A must read for anyone that wants to understand present day political, cultural, and class conflict. By Daniel McCarthy The American Conservative Michael Hogue Shock gave way to relief this summer as America’s political establishment—rattled by Donald Trump’s success in winning the Republican nomination—reassured itself of his inevitable […]
What I find interesting is how so many people, and not just liberals and leftists but also many conservatives and libertarians and a few anarchists, regard Trump as some special category of sinner or menace. I’m not a Trump guy. I think he’s a loud mouthed, corrupt, egocentric […]
It would be better if third parties would forget about trying to take over the federal government and focus their efforts on projects where they can actually win such as taking over municipal and county governments. The ATS ideas of pan-decentralization, pan-secessionism, and the city-state system provide a […]
The best analysis of political polarization in the US (Red Tribe vs. Blue Tribe) that I have seen to date. Jonathan Haidt argues that political ideology and party affiliation are the major dividing lines in American politics, with race and class being a distant second, and religion and […]
The neocons throw out another jobber as an anti-Trump candidate. Read the article from Politico.Com here. It looks to me like what is happening is that the ruling class is circling the wagons. I’ve always thought there was no way in hell the power elite would ever let […]
An interesting discussion of Sanders vs. Clinton’s neoliberalism from a Marxist perspective. The apparently escalating divisions between centrist neoliberalism, the identity politics oriented Left and the socialist/labor Left are described in some detail. The only thing that unites the liberal and Left end of the spectrum is their […]
By John W. Whitehead August 1, 2016 “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”—Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union No, America, you don’t have to vote. In fact, vote or don’t vote, the police state will continue to […]
Press TV. “Both sides cheat in American elections; Democrats and Republicans cheat and that’s been known for many years,” said Keith Preston. Both major political parties in the United States have cheated in previous presidential elections, a political analyst in Virginia says. “Both sides cheat in American […]
By Matthew Gagnon Pine Tree Politics The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a fascinating moment in world history. Yet, the Roman Empire did not cease to exist in 476 as most people believe. Rome had long before been split into two administrative divisions — a […]
These poor folks keeping falling for one scam artist after another. By Nick Gass Politico.Com Former Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann leads an alphabetical list of names announced by Donald Trump’s campaign on Tuesday as the presumptive Republican nominee’s evangelical executive advisory board. Along with […]
Hmm. Rumsfeld endorses Trump while Cheney has implicitly endorsed Hillary. It looks like the imperialists are trying to cover all their bases. Rumsfeld tells DailyMail.com that he will vote for the Republicans’ presumptive nominee because he’s a ‘known unknown’ and Hillary Clinton is a ‘known known’ 9/11-era defense […]
This would be an astounding accomplishment for the minor parties.
This is important news because it signifies a genuine tension between the seriously anti-imperialist Left and the center-Left. These cleavages are becoming every more pronounced all the time whether the issue is foreign policy, labor policy, trade, civil liberties, criminal justice, the environment, the war on drugs, police […]
This is getting weird. Truth Axis Omar Mateen, the suspected gunman behind the Orlando Pulse Nightclub massacre, appears to have an entry in the Internet Movie Database. The entry gives him credit for appearances in two movies. In 2012 he appeared as himself in The Big Fix, a […]
There goes the libertarian neighborhood. Now is the time for serious anti-state radicals to forget about “fiscal conservatism and social liberalism” and become full-blown anarchists. By Nicky Woolf The Guardian ‘I wish everybody in the Republican party had rejected Mr Trump and chosen someone else,’ Romney said on […]
If the Trump and Sanders movements become a permanent fixture of US politics, the real effect of this will be to repeal the Reagan Revolution and bring American politics back to what it was in the 1970s, and with relatively similar political, economic, and social circumstances (minus the […]
Thus far, there appears to be only one truism about Donald Trump: You can’t believe a word he says. But what matters is what Trump would actually do as a head of state, not what he says to the press or during campaign speeches. His track record indicates […]
