Glad you all were safe. There were a ton of cop cars going up and down the major drag where they held the No Kings event here. I can't say I was all that impressed by the juvenile signs. We got stared at for wearing keffiyahs and holding Palestinian flags. When we started chanting, "We don't want no Zionists here!" we had people move away from us on our corner. Obviously, the Dems weren't too thrilled with anti-genocide protesters. They just wanted to have cute signs and maintain the status quo with their VBNMW vibes apparently. And then go have brunch.
I have always brought a “Bombs Off Gaza” sign to all the Indivisible protests and at every one had multiple people thank me for bringing it and asking to photograph it. My thought about any issue is bring it to the event … make it present.
For this evrnt, yes. For any event at all, no. Appropriation of others’ presence for one’s own cause that's not related, by bringing signs that label them as possibly there under your sign, is both disrespectful and, as earned by that disrespect, unactionable. When multiple competing demands are present, it allows unwilling legislators to play shell games with partial solutions until in the end, no action is taken at all.
Going in a group and sticking together can potentially reduce a small part of the problem, since it's more clear that separate groups have different goals, but it doesn't remove the opportunity it gives politicians to triangulate the different demands, and it still offers media the opportunity to describe the event as incoherent, and greatly reduces the chance that the media will be able to report clearly or in any way intelligently on what's going on.
I have investigated this experimentally and have clearly found that once the message is complicated with conflicting statements, people pull back and do not want to get involved. They may even feel distinctly put off by chaotic, disorganized energy.
Demands that piggyback diffuse and defuse both the original demand and the piggybacking demand.
A clear, simple, actionable focus is best for demanding concrete change. Leaving founders’ messages to stand on their own without appropriating their energy is most respectful by far, and that respect garners much more support all around.
I can agree with much of what you say but when an action like No Kings is organized to mount opposition to a fascist government and doesn't include genocide -- the single greatest crime a nation or government can commit -- I say to hell with it. It's beyond politics. Show up and march. Force the message and carry the cause of the victims. I was prepared to participate even if told to leave. I have as much right to walk down a street as the other participants and as much right to free speech and nobody would or will stop me. Fortunately the "Bombs Off Gaza" message was embraced by many at both No Kings events.
1. a sign "bombs off Gaza" isn't anti-genocide. It's really more anti-war.
It could be anti-occupation, anti-Iron Dome, pro-one-state-solution, pro-two-state-solution, and much more. Be specific. Vague catch-alls fragment the message and decrease trust and interest.
2. every single-issue activist thinks that their cause is the most important cause on the planet, and is justification for violating the rules of how human nature works, because "it has to work in my favor this time, because it's so important".
I didn't say what I said above because I think that's how human nature should be, I said it because that is how human nature is. When people see appropriation and disrespect, they don't stop to think, "hm but it seems like it's really important to the person doing it, so I should think about it some more and come to agreement with them". They think, "this person has no idea what is going on and is aggressive and boundary-less to boot. This doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth".
If you can find a way to explicitly tie your message to the message of whatever protest, while adding support to that protest and not taking away from it in any way whatsoever, and only then, then do that. And be explicit. Don't leave it up to your audience to connect the vague dots. This is not a learning exercise where you have their captive attention and are required to struggle to understand you or they will get a bad grade. Be specific, and aim for achievable outcomes not grandiose big conversions.
3. But if your message doesn't add reasons to the original protest, which is what I mean by "adding support", then exercise self-control and don't do it.
Human nature is not interested in your butt-ins, even if it's really important. First they will judge the social interaction that's going on, and only after that will they attend to whatever you're trying to say.
Believe me when I say that the loss of effectiveness in all protests in the last 50 years is directly tied to the fragmentation and scattering of messages, as multiple people each with their own "this one is special and outside the rules" climbs onto the stage. It happened to Bernie's 2015-16 campaign. It happened to Occupy. Don't do it now.
Oh, the Bernie campaign is another issue completely. He always was and will forever be a sell-out hustling sheep dog for the DNC. I do appreciate his FINALLY calling what we and Israel are doing in Gaza a genocide. But geeez, it took him almost TWO years.
As for my message/sign and showing up at a No Kings or any other political event... I am a free citizen, free to say whatever I want. I don't have to toe the line to the government, a political party or protest script. ESPECIALLY when it comes to genocide -- which trump's all other issues at this moment.
