The competition to be a "real" leftist is a loser's game
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
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-- The competition to be more "left wing" among a faction of the left is self-defeating and counterproductive
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Broadcast on February 19, 2024
#davidpakmanshow #progressive #leftwing
How left, is left enough? I'd say if you're NOT on the right, you're left enough for me. Do you want to defeat MAGA? That's left enough for me. Do you promote Democracy? That's left enough for me.
So Paul Ryan is left enough for you??? What is wrong with you people lol
Some policies to make life affordable for the most vulnerable would be good, but I like your style!
@@goinsaneonthedailydemonsinsideWho said anything about Paul Ryan?
Count me on this.
@@annedouglas1456 paul ryan just said the other day that he opposes MAGA. so I asked the commenter if they now are okay with Paul Ryan, former GOP speaker of the house
These extremist purity tests have got to go. You can have your opinion and voice as much. But to attack others on the same general side because they differ on one or more point is asinine.
It's like looking at a bunch of Christians pointing at another bunch of Christians and saying:
"You guys are morons! We believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit! And you believe in the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God! And those idiots over there believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God!"
I think people also use this bullshit idea of purity tests to excuse their failure to stick to principles. No one is exempt to criticism.
Sounds kind of racist to me. Are you white? You shouldn't be talking if you're white.
It's Maoist.
Hitler was a populist who inspired rage against the political opponents.
Hitler would be proud about spreading misinformation about a political opponent wanting to abolish private property.
I posted a version of this this a few days ago, and am just pasting it again in response to your question, "Full applaud David P. The one thing that I truly love about your channel above other political channels that I follow, is that you have created a space where moderate republicans, independents, moderate democrats, progressives, and even republicans who are in the process of or have fully removed themselves from the Trump camp feel this is safe platform to come and express their veiws while trusting they will be treated with respect and dignity. You ask hard questions and push back, yet you allow people to express themselves without scathing condemnation as the only response. I wish we could all approach eachother with the balance of intellect, common sense, curiosity, and compassion that you display on your program. Thank you!"
In short - please, please, please stay true to yourself and the platform you have created here. Yours is the only platform I have ever thought was worth investing in a membership for. If it matters for your query, I identify as a political independent and am definitely right of you.
David - you are exactly right. The reason you are my favorite political figure on RUclips is because you're honest, moral, and above else - pragmatic. Please don't listen to these crazy far-lefties. They are just as crazy, cynical, and misguided as the far-right. We want honest, thoughtful, empathetic, and pragmatic discussion. And I am thankful that is something you always provide.
I understand criticisms for the "far-left," but they are objectively not as bad as those on the "far-right." People on the "far-left" have basically no power in this country, while those on the "far-right" frequently do get power and sponsor offensive wars, tax cuts for the rich, science-denialism, and (in MAGA's case) the actual end of free and fair elections. And this is all assuming that everyone falls on a bi-polar "right-left" political spectrum, when it is way more complicated than that.
I wonder if I'm foundation far lefty, as I 'm thinking of David's use of black shoe polish as hair dye is racist?
🤔
The Right can't explain what the far-left is because of the mental illness of paranoia. They can only mention something that, in real life, you would never meet this person. Has anyone ever met a person who wants to abolish land ownership.
Hitler was a populist who inspired rage against the political opponents.
Hitler would be proud about spreading misinformtion about a political opponent wanting to abolish private property.
@@tommycoopersmagiccarpetwea817What?
Ex-republican voter now independent, but will be voting for Democrat for this upcoming election. I find your podcast well balanced and you shouldn't change that for anyone
Michael, I was so happy that you didn't say that you were voting for Robert Kennedy Jr.
He truly is a nut job. Six of his siblings have posted that they don't want him to run, and encourage everyone not to vote for him. They even accused him of trying to cash in on the family name. Perfect example, Super Bowl commercial, which he paid $7M for!
Thank you again
Same.
I keep seeing more and more comments like this all the time...
Welcome, friend!
@@Lethgar_Smith yep, the result of the Republican party getting destroyed and rebuilt in Trumps image. And if you're not 100% loyal to the man, you're somehow not American. The concept of democracy and the reality of compromising with political opponents doesn't exist with them. In effect, a political tyranny where absolute loyalty takes precedence. and yet they have the audacity to preach about the American constitution?
I love your reports, I couldn't even imagine putting you down. How much farther you have to go as a Democrat, those people are insane for saying that to you.
You would have to be pretty stupid to think someone would want to abolish land ownership.
Hi David, I’m in Australia. I was born in Spain and went to Uruguay when my parents went to leave behind the Franco regime. I was then educated in Uruguay from 10 years of age. I was brought up in the beliefs of separation from Church and Estate. On my University even in Uruguay being what you may call a social democrat, but I had political discussions where my friends on the right called my a communist and my communist friends called me a “capitalist” of which I was proud and made me think I was right where I was happy to be.
