The Race For 2024

[Loren Pechtel]

It is the car companies that are the problem. Massive pickup trucks and SUVs that are very expensive. That is their bread and butter. Cheaper cars though, do not sell well. So it is a bind. It is economics. Very well to do don't care if that new pickup is $75.000. The young worker struggling with low pay and hire rent and paying off a student loan, will buy a used car, not a new $35.000 sedan.

While I agree that they like making the high-markup stuff there's still a decent market for foreign sedans. It's just the domestic ones that are dying because they aren't profitable given their high labor costs. (And that's not just wages, but requirements about the number of workers. The UAW really doesn't like machines that reduce the need for labor.)

 

[lpetrich]

More on Hindu beliefs.

Hindus worship numerous deities, but some Hindus believe that many of them are aspects of other deities, like some single deity. Hindu monotheism is inclusive, rather than exclusive like Abrahamic monotheism. A single deity manifesting itself as both sexes of deity may reasonably be described as transgender.

Also, Hindu deities are depicted with many arms, though otherwise anthropomorphic. These arms are symbolic of their capabilities.

So Vivek Ramaswamy worships a transgender many-armed deity, though he tries to make himself seem like some honorary "God is an American" evangelical.

‘The hard truth’: Mehdi grills Vivek Ramaswamy on his record and past statements - YouTube

Mehdi Hasan’s full interview with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, ranging from what qualifications he has for the most powerful office in the world, how he squares his past criticism of Trump with his lavish praise today, and why he has made truth the centerpiece of his campaign when his statements are littered with contradictions.

Why does VR want to run for President? Techbro arrogance? VR: "I have been taking on bureaucracies my entire life", starting with corporate bureaucracies. He then claimed to understand the law and the Constitution, but given how glib he is, I wouldn't bet on that.

MH then got into how VR acquired an Alzheimer's-disease drug that had failed some clinical tests, then hyped it like crazy. Then the drug failed some more clinical tests. But VR had cashed out before those tests, something very suspicious-looking. A pump-and-dump scheme? VR called that claim "opposition research", and the two then haggled over VR's career as a pharma venture capitalist.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

It is a long time to election day. Oppositional research is a big part of the political game. If VR has a skeezy track record, it is going to be made very public. Welcome to the savage, and brutal world of GOP politics, Vivek!

 

[lpetrich]

Then Mehdi Hasan said that Vivek Ramaswamy's critics say that he believes in fantasy politics, proposing things that can't be done. MH showed what VR said that he would have done if he had been in Mike Pence's place on January 6, 2021.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY ON "MEET THE PRESS"

RAMASWAMY: "Here's what I would have said. We need single day voting on Election Day. We need paper ballots, and we need government issued ID... Then, on that condition, certified the election results..."

AUGUST 27

Then lots of haggling. He backtracked, claiming that he would have proposed such a bill just after Election Day.

MH then asked VR how he would keep the US out of no-win wars. VR said that he would pull Russia away from its alliance with China by offering it bits of Ukraine, what seems like a Neville-Chamberlain strategy to me. He claims that Ukraine's sovereignty will be intact, but also that Ukraine will not be joining NATO.

Then claiming that Western officials promised their Soviet counterparts that NATO would not be expanding eastward. I've seen that claim a lot, and while that was likely discussed, it was never made a firm commitment.

Then claiming that Russia would have to end its alliance with China. But how does he plan to enforce it?

Then a lot of haggling about what VR thinks about Trump - the greatest President of this century? Someone like this?

What Trump did last week was wrong. Downright abhorrent. Plain and simple. I've said it before and did so in my piece.

5:54 AM - 1/12/2021

Referring to an op-ed that he wrote about the Jan. 6 insurrection. He tried to change the subject from what he stated back then, like claiming that he said that "censorship" was the cause of that insurrection.

Then that Trump failed to unite the country and that he was going to do so. How is he going to do that?