As for the message "Bombs Off Gaza" ... it is clear, totally appropriate and timely as Israel continues to bomb innocents. The people who approached me and said they liked and appreciated the message at No Kings events clearly understood it and some were even moved by seeing it within a protest environment where Gaza was specifically ignored.
Personally, I am not interested in bolstering a political or protest movement that ignores OUR Gaza genocide and will use the opportunity and carry the protest of our genocide anywhere a political event is happening in my area. When it comes to our genocide, I will protest any general protest -- like No Kings -- that ignores it.
If some think that is inconvenient, impolite or are disturbed, upset or put off by that, I frankly don't ... give ... a .... damn.
If you feel you have a better message, great, grab some cardboard and a marker and head off to a political event near you.
For all those interested in political messaging, check out George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant" ...
In Chicago, before the No Kings protest, businesses locked their doors to ICE. Tow truck drivers were towing their vehicles removing them. And Restaurants had a sign, We don't Serve ICE. This is what a community of private and sovereign individuals do. Also if there is unity, ask the local government to cut off water and unitilties. This is called State sovereignty. And it's all Peaceful
TYT / Ana Kasparian are FUNDED-BY And SHILL FOR XIONIST DEMONRATS including:
❌ YouTube as part of the $300 million Google [xionaxi gate-keeper] “News” Initiative that was announced in 2018.
❌ Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg funder of ButcherBidenz GenocideCampaign.
❌ TYT is Sponsored by, and promotes commercials at viewers to sell them on buying XioNaxiSPY UNIT8200-Run, EXPRESS VPN ❗️
TYT is NOTHING MORE THAN A XioNaxi “Democrat Party” SHEEP DOG, PAID to round-up votes for the So-Called, "Democrat" Face of Corporate TotalitarianFascist, XioNaxiGenocide.
THIS XioNaziDemonRatz PUSH is for up-coming MidTerm Elections VOTES.
If DoNothingDemz renew their majority status in congress ALL their sudden Anti-Genocide / AntiFascism Rants vanish as swiftly as they appeared.
DCs Racism is an ALL-INCLUSIVE, Bi-Partisan, ANTI-CONstitution, Pro-Corporate TotalitarianFascist Genocide, XioNaxiBigTent
🛑🚨 ‼️DO NOT BE SHEEP-HERDED‼️ 🚨🛑
▪️Kahanism and American Politics: The Democratic Party's Decades-Long Courtship of [LikudParty] Racist Fanatics
GENOCIDE and blocked pro-Palestinian speakers at many of their "parades"
... 2) They
promoted wearing yellow to stand with Ukraine and Taiwan ... Shitlibs for perpetual proxy wars. 3) No mention of 3 straight
DNCC(orporation) coronated candidates. 4) USA does not have a Monarchy problem, we have a fascism problem from both blue MAGA and red MAGA. 5) Both Read and Blue want war with Venezuela for their Oil.
And I saw expressions of all those issues in the march I was in. No political movement, group, party, theory or candidate will ever be perfect. Should Gaza be part of No Kings? Yes, of course. That is why I always take Gaza to any of these events I attend, and -- as noted above -- I regularly get comments of support and appreciation by others.
Politics is not another word for 'perfection'. It is always messy, conflicted, selective and hypocritical. It is an ever-evolving process, not a product. Once it is a product you get the corruption of the GOP & Dems.
If two political entities agree on three of ten issues, I think there is value to working on the three and debating the seven and aligning with others on those issues. What I have experienced initially with the Democrats and then generally with the left is a self-destructive form of purity testing.
As an example, recently I met with a local organizer of some pretty impressive actions in my community. They have worked on demonstrations to local petitions and organizing. I met with one of the organizers and we were in agreement on pretty much everything and discussed ways my skill set could be useful. Then out of the blue he asked what I thought of drag queen reading events for children. Given my background as a psychotherapist, parent and grandparent I said they were absolutely inappropriate and obscene.
Our meeting concluded shortly after. When I got home I texted him some information he had requested. And over the next couple days links to some material I thought could be helpful for some projects he mentioned. That was about five months ago and to date he has never replied.
He ghosted me.
Over a disagreement on drag queen book reading for kids.
Yeah, really!