By Margaret Kimberley Counterpunch/Black Agenda Report Joseph Sohm | Shutterstock.com Donald Trump is the ill spoken, boorish, graceless version of every American president in modern history. He differs from them only in his unconcealed appeals to white nationalism. But Democrats aren’t much better. They pretend to work on behalf of […]
My guess is that Kristol is hoping for one of two outcomes with this. Either his candidate will throw the election to Hillary and his own neocon camp will defect to her side and try to puppet master her. Some neocons like the Kagans and Max Boot are […]
A good critique of the presidential race by a left-anarchist. The Trump-Mussolini comparison is standard leftist hyperbole (see today’s other post). Trump is probably more comparable to a figure like Nelson Rockefeller, although comparing Hillary to Nixon is reasonably accurate as is a comparison of Obama and Nixon. […]
By Sean Gabb Libertarian Alliance Though we have nearly four weeks yet of campaigning, I find it hard to believe that the European Referendum will end in other than a crushing defeat for the Leave Campaign. For many on our side, this will be the end of their […]
By Chris Shaw The concept of a libertarian party should be simple. A collection of multiple strands of libertarian and anarchist ideologues, thinkers and activists coming together to present multiple alternatives to the current statist world. Simple, right? Not so for the modern Libertarian Party of America. It […]
Sanders voted against the Iraq War and has criticized efforts to use NATO to encircle Russia. By Walter Ross LA Progressive Progressives like LA Progressive editor Dick Price have indicated many domestic reasons why progressives prefer Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton. A recent New York Times editorial also […]
Whatever else could be said about Trump, he’s definitely a businessman who does his market research. By Toni Monkovic New York Times Donald Trump has dominated polling among Republicans for the better part of a year, as he has delighted in reminding people. But there’s one poll that […]
The poor social conservatives. They’ve gone from being useful idiots for Nixon, to useful idiots for Reagan, to useful idiots for the neocons, to useful idiots for Trump. They’re kind of like a woman that gets taken advantage of by one abusive husband or boyfriend after another. “We’ll […]
A more viable strategy for the progressives might be for someone like Jill Stein to enter the Democratic contest in 2020 and build on the Sanders legacy. Sanders has pulled a Ron Paul in the Democratic Party (though more successfully than what Paul achieved in the GOP), and […]
My latest take on the presidential contest (not to be confused with an actual endorsement of any of the candidates). Some polls now show Sanders actually having a better chance of beating Trump than Clinton. Up until ten years ago, maybe even more recently, it would have impossible […]
It is interesting how this election is essentially unfolding according to the ATS playbook. Ten years ago, I predicted that U.S. society would continue moving leftward until the Clinton Democrats began to be considered conservative, and liberalism would come to be dominated by trends more closely resembling the […]
By Brian Doherty Reason As Trump vs. Clinton looms horrifyingly on the horizon, normal human Americans seek any escape route, even one as outre as the Libertarian Party. That is, we’ve seen more chatter and news and commentary about the L.P.’s still ongoing-presidential race (which will be settled […]
By Ann Garrison Counterpunch Bernie Sanders’ defeats in the East Coast primaries have triggered a flurry of conversation about what the 25 to 35% of Sanders supporters who’ve told pollsters they will not vote for Hillary Clinton will do instead. Socialist Alternative, led by Seattle City Council member […]
All that it would take for the US to become a four-party rather than two-party state would be for Sanders to ultimately endorse Jill Stein of the Greens over Hillary, and for the anti-Trump Republicans to start an independent party of their own or make a run on […]
During her campaign, Clinton, who I suspect will be the next president, is moving left on social policy and right on foreign policy. Hillary and Trump represent two trends I have been predicting for a long time. I have thought that the SJWs and the neocons would start […]
I suspect the analysis in this article is largely correct. By Jamelle Bouie Slate.Com Donald Trump speaks to supporters and the media at Trump Tower in Manhattan following his victory in the Indiana primary on Tuesday.View Press/Getty Images Now that Donald Trump is just a few delegates away […]
