A progressive who stays home on Election Day — or backs Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, or No Labels — is voting for Donald Trump.

"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that ‘some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest’ of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called ‘social fascists.’

After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."

  • Cowbee [he/him]
    0•3 months ago

    Almost as if it’s important to get out and vote in every election.

    Ronald Reagan sabotaged Jimmy Carter’s Iran policy and squeaked in with the help of spoiler John Anderson.

    To which I pointed out how this was Great Man Theory by saying:

    No, I fundamentally disagree with your entire view of historical development, ie the why behind everything.

    History is a progression of material conditions, not people and ideas, not Great Individuals making Big Moves. Social Democracy came at a time when the Soviet Union was rising, and Capitalists within America feared similar uprisings in America, compounded by the Great Depression. Concessions were allowed in that context, temporarily.

    Neoliberalism came later, after WWII, during the height of the Cold War. It was a way to further seek profits in the Global South.

    Fascism is rising now because Capitalism is undoubtedly in decline, and is decaying further.

    Material Conditions drive the ideas that drive the masses that drive what’s salient, not random Great People doing everything.

    That’s it. The 90% tax rate wasn’t because of Eisenhower, but because of America emerging as the dominant superpower after WWII. What changes people can and do make depends on the context of their current conditions and what brought them there. Reagan wasn’t a random wreckingball, he personally pulled the trigger but he couldn’t have done so at any other point of time because Capitalism was doing much better under Eisenhower, and had naturally decayed.

    There.

    • @[email protected]
      1•3 months ago

      “Every great leader is born already possessing certain traits that will enable them to rise and lead on instinct”.

      “The need for them has to be great for these traits to then arise, allowing them to lead.”

      From the article you provided.

      I never said Carter or Reagan had special traits, I just used their names as a placeholder for their administrations.

      I never said that there was a giant need, they were both elected as part of the regular election cycle.

      So again, you are proven wrong by your own article.

      • Cowbee [he/him]
        0•3 months ago

        I am not proven wrong, the frame of your analysis necessitated the rest of the theory.

        Why do you believe Reagan was elected?

        • @[email protected]
          1•3 months ago

          Moving the goal posts again?

          I never explicitly or implicitly endorsed the Great Man Theory. You were unable to show I did.

          Adios

            • @[email protected]
              1•3 months ago

              Why do you believe Reagan was elected?

              Why did you need to move the goal posts? If you’d proven your point you’d have shown where I was wrong. You couldn’t, so you tried a different approach.

              That’s the funny thing about you. You keep shooting yourself in the foot and call it a win.

              edit =by your ‘logic’ any historian who talks about a particular leader/inventor/general believes in the Great Man theory.

              • Cowbee [he/him]
                0•3 months ago

                I thought you said “Adios?”

                I proved it by illustrating your portrayal of history as important people doing important things, then I contextualized why they happened. Asking you why you believe events happen isn’t “moving the goal posts,” it’s the entire point of this conversation. If you truly reject Great Man Theory, then give an explanation for why Reagan was elected that rejects Great Man Theory.