I came to Australia with my children in 1975 getting out of the military power in Uruguay (this showed my age😂😂). I am exactly in the same position you are now. Keep the good work!❤❤.
Great story. I am sure more of us would like to hear more about it. Where do you call home ?
My goal is to be open to the changes that will benefit the majority. Not to follow blindly in one direction.
Trying to imagine adapting to the MAGA right, is something I never want to get used to! I’m not getting used to an autocracy or a dictator for one day either!
I'm centrist left by UK standards, I'm happy to hear and debate extreme views but people need to understand the vast overwhelming majority of voters are going to be centrists (both left and right), pointing and sneering at them achieves nothing.
You are left enough and not right,lol. As long as you tell the truth, does it really matter?
It's really frustrating as a social Democrat being constantly lectured to by people who don't even vote, much less engage in any real political activism that I'm not "on the left." Like if you're not fully on board with socialism or communism you're as bad as MAGA cultists. I've grown tired of it frankly. The posturing and purity testing. It's exhausting, and counter productive.
Yeah same. Depending on how you define them, I'm either a social democrat or a market socialist,and I reached those stances by trying to be as left wing as the evidence allows (though never even entertaining being an authoritarian leftist...)
At the end of the day, the things "the left" wants are absolutely things we should want to maximise as much as possible - liberte, egalite, fraternite. The real disagreement is how much is "as much as possible". None of us know for sure, but we have clear evidence that, at the very least Scanidnavian social democracy is possible and seems to produce better outcomes for its society and all of its citizenry than any other system that's ever existed. So anyone who's a social democrat is, to me, left enough. Hell, even people who are a bit right of that are fine, so long as it's close.
The issue is with socialists, communists and anarchists who will heckle and badger people for not being left enough just because the refuse to take a leap of faith further. If someone wants to take that leap, fine. Pushing the frontier of good policy/politics is how we even learned that socdem was possible. But there are still risks involved with leaping into the unknown, and no one should be heckled for sticking with the evidence. If the whole world looked like Scandinavia in 100 years that would still be a HUGE humanitarian achievement!
We're leftist first and foremost because we want a humane, fair and prosperous society. With those being the goals, the answer to "how far left do we go?" is "how left do we need to be to accomplish these goals effectively and efficiently?" In my mind, the answer is democratic market socialism or social democracy. These two systems feature the best upside-to-downside ratio and are pragmatic enough as to be realistically achievable.
David you are the perfect "lefty", I totally enjoy listening to you. Keep up the fantastic job! 👍
let be honest this has just become a contests about who can bitch and complain the most about -insert any decently know democrat here- while pretending that bitching and complaining are legitimate solutions.
David, not to worry what others think of your position because there will always be those naysayers
Progressive populist socdem FDR Henry Wallace New Deal: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" 👍✌️
Best economy this country ever saw was in part a result of the New Deal and the progressive tax policy that stayed in place from then until Nixon.
I am so tired of these purity tests. I get tired of certain people that say that I am not left enough. My issue with those on thr far left is that they want the changes they want now no matter what and don't understand the fact that things historically don't work that way and I would rather make incremental progress than scrap it all if we don't get exactly what we want.
It's more practicality. I love Bernie Sanders but the far left vote didn't turn out for him. Obama had it right that the average American is more centrist.
Definitely more centrist. Progressive is wishful thinking
Funny because Obama ran leftist and lied about it and that's how he won
It was mostly Debbie Weissman (or weisserman, I can't exactly remember), who was chair of the DNC. She blocked his nomination despite his popularity, bc she viewed him as to extreme
Totally wrong when polling issue by issue on American's being centrist. Also over 90% of people 45 and under who participated in the Democratic primaries in 2020 voted for Bernie. There was turnout for him. This is a massive number. Your facts are wrong on multiple levels.
@@aaron-n so why didn't Bernie win?
Why does anyone have to fit a certain label to accurately provide the facts to us? Honestly, I don't feel I fit into one side of the fence or another. I gather information from all and make my own decisions. If someone doesn't want to listen to you, why do they? People hiding behind a keyboard and a screen name are so annoying.
I am a 73 year old moderate left. Keep up the good work…ultra extremes only achieve chaos and division.
Is my dinner 🍽 ready ?
Hi David. One of the things you notice in political movements is that there is among the "faithful", groups that are highly judgemental of others in the movement they see as "imperfect believers". That is the problem with politics, in an effort to become dominant it embraces all flavours of people, some you wish would go somewhere else. You have to have a much thicker skin than I do i guess. Aroha
The USA barely knows what "left" is.
The Republicans are largely far-right, the Democrats are largely centre-right and even the likes of Bernie Sanders are only slightly left of centre.
