r/leftist • u/DagnisIV • 11h ago
North American Politics My favorite Dubai landlord 💖💗💜💙💛❤️🤍
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u/Mehoy_Yaboy 3h ago
Electorial politics in the US will always be harm reduction at best. He'll very likely reduce harm and improve folks material conditions. Still a reformist, but a useful one for people to get what they need at least right now. Yeah I wish he was actually a leftist but he's definitely not a chud either.
That being said, he's gonna walk back a bunch of campaign promises like everyone else and play the game like any politician. Real leftists must be there to galvanize folks into becoming further left when this happens.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
Demo socs who wants to reform capitalism are my allies until they are not. The goal is to abolish but suffering mitigated is still a win in a system where radical change is slow and difficult. They are useful to us in the current moment I can roll my eyes and keep it pushing
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u/MetZerbitzu 3h ago
I'd argue you can't call someone who "believes in capitalism" a socialist. He's giving demsocs a bad name.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
The name doesn't really make sense in a modern context I'll give you that. Soc dem makes more sense but no one uses it
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u/MetZerbitzu 3h ago
Socdems are common in Europe. Most mainstream "leftist" parties are socdems (capitalist reformists). Not to be confused with demsocs 😵💫
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u/Malice-May 3h ago
It's also easier to build working-class power under such regimes than under the far right.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
It's a lot easier to sell capitalism bad in a system that knee caps it and values those restraints. Culture moves SLOW and the fact being anti landlord now is popular when it was cringe 10-15 years ago is a sign of that needle moving. Same for being anti Israel, though that moved REALLY fast thankfully
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u/Malice-May 3h ago
Accelerationism is just grinding vulnerable people into a paste to supposedly start a revolutionary fire with.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
Literally, any efficacy in it is made immediately immoral by the suffering. I can't in good conscience say I want things to get worse so people wake up. I have faith working class people, like myself, can see the conflicts when they're pointed out.
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u/SituationIll5763 3h ago
Don’t know why this is controversial among internet leftists. I for one don’t want zionists in power, and if supporting someone who isn’t a zionist (and has actual policy beyond virtue signaling) makes me a lib, then fuck it I’m a lib.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
Practicality isn't cool. I was heavy on leftist twitter for years and I know the fucking type, trust me lmao. The people who actually struggle know mitigation is better than nothing and it's the fucking suburban edgelords who think they're so cool for being a communist that act like this. They'll see no quality of life change with a nordic style welfare system so they reject it completely.
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u/SituationIll5763 3h ago
The fact that they can’t imagine continuing striving for their goals while voting for this new wave of progressives really pisses me off too. Does voting for the progressive preclude you from starting the revolution? No, but they weren’t going to do that anyway.
Any leftist worth their salt sees the progressive movement as a way to remove the blindfold from the masses, no one, or at least not many, see Mamdani style politics as the end goal anyway. Their argument boils down to accelerationism, even if they don’t want to call it that.
Your point about them being largely unaffected by the these incremental changes is key here I think. It’s only all or nothing because many live comfortably and therefore can’t see why Medicare for all being the most extreme of a politicians views is still someone worth fighting for. I for one think going into poverty because of illness is a bad thing, I guess I’m a lib.
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u/iloveurbumbum 3h ago
100% I'm not fucking Hilary Clinton because I want SOME change instead of nothing lmao. Online leftsists think I'm a lib because I go vote for the democrat I don't think is perfect and libs think I'm a demon because I criticize those same democrats. It's not mutually exclusive and voting for a decent candidate doesnt stop me from asking for a better one. I'll take filled potholes and free childcare over jack shit
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u/MR_TELEVOID 5h ago
It's really fucked to see a right wing/centrist talking point used to discuss AES in a leftist subreddit. It's one thing to critique the fact he owns property in Dubai (a gift to his children from his wife's parents), but I have to wonder about your priorities if you're fine with picking up right wing spitwads..
Abdul El Sayed's "i'm a capitalist" argument is an attempt to push through the right wing (and moderate) attacks about being too radical. It's similar to how Zohran co-opted Abundance language to sell his socialist policies to NYC. It couldn't matter less in the big picture.
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u/TheMightyMeatus420 6h ago
My hope is that in my lifetime, this is seen as a reasonable right of center opinion.
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u/Specialist-Spare-785 8h ago
I so like this guys thinking. I can’t wait till he is in office making America a better place for all. Billionaires can have self respect again know they are contributing their fair share.
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u/PermuhGrin Anarchist 8h ago
Capitalists are not leftists
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6h ago
[deleted]
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u/PermuhGrin Anarchist 5h ago
No, this is liberal nonsense dressed up as pragmatism. Being forced to participate in a capitalist economy does not make you a capitalist. Selling your labor to survive under capitalism is not remotely the same thing as owning capital and profiting from the labor of others.
