dawnatellaNov 7, 2022
Yesterday @BlackAzizAnansi asked what it will take to defeat #fascism in the US and I want to go on a rant about this because I have some really concrete ideas I wish #progressive and #Democratic candidates would put in the center of their campaigns. I don't work in #Politics . I've spent 30 years in the trenches of our #economy as an accountant and biz owner. As much as we may want voters to vote for their values, they vote with their pocketbook and we would do well to address that. 1/
Show threaddawnatellaNov 7, 2022

@BlackAzizAnansi #Democracy will defeat #fascism. the intersection of #democracy and #capitalism could do it even faster & win elections.

We see this right now in our #TwitterMigration. We were able to migrate out of a monopoly situation to this alternative good, and #mastodon offers a vast improvement precisely because the infinite marketplace of servers lets us move freely and consume our social media exactly as we would like to, not how a monopolists tell us to or sells to us. 2/

Show threaddawnatellaNov 7, 2022

Our constitution is based on the #federation of a bunch of separate, locally-controlled States because the founders believed that smaller and local #political control would best protect #freedom and ensure people better representation than a centralized - Monopolistic or, fascistic - form of government.
Same w the economy.

#mastodon gives us an example of what a positive vision of the US economy could be for the #progressive #democratic #economicpolicy.
3/

Show threaddawnatellaNov 7, 2022
A #SmBiz, #EmployeeOwned, decentralized marketplace is exactly what we ought to be championing if we want to achieve #EconomicJustice and disrupt the foundations upon which maga paranoia rests. We can't achieve #EconomicJustice by taxing all corps and giving the $ away from the federal govt. administration of that would be horrible and fraught w questions of fairness. It should be done by a citizen's take-over of the market from the ground up -- by prioritizing worker-owned businesses. 4/
4/
Show threaddawnatellaNov 7, 2022

The reason magats are calling us fascists is they fear the centralization that we shouldn't want either.

We can lead with a new #Progressive #American Dream, clearly defining that the optimal market under our watch would prioritize #WorkerOwned biz & aggressively incentivize large multi-state corps to #EmployeeOwnership.

Incentivize means giving tax breaks to #SmBiz and #EO biz and penalizing those that don't spread the equity around.

Give workers a paycheck and a profit check

5/

Show threaddawnatella
#Organizedconsumers is the other part of this.
We didn't need anti-trust regulation to break up twitter. We just choose to go elsewhere.
#Organizedconsumers can get instant responses.
Just the threat of #boycott causes corps to change course immediately.
Imagine if instead of amazon, we had a federated buying forum where all #Smbiz could list their goods, USPS delivers, and no algorithm enriches a billionaire?
#StrategicBuying should be empowered by #progressive policies
6/
Nov 7, 2022 at 12:36amWeb
Show threaddawnatellaNov 7, 2022

No one wants their taxes to go up. Our tax heavy platform will naturally scare voters away -- and apparently they will vote for election deniers and fascists if it suits their pocketbook!
I hope #progressives will consider being #SmBiz owner's best friend, putting them in the center of a positive view of #CitizenOwnership of the #AmericanDream.
I think it would get a lot of voters back onboard and it actually charts a course for how to achieve the #EconomicJustice goals we all want.

/end

Show threadBlack Aziz Anansi [In Exile]Nov 7, 2022

@dawnatella Thanks for the response Dawn, but I disagree with a lot of what you had to say lol. While I certainly do think that using the market against itself can address fascism in certain instances, we truly won't be able to get out of the rut we are in until we can address the fact that much of the fascism that we see exists simply because the wealthy want to stay wealthy, which means they have an incentive to fight against progressive policies that revolve around equity.

Nobody wants their taxes to go up at all, but there is no reason that your average Joe should be paying more taxes than the millionaires and billionaires in this country. We need to address the fact that we are living in a country where average folks are getting nickled and dimed just for being alive, while being gaslighted into thinking they aren't working hard enough or convinced that another oppressed group is responsible for their economic conditions.