So, this is somewhat related to the topic yesterday about AIPAC and the democrats being moderate wimps. Vaush also had a few segments on this, and on this, I'm mostly responding to the section where Elissa Slotkin was speaking and Vaush was dunking on her. This is more economic in nature. Basically, Slotkin didn't come off too bad here, for a democrat I mean, but I have relatively low expectations of democrats. Vaush came out swinging though, and he was dunking on her for pushing the same old liberal BS and stuff.
I mean, I get it, but....democrats be democrats, right? I like vaush starting to sound like past me on this. I'm only more moderate sounding because...again...with the bar being so low it's literally "just stop the fascism" at this point, I'm kind of looking the other way on stuff. But I did want to reiterate a point I made in a few other posts over the years.
Liberals have this idea of a social contract. They think, well, you put in the time and work the appropriate number of hours a week, and we'll make sure you're taken care of. We act like this is a super progressive position given the alternative in recent decades is basically "we dont care how much to work, if you don't earn enough to live then screw you, have you tried not being poor?" And no, given the touchy political environment, I'm not gonna touch the warehouse fire guy. I mean, I don't support that sort of crap obviously. But I do think, when that bare minimum isn't met, then, well, people sometimes radicalize and that's how you get ACTUAL terrorists. Just an FYI to any FBI agents who might be reading this because I'm on Trump's NSPM-7 craplist. You might wanna focus on like, ACTUAL terrorists here. Not just watching anyone who dares speak out against das fuhrer like you're the pre crime division from the minority report. Ya know, I actually studied criminology before, right? Yeah...so I feel justified in giving an opinion here. If you care about terrorism, go after actual terrorists, not just random people who dare express their political opinions on the internet.
Anyway, I don't endorse that guy. But I do want to talk about this liberal social contract thing. So...liberals have this idea of a social contract. You work, you get taken care of. Much better than, you work, and screw you anyway, but yeah. Again, it's kind of the bare minimum position, ya know? I mean, you put in the time, you get the benefits back and can afford a comfortable life. If anything, it's a bit quaint at this point. People might wonder, well, what do you suggest, we just give people stuff for not working? ....yes?
I mean, here's my argument. if it's absolutely essential for people to be working all of the time, that's one thing. But, we literally have an economic where the main political debate for most of my life has been "creating jobs." like, we literally talk about creating work and coming up for stuff for people to do, so they can earn a paycheck. Why? because we always did things that way and you dont want free stuff do you? Like, liberals do that a lot. "We don't hate hard work." I do. "We don't want it easy." I do. "We want free stuff." I do! I mean, I'm tired of acting like these are radical statements. This job thing never appealed to me. It's always been like, "okay, if things HAVE to be this way for society to function, that's one thing." but for me, it feels almost 80s Sovietesque. ya know...."I pretend to work and they pretend to pay me"? Like the whole thing is just a farce we still do. It doesn't work, it never actually worked. FDR might've made it kinda sorta work as a huge band aid on capitalism to preserve the system, but as I know, we didn't have to go that way either.
And that's the thing. As technology improves economic efficiency...maybe instead of obsessing over "job creation", we focus on, ya know, working less? or making work more voluntary? I mean, I've discussed all of this before. And given the K shaped economy, the fact that what Andrew Yang warned us about is happening, how our society seems to be coming apart at the seams...well...yeah. Maybe we need a new social contract for a new century. Maybe that involves UBI. Maybe it involves working less. Maybe both. Either way, I would agree, just insisting on the bare minimum social contract isn't good enough IMO. It's not gonna solve the problems we have. It's not gonna fix society. Maybe it will allow us to keep hobbling on while the fascists keep making ground, because let's face it, their rise to power is ANOTHER cry for help in this sick and dysfunctional society we're living in. But yeah.
Here's what I fear from the dems. We go into 2026 and 2028, win big simply due to being the opposition party. Then...we lose again in 2030 and 2032. And then the fascists come back. And they're worse next time. Because they're the real radical threat that this country is facing. They're the real terrorists. Ya know? And maybe they actually succeed in turning us into a dictatorship for good, putting political opposition in camps, yada yada.
So...my message for those running in 2028 in particular....we gotta do better. We gotta pull a new New Deal out of our butts here and FAST. our own "Project 2029" if you will, which yes, Slotkin talked about and I liked that language. But again, rather than just trying to restore this flawed and broken social contract...I say we write a new one that works with our modern reality. As I see it, the modern economy and the modern job is no longer working. Job creation aint working. Our idea of the economy is fundamentally broken. We gotta rewrite the rules entirely. This doesn't mean abolishing capitalism, fyi, just evolving it. UBI, shorter work weeks, those are still capitalism, just a new form of progressive capitalism centered around updating things for a new century.
Or we can stick to the same old ideas and watch society sink like the Titanic, which is what the past 10 years have felt like to me. *puts on Celine Dion out of pure 90s nostalgia*
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