The best place to be seems to be around the centre-left, you get progressive ideals and you still have capitalism but it's reasonably regulated, with fairly high taxes but also a robust welfare system, nationalised utilities and public healthcare.
agreed!
I am on the same page as you are, David. I am not extreme left; I am more left of center.
I'm from Finland and I agree with you. I was so disappointed of the result of our last election. You can already see the efects it has had on the average working class that actually keep this country running...
At least you’re not a fake progressive like the other channels I had to unsubscribe from. I WAS a non voting Republican but have been pushed to being an independent voting for Dems.
What channels are you talking about?
@@dustinsindledecker154 Perhaps TYT?
@@fnjesusfreak I’ve heard a few people say this, as someone who has been out of the loop for a little bit, what is the cause of the recent TYT hate? I always respected Cenk and Ana
@@Kurtvileseggnog Cenk and Ana in particular sometimes have some...odd takes. Cenk, I think, more than Ana (since he started out as a rightoid and sometimes those tendencies do reassert, as they do for me).
Not entirely sure about everyone else cause I'm mostly out of the loop too, but I personally dislike them cause of how factually wrong they have been for years. It was clear to me since like around 2016, they're just headline readers then they make emotional based assumptions without any nuance. It gave leftist version of faux news.
I also noticed that for awhile they, especially ana, tended to pander to their right leaning misogynistic male viewers. It was annoying to hear her give long disclaimers to say not all men on topics that mostly affects women and spent more time trying not to hurt the feelings of men than the actual topic; other times she would give boohoo men takes, just sounding like a pick me.
I hate that they mostly yell, cenk especially would yell so much you could see spit flying out of his mouth.
Most of their audience are conservatives and it's been obvious for awhile they are pandering more and more to them.
They are against the war in Ukraine and blame Ukraine for it. They think Ukraine should just allow themselves to be taken over by Russia. And they have America/NATO always bad mentality. Others on the left have started to call them "tankies". (It seems tankies are becoming common on the left too)
I started watching the "fun" and meaningless videos from them only but stopped watching them entirely after they made a video mocking adults who like squishmallows. They, Ana especially, tend to look down on people who don't adult in their socially acceptable way.
Just annoying condescending boomer takes.
Also I know a lot of people are hating on ana, for her "anti-trans" tweets. Which I don't really care about and kinda agree with her. As a woman, especially one that doesn't want children, I don't like being reduced down to a single organ or my ability to have children even if it's "just on medical records" just to be inclusive to an extreme minority, why is it on medical records that have nothing to do with pregnancy in the first place. I'm sure better terminology could have been used; and it feels like women are being talked over, ignored, and silenced just to be inclusive to trans people or not be called a "terf".
@@Kurtvileseggnog
Former Republican turned independent here. But I can only watch you and Beau. Everything else to me seems foreign
yeah those are two good ones. i'm dem, but i don't want opinions force fed to me so i steer away from anything like that. give me facts, and i'll make my own opinion. anytime i see people adlib and creatively interpret, i'm done. (meidas touch. but only the lead dude. the lawyer guy, gabe and the scottish guy i feel are pretty much saying it like it is. lawyer guy goes over the current cases, the other two are kind of humor.)
ideals-wise i'd see myself as an independent. but, since i wildly disagree on a few key republican things (environment not mattering) is one, guess i'm democrat. also, because bring registered D means i can partake in primary. so, i'm a D. but feel no giant allegiance or identity to it. just wish if the Rs were going to be conservative or whatever, that they DID that, stopped lying to their people, and also stop arguing facts and went back to arguing policy. idk wtf they're doing. but conservatives should have a real party, too. and not tie it in with screwing them over, either.
The science has turned on the authoritarian left.
A new study shows that narcissism, psychopathy, and low verbal intelligence are significant drivers of the aggressive, revolutionary zeal that characterizes much of left-wing authoritarianism.
David and Beau are the best of the best-absolutely! There are about a dozen others I listen to from time time depending on the subject matter, but I absolutely trust David and Beau for everything.
The science has turned on the authoritarian left.
A new study shows that narcissism, psychopathy, and low verbal intelligence are significant drivers of the aggressive, revolutionary zeal that characterizes much of left-wing authoritarianism.
Former republican here. I am in the same boat. Love Pakman and Beau.
Extremism in any area, especially in politics, becomes an opiate.
Ending slavery was pretty extreme. Thanks for playing.
An opiate? Extremism? That does not make sense. An opiate dulls and calms. Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people. I don’t think ‘opiate’ is a word to apply to extremism. Stimulant would be the correct word in this case, I think.
@@RM-nt6ho Good point. There can be a good extreme, if the alternative is an insanely evil extreme! Such as Mr Rump, Charlie Jirk etc advocate!
There is no historical background in the USA to what Europeans traditionally think of a ‘left.’
