The New York Times depicted an extraordinary spectacle: the gathering of a group of people wearing swastikas and giving the Nazi salute, convening in a federal office building to celebrate the election of the new President.
They call themselves the “alt-right.” But when people give the “sieg heil” salute, when they babble about the racial inferiority of nonwhites, when they use German expressions, they are neo-Nazis at best.
Their leader, Richard B. Spencer, spoke in familiar terms:
But now his tone changed as he began to tell the audience of more than 200 people, mostly young men, what they had been waiting to hear. He railed against Jews and, with a smile, quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. America, he said, belonged to white people, whom he called the “children of the sun,” a race of conquerors and creators who had been marginalized but now, in the era of President-elect Donald J. Trump, were “awakening to their own identity.”
As he finished, several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. Mr. Spencer called out: “Hail Trump! Hail our people!” and then, “Hail victory!” — the English translation of the Nazi exhortation “Sieg Heil!” The room shouted back…
Mr. Spencer’s after-dinner speech began with a polemic against the “mainstream media,” before he briefly paused. “Perhaps we should refer to them in the original German?” he said.
The audience immediately screamed back, “Lügenpresse,” reviving a Nazi-era word that means “lying press….”
“America was, until this last generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity,” Mr. Spencer thundered. “It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us.”
But the white race, he added, is “a race that travels forever on an upward path.”
“To be white is to be a creator, an explorer, a conqueror,” he said.
More members of the audience were on their feet as Mr. Spencer described the choice facing white people as to “conquer or die.”
Of other races, Mr. Spencer said: “We don’t exploit other groups, we don’t gain anything from their presence. They need us, and not the other way around.”
This is America. There is free speech for all, even for the speech we deplore. But let’s get the terminology right. “Alt-right” is a weasel word. Just call them fascists.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
alt-right = Das Alte Reich
You gotta learn code with these r3n guys cuz they think they’re so l33t ..
The first and primary reason a left wing exists is to temper the tendency towards fascism any and all right wings have.
We must not be shocked that the Anerican right and merged with the “alt right” Nazis.
This happened because the American left vigorously departed from its chief role and duty to be anti-fascist first and foremost. The American left has been a confused and befuddled mess since at least the 1970s, thinking that it could somehow abandon labor and the working class, adopt neo-liberal economic policies, and become more focused on group rights rather than broad based economic justice.
Stepping away from New Deal progressivism was and remains stepping away from the fundamental counter to fascism.
The rise of the alt right, American neo-nazis, and Trump is directly related to the loss of the political white blood cells to counter those things: strong labor-based progressivism with a broad based social agenda and message.
Fascism is upon us precisely because New Deal progressivism is not.
Enough of the excuses for racism. It existed when labor unions were strong and it will continue to exist if we adopt another New Deal. It would really be nice if we would stop trying to sell this feel sorry for poor racist whitey garbage. He’s so down-trodden he has to turn to fascism to make himself feel good. The majority of poor whiteys have been voting Republican since the 1970’s. See Southern Strategy. The Republicans are winning because they’re willing to lie, cheat and steal to win. They have very effective media outlets that keep those lies going 24 hours a day. Trump is a grifter who has watched how easy it is to convince so many as long as one appeals to racial resentment, greed, fear and fantasy.
Incidentally, Clinton just surpassed Trump by over 2 million in the popular vote and there is an indication that she may have lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to Republican shenanigans.
Deeply naive. ‘Exists’ is one thing. Slavery and massacres of Native Americans are America’s original sins and may never disappear but they are given steroids when the economy tanks. I will go so far as to say no Great Depression = no Nazis victory = No Holocaust.
When the identity politics crew refuses to bond with the white working class they will always lose elections guaranteed.
BTW when the working class suffers a very large element of it is not white but black Hispanic Asian … large elements are also obviously female and LGBTQ.
It is FAR more important in America to eliminate poverty black white and Latino than it is to see “Diversity” amongst the capitalist class on Wall St who will act after arrival exactly as the white owners acted.
