accidentally posted this in world news before bcs i forgot about the no internal US news rule by accident
Congressman Adam Smith says ‘totalitarian’ protesters are ‘trying to silence anyone who dares to disagree with them’
Protesters calling for Israel to cease fire in its war with Hamas who have disrupted US public events and infrastructure are practicing “leftwing fascism” or “leftwing totalitarianism”, a senior US House Democrat said, adding that such protesters are “challenging representative democracy” and should be arrested.
“Intimidation is the tactic,” said Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the House armed services committee. “Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition … I don’t know if there’s such a thing as leftwing fascism. If you want to just call it leftwing totalitarianism, then that’s what it is. It is a direct challenge to representative democracy now.”
Wish we had an anti-genocide party in this country.
There is one
A viable one?
What makes one viable?
viable /vī′ə-bəl/
adjective
Capable of success or continuing effectiveness; practicable:
synonym: possible.
Right, theyre capable of being elected if people vote for them. Same as any party.
Oh fantastic! So they are capable of getting enough votes to overcome the two party duopoly created by our first past the post voting system? Wow, that’s amazing! Why have I never heard of them?!
candidates dont take votes, voters give votes. any candidate is capable of receiving enough votes to win, it’s up to voters to decide. If you want to get rid of that first past the post voting system, well guess what. That same anti-genocide party also supports ranked choice voting! So if you’re anti-genocide and dont like first past the post voting, why would you decide on the total opposite of that?
Congressman Adam Smith says ‘totalitarian’ protesters are ‘trying to silence anyone who dares to disagree with them’
Says the man wanting to lock people up.
“Intimidation is the tactic,”[…] “Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition”
Is this man so comically evil he’s trying to be the Spanish Inquisition?
I was outraged by the headline, but he said protestors should be arrested in the context of protesting outside of someone’s home. While I don’t think I agree with that, I can at least understand why he would feel that constitutes intimidation.
It was apparently before the college campus protests. I wonder what he thinks about those.
Yeah his whole tirade is ludicrous and he sounds like an absolute asshat, but someone reportedly vandalized his home, and that’s crossing a very big line. He should shut the hell up about whatever he thinks “leftwing fascism” is, and they should stop vandalizing people’s homes.
I dunno, I’m with ya but also if you see protesters, who regular citizens with no special power, as totalitarian tyrants wanting to silence you while also demanding they be arrested with your very real closeness to the power that could that then fuckin’ maybe your house should get vandalized. I’d draw the line at hurting an actual person and then urging people away from vandalism since they might hurt someone by accident but stillllll…
What an absolute dickbag. He even complains about silent protests that are 100% peaceful. Maybe if your stance is so weak that silent protestors are enough to derail your plans, you should rethink your stance. He even downplays children being killed.
Also, if we are talking about silencing opposite points of views, how many pro-Israel people in the US have been kicked out of school, arrested, vilified in the mainstream press, or fired from their jobs?
I can’t wait to vote him out of office. He has done little for the state and district, and clearly doesn’t give a shit.
I like how he said intimidation is the tactic they’re using (while calling them fascists) and in the same breath says the protesters should be arrested. He’s literally complaining about fascism while supporting it himself.
Friendly Reminder:
Neoliberals are conservatives. Always have been. The D next to the name does not change that.
We do not currently have a viable left-wing party. We have a conservative party and a more conservative party.
My country is lead by a conservative but very left wing party and trust me, it’s really bad. Like really.
Conservative or left wing? They are complete opposites.
Also beware rightists/conservatives claiming to be leftist while practicing rightism (i.e. consolidation of power, authority, and wealth).
This is where I would put them.Well, you can have conservative left wingers (communism). I was referring to the political compass: https://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2?ec=4.75&soc=-2.26
Basically they are extremely left wing in terms of the economy introducing a bunch of social reforms, pensions 13 times a year, etc. but they present very conservative views on the topics like homosexuality, freedom of art, etc.
Oh, look it’s that right wing propaganda meme, again. Not a big fan of reading, I take it?
I don’t know what’s right wing propaganda on the political compass. The squares are equally big.
Rotate the compass 45° clockwise, name the new vertical axis to state economy vs private economy, and name the new horizontal axis to left and right. At the far left(green) you have total destruction of hierarchy and flattening of power inequality, while at the far right(blue) you have absolute hierarchy and centralized power.
State centralized economies(red) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering government officials to become powerful lords. Privatized economies(purple/yellow) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering capitalists to become powerful lords. Trying to reach either the top or bottom tip of the diamond leads you the right tip.
Horseshoe theory kind of applies to Marxist-Leninists like its pro-capitalists creators imagined, but they didn’t realize that they were the other end of the horseshoe. This is because both capitalism and the state are the dangers. The problem with both stems from allowing the unrestricted accumulation of power.
Government officials use political capital, while capitalists use economic capital. They can feed off of each other, with the rich helping politicians and the politicians helping the rich. My preferred solution to both is to redistribute capital from the rich directly to the poor, growing the middle class by putting a ceiling and floor on the rich and the poor.