@@bellinthetree8949 opiate in numbing common sense or any other point of view.
Sweden is a very good role model…”in the UN General Assembly Sweden, along with 152 other states, voted in favour of a resolution on a humanitarian…”
As usual, you make so much sense. Thank you!
The left in America would do well if they just picked 5 top policy priorities and just focused on implementing them above all else.
I agree. I feel like left wants everything all at once from every pundit, movement or political candidate. no compromise no negotiation. Just all or nothing which often hurts more than it helps. They should try to solve one issue at a time rather than trying to get everything all at once from every candidate and then hating on them when they fail to deliver on delusions. Like I’m against selling assault rifles but maybe focus on saving democracy first? and guns to tomorrow.
Politically homeless here. Don’t go far left and don’t go far right. Stay where you are.
So you want him to stay home?😀
Eventually material conditions will force you to pick a side. There is no such thing as a centrist.
@@epicphailure88 Absolutely not true. I am an Independent because I don't like the idea of labeling myself or espousing myself with ALL the ideas of a single person or party. I agree with the left on some things, I agree with the right on some things and I think both parties are crazy right now. However, I can live with what the left is trying to do. I cannot live with what the right is trying to do. I will support the left because it's the best viable option at the moment. Sadly, 3rd party voting is just not viable right now. So yeah, you are not correct to assume Independents are secretly espoused to one side.
Agreed.
@@bradleygerber7317yea I think the right have gone too far and it's getting kind of scary but I think the left causes so much division with race baiting and they don't understand how destructive it is, hard to pick a side. Smh
You are so right about this behavior/ group thinking being a losers' game.
I feel like you do - we have to keep in mind how hard it is to make change, and then work towards that goal while also understanding it can't be "pushed".
That's the eternal problem of the left, that you're never left enough. There is an old and overused joke that says, if two left-wingers meet in a bar, they'll end up forming three splinter groups.
I’m a little more center of you. But not much… I can not stand the crew or the gang or whatever. Only now am I liking AOC a bit more.
Your views match my own pretty solidly. I agree that there are further left ideas that would be great but the country is definitely not ready for that.
Lasting change takes *time*. Slow and steady, wins the race, type stuff. If people push drastic changes too quickly all it will do is cause resistance and fighting. Patience is an absolute necessity.
No. I am writing to you from the UK. In US terms, the Democrats would be middle right over here. In US terms you are a Social Democrat. Comparisons are odious. Left in Euro terms would be seen as ‘real lousy commie 😢’ in the USA. Keep going the way you are. You are doing fine. If you were really left over there they would string you up. Be balanced in terms of your own country and history. Edward C.
You still have to define terms based on the environment you live. That’s the whole point of reason of putting “real” in quotes with title. Philosophy and real world practice breaks this down even further.
Too far left or right equals destruction of a system
One party wants nothing more than to tear apart our system of checks & balances! That’s their checklist of destruction!
Really depends on where you say "too far" is.
Indeed, consider the Overton window. A lot of "far left" talking points would be considered centrist if you look at countries in Central Europe, particularly on Healthcare. I'm not one of the voices critizing David, I think he's fine, but it's important to look at other countries and realize the USA has shifted quite a bit to the right compared to other first world countries.
Lll
You have to pretty stupid to think someone is actually out there who wants to abolish land ownership.
I'm left, I consider you left. More importantly I find you deal in facts. At this point that is more important than being left.
Thank you for the introspection.
Halfway through I noticed David's sweater looks like he's wearing a teddy bear costume without the mask and now I can't unsee it 😂
David always has the correct tone.
I agree with you. The fight to be the furthest left is a losing battle. There will always be someone out there who is more communist, more freegan, non-car-owning, living in a housing coop, in some government or union job, who thinks that even the most modest overture towards wanting to earn more money or better your lot in life is a clear sign of being brainwashed into blind support of capitalism. It gets tiring to deal with all the virtue-signaling and “woke-splaining.” Not everyone is going to devote their life to being a pro-Palestine activist. As a progressive activist, I have also run into the “culty-ness” of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) assuming you are one of them just because you hold similar values. Sometimes their ideas are too far-out, unexamined, and ideological to have real viability.
If you wait long enough, it doesn't matter how far left you are, you will have someone who is more radically left than you, telling you that you are as good as a right-winger because you are not virtuous enough. This purity testing and gatekeeping has been happening for several years now. Unfortunately, people seem to tolerate it while it still hasn't swept them up and only start complaining when they get called an ideological traitor.
I’m with you 100%. What you described is exactly how I view what a “healthy and functional” society is.
No, you should absolutely NOT be pushing "left, left, left!" As a political moderate (leaning Left on some issues, Right on others), I appreciate the fact that you seem to approach each issue with level-headed consideration, regardless of the unthinking dictates of the "tribe." It's as if actually THINKING about things has gone out of style!