That is the kind of purity testing that has poisoned the left and the single biggest asset helping the fascists.
Could No Kings do more? Absolutely. Should there be more emphasis on follow-up action? Yes. The potential is there. That's why the right wing was threatening local NK organizers. Such gathering and public display of discontent and protest scares the crap out of them. (Note Trump's social media meltdown.)
I didn't mention it in the post, but there were a lot of disabled people at the march. I think back to the woman with the disabled adult daughter I mentioned at the end of the post. I can imagine the logistics of getting her daughter to and from the march and caring for her during the event was huge. Did she and the other disabled people find some comfort and encouragement with so many people being out on the streets? Clearly she did.
So too the residents of the minority communities we marched through.
Is that worth something? Yes.
Does more need to be done? Yes.
Such an event is a piece of the puzzle of what the left had better figure and pull together quickly before all is lost. Is there a better group and bigger plan? If so it better come to being soon. In the meantime we have to build and invent off what is present.
Oh, Thor, so poor. If you are going to smear someone at least know who you are attacking. Scroll through my Substack and find I hit the Democrats and liberals as much as I do Trump and the Republicans. Both parties are corrupt corporate tools.
All your solutions is again asking government to take care of housing, medical needs, and all other socialist welfare matters that has never been government business in the first place. Centralizing power in government, your solutions, is still the problem that made government big and dictator of social programs and interference with every aspect of individual lives. That's against Constitutional form of government, that doesn't give government any power, except its obligations to protect individual liberties and God given rights that does not come from government. Enabling Government to give rights or withdraw it, according to its whims and politics
The capitalist 'hands-off' approach to education, healthcare, social services, the environment and overall quality of life has been an unmitigated disaster ... and getting worse by the hour. Should everything be all government? No. But clearly, putting us all in the slimy paws of unregulated, unmitigated capitalism in some kind on Randian Libertarian corporate dystopia is a disaster.
FDR's programs and reforms were to not only help the suffering of most Americans it was also to save capitalism from itself.
Again, it is not all one or another.
There IS a role and need for government in daily life. No corporate-run state will give a damn about that woman's disabled daughter. Think a private police force is the answer? Just look at the increasingly fascist ICE and private militia corporations. Want coal companies to determine emissions and environmental impacts? Trump does and has already handed that back over to them.
The Constitution included ways of adapting government to changing needs and conditions over time. For example, the Bill of Rights was added because the original Constitution was found to be lacking on things like free speech and due process.
As I said in my response to Thor, just as politics should be about process not product, so too the rule of nations. That process needs to be as open and free of undue control as possible. The US and most of the west has fallen over the edge into corporate and Zionist control.
When someone else profits off of your labor, then you are a slave. Capitalism is behind the banking system. Without this country making its money off of land theft and slavery, capitalism would have already died off. Capitalism is a less stigmatized word than feudalism, but they are the same thing.
Franklin Roosevelt was a traitor. He started false flag ww11. Imported German socialism. After that the surveillance Police State was created as unConstitutional military Intel agencies and expansion of executive branch tyranny. The capitalism you are talking about is unConstitutional fascism. I hate the word capitalism. Corporate Welfare is socialism, monopolizes Corp stealing tax dollars. Constitutional government doesn't give that power to government or corporations. It's not the same thing. You are misunderstanding it
As with most leaders, FDR left a mixed bag. Social Security is a blessing. His reforms of Wall Street and corporate regulations were good. Establishment of farm programs and rural electrification raised millions out of poverty. And did he do dark stuff, sure.
As with most everything in politics and life it is a mixed bag and in need of ongoing modification and reform. Again, process not 'off-the-shelf' product.
I disagree. All these manufactured events, by FDR, playing his part, made the country dependent on government and expanded executive branch power grabs to present. They manufactured poverty. They put a price on poverty for created dependents on government. Expanded executive power grab, Congress power grabs for unConstitutional appropriations. They did away with the Constitution and usurped power to present. A Police State is the result of this dependency on government. Big government means bureaucracy, unelected and unaccountable. We disagree on this
All nations are dependent upon government, the issue is to what degree. If people have an obligation to the state, the state has an obligation to the people. The post-WW II boom in the US was powered in great part due to the good changes FDR made. My father was the first in his family to go to college, made possible by the GI Bill, enabling him to have a professional career and bring my family into the middle class.
