. I’m not following you down that path, and if I have to spend my time persuading as many people as I can to also not follow you, then that’s just what I’ll have to do.
I’d much rather spend my time and energy fighting fascism. So all you’re doing is drawing fire away from our mutual enemy. Are you proud of yourself?
The capitalist class is already in control. The MAGA wing of the capitalist class couping the Democrat wing of the capitalist class isn’t a revolution, but a coup. A revolution implies a transformation in the class that dictates society, not any change in leadership.
I’d say you’re guilty of the reverse. You have not learned from history, and because of that you cannot see how the problems of today are connected. Of course there are differences, but you have not demonstrated why these differences add up to an entirely new situation divorced from history. For example, why do you believe Allende was couped? You have not answered this, but it’s core to the following point:
You have not grasped the situation at all. Capitalists are not subservient to the state, the state is subservient to capitalists. This is not because the individuals in the state are personally handpicked by the capitalist class, but instead because whoever controls the commanding heights of the economy controls the state. A progressive government has no means by which to appropriate the commanding heights of the economy, this requires worker revolution.
You can try to convince people otherwise, but when they have similar questions to those I have asked you, and you cannot respond except by restating your hypothesis in different ways, then they will abandon your frame of view and seek those who can answer their questions. That’s why Marxism-Leninism is seeing a resurgence around the world.
And yes, I am proud of myself for putting my time and money into studying socialism and organizing and educating the working class. Why wouldn’t I be? All you’re doing is disarming the working class and making us prey to the fascists with no ability to resist when they inevitably use their control of the commanding heights to overturn any progressive government antidemocratically.
It’s funny how wrong you are about that, but I’m not here to get into an intellectual dick-measuring contest with you.
It doesn’t matter why I think Allende was couped. Because this isn’t Allende.
We’ll see about that.
To anyone who prefers Cowbee’s way, go ahead and follow Cowbee. I won’t try to stop you.
To everyone else, we have work to do. And we don’t have much time left to waste getting tripped up in these thorny vines. We have a path to walk.
To anyone caught in the middle, the ravine is only going to keep widening. So if you can’t choose a path, then I hope you’re flexible enough to do a split without getting yourself injured.
And this is exactly why you have not learned from history. Do you think that you have a solid chance of surviving jumping off Hoover Dam without a parachute, just because today is not the same as the times when people did before? As I said, of course this isn’t the exact same, but this necessarily requires proof that today is fundamentally different enough to no longer apply. We call this the difference between the generality and the particularity of a thing. Every thing has both general characteristics and particular ones, and you have not proven that the particular characteristics have changed to where the general no longer apply.
You’re stating that the US state is fundamentally unique among all states in history, not merely a particular state but one that has practically nothing in common that we can look to for analysis. That’s hardly a justified view, which is why I have asked either for your analysis on Allende, or your proof that the US is significantly different enough to throw that out. You provided neither, and just restated your hypothesis.
Contrary to what you say, the path is absolutely clear for revolution: organize the working class, and raise the level of political development of the working class. We cannot stumble blindly ahead on vibes, as you insist, but instead must take a scientific study of history, and apply analysis to our conditions today, rather than a stance of historical nihilism.