this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
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That all sounds exhausting. Maybe we should just raise taxes on the rich to pay for social programs?
Does that really need to be slotted into an ideology before doing it?
Why do I have to understand politics? Why can't I just have what I want? That's what you are saying in effect.
If the rich control the state through corruption how is the state going to implement any of these ideas when it's against capitalist interests? In less corrupt nations what you want might be feasible, but somewhere like the USA you have no chance.
Honestly you can just admit you are not a socialist and don't understand socialism and move on. Statements like these are dumb and make you look dumb to anyone reasonably informed. Raising taxes isn't socialism, owning the means of production is socialism.
Sure I understand politics. At election time, I read the party platforms and check polling. That way I can can strategically vote based on the candidate that has the highest probability of enacting policies that I want. Though sometimes I vote to prevent a candidate that's regressive. Repeat for every election.
Sometimes I'll write to my representative. Sometimes I'll go to party meetings, do some phone banking.
Progress is slow, but when you actually care about the issues you can achieve progress by voting in as many elections as it takes to get there.
Next month the bus route I take will only charge one fare instead of two. It's a whole stupid thing, don't even ask.
Given that it tends to be the working class that takes the bus, this helps the working class in a small way. If everyone put effort into making small local changes we could achieve even more.
So yeah fixing bus fares doesn't sound like much, but I think it's far more help to the working class where I live than internet socialists have ever done. Too busy dreaming about some future socialist revolution that will solve all problems to make things better now. In fact I think that future revolution thing is mostly just an excuse to not make an effort to improve things now.
Do you even vote?
I actually used to do this. Didn't mean I understood much about politics and economics. Still could learn way more, but at least I don't think this alone is sufficient anymore. Under a FPTP voting system their are only two parties who can win anyway.
Some societies are literally going backwards - that's not progress. Take the USA or UK as prime examples. Also slow and steady leads to climate disaster and people being deprived of their rights - namely women in the US and trans people everywhere else.
Then you have met shit socialists. They are the people going to rallies and protests to show solidarity. Also the people building the unions, organising the strikes. Some vote in every election. There have been revolutions before, in almost every country on earth at some point. It's entirely possible to have another one. This whole thing is badly informed and horribly wrong, there are socialists out there doing more to help people than you are.
Honestly you just want to make yourself sound impressive for doing basic civic duty while shitting on people who's beliefs you don't even understand in a forum that's supposed to be for them.
You said you vote, then say it's exhausting to look into socialist policies. Can you not extend the same effort you put into voting for local, state, and federal representatives and policies to your employer?
Opportunity costs. Time I spend on endless dialectics or whatever is time I'm spending making an effort to actually improve things.
Less time spent on figuring out where an issue fits into a made up framework means more time spent actually thinking about the issue and doing something about it.
I'm asking if you can put the same effort of voting for government shit into your employers. Not to research socialist schools of thought. The main socialist ideals that I'm aware of that I think have the most support are those for democratizing the workforce.