The biggest factor in the collapse of the US has been our war making, bloated military budget and the Randian-inspired and corporate-funded Reagan administration. In bipartisan synch, Bill Clinton accelerated the process and it has been a downhill slide since.
It was rich capitalists that had us enter WWIl. When wealth is consolidated into the hands of the few, their power will always control government decisions. The ownership of the means of production is what you are leaving out of your equation. Capitalism is the underlying problem with this country. Late stage capitalism leads to fascism. Capitalism is slavery.
It's crony capitalism. Monopoly because of public/private partnerships. Stalin was funding communists and also natzi fascists. But that is purged from the rewritten history. WW 11 was a false flag, to get America into war. Roosevelt was Stalin's friend. Communists are also the richest parasites just like fascist corny capitalists. Any big government, whether Communist or fascist is funded by international bankers and globalists with no loyalty to any country. Socialism of Roosevelt was the downfall of this Nation. Wilson's creation of the Federal reserve and imposition of income tax enabled Roosevelt's imported socialism from Germany. A debt system that enslaved Americans and put a price on poverty, that is what Social security is. It's a tax, it's not a savings account or investment. Another deception of senior citizens. Constitution made this country great. And freedom from government interference, private businesses, innovations and production, not distribution of wealth for crumbs, to give the non productive from the pockets of the productive
What a Shining Specimen of Cradle-To-Grave Indoctrination by ZioNaziDCs Corporate TotalitarianFascists❗️
GOVERNMENT Of BY and FOR ThePeople means AMERICANS WELL-BEING FIRST, ABOVE CRIMINALLY DEPRAVED, MassMurder-MassDestruction, CorporateRaiders Profits.
If you are against Socialism you are a Traitor to Americans AGAINST Government FOR & BY America's People~ NOT HOSTILE TAKEOVER ZioNaziCEOs
IsraHELL & Argentina get ALL those SOCIAL BENEFITS Courtesy of U.S. TAXPAYERS + Corporate TotalitarianFascists RAIDING AMERICANS Pensions, Social Security & Tax Funds to profit themselves so they can turn another profit from "INVESTing" in FOREIGN Populations' CRIMINALLY DEPRAVED "Leaders."
What a Constitution illiterate you are. Socialism is against the Constitution. Because it's centralized power grab by the government, in the executive branch. America was founded upon the principles of individual Rights, and self governance. Freedom from government interference in individual lives. What an illetrate you are. Socialism was imported from Germany. Zion Nazis are socialist as well.
You are so naive. Both communism which is one with socialism, a step further in Police State, is the twin wing of the same Zionist fascism. They're not by the consent of the governed. As Roosevelt spoke the truth for once, that it's not "election", it's "selection". What you are idolyzing as socialism is the other Wing of the same bird you hate so much
Glad you all were safe. There were a ton of cop cars going up and down the major drag where they held the No Kings event here. I can't say I was all that impressed by the juvenile signs. We got stared at for wearing keffiyahs and holding Palestinian flags. When we started chanting, "We don't want no Zionists here!" we had people move away from us on our corner. Obviously, the Dems weren't too thrilled with anti-genocide protesters. They just wanted to have cute signs and maintain the status quo with their VBNMW vibes apparently. And then go have brunch.
I have always brought a “Bombs Off Gaza” sign to all the Indivisible protests and at every one had multiple people thank me for bringing it and asking to photograph it. My thought about any issue is bring it to the event … make it present.
For this evrnt, yes. For any event at all, no. Appropriation of others’ presence for one’s own cause that's not related, by bringing signs that label them as possibly there under your sign, is both disrespectful and, as earned by that disrespect, unactionable. When multiple competing demands are present, it allows unwilling legislators to play shell games with partial solutions until in the end, no action is taken at all.
Going in a group and sticking together can potentially reduce a small part of the problem, since it's more clear that separate groups have different goals, but it doesn't remove the opportunity it gives politicians to triangulate the different demands, and it still offers media the opportunity to describe the event as incoherent, and greatly reduces the chance that the media will be able to report clearly or in any way intelligently on what's going on.
I have investigated this experimentally and have clearly found that once the message is complicated with conflicting statements, people pull back and do not want to get involved. They may even feel distinctly put off by chaotic, disorganized energy.