I love your ideas about social democracy. The way things are now there’s a pretty high percentage of people who have no hope of being a part of the “American dream”. I am one of those people. I pay such a high rent that I have no chance of ever becoming a home owner. I am 72 years old and have to work 3 jobs to keep a roof over my head. I am very close to being homeless. I think the idea of capitalism is no longer working for everyone.
I mean, when the actual answers are on the far left, it can get rather frustrating when the discussion always places wishy-washy liberals, and _maybe_ social democrats, as the furthest it's reasonable to go. Doesn't mean leftists are always correct, or always get what it means to be a leftist, or always explain themselves the most clearly. But liberalism, and even social democracy, simply do not go far enough to actually resolve the problems we face. Think about it -- we've had social democracy, after a fashion, in the New Deal, and yet here we are again, right back with the Gilded Age 2.0. It's not that the goal is to be as left as possible -- it's that we can't stop at just moderating the problems of capitalism. The whole system needs to go. Otherwise, a few generations down the line, we'll be right back here again. And your view of what leftism means is, I think, a parody of actual leftism. For example, that something doesn't fit into the legal framework of the US and similar is borderline meaningless to me, because I don't think the legal framework of the US is some fundamental unchangeable thing. If it needs to change, we can change it. I'm not claiming you should be far left for the sake of being far left, either. I think you should be far left because it can actually reshape society into one that prioritizes human wellbeing rather than capital and business. I don't think we should look to Sweden and Norway. I think we should look to Rojava and the Zapatistas, and then keep solving problems that arise to push progress even further.
I have long considered myself a Centrist. I'm liberal on most issues but not all. I'm welcoming of progressive causes and policies and favor many. I do find David a more welcoming voice and commentator than many of his peers in the online youtube media space. I have long had issues with the amount of purity in this space and have been unable to support or regularly view those channels. I find it even worse in places like Twitter and Reddit.
I am an American who wishes we had a social democracy like many European countries - so I agree with you.
that shirt looks comfortable
David looks like he’s twelve years old. Very funny!
@@theoptimist9605there is nothing wrong with the shirt
Nobody can possibly be far left enough for the far left, not even themselves.
lol. so true
Define "far-left"? LOL. The far-left is a kraken. Because the right-wing sees krakens.
@@noel7777noel that's the whole point, nobody can agree on what far left means, because every leftist thinks they're the only real leftist, and everyone else isn't far left enough.
@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231 David said, the far left was basically what fidel castro did and abolish all private ownership. I have never in my life seen this imagery kraken.
So. According to david the far left doesn't exist.
Even the nuttyest person I have ever met, did not meet David's idea of the far-left.
I started watching you when you put out "why Bernie LOST" and you put forth a vision of progressivism that was pragmatic and thoughtful... I think that's your north star.
I have come to the point where I am an agreement with most leftist policies and I am pretty anti-capitalist, but a lot of leftist influencers online get on my last damn nerve lol.
I consider myself progressive but there are limits. Pakman seems like a sensible person and I value his opinions even when they differ slightly from my own.
What are those limits?
One of my friends who is generally a very intelligent guy once said to me, "If someone is suffering, I move further left," which seems like a smart way to operate until you think more deeply about it.
Before we can go meaningfully left, we need to fix what's broken and the source of nearly every single issue is the lack of democracy. Just imagine where we'd be if millions of votes weren't invalidated every election.
5:53 forthcoming book 6:25 Sweden analysis 7:03 Uruguay 7:42 Germany's Social Democratic party: economic growth and social welfare 8:26 India's Karala state
Book mention??
It's North America, we're supposed to be able to freely think for ourselves as to how we practice any believe system whether it be government, religious, or love preferences. Free thought is going out of style.
Sometimes it seems like all thought is going out of style.
Everyone (from left and right) needs to come back to something called . . .
. . . common sense.
I can't think of anything less "punk rock" than conforming to all the ideas that your in group holds.
Saludos desde Uruguay. Gracias por mencionar a nuestro paisito.
You hit the nail on the head. Anyone who advocates for continuing to push left has the same issue with those intransigents on the right: people just want place to put their flag, and a means to look better than everybody else.
we should all be as open as David and point our North Star both morally and politically to the degree we're good with. My left isn't the same as your left, I might be more left than lefty over there. And we won't all agree on everything all the time, but we should try and discover where we agree and how we can work together to improve things for everyone. ✌️
My favorite video from you in a while. I'm fully with you here. Excellent video.
I appreciate and enjoy your show. It is smart and informative with a dash of humor. In my opinion, a change is not necessary. I’m looking forward to reading your book.