Obama was FAR too close to Goldman Saks as was Hillary. The Democrats need to abandon neo – liberalism and the idea that you can be on 2 sides at once. They need to end the flirtation with Wall St and crowd fund their campaigns as Obama and Sanders demonstrated was possible. They need to make a final choice between the 99% and the 1%. It should not be that difficult.
absolutely
Alt-Right is a good example of Orwellian language. I think we’ll be hearing a lot more of it.
Appalling and disgusting. Are these knuckle heads not aware that hundreds of thousands of Americans died fighting Nazis and fascists in World War II. Maybe some of their own grandfathers or grand uncles died in that war. If they think they can turn America back to 1929 (racially), they are delusional. Now Trump and his gang of oligarchs, on the other hand, may indeed turn us economically and socially back to 1929, i.e., weak or no regulations and a financial sector out of control, an incipient train wreck.
Please, this was just another (real) fake news article from the New York Times. Neo-nazi and white supremacist groups have existed all along (where have you been?). “Alt-right” is just a new term for them, and by giving them this press and attention, you have given them exactly what they need to grow.
Keith,
They got attention from the New York Times and every major network. Do you think my blog is so important that it overshadows the mainstream media. Sure, we have had Nazis and white supremacists all along, but this is the first time that I remember them meeting in a federal building in D.C. and the first time that they had a friend in the White House who is hailed as the leader of the “alt-right.” Thanks for the compliment. Maybe if I don’t write about them, they will go away.
What bothers me is that the NYT and Atlantic articles are carefully crafted to make it look as if this guy is the leader of some broad right movement, that is now allowed to use federal buildings. See how it is hard to locate the specific name of the group or the name of the building where it was held. In fact, this was just a garden variety neo-nazi group holding a private conference in a rented space. This same conference would have made no news whatsoever before the election. Now that Trump is elected, they are being recognized and validated by the liberal media (which I fear greatly for the reasons GregB describes below).
Keith,
If you read the NY Times article, the meeting was held in the Ronald Reagan building, a federal building. It was not just “rented space.” I have never held a private meeting in a federal office building, but I assume there is paperwork and some member of Congress has to reserve the space. I have been to many meetings in federal office buildings and they were all sponsored by reputable organizations. You could also read the article and see that his group does have a name: the “National Policy Institute.” They were celebrating Trump’s victory.
It is not hard to find the name of the group or the name of the federal building where they met.
I am not going to be scared of a small number of neo-Nazis, though I do wonder who gave them permission to use a federal building. I am scared that they think they have a friend in the White House.
There is absolutely no way around the fact that this is very very bad news. I disagree about us giving them legitimacy by paying attention. They will not just “go away” if we ignore them, anymore. They have their leaders in the White House. The more I read about Trump and his penchant for lending legitimacy to conspiracy theorists, the worse it gets.
What you fail to understand is that this movement now has direct access to the highest office in the nation. This process began with David Duke’s campaigns for the Louisiana state legislature, the US Senate and Louisiana governor in the late 80s and early 90s. His rhetoric and platform was scrubbed of its most hideous language and was adopted by mainstream Republicans starting in 1994, which also coincides with the cleansing of liberal and moderates from the party.
The current House Majority Leader, Steve Scalise (who represents the district where David Duke then lived in) described himself as David Duke without the baggage. So they have already grown; they don’t need fake news. The Republican Party has been a prototypical fascist party for years. In addition to Trump, Cruz and Carson represented the same reactionary stream. It also exists in the so-called House Freedom Caucus. It exists in state legislatures and governors mansions throughout the nation. The policies espoused by Ryan, McConnell, large corporate lobbies, and, in education by DeVos, are of a nihilist strain that would break the civic and social connections between citizen and state that has sustained this nation throughout its history. By isolating citizens, they sow the ground that nurtures a fascism built on codifying resentment as public policy.
This public fascist strain that uses the double-speak term “alt-right” is now emboldened because they know their rhetoric has been used to win the White House. They want the credit they deserve. Voters, some fellow travelers, others duped, have been giving them attention for years. Wishing them away or declaring them fake or on the fringes is exactly what they need to continue to grow and thrive.