Demands that piggyback diffuse and defuse both the original demand and the piggybacking demand.
A clear, simple, actionable focus is best for demanding concrete change. Leaving founders’ messages to stand on their own without appropriating their energy is most respectful by far, and that respect garners much more support all around.
I can agree with much of what you say but when an action like No Kings is organized to mount opposition to a fascist government and doesn't include genocide -- the single greatest crime a nation or government can commit -- I say to hell with it. It's beyond politics. Show up and march. Force the message and carry the cause of the victims. I was prepared to participate even if told to leave. I have as much right to walk down a street as the other participants and as much right to free speech and nobody would or will stop me. Fortunately the "Bombs Off Gaza" message was embraced by many at both No Kings events.
Yes, well, a couple of points:
1. a sign "bombs off Gaza" isn't anti-genocide. It's really more anti-war.
It could be anti-occupation, anti-Iron Dome, pro-one-state-solution, pro-two-state-solution, and much more. Be specific. Vague catch-alls fragment the message and decrease trust and interest.
2. every single-issue activist thinks that their cause is the most important cause on the planet, and is justification for violating the rules of how human nature works, because "it has to work in my favor this time, because it's so important".
I didn't say what I said above because I think that's how human nature should be, I said it because that is how human nature is. When people see appropriation and disrespect, they don't stop to think, "hm but it seems like it's really important to the person doing it, so I should think about it some more and come to agreement with them". They think, "this person has no idea what is going on and is aggressive and boundary-less to boot. This doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth".
If you can find a way to explicitly tie your message to the message of whatever protest, while adding support to that protest and not taking away from it in any way whatsoever, and only then, then do that. And be explicit. Don't leave it up to your audience to connect the vague dots. This is not a learning exercise where you have their captive attention and are required to struggle to understand you or they will get a bad grade. Be specific, and aim for achievable outcomes not grandiose big conversions.
3. But if your message doesn't add reasons to the original protest, which is what I mean by "adding support", then exercise self-control and don't do it.
Human nature is not interested in your butt-ins, even if it's really important. First they will judge the social interaction that's going on, and only after that will they attend to whatever you're trying to say.
Believe me when I say that the loss of effectiveness in all protests in the last 50 years is directly tied to the fragmentation and scattering of messages, as multiple people each with their own "this one is special and outside the rules" climbs onto the stage. It happened to Bernie's 2015-16 campaign. It happened to Occupy. Don't do it now.
Oh, the Bernie campaign is another issue completely. He always was and will forever be a sell-out hustling sheep dog for the DNC. I do appreciate his FINALLY calling what we and Israel are doing in Gaza a genocide. But geeez, it took him almost TWO years.
As for my message/sign and showing up at a No Kings or any other political event... I am a free citizen, free to say whatever I want. I don't have to toe the line to the government, a political party or protest script. ESPECIALLY when it comes to genocide -- which trump's all other issues at this moment.
As for the message "Bombs Off Gaza" ... it is clear, totally appropriate and timely as Israel continues to bomb innocents. The people who approached me and said they liked and appreciated the message at No Kings events clearly understood it and some were even moved by seeing it within a protest environment where Gaza was specifically ignored.
Personally, I am not interested in bolstering a political or protest movement that ignores OUR Gaza genocide and will use the opportunity and carry the protest of our genocide anywhere a political event is happening in my area. When it comes to our genocide, I will protest any general protest -- like No Kings -- that ignores it.
If some think that is inconvenient, impolite or are disturbed, upset or put off by that, I frankly don't ... give ... a .... damn.
If you feel you have a better message, great, grab some cardboard and a marker and head off to a political event near you.
For all those interested in political messaging, check out George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant" ...
https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1QWISMP0H3W47&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.188iOQIpl2EdoeXY0WdhoPyyjlWix9KaAtYmJn3r6ltmKMCzH1f1cumWlzR7MQ0TCsnTBsgMZvgpprpTsGeFcTQGJWldxIVfZ_tLkxO7aK5kSeMkmVuajwIFNzpWULUHqotgvNmO2H1EbeRF01fNNuTbZ-F5ib0PAFLUIEkLcQly9LiX0muAY3_hmai2p0rZHKaJqG2dxWNHq_PFhLRK95vGpSxezoGmsGPzzhFVoGw.ohEl9IUUQ2O--0ZcXjtCDRm-snnsaUMhQzM3QOll4xg&dib_tag=se&keywords=don%27t+think+of+an+elephant&qid=1761072011&sprefix=don%27t+think+%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1
Neat-o.
