@shoq Because "vote" is still the right answer if you don't want to become that which you loathe.
@LouisIngenthron It's an answer, but not the only one. I was being hyperbolic in my intro, but there's a LOT the left can be doing besides merely voting or engaging in violence. It just doesn't do much of it.
@shoq The Twitter Left may not, but there are plenty of politically active democrats who knock on doors and write letters.
What actions, specifically, do you wish liberals took more often?
Good question! I've knocked on doors and written letters (and I expect many of the Twitter Left have, really), and I admit it's often felt sort of futile, although I have a sort of theoretical faith that it isn't.
I wish people would work harder on pushing the Overton Window leftward, rather than trying to "reach out" to the right. What that means concretely varies with person, I guess. Normalize the idea that capitalism isn't the Best Thing Ever, for instance, in personal discussion, in screenplays, candidates they support, political platforms... even on Twitter!
My definition of a moderate in 2023 is someone who watches @msnbc only when Nicolle Wallace has David Jolly or John Kasich on a panel. Sometimes they'll scratch their chins and wonder why so many Liberals loathe Tulsi Gabbard, or giggle at Marianne Williamson quotes.
@shoq @ceoln @msnbc Then you're definitely alienating moderates.
I consider myself a moderate (more specifically, a left-libertarian). In the past I've voted for candidates of both parties.
Currently, I'm aligned with the democratic coalition, (party-registered since Jan 7th 2021), because the GOP are attacking democracy itself, but that may not always be the case and I may go back to registering independent in the future (although, admittedly, probably not anytime soon).
The right fights for shared culture wars, which unites them.
The left, on the other hand, needs a diverse coalition to win, and that means balancing the needs of the nuttiest communist with the flip-floppiest center-right capitalists to broaden the voting base.
Also, fwiw, I don't watch MSNBC at all.
@shoq @ceoln Lol, no, I hate the billionaires as much as anyone else.
Essentially, the left-libertarian ideology is that the government involvement in personal liberties should be minimized as much as possible. However, those liberties *should* be infringed to enforce the key of libertarianism: the non-aggression principle. In basic terms, that means providing mutual defense against outside aggressors (i.e. our military) and enacting justice against citizens who aggress on others (i.e. homicide/assault laws). But it also extends to more abstract principles like the protection of equal rights and proper accountability and oversight for those who wield government power to prevent injustice. Any right denied to one is denied to all, which is what puts me at odds with the GOP's open bigotry and attempts at voter suppression. But, it's also what puts me at odds with Democrats when they pull the same gerrymandering bullshit when they're in power.
Also, worth noting: The current Libertarian Party is a hollow right-wing populist shell. Their policies bear no relation to actual libertarian ideology any more. They're just culture war anarchists.
@LouisIngenthron @ceoln Can't argue with most of that inspired word salad, but I'm having trouble understanding what makes any of that "libertarian," and not just a rule-of-law lovin' FDR Democrat who might use recreational drugs in the privacy of his own home :)
@shoq @ceoln A few examples:
- While I support reasonable gun control laws (like UBC), I believe that law-abiding citizens should be able to own semi-automatic rifles.
- I do believe that a person should be free to legally do whatever drugs they want, even the scary ones, as long as they made the choice of their own free will. Your body, your choice.
- I generally oppose the NIMBYism that can be so common in democratic areas.
- I oppose anti-smoking laws (not the age limit ones, the ones that ban business owners from choosing to have a smoke-friendly establishment)
- I oppose border enforcement almost in its entirety, but both sides seem to treat that issue the same, even if they talk a different game.
- I generally don't approve of America's foreign policy and wars (under either party). We should be leading by example, not force.
- I don't believe the state should be involved in the institution of marriage at all.
That's rather how I thought about it when I considered myself a left libertarian, too!
But over time I came to realize that enforcing the non-aggression principle in the face of actual human nature (for instance the tendency of sociopaths to form large and powerful organizations dedicated to aggression) requires a very significant amount of government involvement; enough that "libertarian" becomes what seems to me a misleading (if perhaps not technically inaccurate) label for my position.
I'm not registered with a political party, but I've knocked on doors for and donated money to some rather leftist Democrats in my area. At this point I will vote for whoever most seriously opposes a GOP candidate (from the left, to of course) virtually all the time, given what that party has become.
(In passing, I'm not sure that the left-libertarian position is generally considered "moderate", by much of anyone! 😁)
@LouisIngenthron @ceoln Sounds like a great reason to lose the label altogether. But then, DSA still clings to the word "socialist," even though most of the people coming here from other lands equate it with murderous hypocrites, dictators and thugs who killed their families, hopes, and dreams. Words matter.
@LouisIngenthron @ceoln @msnbc
Before I reply, tell me what a "Left-Libertarian" believes in 2023. Is that someone who will only moved to a Peter Thiel floating city if they know beforehand that the dock workers and wine stewards will all get UBI?