Press TV. Listen here: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/04/27/462876/Trump-Sanders-Clinton-Insurgency-Preston/ “What these two guys [Trump and Sanders] represent is a insurgency that is taking place on a class level,” Preston says. A deepening political fragmentation in US politics that stems from an ongoing war between different social classes in the country has given […]
By Walter Bragman Salon.Com Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump(Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder/Photo montage by Salon) There are perhaps no three words more jarring to liberals than “President Donald Trump.” The GOP front-runner and presumptive nominee has undoubtedly made enemies with his nativist rhetoric and bellicose persona. That said, now […]
By Thomas Knapp The Garrison Center In March, an open letter from 121 Republican “national security leaders” characterized GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s foreign policy vision as “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle,” swinging “from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence.” While it’s always wise […]
By William S. Lind Traditional Right Virtually all the reporting about this fall’s presidential election focuses on the candidates and the question of who is going to win nomination and election. That is to be expected. But it misses what really matters. The likelihood that either the nominating […]
Will the Soros-owned Democrats and the Koch-owned Republicans come together in opposition to the insurgencies that are developing on both ends? The ruling class always forms a united front in the end. By Kristen East Politico Billionaire businessman Charles Koch said Sunday that “it’s possible” another Clinton in […]
LibertarianHeathen.Com A practical guide for success, in the moment we have all been waiting for. By: Ryan Ramsey Chairman, Bradford County Affiliate State Executive Committee Representative, Region 4 Libertarian Party of Florida Since 1971, Libertarians have dreamed of this day. The moment enough members of the one party system’s […]
Press TV. Listen here: http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/19/461447/US-election-Donald-Trump/ “It’s only because of the system that Donald Trump’s candidacy is as popular as it is,” Keith Preston says. US Republican front-runner Donald Trump is buying his way into the electoral campaign and the corrupt political system is the reason why his candidacy […]
A nuanced article on Trump from the Left. If all leftists were like James Petras, I might not criticize the Left so fervently. By James Petras Dissident Voice From left to right a raucous chorus has emerged to denounce Republican Presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump as a ‘fascist’. […]
The best response to the Trump campaign from the Left that I’ve seen to date. This is a must read, and a reminder of why Counterpunch is one of the few leftist forums to take their anti-imperialist seriously. This article is an almost perfect critique of the Left […]
A debate between Walter Block and Robert Wenzel hosted by Tom Woods. I found myself generally agreeing with Wenzel in this. Listen here. When libertarian scholar Walter Block announced the creation of Libertarians for Trump, he generated a good deal of controversy. Now he explains his support for […]
The crack in the PC Coalition gets wider. This is awesome! Hopefully, the party conventions this summer will resemble Chicago 1968. Street fighting between Clintonistas and BLM, and between Trumpians and Neocons, would be beyond awesome.
On this week’s episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin interviews American political figure Ralph Nader about the 2016 presidential race—from the “Brown Shirt” Trump movement to “corporate criminal” Hillary Clinton—and the reality of who has power in America. Known for his widely-popular presidential run in 2000, he […]
Contra Chomsky, I’d argue Hillary is just as awful as a neocon which is why many neocons have moved in her direction. By Joseph Mulkerin Truth-Out Ever since the 2012 election results were certified, the conventional wisdom has been that Hillary Clinton is all but guaranteed a coronation […]
Chomsky makes his case against for Hillary as the lesser of the evils (mostly on anti-neocon and environmentalist grounds). Renowned political theorist Noam Chomsky is often cited for his criticism of the US political system. In the second of a special two-part interview, Chomsky sits down with Mehdi […]
This is interesting in that Chomsky goes into a great deal of detail explaining why he thinks Trump is extraordinarily awful, but then concludes that Ted Cruz is even more dangerous.
This article is two months old, so some of its discussion of the presidential contest is a bit dated. But I tend to agree with the author’s general argument, i.e. that Sanders is actually the least state-centric of the presidential candidates (a very low standard, to be sure). […]
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson
Recent Comments