This is Trump’s America. However the people of the US are still in control, if they don’t fold. Hillary won the majority of voters and 2/3 of the economic centers of the US.
The people can stop this trump/putin coalition. That’s what this is.
Key words: If they don’t fold. (And if they don’t buy into the endless media game of telling them to think that ALL Americans want what Trump/alt-right want.)
To whoever agrees with my observation:
This American GOP predetermines to have fascist system in place.
This American GOP undermines Supreme Court, its legal system and its Constitution.
All CURRENT politicians and law makers seem to be afraid of the invisible POWER PLAYER has had or owned EVIDENCES to damage their images, marriage, and reputation.
Voters, who are intelligent, and rookie in political games, easily protest; easily criticize CURRENT politicians and law makers; and most of all these typical voters are VERY easily intimidated by pundits like President elect and his gangs.
All corporate must pay their due in corporate taxes like all white and blue collar worker proportionally. Supreme Court Judges must be protected for their impartial judgment because no party SHOULD own the Supreme Court. All Supreme Court Judges should represent for PEOPLE’s interest and PEOPLE’s welfare.
IMHO, if intelligent voters, current politicians, and law makers work together, then democratic and truthful Republican society will be restored.
In short, blue or red is not matter. It is “the” utmost important matter is to have humanity and civility in work force, in community, and in American multicultural society. Back2basic
I am sorry to type many grammatical errors:
1) invisible POWER PLAYER has had…, should be
invisible POWER PLAYER “who” has had…
2) all white and blue collar worker…, should be
all white and blue collar worker “s”
3) blue or red is not matter. should be
blue or red “does”” not matter.
I must correct all because these errors are bad. May
The polarization of incomes through free trade and technology since the 1970s accelerated by NAFTA and exacerbated by the 2007-8 recession has created an enormous stress on the American working class similar but not as deep as the 1930s Great Depression.
In America the Depression had a similar effect but not as severe s in Europe. The European version first led to a rise in Communism which caused a panic among ruling elites in Germany like Krupp, Siemens, Bayer, IB Farber and others who began finaning small groups like the Nazis Party to fight the Red mence. In Italy Fiat and Perelli also financed the Fascist Party.
This stress strengthens both left and right. America had its opportunity to turn left to Roosevelt progressivism in the cmpaign of Bernie’ Sanders but they blew it badly and Trump is the result.
It has long been believed that because of America’s stronger right and weaker left that it will turn to the front right in a crisis.
There is only ONE way to counter Trump in 2018 and 2020 and that is with a dynamic candidate running on a Sanders type program.
agreed
Second that.
Me too…Doug mentions that “America” blew it in voting for Trump, but I would add that the Democratic Party, with the shenanigans of DWS and Schumer and others, also blew it. Many analysts insist that Bernie could have beaten Trump since he alone would have brought our the youth vote, and the Latino and Black vote.
Great comments from Greg and Doug…thanks.
(IG Farben)
Yes I Farber thanks
Here is a link to the entire half-hour speech Richard Spencer made to the National Policy Institute as its president: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq-LnO2DOGE
If you are interested in more detail about this organization, as well as its bio of Spencer, check out their website at npiamerica.org. Its goal is to promote the interests “of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”
I watched it a few days ago and replayed some sections of it many times, not only to transcribe the words exactly, but also to locate what were alleged to have been anti-Semitic remarks by various other media. While the hit against those of Jewish heritage was not direct, it was not difficult to decipher: Early in the speech, Spencer criticizes the left-leaning media for not being able to predict Trump’s victory. In railing against the media, he wonders if they are even human or instead are “golem”–an old Hebrew word meaning “shapeless mass” that refers to an inanimate lump of clay brought to life by magic and becoming a servant to its master. The term has had a negative connotation for almost two centuries. His choice to use that word was deliberate–both to claim that Jews are running the media and to call Jews less than human.