Then about him accepting the Paul & Daisy Soros Scholarship, for children of immigrants, for going to law school, though he now opposes affirmative action. He claimed that he needed the money, even though he had a lot of money back then.

He bragged about releasing 20 years of tax returns.

They got to VR's promise to pardon Trump, no matter what he is guilty of, and also the Jan. 6 attackers, and also "After racist Jacksonville shooting, Ramaswamy defends denying existence of white supremacy", his wanting to fire at least half of the Federal workforce, over 1 million people, then "Ramaswamy proposes raising voting age to 25, unless people serve in military or pass a test", over 30 million people, then wanting to eliminate birthright citizenship, calling voting and citizenship "privileges".

He then claims to want to revive free speech and open debate, civic duty, revive true equality in law, the rule of law for everybody, the founding vision of the country, with policymaking done by elected leaders, not unelected bureaucrats, ...

He claims to apply this standard: what would George Washington and Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson and John Jay think? He says that he wants 3 coequal branches, not 4, and that he wants to shut down the administrative state, that 4th branch.

 

[lpetrich]

What would the Founders think? The present-day US is so different from their world that it would represent major culture shock. Alexander Hamilton would find the present-day US much like what he wanted the US to be: a commercial and industrial power with a strong government. Thomas Jefferson would like the great universities that the US now has, even though he'd be disappointed that the US is not a nation of farmers. George Washington might think that the US government does too much, though he'd include the military in that, like bases all over the world and a deep-water navy.

Trump Calls on RNC to Cancel All Future Primary Debates

Statement From Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Chris LaCivita

“Tonight’s GOP debate was as boring and inconsequential as the first debate, and nothing that was said will change the dynamics of the primary contest being dominated by President Trump. President Trump has a 40- or 50-point lead in the primary election and a 10-point lead over Joe Biden in the general election, and it’s clear that President Trump alone can defeat Biden. The RNC should immediately put an end to any further primary debates so we can train our fire on Crooked Joe Biden and quit wasting time and money that could be going to evicting Biden from the White House.”

 

[TV and credit cards]

So Sam Bankman-Fried was going to pay Donald Dickhead five billion dollars not to run in 2024.
Free Sam Bankman-Fried.

Sam Bankman-Fried wanted to pay Donald Trump not to run for office. The price? $5 billion, says his biographer.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced FTX founder, heard that it would cost $5 billion to get Donald Trump not to run for office, Michael Lewis reported in his book, "Going Infinite."

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Elixir]

So Sam Bankman-Fried was going to pay Donald Dickhead five billion dollars not to run in 2024.
Free Sam Bankman-Fried.

Sam Bankman-Fried wanted to pay Donald Trump not to run for office. The price? $5 billion, says his biographer.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced FTX founder, heard that it would cost $5 billion to get Donald Trump not to run for office, Michael Lewis reported in his book, "Going Infinite."

www.businessinsider.com

No deal. If Cheato can't even get out of his cell to buy a stack of Big Macs, what good is $5b?

 

[Derec]

No deal. If Cheato can't even get out of his cell to buy a stack of Big Macs, what good is $5b?

He'd have the best funded commissary account in the whole prison.

 

[lpetrich]

Here is a candidate who makes me seem like a card-carrying member of the John Birch Society: Claudia de la Cruz, with running mate Karina Garcia.

Why this SOCIALIST Is Running for President in 2024 (w/ Claudia De La Cruz) - YouTube by Briahna Joy Gray

Party for Socialism and Liberation 2024 presidential candidate Claudia De La Cruz joins Briahna on Bad Faith podcast to weigh in on why it’s important to hand a socialist in the race, the third party debate, the failures of AOC & the squad, and what a movement to dismantle capitalism really looks like.

Claudia De La Cruz THIRD PARTY Presidential Race 2024 (Interview Clip) - YouTube by Sabby Sabs (Sabrina Salvati)

CdlC proposed nationalizing the 100 biggest companies, something that makes AOC seem like a Randroid -- AOC once proposed turning Amazon into a worker-owned cooperative.

