I resonate with this so much because it reminds me of why I became a leftist. I didn’t “turn left” because it was trendy, I did it because liberalism taught me to politely analyse problems that capitalism is actively setting on fire. At some point you realise that begging the powerful to behave better is not politics, it’s choreography for people who already won. Liberalism told me to trust institutions; leftism taught me to ask who they were built to serve and why the same people keep getting crushed beneath them. I stopped being a liberal the day I understood that nothing changes because we explain it better; it changes because people organise, fight back, and refuse to stay quiet.
I love the juxtaposition between leftism and liberalism you pointed out. Liberalism serves the current status quo, it serves capitalism, and it serves empire. It does not ask us to change the system but to merely reform it temporarily. However, you cannot reform a rotting system. A system made to serve a tiny minority of people at the expense of everyone else.
I too, had a major shift in my worldview once Democrats/progressives started adopting right wing talking points regarding Covid. At first I was confused and angry at the shift, but once I dug into it a little it all started making sense. I didn’t realize, at the time, that neoliberalism had fooled me into thinking that the Democrats were more interested in the needs of the people than the Republicans. That’s when I realized that the real battle was rich vs poor not Democrats vs Republicans, or as the journalists/author Chris Hedges put it, “the 2024 election was a choice between the Oligarchs and the Corporatists”.
You could see it in the Biden campaign when they were confused why people weren’t more excited about how well the economy was doing. What they were unaware of was that the economy was only working well for large corporations and the wealthy. Even back in 2023-24 some economists pointed out that people in the U.S. we were living in a split economy where it was in a recession for working people while millionaires and billionaires were seeing unprecedented growth.
In short, in the U.S. we only serve the interests of capital and everything else comes second. Therefore this is why the continued bad public health policy relative to Covid makes sense because the priority is capitalism, not the people, science, or the public good.
Wonderfully said, I felt exactly the same way at the time. Seeing people throw away lives and allowing so much suffering really made me contemplate my support of the democrats. I know Joe Biden was a corporate democrat but I thought he would do the right thing. But I realized it’s beyond two party politics, it’s about defending capital at all cost.
I’m also glad you brought up “Revolutionary Optimism”. I often fall into hopelessness, so having a reminder that giving into this serves the status quo is helpful. It’s a good reminder that change is always possible even if the work is hard and the road is long.
1) helping me decide whether to go beyond advocating merely for cutting off capital's influence on governmental policy to advocating that the capitalist mode of production be prohibited or restricted by law.
I resonate with this so much because it reminds me of why I became a leftist. I didn’t “turn left” because it was trendy, I did it because liberalism taught me to politely analyse problems that capitalism is actively setting on fire. At some point you realise that begging the powerful to behave better is not politics, it’s choreography for people who already won. Liberalism told me to trust institutions; leftism taught me to ask who they were built to serve and why the same people keep getting crushed beneath them. I stopped being a liberal the day I understood that nothing changes because we explain it better; it changes because people organise, fight back, and refuse to stay quiet.
I love the juxtaposition between leftism and liberalism you pointed out. Liberalism serves the current status quo, it serves capitalism, and it serves empire. It does not ask us to change the system but to merely reform it temporarily. However, you cannot reform a rotting system. A system made to serve a tiny minority of people at the expense of everyone else.
I too, had a major shift in my worldview once Democrats/progressives started adopting right wing talking points regarding Covid. At first I was confused and angry at the shift, but once I dug into it a little it all started making sense. I didn’t realize, at the time, that neoliberalism had fooled me into thinking that the Democrats were more interested in the needs of the people than the Republicans. That’s when I realized that the real battle was rich vs poor not Democrats vs Republicans, or as the journalists/author Chris Hedges put it, “the 2024 election was a choice between the Oligarchs and the Corporatists”.
You could see it in the Biden campaign when they were confused why people weren’t more excited about how well the economy was doing. What they were unaware of was that the economy was only working well for large corporations and the wealthy. Even back in 2023-24 some economists pointed out that people in the U.S. we were living in a split economy where it was in a recession for working people while millionaires and billionaires were seeing unprecedented growth.
In short, in the U.S. we only serve the interests of capital and everything else comes second. Therefore this is why the continued bad public health policy relative to Covid makes sense because the priority is capitalism, not the people, science, or the public good.
Wonderfully said, I felt exactly the same way at the time. Seeing people throw away lives and allowing so much suffering really made me contemplate my support of the democrats. I know Joe Biden was a corporate democrat but I thought he would do the right thing. But I realized it’s beyond two party politics, it’s about defending capital at all cost.
I’m also glad you brought up “Revolutionary Optimism”. I often fall into hopelessness, so having a reminder that giving into this serves the status quo is helpful. It’s a good reminder that change is always possible even if the work is hard and the road is long.
In brief, what is the causal link from capitalism to a need for growth?
What is the purpose of the question?
I don't find https://chatgpt.com/share/6930fb24-2bbc-8010-b1f3-6c0bfd670b8a very enlightening, at least, at first reading.
0) general education;
1) helping me decide whether to go beyond advocating merely for cutting off capital's influence on governmental policy to advocating that the capitalist mode of production be prohibited or restricted by law.
Note that you mention the existence of such a link in your article.