Similarly, Spencer’s use of the German word for “lying press”–and Germans don’t even use that word (lugenpresse) anymore because of its Nazi connotation–was deliberately invoking Hitler’s regime.
Here are some of the racist ‘gems’ I transcribed from the video of Spencer’s speech:
“Despite these supposedly egalitarian values, America was, until this past generation, a white country, designed for ourselves and our posterity. It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us.” [applause]
“Think of the concepts that are now designated ‘problematic’ and associated with whiteness: Power, strength, beauty, agency, accomplishment. Whites do, and other groups don’t. In the banality of normal life and in our most outlandish dreams—in both our narrative and theirs—to be white is to be a striver, a crusader, an explorer, and a conqueror. We build, we produce, we go upward, and we recognize the central lie of American race relations: We don’t exploit other groups; we don’t gain anything from their presence. They need us, and not the other way around.” [applause]
“Two weeks ago, I might have said the election of Donald Trump would actually lessen the pressure on white Americans. But today it is clear his election is only intensifying the storm of hatred and hysteria being directed against us. As Europeans, we are uniquely at the center of history. We are, as Hegel recognized, the embodiment of world history itself. No one will honor us for losing gracefully. No one mourns the great crimes committed against us. For us, it is conquer or die. This is a unique burden for the white man—that our fate is entirely in our hands…We are not meant to live in shame and weakness and disgrace. We were not meant to beg for moral validation from some of the most despicable creatures to ever populate the planet. We were meant to overcome, overcome all of it, because that is natural and normal for us! [applause] Because for us as Europeans, it is only normal again when we are great again. Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail Victory! [lifts water glass with his right hand above his head]”
Just for clarity’s sake:
paragraph 3, first sentence – “it” refers to the video of Spencer’s speech; also, the phrase “by various other media” should have come immediately after the word “alleged” – although most readers likely will understand what was intended without the changes. (It’s the middle of the night here in California; that’s my excuse for sloppy editing!)
New Flash—Time for this group and any similar groups to understand that in about 30 short years whites are going to be the minority in this country. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/13/census.minorities/
Thanks for this version. Really chilling
For us, it is conquer or die.
This is a unique burden for the white man—that our fate is entirely in our hands…
As noted above, the Republican party has been taken over by the rabid conservatives and the extreme evangelists; together with the white nationalists, overt racists, and some other elements, they make for some pretty nasty and twisted views about the world in general and “the Other” in particular.
But they do need publicity and support. For a long time they received this from Fox. Still do. But the growth of dirty news sites like Breitbart has amplified their “message” and increased their visibility.
The American Legislative Exchange Council has been a major player (see GregB’s comment above) And the influence(s) of the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Rifle Association (check out its board of directors) cannot be discounted. These and all you cite have no interest in – much less commitment to – the social contract. And in that sense they are anti-Constitution and anti-democratic. More perversely – as we saw in this election – they adore draping themselves in the flag.
All of this is especially troubling when it’s reported that the president-elect takes little in any interest in intelligence briefings and routinely skips them. It’s even more disturbing when recent research reports detail the vast involvement of Russian agencies in creating and spreading fake news to subvert the democratic process in the US. As one noted,
“The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign….This propaganda machinery helped push the phony story that an anti-Trump protester was paid thousands of dollars to participate in demonstrations, an allegation initially made by a self-described satirist and later repeated publicly by the Trump campaign.”
The director of another research group said “It was like Russia was running a super PAC for Trump’s campaign. . . . It worked.” Other research findings, “by the Rand Corp. and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs,” are similar.
Now, consider the Electoral College. We have an electoral college because – in large part – the Framers didn’t trust “the People” and democracy, so they installed a “filter” that could contain demagogues. In this particular election, it would appear it didn’t work. The system we have grossly over-represents rural states and populations and it under-represents “the People” who live elsewhere, wherever that may be. It also grossly under-represents the very parts of the nation that are responsible for two-thirds of its economic output. It’s interesting. The Constitution was written for “We the People of the United States.” Core values include equality, “equal protection of the laws,” and freedoms for all of the citizenry. But an anachronistic constitutional compromise results in rural voters getting twice the vote-value of those who live in more populous areas, even if those rural voters vote against core constitutional values. Rather perverse, wouldn’t you say?
