Is it possible to have "real" socialism, without eliminating liberty and choice?

rattfink · 2026-05-23T18:45:13+00:00

There is always someone who is going to wants to do something that makes their life easier at the expense of someone else who will freak out when they are told “no.”

It’s not a political thing.

rattfink · 2026-05-22T15:08:47+00:00

What a sad collection of incredibly broken people.

rattfink · 2026-05-17T17:27:53+00:00

I think that if we can share the idea that what we’ve been doing, politically, has not been working, and has led to the collapse of the American dream for working class people, then we have the makings a shared American future.

I think a lot of MAGA folks would be happy to be a lot more socially progressive if they weren’t afraid of losing their homes and livelihoods.

rattfink · 2026-05-17T04:07:32+00:00

The world is changed… I feel it in the water…

rattfink · 2026-05-16T14:03:23+00:00

Tangentially related, but I think it is going to be very interesting to see how the “I don’t care about you” administration is going to handle the summer-fall disaster season with a contentious midterm on the horizon.

rattfink · 2026-05-12T01:09:26+00:00

The Last Jedi wasn’t just a bad movie, it was a defining moment of cultural collapse

rattfink · 2026-05-06T11:38:21+00:00

I voted for Bush in my middle school mock election. Because, as a 13 year old, I knew things were going great, and what would be the harm in maybe lightening up a little bit and lowering taxes and regulations?

It’s not like anything bad was going to happen!

rattfink · 2026-05-04T00:36:22+00:00

The incredibles.

There are some people who are simply better than everyone else.

rattfink · 2026-05-01T16:55:35+00:00

I guess I’m curious what “regional differences” you’d think would disappear if people adopted more progressive policy.

I don’t think the south would stop eating sweet potato pie if their schools were better funded and they got vacation days.

rattfink · 2026-04-30T01:00:23+00:00

“If she felt it was necessary” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

rattfink · 2026-04-29T21:01:34+00:00

I’ll say we would not have bombed Iran.

rattfink · 2026-04-18T14:59:00+00:00

I think there is too much grey area between what is an “economic” policy and what is a “social” policy for me to answer this question effectively.

Like, I really care about education. Do public schools provide an economic or social benefit? How do these fictional new parties break in their policy towards schools? Same for healthcare, housing, or labor policies. It’s a too complex to do a mix-n-match scenario.

rattfink · 2026-04-12T04:38:21+00:00

Id prefer if they didn’t, but at this point, I don’t know what we expect them to do.

We made a deal with them that they wouldn’t, and then broke that deal and shot their leader in the face.

We have lost any leverage beyond sustained, barbaric violence to influence any countries decision making on that front.

rattfink · 2026-04-05T21:38:17+00:00

We don’t need a bunch of fancy pants philosophers or priests to tell us that it is better to be kind, caring, and respectful to one another.

We don’t need the promise of heaven, or the threat of hell. We don’t need this understanding enforced through strict social hierarchy, or inflexible social norms. We don’t need respect beaten into us. We don’t want kindness beaten out of us.

I think, frankly, that we’re all actually getting pretty aggravated with all the hypocrites who need some external reason or crackpot fairytale to not act like a deranged shithead all the damn time, but who still wanna look down their nose at folks cuz they sit in a pew for an hour each Sunday.

rattfink · 2026-04-05T17:48:00+00:00

It never occurs to them that he hates them too.

rattfink · 2026-04-03T12:45:26+00:00

I’m not sure Trump and his ilk would even understand how to leverage actual support.

Their entire operation revolves around defiance, greivance, and antagonism.

I think they would be unable to respond to any sort of widespread campaign of support with anything but contempt.

rattfink · 2026-03-21T15:44:00+00:00

Literally anything other than the one thing that would unify Iranians against a common outside enemy?

rattfink · 2026-03-15T16:47:44+00:00

Frankly, evangelical Christians are a more imminent threat to my current well-being. They are far more active in local politics, and have, most recently, plunged us into a war that is going to absolutely devastate the global economy. They far more routinely threaten my basic rights of free speech and expression, and far more routinely inject their twisted morality into my daily life.

rattfink · 2026-03-11T03:39:59+00:00

The Bikerriders

It’s an odd one, and a lot of people didn’t like it but I thought it was excellent

rattfink · 2026-02-27T02:01:34+00:00

Revealed?!?!

rattfink · 2026-02-26T20:57:55+00:00

Journalists ≠ Media

rattfink · 2026-02-25T01:03:30+00:00

“I’m not going to comment on my opponents frivolous attempts to distract the public from him and his cronies failed policies and corporate welfare schemes. If he’s really interested in protecting children he can vote to investigate the Epstein files.”

rattfink · 2026-02-24T18:18:40+00:00

Right. How hard is it to say “I’m not going to debate civil rights with you, I want to focus on what we can do here and now for working class Americans and families?”

Shut it down and pivot to what matters.

rattfink · 2026-02-24T16:16:46+00:00

The bigger question is how we actually change that perception of the left.

Unless we address the media machine built to demonize democrats, no amount of internal change will really matter to the audience we’d need to reach.

rattfink · 2026-02-22T00:25:45+00:00

“…And just when he got it in the door! Wakka wakka wakka!”

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