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DissidentRage wrote (edited )

Not all of us want to destroy the system

That's where we disagree. The system, working as intended, screws people over regularly, and limitations placed upon it do not last because it inherently seeks to break free of its restraints. There is absolutely no merit to mere reformism in a capitalist system. Look at the few advancements made under eight years of Obama being rolled back within a year of Trump's presidency. Look at the other things that were rolled back even under Obama (like the civil rights act), Bush (privacy rights via the Patriot Act), and Clinton (repeal of Glass-Steagall which helped create the 2008 recession). Even New Deal era labor rights - which only came into existence under threat of socialist revolution during FDR's third term - had been slowly widdled away for decades, with their impending and final demise being discussed in SCOTUS.

While left-liberals may also say they champion progress, their narrow scope means shallow concessions that change appearance without altering the underlying structures that lead to the problems in the first place. Obama was elected for having a better platform than McCain and Romney, but it's obvious that he was also elected to represent the US in a way that would show that racism was a losing platform. However, while in office he refused to challenge any of the systems that make it difficult for POC to thrive, even though he was elected with majority support in Congress. Things like this come to mind when you raise our ire by promoting "gradual, pragmatic change." The reality is that it stands for, at worst, no change whatsoever, or change that can be readily shaken off the moment power changes hands.

Lastly there's also historical precedent. In the early 20th century Germany it was the Social Democrats who outright murdered leftists who wanted to change a failing system. Those same people paved the way for the fall of the Weimar Republic to Hitler. It wasn't much better in the US, with liberals taking the side of the police and government during strikes that they broke up using large-scale and unprovoked violence, and during court cases against anarchists and communists (which often lead to the death penalty or disenfranchisement).

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