It would appear – at the very least – that the democratic system, the Republic, has been exploited and eroded –– from both the inside and the outside.
In education, we’ve focused on “college and careers,” and STEM, and Advanced Placement, and SAT and ACT scores, and merit pay and tenure and, “standards,” and charters. Pathetic. For a long time, we have paid exceedingly little attention to democratic citizenship.
Public education is now at stake.
democracy, your comments are to be well heeded and I agree, as does Arthur Camins who has written on citizenship education missing in classrooms..
Judge Pryor….Trump’s #1 choice for SCOTUS, does not agree that the People should have a voice, as with a popular vote rather than an electoral college vote and other issues. He specifies that it is the Government solely that the Constitution edicts refer to, and it is the DUTY of SCOTUS to protect and determine, and NOT the Bill of Rights.
The LA Times today did a feature story on the potential SCOTUS appointments, particularly the immediate replacement of Scalia, particularly on Proyor who is beloved by Trump and the ALT RIGHT for his protection of the White majority. Sessions too was reported on in the lead article, and his views on keeping America White it suggested, meant he would deport all undocumented Latinos including the Dreamers. They specify that Obama’s law protecting children of the undocumented, could and will be overturned in the first 100 days, by a stroke of the Executive Order pen.
California is already and minority White state. Primarily Latinos, and a mix of other communities of color, are The New Majority.
Ellen,
Yes, our country is becoming far more diverse. Texas is already a minority majority state, as are a number of others. Minorities now make up a majority of kids under the age of five, and minorities are projected to make up 56 percent of the total population by 2060.
The 2016 election was – make no mistake – about white identity and white nationalism. It was a backlash to Obama’s presidency – a significant percentage of Republicans STILL think he’s a Muslim – and to LGBT rights, and to gay marriage, and to abortion, and even to birth control…81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump, the Constitution and the message of The Gospels be damned.
In essence, Trump and his supporters turned their backs on the core values and principles of a democratic republic. That cannot be parsed into a positive no matter how it’s sliced and diced.
There’s plenty of blame to share, from uninformed voters and the prevalence of fake news to right-wing websites and talk radio, from third-party candidates to a less-than-stellar Democratic candidate, from the influx of money to the influence(s) of Russian intelligence agencies.
But national educational organizations — from principals and superintendents and PTA and school board associations to the national teachers unions — get some of it too. They signed on to the Common Core and signed up for Bill Gates’ money. They emphasized “college and careers” and STEM and Advanced Placement, and they neglected citizenship education, woefully so. The leadership of the AFT and NEA were not only out of touch, they were out to lunch, and that leadership is ripe for an overhaul.
But I won’t hold my breath.
I don’t buy it. Many of the counties that HD voted for Obama twice voted for Trump. Yes there is racism sexist and homophobia in America but Obama won twice and STILL has high ratings to this day. The “whitelash” argument does not stand up. Then why did Trump win?
1) Cinton was a terrible candidate who totally failed to connect with the white working class. Sanders or Biden would have won. Yes the GOP spent 25 years demonizing HRC but it worked. She has so much baggage by the time she was nominated she could not carry it. Experienced – sure but terrible judgement on Iraq Libya TPP … her late conversions on wars, NAFTA TPP gay marriage rang hollow.
2) Trump “felt their pain”. He ran with anti free trade rhetoric that was profoundly effective in the rust belt.
3) As Sanders said “Identity politics is fine but it is not enough” the Roosevelt alliance with the white working class felt abandoned by the Democrats who had lots of time for Transgendered washrooms but zero time to ENSURING that the rust belt transitioned to NEW high paying jobs. They want blue collar labor jobs – if not in factories then construction mining forestry whatever.
Do not say retraining or relocation to them or you may get tarred and feathered.
Sorry Doug, Your analysis is highly suspect.
