Why Not to Vote Democrat

[bae]

I should know by 8:15PST tonight if I got elected to the non-partisan position of Fire Commissioner. ...

Dang it all, with the first vote count this evening I have 83% of the vote. My friends running for the other contested positions won by similar amounts.

I guess folks weren't fans of the incumbents after all.

[frugal-one]

Congrats Bae. Although wondering why you posted this under Why not to vote Democrat?

[frugal-one]

There are so many differing descriptions of fascism I should be more specific when I mention fascism from the left, I'm referring to the Social Fascism movement of the early 1900's which Stalin described as the "twin brother" of social democracy, which we now see in Democratic Socialism. He believed that fascism depended upon the power of social democracy and social democracy was only possible with the support of fascism. We're seeing an awful lot of that these days in our every day politics.

You and I are both using the term fascism as a pejorative, just applying it to different sides.

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Fascism rose to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries, most notably Germany. Fascism also had adherents outside of Europe. Wikipedia

[Tybee]

Congratulations, Bae!
In our state we voted on 8 ballot questions and it was interesting to see a lot of large wins. Think the vote did not line up into Republicans and Dems, more along lines of Mainer voting, if that makes sense.

[iris lilies]

Dang it all, with the first vote count this evening I have 83% of the vote. My friends running for the other contested positions won by similar amounts.

I guess folks weren't fans of the incumbents after all.

Congratulations bae, I know you’ll do a good job.

[nswef]

Bae, they recognize quality and ability!

[Alan]

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Fascism rose to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries, most notably Germany. Fascism also had adherents outside of Europe. Wikipedia

Thoughts on Social Fascism

"Fascism is not only a military-technical category. Fascism is the bourgeoisie’s fighting organisation that relies on the active support of Social-Democracy. Social-Democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism. There is no ground for assuming that the fighting organisation of the bourgeoisie can achieve decisive successes in battles, or in governing the country, without the active support of Social-Democracy." ~ Joseph Stalin, 1924

[iris lilies]

"Fascism is not only a military-technical category. Fascism is the bourgeoisie’s fighting organisation that relies on the active support of Social-Democracy. Social-Democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism. There is no ground for assuming that the fighting organisation of the bourgeoisie can achieve decisive successes in battles, or in governing the country, without the active support of Social-Democracy." ~ Joseph Stalin, 1924

I heard Russian born Konstantin Kisen talk about the fascist authoritarian regime of Stalin. His parents spent time in Siberian villages because his father has been thrown in the Gulag for a while. After Stalin died and Khrushchev came to power, all of Stalin’s fascist, authoritarian brutalization of citizens was revealed.

In his parents little village also lived former guards at the prisons. When these realizations came to light, more than one of the prison guards killed themselves because they were so horrified at the regime they had participated in. When they were working for the regime, they were convinced that what they were doing in the prisons was for the good of their society.

Throwing people in the prisons for wrong think and talking against the government. That is authoritarian brutality.

I see that happening in today’s left. Not in mainstream Democrat circles—yet, exactly—but in Congress’ The Squad and their fans. Freedom of speech is the most important aspect of western culture. We Americans do not realize what is happening in other western countries where tamping down of thought and speech is taking place. Saying the wrong thing in the UK will earn you a call from the police. Maybe they will ask you to come down to the station to talk over your thoughts. And I do not mean speech or thoughts about actively threatening violence to someone else. But they consider “hate speech “is laughable.

people lose their jobs, or have a threat of losing their jobs for speech that it’s not incendiary, but is stupidly labeled. “hate speech “when it is not.

[Alan]

I see that happening in today’s left.

Me too. Everything old is new again.

[iris lilies]

We boomers have to carry the flag of free-speech because we have nothing to lose. We are not gonna lose our jobs. We are not going to lose serious friends although fringe friends might go by the wayside, but so be it. We are not going to lose our place in the community because frankly, boomers are running the community organizations because the young folks haven’t stepped up to do it.