I just dont get “lefties” banging this drum. Are you trying to cause division? Trying to shame them into action? Why would you want to alienate people sympathetic to your cause? To me, liberalism has always been about human rights and freedom above all. That means it takes presedence over economic theory.
The core of it is that most leftists believe (and as left-leaning myself, I agree) that economic justice and justice in society are deeply connected and can’t be separated. A society with an economic system wherein 99.99% of economic power is centered in the elite will never be free, no matter how permissive the laws and regulations of the government are.
However, some, especially online, leftists take this to mean that one should never work with liberals except to exploit and undermine them, as they believe liberal action is ultimately fruitless or even counterproductive.
Those of us who are reconciled to living in the real world understand that, especially in societies where liberals are more common than leftists, working and supporting liberals against reactionaries is necessary, so long as the need of pushing the population towards more left-positions is not overshadowed by this support.
My original comment is just clarifying that it wasn’t the liberals of the Weimar Republic who were generally associated with the “After Hitler, us!” mindset.
I just dont get “lefties” banging this drum. Are you trying to cause division? Trying to shame them into action? Why would you want to alienate people sympathetic to your cause? To me, liberalism has always been about human rights and freedom above all. That means it takes presedence over economic theory.
Edit: put air quotes on lefties
The core of it is that most leftists believe (and as left-leaning myself, I agree) that economic justice and justice in society are deeply connected and can’t be separated. A society with an economic system wherein 99.99% of economic power is centered in the elite will never be free, no matter how permissive the laws and regulations of the government are.
However, some, especially online, leftists take this to mean that one should never work with liberals except to exploit and undermine them, as they believe liberal action is ultimately fruitless or even counterproductive.
Those of us who are reconciled to living in the real world understand that, especially in societies where liberals are more common than leftists, working and supporting liberals against reactionaries is necessary, so long as the need of pushing the population towards more left-positions is not overshadowed by this support.
My original comment is just clarifying that it wasn’t the liberals of the Weimar Republic who were generally associated with the “After Hitler, us!” mindset.