So, David Pakman seemed to recently have a video titled "The competition to be a 'real' leftist is a loser's game", and I found this interesting enough to discuss, since I tend to take the "centrist" position on this debate within the democratic party.
The fact is, I kind of agree with Pakman here. Leftist purity testing has gotten out of control recently. And I myself am getting sick of it. It really is a losing game of "I'm more leftists than thou", with these guys going to increasingly cringey levels of leftist ideology and castigating others for not being so extreme.
To be a leftist on economics, you need to be a socialist, communist, or anarchist, full stop. Liberals like social democrats, liberals, social libertarians, etc., are often pariahed in these communities and while I used to fit into them a few years ago, I no longer do.
To be leftist on social issues, you have to be woke, buy the critical theory line completely, and constantly virtue signal about privilege. You're not allowed to have your own goals, you need never ending empathy for underprivileged groups. I also am a pariah among those people.
To be leftist on foreign policy, you have to be completely AGAINST US foreign policy, and want to basically just not do anything, cut our military by 50% or more (I could see 10-25%, but not 50%+), and apparently be for just letting Russia march into Ukraine, and of course, FREE PALESTINE! RAWR!
And leftists are OBNOXIOUS on these issues. And I've had to push back against them, tell these guys that they lost the plot, and that I'm just a liberal who wanted universal healthcare and UBI. I have had to do the unpleasant thing of openly breaking with them and going in my own direction, and I've been a regular critic of these guys since 2020-2021 or so. The fact is, they got way too extreme, their demands are unreasonable, and their ideology is increasingly batcrap insane. And I just can't follow that.
And David Pakman seems to agree here, and he talks a big game on social democracy. HOWEVER, here's the issue I have with Pakman's analysis. Pakman....is a centrist. Despite how much he talks about social democracy in this video, the dude does not seem to have a social democratic bone in his body. I would classify him as a third way liberal. He was scolding people in 2016, pushing the blue no matter who stuff, trying to get us to support hillary and shaming us for not doing so. He did the same in 2020 with Biden. This dude is a complete democratic party sycophant, and even if he has social democratic impulses, he has literally no standards. As I said, I take the center position on this issue, whereas Pakman is, in practice at the other extreme. He has no political courage and is a full stop democratic party sycophant in recent years. He's the epitome of a Biden bro or blue maga.
Here's the thing. It's not bad to have standards. It's not bad to hold politicians to those standards. I think it's fine to be a purity testy ###hole to some extent, and I own up to the fact that I am one. In 2016 and 2020, Bernie Sanders, despite the socialist label and sometimes rhetoric, merely advocated for what Pakman claims that he wants, social democracy. policy wise, this dude wanted a $15 minimum wage, universal healthcare, free college, student debt forgiveness, a green new deal, stronger unions, maybe codetermination, which was in practice in capitalist (west) germany (something that Pakman himself mentioned, since he mentioned germany and their model). What the blue MAGA people don't understand is that in 2020, that's all we were holding candidates to the fire on, be as progressive as Bernie. Support the same things as Bernie. If you dont support the things Bernie did, then no vote. None of this was SOCIALIST. All of it was standard social democratic policies. They were based on FDR's second economic bill of rights. FDR was a social LIBERAL. He wasnt a commie. Bernie wasn't a commie either, despite whatever rhetoric he uses. He was just a typical socdem, and as I keep saying lately, Bernie is a moderate compared to the modern vocal online left. I'm a moderate compared to that online left. And that's really the problem with where I diverge with the left. All i wanted when I purity tested was social democratic policies, plus a UBI and my anti work/indepentarian stuff, which is STILL compatible with capitalism, and is STILL under the social democratic umbrella. I mean, I always frame my stuff as being a form of human centered capitalism. A term that the "true leftists" see as an oxy moron and people like second thought and vaush have written videos about while foaming at the mouth.
But let's be honest, those are MY purity tests, and compared to the modern left, I dont think that I ask for much. Just a new new deal for the 21st century. Im not advocating we seize the means of production, or overthrowing capitalism, or eating the rich. If anything, I've gotten a bit more moderate in the past election cycle, as exploring my own ideology and its goals has caused me to make some sacrifices in the more moderate direction to make a UBI work on a fiscal level. Im no longer for a green new deal, but im satisfied with build back better, and I can settle for a public option instead of single payer if the plan is progressive enough (i would still prefer single payer though). I've become more open to supporting more moderate candidates who are still mildly progressive, and still kinda sorta meet my goals, like kamala harris, gavin newsom, and even fricking Joe Biden, who i hated with a passion in 2020. But still, make no mistake, I actually havent changed a ton since 2020. My evolution on here is documented pretty well on this blog, and we can see where my head is at. I do reward candidates who attempt to meet my ideological goals, even partially, and while I am a tough grader on presidential candidates, I'm more than fair.