Trump won because of the white working-class vote and the white evangelical vote, among other slivers of the white vote.
They think ObamaCare is a government take-over of health care. It’s not. They are opposed to gay marriage, and want i rescinded. They want the manufacturing and coal jobs to come back. Unlikely.
Trump didn’t feel anyone’s pain.
But he did play the rubes.
Then explain why those counties voted for Obama twice. If you have nothing but contempt for the white working class, be prepared to lose for another generation. You cannot win without them since 26% of Hispanics voted their class interest over there heritage as did prosperous white women.
The Democratic Party must be based on the working class as its core support or it will just lose election after election.
I’m in agreement with Doug on this one. The Democratic Party has abandoned the white (and all colors) working middle class and it doesn’t take a college degree to recognize the fact.
When Bill Clinton, Bush Sr, and Carter went on national TV to push GATT and NAFTA, they told us about the “New World Order”. This bi-partisan team of our leaders promised re-training programs for the displaced workers and also said that it would be “just” blue collar jobs lost. They lied on both counts.
I was working a blue collar job in a factory at the time. Everyone was “curious” about whether anybody had ever put this “New World Order” to a vote. The workers weren’t stupid. We knew that our government was caving to the multi-nationals. And we were insulted by the “just blue collar” label.
One interesting take was that these “uneducated” people were asking how we could even CONSIDER dropping our manufacturing base when every great nation in history has had that as a core. Stupid people?
Our government has reneged on its promises to this large slice of our population ever since. And added the outsourcing of white collar jobs, to boot. The Democratic Party did not fight to preserve or create jobs that would fit or enhance the skill sets of the working class on a large enough scale. It abandoned it’s core constituency. Though there are those who would welcome a return to white ’50s, America, there are just as many if not more who just want the blue collar job opportunities that they had in the past.
The fact that they’d fall for a charlatan of Trumps’ magnitude is an indication of just how resentful and desperate they really are. We’re all sick of the sell out. And a sell out it is. And Trump’s just going to make it worse.
Thank you for your insightful articles which span what is happening in privatized education around the country.
On a different note, does anybody know why the extra spaces between paragraphs are back? That was fixed months ago.
Pip
I’ve been re-reading Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America.” I used to think he made it up.
Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here” should now be required reading in public schools, for both students and teachers, at least before public schools are outlawed and replaced by Christian academies, and teacher union activists are taken away to reeducation right-to-work camps.
I used this book, and your suggestion is right on, in a college class on Great American Political Literature of the 20th Century.
GregB,
You should compile a list of books that could be used to help students understand the dangers of con meant and authoritarianism.
GregB,
You should compile a list of books that could be used to help students understand the dangers of con meant and authoritarianism. You left out The White Rose Society.
Respectfully, while clearly this is a disgusting display, do you honestly not consider the political correctness, censorship, control of the media et. al. (none of which are anecdotal) exhibited by Hillary’s campaign to NOT be fascism? We have two very separate realities going on, here. Those of us hanging out in the space between are absolutely gobsmacked by the blinders worn by BOTH sides.
James,
You were hoaxed by Russian propaganda
James,
I take it you prefer a fraud, a con man, and a bully as president.
Diane, thanks for maintaining this blog. It gives Doug and Greg the opportunity to share their insights. I am troubled by what some call false equivalency and the equating of what happens among Democrats and Liberals to what happens among the Right. I recall the 60s when people were called fascist simply for not being on board with a particular issue. Now we have a real fascist administration staring us in the face; what are we going to call them? Well, REAL fascists…. and we mean it this time? Very weak.
My friend “didn’t like HRC” but could not tell me why other than that she got rich. Now that Trump has won, he says nothing negative about her except he “doesn’t like dynasties”. Is it possible for HRC haters to come up with anything like the Access Hollywood tape or Trump U. for HRC? I hope you all enjoy Trump. Next time, try destroying the one on the Right. He/she will be the one who doesn’t know anything.
Pbarret,
Hillary would have been a great president.
Now we have a clown car stuffed with billionaires and radical rightwingers.