Her party: [wiiki]Party for Socialism and Liberation[/wiki] with Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation – PSL

Part 1: The struggle for socialism

...
The great wealth of society is the product of both natural resources and the labor of working people. Yet, that wealth is increasingly the private property of those who produce nothing of value — the tiny class of capitalist owners. This irreconcilable conflict defines life for the vast majority of people in the world.

...
The working class is defined by its relationship to the means of production and to those who own the means of production, the capitalist class. The working class, deprived of ownership of private property, must work for wages or salaries paid by those who own the means of production. The working class also includes the “army of the unemployed,” those who are kept as a reserve labor force. This army of reserve labor has become a permanent feature in modern capitalist society. While the working class is not a monolithic entity, it is united by its defining features: the lack of ownership of private property and the requirement to work for those who own private property, the capitalists, or for the capitalist government. The capitalists own the banks, corporations, factories, warehouses, retail outlets and major media. In a very real way, they control the lives of workers and the unemployed.

Then "21st century imperialism" - saying that the US is a big imperialist villain.

The political reality: The dictatorship of the rich

Modern economic crises have exposed key aspects of the present system that formerly remained largely hidden from view in “ordinary” times. For example, the capitalist crisis that began in 2007 and its aftermath demolished the myth of “free enterprise,” proving instead that the U.S. system is the most corrupt form of capitalism that has ever existed.

Then describing bailing out the bankers but not ordinary people.

Climate crisis: Unsolvable under capitalism

The climate catastrophe demonstrates the disastrous self-interest of the capitalist class. To avoid excessive warming, as well as the many severe environmental threats produced by capitalism, it is necessary to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. But the capitalist class is driven to protect its investments in coal, oil and gas, as well as associated industries. It will do whatever it takes to hold on to power, even if that means destroying much of the world.

So far, renewable-energy development has been similar to fossil-fuel development in being government-supported capitalism. I keep on expecting fossil-fuel companies to start denouncing wind energy and solar energy as the work of villainous big businesses. That's pure projection, but right-wingers often seem like they wish they could work in movie theaters.

 

[lpetrich]

The right of revolution

The present form of government is destructive of the rights of the great majority. It is not a government “of, by and for the people.” The existing government and state — the military, police, intelligence agencies, courts, prisons, bureaucracy and so on — defend the interests of the capitalist class. Racist, anti-working-class police brutality is rampant. A monstrous state machine has imprisoned more people in the United States than in any other country. In recent decades, under the pretext of the “war on drugs,” whole communities of Black, Latino and Native young people have been locked away, turning the U.S. government into the world’s biggest jailer.

That's mostly racial bias, because white people tend to get much more respect from many cops than many nonwhite people.

Socialism and communism

...
Solving the multiple crises of the present system is impossible without a revolution that ends the rule of the capitalist class and replaces it with a new state power that acts in the interest of the working class.

Then they get into details.

A state and government “of, by and for” the workers must replace the capitalist state. The foundation of any state power is repressive force—the military, police, prisons, courts and so on. The standing army and police must be disbanded and replaced by the armed people, organized in workers’ defense councils.

Convergence on right-wing gun nuts.

 

[lpetrich]

"Part 2: A Revolutionary Socialist Government"

A primary function of the socialist government will be planning and administering the economy in the interests of working and poor people, as set forth below, and implementing the measures to fulfill those interests.

Participation and representation in the new government will be guaranteed through democratically organized workplace, neighborhood and school committees. The “professional politicians” and big-business political parties will be replaced with the political organization of the working class.

Are they saying that planning must be done at appropriate scales? That's because central planning is either grossly Procrustean or else requires an enormous amount of micromanagement. In practice, large organizations do a lot of delegation of their planning, it must be noted.