The fact is, I havent ever actually abandoned my values. Maybe I made a couple fiscal compromises here and there, but that's just compromising my ideals with REALITY ITSELF. My ideas arent any good if i cant implement them in reality. And I'm just thinking of ways to actually accomplish that, and I hold candidates largely to account. The fact is, the democrats have moved left, enough, to satisfy me this election cycle. Did I get everything I wanted? No. Did Biden at least attempt to implement some things I said I want? yes, and I'm rewarding him with that, with a general election vote. Sure, in the primary, I still might support Dean Phillips, and before that, Marianne Willamson. They met my standards better, what can I say? And I vote based on my standards, THAT never changed.
The difference between me and the online left, the ones who are "lefter than thou", is they literally cant be satisfied. They're no longer using even Bernie as a standard. Theyre criticizing Bernie for not being tough enough on gaza. They're calling him, and AOC, and every other progressive in office, a sell out, for compromising with reality and making the best they can of the current situation. They seem to demand their representatives literally commit political suicide on the altar of ideological purity, and buck the democratic party in the process, seemingly ignoring that all of the progress that I mentioned that I want to reward is being done, in part BECAUSE OF THEM. Bernie is being a good old boy now BECAUSE of Biden doing the things he's doing. Biden incorporated some elements of Bernie's agenda in his platform. Bernie is going along with him because if the progressives in congress acted the way these leftist purity testers want them to act, they would basically be stabbing the party in the back, and the party would reward them by...going hard centrist. Which is why, yes, sometimes you need an outsider, like Andrew yang, or Marianne Williamson, or Dean Phillips, or myself, to keep piling the pressure on, but the thing is, all of those guys have standards and limits, and leftists seem to have a hate boner for all of them for not being leftist enough. And Im gonna be blunt, unless you never run yourself, you're never gonna have a perfect candidate. Even if I ran myself, I'd only get an 82/100 on my primary 2024 purity test. Because I myself am flawed, and i myself have to compromise with reality.
These guys dont wanna compromise with reality. They are pushing for increasingly extreme, unrealistic, and dangerous ideas, and they seem to insist people die on their swords for their ideological purity. So let's cut the crap there.
STILL, let's be honest about Pakman. He's in the other camp, the ones I call blue maga. The ones who wanna "vote blue no matter who", the ones who oppose ANY purity test, and ANY criticism of their candidates, because omfg, we gotta defeat trump, don't say anything bad about the democrats ever. I'm NOT those guys. I never have been, and I quite frankly cant stand those guys.
And yes, I do criticize the gaza protesters, yes, because I dont see the issue the same way they do, being a lib, and I dont believe this is worth committing political suicide over. It's dumb. I hold people to account on economic priorities, but gaza has NEVER been a priority, and still isn't. And even if I myself criticize Netanyahu, the issue is not important enough to me to go against Biden over. It just isn't, and I'm basically saying that up front. The reason i criticize THOSE guys is because they're extremist nuts themselves.
But again, david pakman is the other way. He has NO spine, he has NO standards. He IS a true "blue no matter who" type. And his behavior on the issue has been clear over the years. And to some extent, I cant stand him, or his supporters, because of this. Again, theres a middle ground between having NO standards and insanely unrealistic ones. I have standards, they're limited to my top 5 or so issues, and I reward partial credit for trying to implement moderate forms of policy. I think that's the reasonable middle ground. Im not asking for anything unrealistic. Well, maybe I am, I mean, asking for UBI and the end of work IS a bit much, but I'm willing to accept baby steps and partial movement in that direction. The point is nothing I ask is impossible, and I'm willing to settle for what i have to settle for.
My problem with pakman and blue maga types is not only do they have NO standards, they bash and demonize and antagonize people who demand ask for things. We SHOULD be asking things of our politicians. What the frick is the point of being invested in politics if you dont even have a vision or a cause to rally behind? Are you really into just the whole "team" aspect like its a sports thing? The goal is to implement policy. And if the team isnt even for the same policies or goals, then it's time to abandon them.
So yeah. While Pakman has a point about how being as far left as possible is a loser's game, so is not being for anything at all. It's fine to have goals, it's fine to have policies, it's fine to have purity tests, just...don't get so insane over them you lose all touch with reality.
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