Hillary would not have been a great president.
Too close to Goldman Saks
Trigger happy in Iraq Libya
Please don’t talk about her program pushed on her by Bernie. We all know she had no intention to implement it.
Better than Trump? Of course but progressives would have been bitterly disappointed.
While I personally think HRC would have been a very good president, I am more concerned about this in-fighting among the left-of-center folks. For me, when you go against the free enterprise system and capitalism, you lose me. If you are about policies and regulations and laws that support most people, then I’m with you. If you want an economic system that is not capitalistic, fine, but don’t expect me to work with you on that. Let’s find common ground. For my part, my own radical solution is to resurrect the Confederate States of America and let those folks who hate a multicultural America go live there, with or without capitalism. Remember East and West Pakistan? How about East Coast and West Coast U.S.A. united as one country with Trumpland in between? Oh, yeah, that Pakistan thing didn’t work out too well. Maybe more education would work.
Even Bernie Sanders wants what is known as democratic socialism. In every democracy in the world this philosophy represents one of the 2 major parties. Labour in UK Socialist party in France Social Democrats in Germany Labour in Australia and so on.
In America the Democrats are an alliance of centrists, liberals and social Democrats who seem to need to hang together to have a chance to defeat the GOP.
What many Americans don’t get is what Sanders style democratic socialism actually is. They will say “I hate socialism but don’t dare touch my Medicare”.
Public education, medicare the public fire department, police ambulance Amtrack, are all socialism. NASA. .. all socialism…public state universities all socialism. The vast majority of the world’s democracies are mixed economies. Partly socialist partly capitalist.
pbarret,
I am all for a balanced society, one with a vibrant private sector and a responsible public sector. I do not want the public sector to be privatized for profit. I want the police, firefighters, public transit, public parks, public libraries, and other public services to remain public. There is plenty room for entrepreneurship without cannibalizing public services.
pbarrot, did you read this?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/when-public-goes-private-as-trump-wants-what-happens/
This article shows what I mean about supporting most people. Most people go to public schools and always have. Institutions and services for the general welfare are public and government run, not private. Investors in a company making drill bits have every right to demand a return on their investment; to put public services like education and health care on that basis is stupid and that is what I meant by more education possibly helping: if the public knew how our institutions were formed, they would be as upset as I was to see our embassies guarded by mercenaries and our troops fed by contractors instead of having American soldiers to that work. America embraced the New Deal but it was resisted by a number of people whose ranks have been swelled by greed: let’s find anything we can to make money off of, privatize it, and then milk it. That’s why I support public education (and health care and police, etc.) and tell those wanting to invest to go find a drill bit company and milk that, not our people.. If the government supports the general welfare and you call that socialism, fine. The Progressives put through lots of legislation for the general welfare and the New Deal followed and then the Great Society programs. And capitalism thrived along side it. But the greed merchants have taken over and wreaked havoc on our institutions. I am sure they think that providing health care is invading a nice profit-making venture but Medicare shows most Americans think health care is off-limits.
Too much to discuss fully in these short blog posts. But it’s a great forum. Where can we go to have fuller discussion?
Pbarret, this is where you go to have the fuller discussion. I don’t know other blogs like it. The readers here are very smart and deeply engaged in the issues.
I agree with you. There is no reason other than greed for private equity firms to try to monetize public services. My neighborhood lost its hospital not long after it was taken over by a for-profit firm. That hospital saved my life in 1998. If it didn’t exist then, I would not be here. But it is gone, along with the legendary St. Vincent’s in Greenwich Village, which was a place of respite at the height of the AIDS crisis. Bloomberg sold the property and now it is a condo building.
Alright. I’ll give an example of how pharmaceutical companies wreak havoc as well (as if most of your readers don’t know): I retired. My wife had cataract surgery and the surgeon botched the operation. No recourse against him to recover on-going costs. Many emergency surgeries and gallons of very expensive eye drops – up to $700 a month a one point – later, I had to go back to work and worked another five years, retiring again at 72. Despite a very good retirement income (all state and federal pensions), we have struggled. Why does her medication, which she has to be on the rest of her life, have to cost so much when it is available in Canada for much less? She also has cancer medication she has to take the rest of her life. When people who have planned meticulously and worked hard for 50+ years face this sort of medical expense, it cripples us. Imagine what we could be doing to help the community as volunteers if we weren’t running around trying to scrape together money for her meds?