There will be no distinction between the legislative and executive functions of government. Those who enact measures will be responsible for carrying them out. All elected representatives will be subject to recall at any time by the bodies that elect them.

Elected officials of the new workers’ government will be paid an average worker’s salary and will receive no special privileges.

Seems like a parliamentary system.

 

[lpetrich]

"Socialism: Addressing the interests of working and poor people"

The exploitation of labor for private profit will be prohibited.

It will be a right of every person in the United States to have a job with guaranteed union representation and full social benefits provided by the socialist government, including a pension, health care, workers’ compensation, paid parental and family leave for up to two years, paid sick and disability leave, a minimum of one month’s paid vacation, and at least 12 paid holidays.

Poverty will be eradicated by providing a guaranteed living income for any worker who is not able to find or hold a job.

There's the problem of those who might want to shirk their duties, it must be noted. The Soviet Union, for instance, made it illegal not to work if one was capable of working, outlawing "social parasitism". But the Soviet Union pretty much guaranteed a job for everyone, thus enabling its citizens to carry out that duty.

Working conditions will aim to enhance the humanity and dignity of all workers. The working week will be 30 hours. Child care for workers will be provided by the socialist government at no cost to the parents. There will be cultural and athletic opportunities for all workers during and after working hours.

Guaranteed work-life balance.

The socialist government will provide free, high-quality health care to every person living in the United States, regardless of citizenship. For-profit health care and private insurance companies will be outlawed.

The socialist government will provide decent housing for every person in the United States. No person will pay more than 10 percent of their income on housing costs. It will be illegal to generate private profit by renting or selling land. No person may suffer foreclosure or eviction.

The socialist government will provide free, high-quality education to every person in the United States from pre-school through college, as well as post-college educational opportunities for life-long learning to advance the technical and cultural level of society, as well as the promotion of working-class unity and international solidarity.

...
The socialist government will approach agriculture by implementing sustainable methods.

...
Meeting the food and nutritional needs of the population will be the responsibility of the government. All schools and workplaces will provide healthy meals to those who study or work there. Food and water will be produced according to a democratic and rational plan, with opportunities for the input of all people into what foods are produced and the manner in which they are produced and distributed.

The socialist government will recognize that environmental sustainability is essential for the future development of the economy and society.

...
Penal institutions will be organized on the principle of social education and rehabilitation. Those convicted of unlawful acts will maintain political rights while participating in their rehabilitation.

I'd like to see something about care for crime victims. Like plenty of restitution.

 

[lpetrich]

"Liberation: Overcoming racism, exploitation, national oppression and all forms of bigotry"

The socialist government will institute a program of reparations for the African American community to address the centuries of unpaid slave labor and super-exploitation.

The existing colonial relationships of the United States will be dissolved.

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas will all become independent nations.

"All U.S. workers will have the right to speak the language of their choosing. All government services and education will be provided with multilingual provisions." -- seems impractical. I'd prefer assisting people in becoming multilingual, learning at least one widely-spoken language. That's likely to mean learning English as a second language.

Sexism and other forms of male chauvinism and oppression of women will be eliminated as an immediate task, recognizing that this goal will not be achieved automatically or by decree. It will be prohibited to advocate any form of sexism or male chauvinism.

The socialist government will guarantee the right of women workers to receive the same pay, benefits and treatment as their male counterparts.

The right to contraception, birth control and abortion services will not be restricted in any way, nor will there be any restriction on a woman’s right to decide to have children or not. Abortion services will be available free and on demand.

It will be the responsibility of the socialist government to provide women with the right to choose to have children by providing free, high-quality pre- and post-natal health care and child care. Any caregiver will be given access to free child care.

I seem almost like a Randroid in comparison to some of its economic proposals. Socially, it's not much different from much of the left wing, not even from many centrist Democrats.

 

[lpetrich]

The  Party for Socialism and Liberation split off in 2004 from the  Workers World Party, which in turn split off in 1959 from the  Socialist Workers Party (United States) founded in 1938. Going back further is rather confusing.

