foodi
Cory DoctorowRight here. The difference between #liberals and #leftists in one sharp graf, in Naomi Klein's forthcoming DOPPELGANGER https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374610326/doppelganger
Bernard Dubuisson@pluralistic In #Belgium, « liberal » means pro-freedom, enterprise-friendly, hassle-free from the burden of State & taxes. So, it’s right wing even though some people make a difference between capitalist (Christmas) and liberal (turkeys). Historically, leftists & liberals have emerged from the same reaction against the dominant catholic party. They parted ways at the end of the nineteenth century but have many times come together on the issue on Church-State separation.
Paranoid Factoid@bernard_dub @pluralistic What side of the aisle did liberals sit at during the French Revolution?
@ParanoidFactoid @pluralistic I'm not sure the concept of liberalism was already there, it seemingly emerged during the Restauration period. But the French don't use the term "liberalism" to describe the right like Belgians do. A closer analogy, although more recent, would probably to be found towards the LibDems in the UK.
@bernard_dub @pluralistic No. Liberalism came from Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, et all. Many of them sat to the left at the Estates Generale, and that's where we get political left vs right. Think Edmund Burke, with his critique of the French Revolution and support of the monarchy as a center piece of conservatism. His thinking goes straight back to Hobbes' Leviathan. That's the right.
@ParanoidFactoid @pluralistic OK, I don't know that much about those origins. But what struck me is that the industrial revolution and its new inequalities, based not on a ruler's excentricities or the Church, but on the means of production, provoked a new chiasm between freedom-fighters. A part of them calling themselves "liberals" promoted the freedom of trade and a weak State, while another part of the progressives followed Marx & stuck to workers rights guaranteed by a heavy State.
@bernard_dub @pluralistic Marx wrote in the mid 19th Century. But these ideas were formed from the early 18th Century. The 17th, if you count free speech.
Led By Gilded Fools@pluralistic King County, WA residents: Of 19 copies on order, 16 copies as of now are available to put a "hold" on. #Seattle #KingCounty
https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=Doppelganger&searchType=smart
Chris T@MHowell @pluralistic Just put a Toronto Public Library hold in for this. 28 holds ahead of me with an unknown (to me) number on order. 💪
Mr. Completely@pluralistic yup. Liberals are basically pro status quo but want it to be nicer to those currently not empowered; they want fair play under existing rules. This goes back to before the founding of the US and was strongly reflected in the debate and politics around the drafting of the Constitution, as I understand it. The progressive left, under many historical names, wants structural change that rewrites the game rules and reshuffles the socioeconomic deck. Liberals usually hate this definition
ChiselerNeil@mrcompletely @pluralistic Or, as some acquaintances framed it for me, liberalism is "brunch conquers all".
graphictruth@pluralistic What Kline and others have never been forced to confront is that merit alone has never been enough. You need luck, you need applicable certification, you need to be in the right place at the right time. & friends!!!
It helps to be white or Asian if applying for office jobs.
Merit helps you do your work well and sometimes keep it, if you're good at office politics.
There are physical and mental differences and disabilities. Normies can get overtaken by anxiety or xenophobia.
With so many factors, life is unpredictable for most of us and the multigenerational poor have no chance at all.
An Unconditional Basic Income and free, lifelong education delivered via universal broadband. Give everyone a solid floor and a common thread of practical decency. Make it easy to contribute and don't sweat those who can't and won't. Nobody ought to be bound to put up with those who cannot work with others. Nobody should be living under a bridge, either.
Koire@graphictruth @pluralistic
I love that phrasing, give everyone a solid floor and raise it. I honestly don't understand how and why that is controversial. It's so logical and easy to reason about. If someone starts in basement 5 and someone else starts on the 13th floor... And they want to climb it's so easy to see that increasing the bottom to at least ground floor would help everyone
I love that phrasing, give everyone a solid floor and raise it. I honestly don't understand how and why that is controversial. It's so logical and easy to reason about. If someone starts in basement 5 and someone else starts on the 13th floor... And they want to climb it's so easy to see that increasing the bottom to at least ground floor would help everyone
There have been so many studies of an Unconditional Basic Income showing that it encourages, rather than discourages employment. People who believe otherwise are probably speaking from their inability to keep the destitute employees they select for.
It's expensive to have a job. It's even harder to look for one.
whereisk@graphictruth @pluralistic the question that demands an answer no matter how you cut the pie: what happens to those deemed less than? Whether by circumstance, fate or choice.
The entrepreneurs more than any. I hear so much whining about the lack of people willing to work, people unqualified for work and people who are "too proud " to work for minimum wage.
Regulations and policies expressed in law are required. Let's do tax reform too, ensuring that it's good for smaller employers as well as their employees.
Everyone gets a huge load off their minds. And WTF is government for, if not that?
There will always be "failures to launch." Parents and family matter so much; if anything happens to them, the results can be tragic. This isn't the individual's fault down the line.
Social workers speak of the "foster care to tent pipeline." (Idk who I stole that from. )
These are Social failures. Not "it's Society's fault." It's a failure due to holes and gaps in the social fabric. The unlucky underdogs need more than the current structure can provide. 🛠
Winston Smith@pluralistic this text (describing Wolf) sounds like a description of libertarian, not liberal politics?
@misterjayem on BlueSky@pluralistic As MrsJM calls it: The 'Reform' Trap.