In Chicago, before the No Kings protest, businesses locked their doors to ICE. Tow truck drivers were towing their vehicles removing them. And Restaurants had a sign, We don't Serve ICE. This is what a community of private and sovereign individuals do. Also if there is unity, ask the local government to cut off water and unitilties. This is called State sovereignty. And it's all Peaceful
Chicago Mayor, Brandon Johnson’s, NO KINGS DAY call for Americans to stage a U.S. GENERAL STRIKE ~
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/19/2349439/-Chicago-Mayor-Brandon-Johnson-Calls-For-A-General-Strike
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Any Dem candidate who doesn't support such direct action is a traitor of the people!!!
Pleeeeze warn EVeryone to
🛑❌ STOP ❌🛑 NORMALIZING & Legitimizing TYTs Kasparian NOW‼️
TYT / Ana Kasparian are FUNDED-BY And SHILL FOR XIONIST DEMONRATS including:
❌ YouTube as part of the $300 million Google [xionaxi gate-keeper] “News” Initiative that was announced in 2018.
❌ Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg funder of ButcherBidenz GenocideCampaign.
❌ TYT is Sponsored by, and promotes commercials at viewers to sell them on buying XioNaxiSPY UNIT8200-Run, EXPRESS VPN ❗️
TYT is NOTHING MORE THAN A XioNaxi “Democrat Party” SHEEP DOG, PAID to round-up votes for the So-Called, "Democrat" Face of Corporate TotalitarianFascist, XioNaxiGenocide.
THIS XioNaziDemonRatz PUSH is for up-coming MidTerm Elections VOTES.
If DoNothingDemz renew their majority status in congress ALL their sudden Anti-Genocide / AntiFascism Rants vanish as swiftly as they appeared.
DCs Racism is an ALL-INCLUSIVE, Bi-Partisan, ANTI-CONstitution, Pro-Corporate TotalitarianFascist Genocide, XioNaxiBigTent
🛑🚨 ‼️DO NOT BE SHEEP-HERDED‼️ 🚨🛑
▪️Kahanism and American Politics: The Democratic Party's Decades-Long Courtship of [LikudParty] Racist Fanatics
(36 pg report) by
Professor David Sheen, Palestine Studies
https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654274
▪️https://www.axios.com/2017/12/15/how-the-young-turks-will-spend-its-20-million-1513304718
I have posted a video about Oregonian protests. It's art and drama expression of Free speech.
https://open.substack.com/pub/yasminenasserrafi/p/this-is-better-than-no-kings-protest?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=evmjp
Marguerite Elia
1) No Kings had nothing to do with
GENOCIDE and blocked pro-Palestinian speakers at many of their "parades"
... 2) They
promoted wearing yellow to stand with Ukraine and Taiwan ... Shitlibs for perpetual proxy wars. 3) No mention of 3 straight
DNCC(orporation) coronated candidates. 4) USA does not have a Monarchy problem, we have a fascism problem from both blue MAGA and red MAGA. 5) Both Read and Blue want war with Venezuela for their Oil.
No Kings? How about no insurance companies? No medical debt. No student loan debt. Helimits. Affordable housing.
The full Epstein list. Cheaper gas. Affordable housing. A livable planet. A living wage. An end to genocide. Some basic fucking humanity.
OFFICIAL CIA RESPONSE To The ZioNaziDC WEALTH $$upremacy's:
“DC Dis-Information Is A Conspiracy Theory”
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00845R000100130006-7.pdf
No Kings? How about no insurance companies? No medical debt. No student loan debt. Helimits. Affordable housing.
The full Epstein list. Cheaper gas. Affordable housing. A livable planet. A living wage. An end to genocide. Some basic fucking humanity.
And I saw expressions of all those issues in the march I was in. No political movement, group, party, theory or candidate will ever be perfect. Should Gaza be part of No Kings? Yes, of course. That is why I always take Gaza to any of these events I attend, and -- as noted above -- I regularly get comments of support and appreciation by others.
Politics is not another word for 'perfection'. It is always messy, conflicted, selective and hypocritical. It is an ever-evolving process, not a product. Once it is a product you get the corruption of the GOP & Dems.