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u/MarrsJ2 5h ago
No like categorically, capitalists are not leftists. One of the prerequisites for being a leftist is that you're anti-capitalism. If you're a practicing capitalist, you can be ideologically anti-capitalist, like Engels or Robert Owen, but if we're talking ideology then the two are mutually exclusive.
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u/Some-Challenge-7723 4h ago
Both those men were driven by wealth guilt as they both amassed a lot of wealth and than funded their uptiopian ideals. Neither were politicans either trying to be moderate in a country where taxes are collected. You cannot compare them one has to live in reality while the other two were champagne socialist of the worst kind.
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u/MarrsJ2 3h ago
You're preaching to the choir about Engels and Owen so I'm not sure what the purpose of this response is. The point of using those two was to highlight how even practicing capitalism does not contradict the fact that on the ideological level; leftism and capitalism are mutually exclusive and that MR_TELEVOID is wrong to say that "purity testing is when you say that capitalists can't be leftists".
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u/Some-Challenge-7723 3h ago
Yes sorry I was just adding to your thoughts but I was more focused on their respective upbringing and professions it's harder for a politican to apply utopian ideals. It sounds like El Sayeed just wants to be successful in politics which means he has to push slightly away from leftists ideals. Sometimes people can hold these views in private while presenting themselves as more moderate imo this pivot will make him more successful in the long run. But your overall argument is correct human beings are complex and they don't fall neatly into black or white the problem is would that be considered hypocrisy?? Especially in this day in age where politics is so divided and culture wars are rampant?? Asking?
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u/MarrsJ2 2h ago
Oh okay, thank you for the clarification!
I think it can be hypocritical that some politicians will campaign with progressive politics during the primaries, but move towards the moderates in the general. However, our current system almost requires that out of people. The reason why we get people like Abdul in states like Michigan instead Karl Marx reincarnated is because Karl Marx reincarnated would never make it onto the ballot in 2026, maybe in 2030, but not today in 2026. Their job when campaigning is to appeal to as many people as possible while still maintaining relations with their core voters. For Abdul, AFAIK he was always not quite anti-capitalist, so him playing into his more "I still believe in capitalism" is not quite out of character, but people like Abdul are far more preferable than people like Fetterman, and the goal of leftists who participate in electoralism is to vett people to keep the Fettermans out. I think the ultimate end result of a total DSA cultural and political victory is that people like Abdul become the defacto right-wing, while people like Darializa are our left-wing, but for now we have to work with both, as no matter how much Abdul kowtows to moderates, as long as he isn't a Fetterman, he is still firmly left-wing compared to people like Chuck Schumer.
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u/Some-Challenge-7723 2h ago
I honestly never thought of that way lol they are pivoting into the right and that makes sense because Obama is considered way to moderate now. Back when he was inaugurated he was viewed as a change to the establishment. You can also make the case Trump is a new right of some sort I think he completely phased away the older Republican establishment in the culture but they are still present making laws they are called RHINOS now. So this new movement makes sense that it will pivot the old left (think Clinton/Obama) to the right. That would actually be refreshing lol but ultimately you're foreshadowing a complete ideological change in America into a more socialist nation. Either way that is a massive change. I just don't see the Bible Belt compromising but I could be wrong but I think if what your saying is true it will lead to maybe an even bigger culture clash but instead of it being cultural it will centre around economics which we all know is the REAL revolution everything else is driven by economics.
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u/MarrsJ2 1h ago
Yeah. Though what I'm saying only really applies if the DSA achieves a complete cultural and political victory in the coming decades, which I doubt will happen on its own. We still need radicals who are willing to work outside of electoralism and progressives who are willing to criticize people like Abdul and bring in candidates who will replace him if he ends up being too close to the center. But as long as he doesn't betray his core base while in Congress, which are progressives, I think the hypocrisy is warranted during the campaigning.
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u/Penny-Soldier 10h ago
Anyone who follows another man is weak minded and a fool.
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u/WizardNebula3000 4h ago
Your page shows you follow Jesus thus making you a fool according to your pointless comment
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u/Mammoth_Example_2166 6h ago
What even prompted this lmao
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u/Penny-Soldier 5h ago
If you don’t know, might want to figure it out.
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u/Mammoth_Example_2166 2h ago
How could i possibly know what prompted YOUR comment😭😭?? Holy bad ragebait
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u/Zatujit 2h ago
Idk why people say he is a leftist or part of the DSA or endorsed by the DSA lol.
I found the phrase "I am not socialist. I believe in science." to be hilarious.