Look for a lot of faux Le Penists and faux Christian Democrats to emerge among the Repugs in the future, along with an increased number of cranks obsessed with stuff like QAnon and UFOs. Krystal Ball and Rachel Bovard react to Josh Hawley’s plans to challenge the electoral […]
Most political factions only support free speech when out of power. Even then, it’s a mixed bag. Most Trumpists would probably bring back anti-flag burning laws in a heartbeat. Most leftists would probably be glad to create an Index of Prohibited Hate Books. By Chip Gibbons, The Jacobin […]
A symposium of paleoconservative scholars discusses the leftist works they most admire. By Mark G. Brennan, Pedro Gonzalez, Paul Gottfried, Alexander Riley, Robert L. Paquette, Stephen B. Presser, Chronicles In The Politics of Prudence, Russell Kirk dismissed the notion of conservatism grounding itself in a single foundational text. Since […]
I suspect I am part of the reason why Pete has been given grief by the folks he is describing. Many years ago, I started taking a gloves-off, no-holds-barred approach to these what are now called “cancel culture” morons. For me, it’s never been a left/right issue. Back […]
By Pella Libertas A specter is haunting civilization. The specter of Covid 19. For a year the world as we knew it has been plunged into a state of economic shock. By the recommendations of unelected Health Experts, Epidemiologists, the CDC, and the World Health Organization, social gatherings […]
An interesting critique of anarchism from a medievalist, throne and altar, Eastern Orthodox perspective. It’s always interesting and a good plan to see what “the other side” has to say. Btw, folks, this is what true conservatism looks like, not the know-nothing shit being dished out by FOX […]
It’s been rather interesting to watch the so-called “left” embrace both hysterical right-wingophobia and neo-McCarthyism at the same time. By Max Parry, Countercurrents Recently, a certain political concept has been resurrected that warrants interrogation. The notion of a ‘red-brown’ alliance has been thrown around so ubiquitously as a […]
The problem that I have with most so-called “free market” economists is that most of them aren’t. I suppose my ideal economy would be something like a giant flea market (or an infinite collection of micro-flea markets) which would certainly leave room for plenty of cooperatives, communes, and […]
This is a pretty good overview of what socialism actually is, its history, and what socialists actually believe. I agree with much of this (in terms of the article’s historical and factual accuracy) but disagree with certain parts. For example, I wouldn’t refer to the Soviet/Chinese model as […]
About ten years ago, someone asked me why I was so strident in my opposition to “political correctness,” or what I have often described as “totalitarian humanism,” and which is now more commonly called “wokeness.” My response is that there are three basic reasons: 1) Anarchism is the […]
By Peter R. Quinones Anyone immersed in politics knows what the title of this piece is referring to. In every party or movement there is an obnoxiously loud faction that can, and often does, exert influence beyond their numbers. The most obvious example I can think of is […]
“The Left is now an upper-middle-class project against the ruling class. It is time for us Marxists to draw a clear line against them.” This Swedish Marxist gets it. The Left now plays the same role as liberals in the 19th century, i.e. the party of the rising […]
Geez, whoever heard of that? This commentary certainly applies to anarchists as well as the general libertarian/anti-state milieu.
Kshama Sawant’s Trotskyist party is infiltrating AOC’s social democratic party. Funny. Socialist Alternative National Committee We are in a new historical period, and socialists must adjust to this deeply changed situation. 2020 will be remembered as a crucial turning point worldwide with the pandemic, economic crash, the biggest […]
By Jason D. Hill,Quillette In recent years, free speech and inquiry have come under attack on college campuses, ethical relativism has spread, and demands to decolonize syllabi and rid them of canonical white male texts and thinkers have become increasingly common. Hostility to reason, objectivity, and Enlightenment universalism […]
By Hannah Allam, National Public Radio The widespread embrace of conspiracy and disinformation amounts to a “mass radicalization” of Americans, and increases the risk of right-wing violence, veteran security officials and terrorism researchers warn. At conferences, in op-eds and at agency meetings, domestic terrorism analysts are raising concern […]
The actual leadership (ownership) of the Republican Party (American ARENA/American Likudniks) is actually to the right of both New York liberal Trump and the know-nothing populist “basis.”