If two political entities agree on three of ten issues, I think there is value to working on the three and debating the seven and aligning with others on those issues. What I have experienced initially with the Democrats and then generally with the left is a self-destructive form of purity testing.
As an example, recently I met with a local organizer of some pretty impressive actions in my community. They have worked on demonstrations to local petitions and organizing. I met with one of the organizers and we were in agreement on pretty much everything and discussed ways my skill set could be useful. Then out of the blue he asked what I thought of drag queen reading events for children. Given my background as a psychotherapist, parent and grandparent I said they were absolutely inappropriate and obscene.
Our meeting concluded shortly after. When I got home I texted him some information he had requested. And over the next couple days links to some material I thought could be helpful for some projects he mentioned. That was about five months ago and to date he has never replied.
He ghosted me.
Over a disagreement on drag queen book reading for kids.
Yeah, really!
That is the kind of purity testing that has poisoned the left and the single biggest asset helping the fascists.
Could No Kings do more? Absolutely. Should there be more emphasis on follow-up action? Yes. The potential is there. That's why the right wing was threatening local NK organizers. Such gathering and public display of discontent and protest scares the crap out of them. (Note Trump's social media meltdown.)
I didn't mention it in the post, but there were a lot of disabled people at the march. I think back to the woman with the disabled adult daughter I mentioned at the end of the post. I can imagine the logistics of getting her daughter to and from the march and caring for her during the event was huge. Did she and the other disabled people find some comfort and encouragement with so many people being out on the streets? Clearly she did.
So too the residents of the minority communities we marched through.
Is that worth something? Yes.
Does more need to be done? Yes.
Such an event is a piece of the puzzle of what the left had better figure and pull together quickly before all is lost. Is there a better group and bigger plan? If so it better come to being soon. In the meantime we have to build and invent off what is present.
@Mark Taylor Wake Up!!!!
@Mark Taylor Wake The F Up Sheeple
@Mark Taylor Hahahaha You Sound Like a Brainwashed Liberal
Oh, Thor, so poor. If you are going to smear someone at least know who you are attacking. Scroll through my Substack and find I hit the Democrats and liberals as much as I do Trump and the Republicans. Both parties are corrupt corporate tools.
All your solutions is again asking government to take care of housing, medical needs, and all other socialist welfare matters that has never been government business in the first place. Centralizing power in government, your solutions, is still the problem that made government big and dictator of social programs and interference with every aspect of individual lives. That's against Constitutional form of government, that doesn't give government any power, except its obligations to protect individual liberties and God given rights that does not come from government. Enabling Government to give rights or withdraw it, according to its whims and politics
The capitalist 'hands-off' approach to education, healthcare, social services, the environment and overall quality of life has been an unmitigated disaster ... and getting worse by the hour. Should everything be all government? No. But clearly, putting us all in the slimy paws of unregulated, unmitigated capitalism in some kind on Randian Libertarian corporate dystopia is a disaster.
FDR's programs and reforms were to not only help the suffering of most Americans it was also to save capitalism from itself.
Again, it is not all one or another.
There IS a role and need for government in daily life. No corporate-run state will give a damn about that woman's disabled daughter. Think a private police force is the answer? Just look at the increasingly fascist ICE and private militia corporations. Want coal companies to determine emissions and environmental impacts? Trump does and has already handed that back over to them.
The Constitution included ways of adapting government to changing needs and conditions over time. For example, the Bill of Rights was added because the original Constitution was found to be lacking on things like free speech and due process.
As I said in my response to Thor, just as politics should be about process not product, so too the rule of nations. That process needs to be as open and free of undue control as possible. The US and most of the west has fallen over the edge into corporate and Zionist control.
When someone else profits off of your labor, then you are a slave. Capitalism is behind the banking system. Without this country making its money off of land theft and slavery, capitalism would have already died off. Capitalism is a less stigmatized word than feudalism, but they are the same thing.
Franklin Roosevelt was a traitor. He started false flag ww11. Imported German socialism. After that the surveillance Police State was created as unConstitutional military Intel agencies and expansion of executive branch tyranny. The capitalism you are talking about is unConstitutional fascism. I hate the word capitalism. Corporate Welfare is socialism, monopolizes Corp stealing tax dollars. Constitutional government doesn't give that power to government or corporations. It's not the same thing. You are misunderstanding it
As with most leaders, FDR left a mixed bag. Social Security is a blessing. His reforms of Wall Street and corporate regulations were good. Establishment of farm programs and rural electrification raised millions out of poverty. And did he do dark stuff, sure.