David, all you need is a teddy bear head and you've got yourself a position at Build-A-Bear.🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well technically he needs paws too😂
That's what I was saying, it looks like he came from a furry convention but forgot to take all of his costume off🤣
Good insights from book chapter examples.👍 Looking forward to your book. ✌️
I think you have the right idea about Social Democracy. Capitalism (in its current predatory form) has failed us miserably.
Social democracy has been rolled back after the fall of the Cold War and the era of globalization.
"People voluntarily exchanging goods and services has failed us miserably."
100% agree. This is why I, as an Australian, have followed your channel for the past six years.
I’m a left-winger, and will always fight from that trench.
I’m a left-winger because on 80%+ of values and issues, the left is the Jedi, and the right is the Dark Side.
That includes being on the broadly ‘correct’ side of the two biggest problems confronting humanity - wealth inequality and climate dystopia. It also includes public services, and the traditional fight against genuine prejudice and discrimination (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc).
And I’m even more entrenched on the left since 2016… because for all its faults, the left’s never been apocalyptically irresponsible enough to give extreme power to someone with a blatant and dangerous psychiatric illness (Malignant Narcissism) + psychopathy and sociopathy + the vocabulary and emotional intelligence of a six-year-old. Anyway…
There’s only two areas where the left (or at least, a loud obsessive faction of it) regularly gets it wrong. One is obsessive, irrational identity politics (the modern phenomenon known as wokeness)… and strategic mistakes around issues like immigration and crime partially stem for from that. The other is occasional environmental dogma that goes against human self-interest (Gaia-based environmentalism if you like, rather than human-based environmentalism). Both problems are often well-meaning, but deeply flawed. And the first was a big reason (not the only reason, but a big one) behind making 2016 even possible.
But yes - while it’s by far the better side of politics, the left does have plenty of flaws; and it does have plenty of crazies in its ranks.
We all know the common archetype: irrationally and militantly woke (identity politics obsessed); Uni-educated and middle-class; obsessed with arbitrary identity-based ‘victims’ and ‘oppressors’; far more concerned with purity than pragmatism; moral vanity at the expense of winning elections; constantly running ‘purity tests’; contemptuous of working-class voters; blindly and obsessively pro-Palastine; anti-Western and ‘anti-authority’; dismissive of rule-of-law (presumption of innocence, etc); often very earnest and lacking humour; and behind irrational electoral insanity like ‘Defund the police’, ‘Believe all victims’ and ‘male / white privilege’, etc, etc. “If those people ‘ran’ the whole left, we’d get about 25-30% of the vote and lose every election.
While I’m not hung-up on labels, those people are the reason I no longer identify myself as ‘progressive’ in recent years, and would much rather identify as ‘left-wing’.
Ultimately, ‘liberalism’ as we know it is currently under attack from both an illiberal right, and an illiberal left (albeit a minority on the left).
As Bill Maher (who I do regularly disagree with) once said…
“America’s dogged by two cults right now - the cult of Qanon, and the cult of woke. I think the cult of Qanon’s worse, but the cult of woke’s pretty bad… especially because it’s gonna get Qanon elected.”
David - they’re wrong. You’re right.
The ‘best’ lefties are caring, compassionate and fight for economic and social justice and equality… but also do what it takes to win elections. Because ultimately - if we don’t win, and the bad guys do… it doesn’t matter what any of our values, ideals and beliefs really are… we’re all stuffed.
Recently I've been utterly ostracized from Leftist groups for admitting that I like Taylor Swift and listen to her music, even with the caveat that billionaires should'nt exist. I've voted for the most Progressive candidate in every election, local and national, since I turned 18. I marched for the first time with Occupy Wall Street and never really stopped. I've just reached an age where I have to allow myself to choose small things give me joy once in a while, and apparently having a dance party with my kids to Shake It Off or Me!, or listening to her Folklore album while cooking dinner makes me a fascist and a simp for the billionaire class and no better than the right wing to many Leftists. These kinds of purity tests are absolutely ridiculous, and it's one of the biggest reasons the left wing in the US can't gain any real traction.
Good for you! I didn't even think I liked Taylor Swift until I saw the "Eras" tour in the movie theater, along with about 50 middle-aged kids dancing, singing, and having a good time. She's a great influence on young women. Democrats and progressives should be proud to have Taylor Swift fans in their corner.
Voting progressive is what's letting criminals out of jail with no bail and causing businesses to close everywhere due to the high theft, since there's almost no punishment in some areas now. So, pat yourself on the back, you're causing the issues in the lowest income communities that make jobs and goods/services leave.
Hey, at least we get our white progressive social cred.
David I'm from the UK and in my 50's I used to be very left wing and Identified as a green anarcho-syndicalist, I went to marches and lived on protest camps. As I have become older I have become more right wing as now I am merely a lefty socialist who just wants a fairer world. Your views are not dissimilar to mine and I feel no reason to call out where we do differ because we must have diverse views. Leftist idealism is unachievable so my political desires are now much more based in reality.