As far as I can tell, its immediate predecessor is the  Workers Party of the United States founded in 1934 as the merger of the  American Workers Party founded in 1933 and the  Communist League of America founded in 1928. The American Workers Party's predecessor was the  Conference for Progressive Labor Action, founded in 1929, and the Communist League of America split from  Communist Party USA, founded in 1919. It split from  Socialist Party of America founded in 1901, succeeding the  Social Democratic Party of America, founded in 1898, splitting off from  Social Democracy of America, founded in 1897, splitting off from the  American Railway Union, founded in 1893.

The Communist Party USA went under the name  Workers Party of America for 1921 - 1929.

The  Workers Party (United States) split off from the Socialist Workers Party in 1940 and merged with the Socialist Party of America in 1958. The  Communist League of America split from the Communist Party USA in 1928 and joined the Workers Party of the United States in 1934.  Social Democrats, USA split off from the Socialist Party of America in 1972, and the  Socialist Party USA split from them in 1973.

Also splitting off from Social Democrats, USA was the  Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee in 1973, succeeded by the  Democratic Socialists of America in 1982, along with the  New American Movement, founded in 1971 as the successor of the  Students for a Democratic Society, formed in 1960, succeeding the  Student League for Industrial Democracy (1946–1959), the youth branch of the  League for Industrial Democracy, founded in 1921, succeeding the  Intercollegiate Socialist Society, founded in 1905.

The Students for a Democratic Society has a revival,  Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization).

That's the sort of thing that inspired the Life of Brian's writers to put in the Judean People's Front vs. the People's Front of Judea.

 

[lpetrich]

 Peace and Freedom Party founded in 1967, has also supported Presidential candidates, supporting Gloria La Riva in 2020, as a joint endorsement with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The World Socialist Web Site is run by the  Socialist Equality Party (United States), founded in 1964, as the American Committee for the Fourth International. It more or less split off from the Socialist Workers Party.

Seattle councilmember  Kshama Sawant is the first and only elected member of  Socialist Alternative (United States), founded in 1986 as Labor Militant, splitting off from  Committee for a Workers' International (1974), formed in 1974 as an association of Trotskyist parties. Two parties now claim to be its successor, the  International Socialist Alternative and the  Committee for a Workers' International (2019)

What were the numbered internationals?

 International Workingmen's Association (First International) 1864 - 1876

 Second International 1889 - 1916, succeeded by the Communist International and the  International Working Union of Socialist Parties and  Labour and Socialist International in 1923, the latter by the  Socialist International in 1951.

 Communist International (Comintern, Third International) 1919 - 1943, succeeded by  Cominform (the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties) 1947 - 1956

 Fourth International founded 1938, split up and was reunified:  Fourth International (post-reunification) in 1963.

 League for the Fifth International was founded in 1989.

 

[lpetrich]

There is a big problem with the Party of Socialism and Liberation's platform, a problem that I find in a lot of the left wing. How to avoid the emergence of a new ruling class. I think that the PSL is correct about capitalism having spawned an arrogant ruling class, but the PSL does not address how to keep a new ruling class from emerging.

That's the message of George Orwell's farm-animal allegory of Communism,  Animal Farm. Some farm animals overthrow their human masters, but a new ruling class emerges from among them.

 

[Derec]

There is a big problem with the Party of Socialism and Liberation's platform, a problem that I find in a lot of the left wing. How to avoid the emergence of a new ruling class.

I do not think it is at all a coincidence that actually existing socialist countries have all been dictatorships, even relatively open ones like Titoist Yugoslavia. Socialism is a system of control by the collective, and the individual is secondary.
Even if you impose socialism through a majority rule, it becomes a dictatorship of the majority, and thus a democracy in name only - an illiberal democracy rather than a liberal one.