As with most everything in politics and life it is a mixed bag and in need of ongoing modification and reform. Again, process not 'off-the-shelf' product.
Guess we'll just have to disagree on the rest.
I disagree. All these manufactured events, by FDR, playing his part, made the country dependent on government and expanded executive branch power grabs to present. They manufactured poverty. They put a price on poverty for created dependents on government. Expanded executive power grab, Congress power grabs for unConstitutional appropriations. They did away with the Constitution and usurped power to present. A Police State is the result of this dependency on government. Big government means bureaucracy, unelected and unaccountable. We disagree on this
All nations are dependent upon government, the issue is to what degree. If people have an obligation to the state, the state has an obligation to the people. The post-WW II boom in the US was powered in great part due to the good changes FDR made. My father was the first in his family to go to college, made possible by the GI Bill, enabling him to have a professional career and bring my family into the middle class.
The biggest factor in the collapse of the US has been our war making, bloated military budget and the Randian-inspired and corporate-funded Reagan administration. In bipartisan synch, Bill Clinton accelerated the process and it has been a downhill slide since.
It was rich capitalists that had us enter WWIl. When wealth is consolidated into the hands of the few, their power will always control government decisions. The ownership of the means of production is what you are leaving out of your equation. Capitalism is the underlying problem with this country. Late stage capitalism leads to fascism. Capitalism is slavery.
It's crony capitalism. Monopoly because of public/private partnerships. Stalin was funding communists and also natzi fascists. But that is purged from the rewritten history. WW 11 was a false flag, to get America into war. Roosevelt was Stalin's friend. Communists are also the richest parasites just like fascist corny capitalists. Any big government, whether Communist or fascist is funded by international bankers and globalists with no loyalty to any country. Socialism of Roosevelt was the downfall of this Nation. Wilson's creation of the Federal reserve and imposition of income tax enabled Roosevelt's imported socialism from Germany. A debt system that enslaved Americans and put a price on poverty, that is what Social security is. It's a tax, it's not a savings account or investment. Another deception of senior citizens. Constitution made this country great. And freedom from government interference, private businesses, innovations and production, not distribution of wealth for crumbs, to give the non productive from the pockets of the productive
Not when the people own the means of production. You’re speaking of a capitalist ownership of the government. Big difference.
What a Shining Specimen of Cradle-To-Grave Indoctrination by ZioNaziDCs Corporate TotalitarianFascists❗️
GOVERNMENT Of BY and FOR ThePeople means AMERICANS WELL-BEING FIRST, ABOVE CRIMINALLY DEPRAVED, MassMurder-MassDestruction, CorporateRaiders Profits.
If you are against Socialism you are a Traitor to Americans AGAINST Government FOR & BY America's People~ NOT HOSTILE TAKEOVER ZioNaziCEOs
IsraHELL & Argentina get ALL those SOCIAL BENEFITS Courtesy of U.S. TAXPAYERS + Corporate TotalitarianFascists RAIDING AMERICANS Pensions, Social Security & Tax Funds to profit themselves so they can turn another profit from "INVESTing" in FOREIGN Populations' CRIMINALLY DEPRAVED "Leaders."
What a Constitution illiterate you are. Socialism is against the Constitution. Because it's centralized power grab by the government, in the executive branch. America was founded upon the principles of individual Rights, and self governance. Freedom from government interference in individual lives. What an illetrate you are. Socialism was imported from Germany. Zion Nazis are socialist as well.
By CONSENT Of The Governed NOT
Of-By-and FOR the DICTATORSHIP of a RabidlyRacist, CRIMINALLY DEPRAVED, SERIAL MassMurder-MassDestruction, Corporate TotalitarianFascist OLIGARCHY
You are so naive. Both communism which is one with socialism, a step further in Police State, is the twin wing of the same Zionist fascism. They're not by the consent of the governed. As Roosevelt spoke the truth for once, that it's not "election", it's "selection". What you are idolyzing as socialism is the other Wing of the same bird you hate so much