Sinclair Lewis is one of my favorite authors. Despite a gripping beginning, “It’s Can’t Happen Here” kind of sputters out at the end. “Elmer Gantry” is appropriate too; the downfall of the Elmer might give us comfort about our future. Wholeheartedly agree with putting “The Plot Against America” or our reading or rereading lists, especially from educators’ perspectives. John Steinbeck’s “The Moon is Down” is an apt parable.
I’d also recommend learning more about the German Resistance against Nazism, especially, for our community, the educator Elizabeth von Thadden. The short but eventful lives of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke and Adam von Trott du Solz should also provide us with some direction as we move forward. Here’s a good starting place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Germans_who_resisted_Nazism
The only identity to which anyone needs to awaken must involve morality and integrity, not degenerate aspects of race or nationalism. Halloween is over, put the silly masks away and grow up. Fairness and truth ultimately governs all, in deepest conscience, over time, and bears witness to catastrophes and embarrassments.
All that is needed is some kind of real or made-up catastrophe, like the Reichstag fire, and the U.S. that we know goes away. That’s what I have been thinking ever since late on November 8. I am truly horrified for our country.
I am truly horrified also, and I am not so sure a movement of the Democrats back to New Deal Progressivism, which I support, will work to stem this tide. Paul Krugmans column in today’s NYTimes makes some sense – today’s mass media doesn’t inform the public on policy; voters vote against their best economic interest out of racism, religious fundamentalism, and general ignorance, and all the right has to do is to continue to feed this resentment to continue winning the electoral college (assuming there are still free elections in our future). It seems to me that New Deal progressivism worked in the 30’s because the unemployed, who did not then have unemployment insurance, Social Security, the right to organize, understood with clarity what was in their best interest and made it happen. Today’s citizenry take all these benefits for granted and don’t have any understanding of what was sacrificed to obtain them and what the Great Recession would have felt like without them. And they are so distracted by their cell phones and social media that the stealth Right has a free hand to destroy these benefits with out incurring any collective punishment. If and when the public schools which are there to educate citizens for their proper role in a democracy are destroyed by the DeVos’ and Kochs, then I fear we can kiss this democracy goodbye.
I submitted a comment to add to Jane’s and GST’s above, not sure if I did something wrong or if in moderation.
Hi Diane Thanks for all the great posts. You keep so many of us going.
Re Nazis, do you recall the case of the Nazi party parade in Skokie, Illinois, in the 60’s-7-‘s I think it went to the Supreme Court and they won on First Amendment grounds.
Mary Stimpson Rivkin
Thanks, Mary. I remember the Nazi march in Skokie. Yes, they have a right to meet and speak and parade. What is amazing to me is to see that they held their meeting last week in the Ronald Reagan federal office building. First time I ever heard of neo-Nazis meeting in a federal building.
Roosevelt and progressivism had to make a deal,with southern racist democrats to hold power in the Great Depression. He also benefitted with the American consternation over the rise of fascism and communism in Europe. Many voters in that day still thought that Eurpeans were natually surperior to other peoples, so it was probably an unavoidable trend. Roosevelt himself was sort of an imperialist.
After the war, an untouched American economy made the goods that fueled the recovery from the war, and labor and management settled in to make it all happen, keeping New Deal liberalism the order of the day until Nixon’s southern strategy. Thereafter, wedge issues have driven not just southerners but rural people all across the country away from the idea of a new deal for the American people.
To fight the distant right, Americans need a vision that splits off some rural voters from the right, so that states are affected by the 52% that did not show up this presidential election, and so that an even higher percent does not sit out the midterms. We need a vision that points out how the right is closer and closer to fascism.