Cowbee [he/they]

Yes, the causation was the dramatic expansion of safety nets, improved agriculture, land reform, poverty reduction, and more. The proof of effectiveness is in the graph.

Sure, and I acknowledged that I misspoke, but it’s hardly an important part of my point.

Don’t see what the problem is, then.

It isn’t just academic, and the fact that you can find self-professed libertarians among the wealthiest capitalists doesn’t mean they agree with the actual ideas of “small government capitalism.” The wealthiest aren’t libertarians, by and large, but at this moment more fascist than anything. What drives someone to be a libertarian? Someone who feels crushed by the state while also disapproving of social services, ie the small business owners.

The fact that libertarianism is primarily driven by small business owners doesn’t mean they are the only libertarians. Marxism-Leninism is a proletarian ideology, but also has class traitors. The boutique libertatianism you speak of isn’t just the conventions, but people you run into in real life from time to time, and they usually are in that sole proprietor/small business owner class.

As for Marxism, Marx outlined the law of value, dialectical and historical materialism, as well as scientific socialism. He didn’t create a model, correct, but he did arm us with how we should go about creating a socialist state. Marxism has been put into practice by groups like the bolsheviks, creating Marxism-Leninism, which then has been put into practice around the world. Marx was helpful not just for the why of capitalism being bad, but how to end it and begin socialism.

How?

Sure, it’s a tested metric, I misspoke. That doesn’t change that IQ is bullshit.

First off, you’re a bit confused here. I’m a Marxist-Leninist, my critiques are from that framework.

As for the libertarian movement in the States, I was referring to who makes up the basis of that movement. The wealthiest capitalists are usually not libertarians, they enjoy strong state control and regulations that they can fix in their favor. The basis of libertarianism is in the small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie, who see little of the systems benefits while trying to retain their privledged positions over others.

I’m well-aware of what you define as “actual” libertarians, and my critique of them is from a Marxist point of view. I’m not an anarchist, while I enjoy working with anarchists and share a common enemy, our strategies and analysis end up in fundamentally different areas.

The reason I broke them up as I did was because OP was vague enough that they could be asking for either, so I answered both.

This is fanfiction. China isn’t practicing neocolonialism in Africa, it’s engaging in south-south trade that is actually helping African countries escape the trappings of western imperialism. Taiwan was invaded by the KMT when they lost the war, and took over the island. The Xinjiang and Tibet are both doing well and support the PRC, and Hong Kong is gradually doing better now that they aren’t under British colonial rule. Vietnam is a strong trade partner with China.

Gotcha, so nothing.

If you mean the Statesian, pro-capitalist kind, it’s mostly a silly ideology pushed by small business owners and other highly individualist classes that are nonetheless pushed towards the working classes by competing against ever-growing monopolies.

The left wing version, I disagree with as you can’t dismantle the state without removing the basis of the state, class, and you can’t remove class without collectivizing production and distribution. Small, local cells loosely organized in a decentralist fashion would still result in class struggle and thus a form of state to hold one class over the others. That said, the leftists are valuable allies at times despite disagreements.

PSL is growing as a party, organizes protests and other forms of activism, educates on theory and agitates via news programs. They have strong connections to other activist orgs like the ANSWER coalition. The fact that they do not hold seats or win elections does not mean they don’t serve a function, they serve us far better than the DNC ever could despite being much smaller. They aren’t a vanguard yet, but each year they grow and get closer to being one.

I happened to connect with an amazing person, and I love being married to them. I would have been fine had I been single, or dated casually for the rest of my life, but nevertheless the person I met has changed both me and my life completely.

IQ is generally bullshit. It tests how well people can take specific tests, it doesn’t correspond to actual intelligence, and people are far closer in that regard than they like to imagine.

?

People in politics are part of that, but within the two major parties we have no allies, even partial. I already answered the solution partially back here, but here it is again:

Voting doesn’t do much, though. I support voting for working class orgs like PSL, but not for the DNC or GOP, and I know it’s very unlikley that PSL will win electorally. Leftists understand that the path to change is via organizing, not by supporting orgs that work against our interests, and we know we can’t magically turn a capitalist org into a proletarian one by wishcasting.

We need to organize. Unions aren’t up to the task, sure, but creating a working class party like what PSL is doing, building them up, and integrating within the working class is how you can leverage that to tilt the system and even overthrow it if conditions are right for that.

What’s idiotic about Marxism?

Voting is a pressure valve, its utility is in letting off steam. If they can consistently fix it so that the results are predictable, then it provides the illusion that the system is democratic.

Manufacturing consent every election cycle helps things go smoother. Voting is a pressure valve, not an actual way to enact systemic change in a system rigged by those it was set up to keep in power. The actual strength of the working class is in organizing, not in going along with a rigged system.

“Most intelligent” is a moving target, but by feeding and educating everyone people will in general have better skills for making good decisions, yes.

Fascists don’t care if we vote, what they care about is if we organize. Now that the spoils of imperialism are drying up, fascism is rising, and the super-exploitation we inflict on the global south is turning more inward. What fascists are scared of is working class organizing and building actual power.