 

[Derec]

The  Party for Socialism and Liberation split off in 2004 from the  Workers World Party, which in turn split off in 1959 from the  Socialist Workers Party (United States) founded in 1938. Going back further is rather confusing.

The Students for a Democratic Society has a revival,  Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization).

Are they also reviving their terrorist/bombmaking division? WU terrorist David Gilbert (Chesa Boudin's father btw) was released from prison a couple of years ago by Andrew Cuomo.

That's the sort of thing that inspired the Life of Brian's writers to put in the Judean People's Front vs. the People's Front of Judea.

Ah, yes. I put that gif in before I read this last sentence. Not taking it out now.

 

[Derec]

It will be a right of every person in the United States to have a job with guaranteed union representation and full social benefits provided by the socialist government, including a pension, health care, workers’ compensation, paid parental and family leave for up to two years, paid sick and disability leave, a minimum of one month’s paid vacation, and at least 12 paid holidays.
Poverty will be eradicated by providing a guaranteed living income for any worker who is not able to find or hold a job.

I must say, as bonkers as this sounds, it does not go as too far as AOC's Green New Deal FAQ. In it, it says that there should be a federal jobs guarantee for those unable or unwilling to work.

There's the problem of those who might want to shirk their duties, it must be noted. The Soviet Union, for instance, made it illegal not to work if one was capable of working, outlawing "social parasitism". But the Soviet Union pretty much guaranteed a job for everyone, thus enabling its citizens to carry out that duty.

The old Soviet joke went that "we will pretend to work as long as they pretend to pay us".
In practice those Soviet-style job guarantees do not work as people are on payrolls while not doing (hardly) any work. Not dissimilar to what Shawn Fain and his UAW want - continued pay for workers made redundant during transition to EVs . Also not dissimilar to Newark "rubber rooms" for bad teachers.

Working conditions will aim to enhance the humanity and dignity of all workers. The working week will be 30 hours. Child care for workers will be provided by the socialist government at no cost to the parents. There will be cultural and athletic opportunities for all workers during and after working hours.

And who will pay for all this? Eventually the bill comes due and the party is over. I guess the money printer will go brrr a lot.

The socialist government will provide free, high-quality health care to every person living in the United States, regardless of citizenship. For-profit health care and private insurance companies will be outlawed.

They keep using that word "free". In the real world, TANSTAAFL.

Penal institutions will be organized on the principle of social education and rehabilitation. Those convicted of unlawful acts will maintain political rights while participating in their rehabilitation.

I.e. socialist reeducation camps. Gulag archipelago? But maybe on an actual desolate archipelago, like the Aleutian Islands?

I'd like to see something about care for crime victims. Like plenty of restitution.

Provided free by the socialist government, I am guessing?

 

[Derec]

A primary function of the socialist government will be planning and administering the economy in the interests of working and poor people, as set forth below, and implementing the measures to fulfill those interests.

I thought there would be no poor people under socialism, comrades.

Participation and representation in the new government will be guaranteed through democratically organized workplace, neighborhood and school committees. The “professional politicians” and big-business political parties will be replaced with the political organization of the working class.

This sounds like soviets - which is the Russian word for councils.

Are they saying that planning must be done at appropriate scales? That's because central planning is either grossly Procrustean or else requires an enormous amount of micromanagement. In practice, large organizations do a lot of delegation of their planning, it must be noted.

There was that in actually existing socialist countries too. On the head of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet (itself consisting of the Soviet of the Union and Soviet of the Nationalities) but there were soviets all the way down to individual workplaces.

There will be no distinction between the legislative and executive functions of government. Those who enact measures will be responsible for carrying them out. All elected representatives will be subject to recall at any time by the bodies that elect them.
Elected officials of the new workers’ government will be paid an average worker’s salary and will receive no special privileges.

Seems like a parliamentary system.

The parliamentary system is too bourgeois. Note that these soviets have both the legislative and executive function. There is no separation of powers whatsoever.