this can contribute to its collapse if libs learn that there is no acceptable version of neoliberal capitalism.
That's a pretty big "if". I mean, we've seen how libs reacted to this, by doubling down on vote blue no matter who. And now we're seeing them defend liberalism more aggressively than ever before, as every criticism of Biden's administration must come from a salty Trumper or a Russian bot plotting to sabotage the guy who gave them back the comfort of denying the reality of US politics. Yes, there's also been an uptick in leftist positions over the last years, but was that due to Trump saying the quiet part out loud or was that rather due to neoliberalism having wrecked America to the point where material conditions become a radicalization factor for more and more parts of the American populace? I'd say it's the latter. The former is too easily brushed aside with "we just have the wrong guy in power."
was that due to Trump saying the quiet part out loud or was that rather due to neoliberalism having wrecked America to the point where material conditions become a radicalization factor for more and more parts of the American populace?
Why can't they be part of the same process? Bush needed to "save the Iraqi people from Saddam," and it was a total lie and now, no one believes that so easily so Trump just says "because we kick ass" or whatever. This is part of the same progression, the slow fall of empire; we cannot spend money on our infrastructure or healthcare because we spend hundreds of billions on the military. Both our material conditions and Trump's stupidity are related to the corporate state. I confess to being an optimist about whether people will recognize this or not, but I think people will be pressured to take an antiwar stance and of course this means losing our hegemonic status.
That's a pretty big "if". I mean, we've seen how libs reacted to this, by doubling down on vote blue no matter who. And now we're seeing them defend liberalism more aggressively than ever before, as every criticism of Biden's administration must come from a salty Trumper or a Russian bot plotting to sabotage the guy who gave them back the comfort of denying the reality of US politics. Yes, there's also been an uptick in leftist positions over the last years, but was that due to Trump saying the quiet part out loud or was that rather due to neoliberalism having wrecked America to the point where material conditions become a radicalization factor for more and more parts of the American populace? I'd say it's the latter. The former is too easily brushed aside with "we just have the wrong guy in power."
Why can't they be part of the same process? Bush needed to "save the Iraqi people from Saddam," and it was a total lie and now, no one believes that so easily so Trump just says "because we kick ass" or whatever. This is part of the same progression, the slow fall of empire; we cannot spend money on our infrastructure or healthcare because we spend hundreds of billions on the military. Both our material conditions and Trump's stupidity are related to the corporate state. I confess to being an optimist about whether people will recognize this or not, but I think people will be pressured to take an antiwar stance and of course this means losing our hegemonic status.