This article combines some of the usual right-wing howlers (like the Democrats and Antifa being on the same team, or the mayors of New York and Seattle being anarchists) with some actual insights, like the relationship between big tech and the rising sectors of the capitalist class and […]
A pretty good assessment of the partisan/tribal “civil war” from Williamson, proving that even a neocon mouthpiece can be right twice a day. By Kevin Williamson, National Review In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Bill Gates said he expects that there will be an ugly wave of […]
As a proud worst person, Krystal and Saager will sometimes do a segment that reminds me of how lame their respective social democratic and civic nationalist politics actually are. Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti discuss Mehdi Hasan’s Rush Limbaugh appearance.
This is like one of those deconverted Jehovah’s Witnesses videos.
This is a pretty interesting discussion of culture war politics. Glad to see Saager pointing out that “conservatism” is a scam and Krystal pointing out that the capitalist class uses wokeness as a marketing gimmick.
The most interesting thing about the election was the way in which what are essentially two moderate Republican candidates managed to dupe millions into thinking this was some kind of Eastern Front existential showdown between fascism and communism. By Kevin Singer, Alyssa Rockenbach The Independent Men who refer […]
Most of the US Left seems to have bought into the narrative that Trump is either a literal fascist or a conventional reactionary or right-wing strongman like Putin, Erdogan, Orban, Duterte, Bolsonaro, etc. I think all of this is a misunderstanding of what historic fascism actually was, how […]
Ain’t gonna happen. Look for a genuine armed insurgency based in rural America to emerge at some point in the future like the similar insurgencies that have traditionally existed in remote areas of Latin America as the US class system increasingly begins to look like Latin America’s class […]
By Norbert Bolz, TELOS When the historian Ernst Nolte formulated the thesis that Auschwitz was “the fear-induced reaction to the extermination processes of the Russian Revolution,” he was finished in the academic world. It was even of no help to him emphasizing that the copy was more irrational, […]
A somewhat interesting examination of Strasserism from a Communist perspective. Cosmonaut With Strasserism becoming a common accusation made towards various political trends on the left, K. T. Jamieson makes a historical investigation of Strasserism and its ideology and argues that it creates more confusion than clarity to label […]
Kulinski’s milquetoast Berniebro social democracy is not my thing at all. But this is a great overview of why “right-wing” libertarianism fails. It ultimately ends of getting co-opted by the standard coalition of corporatists and reactionaries, who are in turn being puppetmastered by the imperialists, with the actual […]
This commentary is almost five years old but it seems to be a fairly accurate assessment of the fracturing of the libertarian milieu. As one who is generally more interested in meta-politics than politics, I’m generally favorably disposed to all sincere enemies of the state, regardless of what […]
I don’t know anything about the controversy described below but it seems to be another example of libertarianism being overrun by culture war tribalism. I generally find Reason to be good on civil liberties, a mixed bag on foreign policy, and shitty neoliberals on economics (except for their […]
I don’t really consider myself to be part of mainstream US libertarianism (the axis of ideas influenced by Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Rand, and Rothbard) though I am a fellow traveler on a range of topics. But in recent years I have noticed that US libertarianism (the movement seems […]
SJWs of the Right. This is nothing new. There were right-wing groups like this when I was an undergrad in the 80s. By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout When President Donald Trump convened the White House Conference on American History in mid-September, he wowed attendees with news that he’d […]
I generally find the ancap/libertarians vs libsoc/ancom debate to be irrelevant, though interesting on a sufficiently abstract level, because neither side gives due recognization to the fact that governments and corporations are part of the same ruling class apparatus. It’s like two medieval anarchists arguing over, “Who should […]