I'm from the socially democratic country of Finland, and even though there's no such thing as a society without problems, just as we are now, fighting against a right-wing government that wants to weaken workers' rights, we're doing exceptionally good in well being in comparison to most countries. Our people are the happiest in the world many times in a row because nobody gets left behind as a principle. The security of life and the freedom to pursue a happy work-to-free time balance without fear and a progressive tax system that works, even in the case of speeding tickets. The biggest speeding ticket given in Finland to a rich guy was 129 000$. It's proportional. I've seen many right-wingers complain that that amount is absurdly high. Well, if it wasn't high and you were a multimillionaire, why would you even care? It has to hurt everyone equally or it isn't working.
So the whitest countries are the best countries? Is that your argument, bigot?
David is as left as he needs to be for me, he doesn't need to change a thing.
I'm a paid member and longtime follower. I, too, identify as a progressive social democrat who sees Northern Europe and the Scandinavian countries as models for well-run states. This is because the litmus is human flourishing. Flourishing is maximized in states that have high levels of education and innovation, economic equality and room for social mobility, low crime rates, high literacy rates, universal health care, regulation of firearms, solid social safety nets, high regard for science and public institutions, women's reproductive rights, abolishment of the death penalty and an emphasis on reformation over retribution against criminals, reasonable immigration policy, responsible environmental regulation, etc. While I also care deeply for racial and gender equality, I don't particularly care for the politics of identity or cancel culture. Instead, I believe in a strong commitment to freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas.
I'm a regular viewer of your show, and I hope that you just ignore these types of comments and stay on your current path. I'm not as far left as you on some issues, but I feel like we share the same basic outlook. I don't watch your show (or any show) because I'm looking for someone who agrees with me on everything. I watch because I appreciate your fair and reasoned approach to the topics of the day. I'm so tired of people on the extremes who just want to burn it all down without having any idea how to actually build something that can work in the real world. It might be nice to fantasize about getting everything you want, but this is a large country with many points of view, and we need to be pragmatic and willing to compromise if we truly want to create lasting changes that will benefit the country as a whole. In my opinion, your show is interesting and thought-provoking, and I hope that you just continue being yourself!
There's a Scottish comedian who summed this up perfectly, the clip has been doing the rounds. Basically unless you are the perfect human being you're not good enough, and as we all know, no one is perfect, thus everyone falls down on something. Basically unless you're vegan, anti-war, pro-lgbtq+, pro-ubi, etc, etc, you're not left enough. Even (the fictional character that is) Jesus would fail the standard required
If you really want to go far left, you can be Stalin or Mao. Or present-day North Korea. These are all a no-go. By the way, I've been to East Germany when it was still East Germany. Not a model for any American progressive, I'll leave it at that. I'm to the left of most virtue-signalling leftists, by the way, but disagree on methodology. The reason I'm pulling for Biden is not whether or not I like the guy or care about his age, but, first, to keep Trump out, and second, so that he can appoint more judges, etc., so that we can legislatively push the country toward the multicultural social democracy we all deserve, i.e., playing the long game.
I was a dedicated and involved libertarian socialist/anarcho-communist for a good 15 years. Very inspired by Murray Bookchin, Noam Chomsky, etc. I became very disillusioned with all the holier than though ego trips instead of just honest hard work with organizing. I also had some horrific experiences with rape and intense infighting. I got to a point where I had enough of it and became a dedicated social worker. I’m now finding myself aligning more and more with social democracy as David is advocating here. It’s funny to me because years ago I was critiquing it a lot.
The radical left can be just as full or bullshit, corruption, and false promises as corporate politicians. It’s so weird to me be to saying it but it’s the truth.
Winston Churchill said, “If you are not a liberal when you are young you have no heart, and if you are not conservative when you are old you hav no brain!” I truly believe most of us live in the center and look both ways before voting 🗳️ Soooo …Going Blue in ND🥶
The idea of a compromise is easy to represent as a failure to succeed. In any direction that will lead to extremism. it is also simple to describe extremism as the ideal goal.
People need to know that even their own extremes will ultimately fail.
I understand what you’re saying David, and I agree with the need to “read the room” and appeal to the furthest left that we can, relative to the majority consensus at any given time.
With that being said, we have a long way to becoming as progressive as Norway; and I think current US culture requires more radical change in order for the pendulum to land where we ultimately want it to stay.
Nobody can ever be truly legitimate/correct in ideological opinions because that isn’t how it works. Anyone can be wrong, anyone can grow, and everyone should be formulating opinions based from thought that is their own. Each perspective is uniquely developed throughout your own life.
Ask yourself not only what is destructive to you, but the well being of others. Build something mindful.
He invokes human nature to defend ownership but never realizes our notion of human nature is informed by capitalism. It’s no different from the idea that mankind is avaricious by nature. It’s a conservative argument.
