When I look around at what amounts to "the left" in the US, I find it to be full of compromises, with nearly nothing to be excited about.
"Compromise" is nothing more than a means of preserving the status quo, which inevitably elevates greed over need. Agreeing to compromise is presented as mature, but it's really just compliant. In this Orwellian perspective, rolling over is standing up.
When I look around at what amounts to "the left" in the US, I find it to be full of compromises, with nearly nothing be excited about.
Yes I'll support a campaign for a $15 minimum wage. But what I really want is a world where the necessities of life are no longer monetized. Money creates artificial scarcity, and is a tool of control.
Yes, I'll support non-discrimination in employment. But what I really want is an end to the employer-employee relationship, whether the employer is a mom-and-pop or a multinational corporation. That relationship is exploitative at its core.
Yes, I'll support immigrants. But what I really want is a planet without borders. The nation-state is recent invention, and it's no coincidence that its rise has tracked with industrialism and capitalism. As a means of organization, it is fundamentally inequitable.
Yes, I'll support women going into politics and business. But what I really want is to smash patriarchy, and all the political and business institutions that go with it.
Yes, I'll support tenant rights. But what I really want is to end to the landlord-tenant relationship, whether the owner is an individual or a bank, and whether the arrangement is a lease or a mortgage. Nobody should have to pay for a roof over their head.
Yes, I'll support voting rights. But what I really want is a legitimate, participatory democracy, driven by people, not money or power, in which leadership is a role that is filled only as needed, not a club to bludgeon people with. Our current system excludes by default, when inclusivity is the only approach that will work for making a just society.
Yes, I'll support Medicare-for-all. But what I really want is an approach to health that is holistic, based on plants not pharmies, and that draws on all the world's effective traditions, not just Victorian-era European premises.
Yes, I'll support "science." But what I really want is a worldview that also embraces the value of the ineffable. The dismal reductionism of our day that masquerades as "reason" strips life of essential intrinsic qualities, and encourages us to act without sensitivity to that which we cannot measure or weigh.
Yes, I'll support funding for education. But what I really want is for the restitution of lifeways where coercion is not a method for helping children learn how to live in the world. Schools are far more about obedience and than they are about education.
Yes, I'll support cuts to "defense" spending (as if anybody even talks about that anymore). But what I really want is an absolute end to US imperialism, including the closing of all overseas military bases and the dismantling of the entire nuclear arsenal.
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