Leftists: “Conservatives have their cancel culture, too!” Palecons: “We know.” Areo It’s been said that when Germany invaded Russia in June 1941, the Soviet military elite had been so hollowed out by Stalin’s purges that the Red Army had trouble mounting an initial counter-offensive. According to a new […]
Given that virtually everything is labeled as “fascism” nowadays (echoing tendencies from the past), self-education on what fascism actually was might be helpful. Stanley Payne’s work on the history of fascism is some of the best there is. The Wikipedia entry on Payne summarizes some of his basic […]
A somewhat interesting discussion between a social democrat and a Marxist. Predictably wimpy in places. –Vaush, a socialist streamer, YouTube personality, and debater, joins David to discuss the 2020 election, socialism, social democracy, activism, and much more
A reader writes: You should be a culture warrior because that’s the real front of conflict at the moment. Peterson I feel has run out of steam of late sure (tbf he has health issues so I empathize) but at the same time, capturing the system back from […]
The only hope for the Republicans to continue to be a competitive national party will be to increase their ability to attract minority voters. It doesn’t look for them even if Trump managed to improve his performance among minorities in 2020 over 2016. My guess is that the […]
The Left is not in a position to fight the neoliberals because they are more afraid of the Trumpists.
One thing that is interesting about culture war partisans is the way they always think the government, police, corporations, or whoever favors their rivals and that the other side’s extremists are really in cahoots with law enforcement or the intelligence services. By Aymann Ismail, Slate Photographer Zach D […]
A podcast from It’s Going Down. Some of the analysis is interesting. I wouldn’t consider a Trumpist third party to be “fascist” any more than I would consider the proposed Peoples Party being floated by some left-over Sandernistas to be “communist.” A Trumpist party would be to the […]
To ask the question is to answer it. He was the plutocrats’ handpicked frontman to purge the Orange Man. Hedges is way too much of a conventional liberal ideologue for my tastes, and this interview contains a fair amount of obvious hyperbole, but he’s interesting is that he […]
So Republicans and Democrats share a similar future. Fair enough. The encouraging thing that has happened on the mainstream right-wing lately has been the signs of a split between FOX and the Trumpists and talk of a Trump TV network. Being a persistent thorn in the side to […]
This is a pretty good critique of the “flag and a pie and a mom and a Bible” crowd. Although it’s obvious weakness is that it fails to take totalitarian humanism and its relationship to the digital capitalist revolution seriously. “Christian nationalists” are a minority political faction in […]
Krystal and Saager totally lose me with their affirmation of Richard Wolff’s praise for China’s response to COVID-19. China is a test market for the kinds of state repression global and US national elites want to bring to the West. Unfortunately, if you scratch a right-wing populist like […]
By Bill Lind, Traditional Right As of this writing, the outcome of the Presidential election is uncertain although it appears Biden will “win”, thanks to questionable vote totals from urban areas. The Senate looks as if it will remain Republican, and the Democrats have held onto the House […]
Dave Rubin’s program has interesting interviews at times, but he’s just become a neocon puppet at this point. He’s being used by the neocons to create the “next conservatism.” Kim’s critique of the Left is spot on although, fortunately, we don’t need the Left. We just need the […]
The gist of this article is that Trumpism actually has nothing to do with fascism but could possibly, kinda sorta, be a stepping stone to fascism, maybe. Sometimes I think these “anti-fascist” people actually want fascism to happen so they can have something to feel heroic and/or self-righteous […]
This article nails it down pretty down. The main thing I would add is the left’s embrace of scientism (“science” is not merely a process capable of generating error like anything else but the modern version of a papal bull) and therapeutism (“health” is the highest value and […]
The most immediately obvious problem with this article is that it merely makes the left-opposition into an appendage of the Democratic Party (to the degree they are not already) held captive by rightwingophobia. Although a valid point the article makes is that the neocons will indeed attempt to […]
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson
Recent Comments