As a socialist, it would be cool to me if you supported that economic system, but your reasons for being a social democrat make sense. I will say that although Sweden has done a good job taking care of their own people, their economy is of course capitalist and therefore depends on the subjugation of the “global south” to prop much of it up, and I would consider their model to be no more than a stepping stone to true equality. Honestly though, as a dual Canadian-US citizen, I would be thrilled to achieve that model over here within my lifetime (I’m 30). Just lowering the ceiling and raising the floor would be fantastic. Either way, I’ll stay subscribed and watching your show because we are 100% on the same “team” and I enjoy your commentary.
What I’ve found is that the people who insist on you not being left enough are people who want to take all the good stuff without consequence while denying anyone else the same. We aren’t mature enough as a species to make everything free
And I love social democracy. As you said, it works
As a socialist Democrat of the Bernie Sanders type, I find your commentaries sensible, balanced and, realistic.
Of course, I do not always agree with your analysis 100%, but as a thinking individual, that is inevitable. My advice ( if I may ) is to keep on doing what you are doing and saying. I find your commentaries insightful, and, in the few cases where we differ, thought provoking; and I appreciate that.
Been a fan for quite some time now. This is the first time I have taken the time to comment on anything. Personally on this particular topic I think the question of left enough can only be asked topic by topic. Its my belief there will never be any real change for the many as long as we allow money in politics. I can’t help but think the mentality my gamer friends and I had when I was much younger would be incredible for our society. The system was simple “Need before Greed”. Wouldn’t it be a beautiful world to live in if people were not allowed to amass wealth beyond a certain point as long as we have things like the homelessness crisis. Tie the ability to be a billionaire with the duty of helping those with the greatest need.
I will be using this clip in the future to educate people on the left AND right on how we rationalize our views. Thanks David!😊
Im from Norway, and totally agree with you. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland shares the same philosophy.
The population of the U.S.A. is so dynamic the only possible way to achieve equanimity is to be left of center. David I feel you are demonstrating a logical stance.
My opinion is that you always provide balanced coverage on both the right and the left. You are a source that actually points out how stupid the right really is. And in a logical, humorous way. That's good enough for me. Our country should be governed in a bipartisan manner. No one side gets everything they want all the time. But as the Rolling Stones said, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need. A fair and balanced government. As a German. I can say you are so right. We learned early on to never ever trust a dicator. We literally pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps after seeing what Hitler did to our country. We help from our allies of course.
In a multicultural society of 350 million people, coalition governance is the only way. You’ll never get ten people, in any group, to agree on anything.
Would I like the US government to be more “Left”? Yes. Also, has America become more progressive since I was born (1970)? Yes.
In places like Sweden, there are dozens of political parties and all have access to power. A functioning government is only possible when parties, from across the spectrum, can come together to form a coalition. That seems to be the guiding principle, find commonalities and work through the differences. Purity tests are authoritarian and have no place in politics.
Your empirical approach and mixture of idealism and pragmatism resonates with me. I also believe one can have reasonable disagreements on substantive matters with others on the left without those disagreements becoming the basis for exclusion from the broad left.
I think the things you share teach me a lot and help me teach others. Your point of view is very insightful and informative. I'd say you're in a good spot; Too far left and too far right don't really find a whole lot of middle ground.
The Majority Report is not your friend....
Yeah, really...I think it just comes down to the fact that he (by his own admission) doesn't watch any other channels...
It’s not about being “ left “ enough it’s just about issues, David just has let us down lately on Israel coverage or lack thereof and disappointing to specifically have platformed Sam Harris recently and not have pushed back on him at all (despite having done better interviews with worse ppl). I am a progressive and vote for democratic candidates. I supported Obama 2008/2012, but Hillary over Bernie 2016 (which ofc did not work out so well), and then Bernie in 2020 over Joe. I will happily vote for Joe but am disappointed specifically with his closeness with Bibi but see him slowly coming around on this issue but perhaps 10,000s of Palestinian lives too late. As a commentator David has a platform and has LESS pressure than Joe so I wish he would use it more on this issue and better engage with it. He recently said he focuses on domestic policy and then immediately started talking about Ukraine so I would like to see a much better explanation for the lack of Israel coverage.
Champagne Socialists always assume that everyone else will be equal but they will be more equal. It is hard to argue though that essential services (power, water, healthcare, local government, education, public transport) should be in private hands.
Nice "Teddy Bear" sweater today, David. Looks comfy!
This is why I gravitate towards David. He’s always well grounded, never one to set his hair on fire. I’m to the right of him on a few things. But he’s got a good head on his shoulders.
Ha!😁 hair on fire!! Call the fire service!! With all that black shoe polish he's currently using as hair dye it would be a terrible blaze!!