Ameritocracy - Latest Comments in {biff here now}

Re: {biff here now}

oBifferson — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:40:39 -0000

Heh, yes of course we would disagree on that. Unfortunately there is a
potential for violence in a revolution (although the ACTUAL overthrow of the
tsarist regime by the working people of Russia in 1917 involved almost no
violence, because the govt had already practically crumbled from the
inside). Reading stories about that time is amazing: people debating in the
streets all night, people learning to read, the opera houses opening to
everyone including the poor, homosexuality legalized, communal kitchens
opened to help lift the burden on women in the home, everyone was just so
excited in that period of time before the civil war and the capitalist
countries' invasions.

It just makes me wonder. If we had elected a president who really wanted to
withdraw troops from Iraq immediately, or a president who would really
install a single-payer healthcare system, or a president who could somehow
get all the homeless people off the streets and get help for the poor (all
of this is of course, either tough or impossible under capitalism)... I just
wondered what it would have been like if I was ACTUALLY happy about it. Yes,
I'm glad a black man is in the white house, and I'm much more glad that he's
both intelligent and charming and says a LOT of great stuff. I LOVE what he
says about The People being a force, and what he says about college and
volunteerism. But I also wish of course, that he could go further. He can't
of course, this is America, so I don't blame him. I just... wondered. What
would it be like if something happened that actually made me feel...
liberated?

Re: {biff here now}

Porter — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:04:30 -0000

Also, part of my excitement - and I think many others - is that we did not take the big leap *backwards* that we almost did.

http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

Re: {biff here now}

Porter — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:03:30 -0000

It's pretty interesting.

To me? An evolutionary, not a revolutionary? This was just beyond exciting. The very idea of "revolution" (as I think of it) frustrates me, as I think we've discussed a bit. Seeing people this excited about some big steps forward vs. a supposed take-down of the whole system... was unimaginable and exciting.

I'm not really sure how this would compare to a revolution. I would be willing to bet we'd see more property damage in a revolution.

Yep. I just think we're battered, not broken, and getting better. If slowly.