On Monday, I was a liberal. On Wednesday, I became a leftist. I will not let my country slide into fascism without fighting back. I have a 73 year old mom who's married to a woman. That woman is one of the most important people in my life. I'm 51 and have known her since I was 19. If anyone comes for them, there will be bloodshed.
Since you're a new Leftist, I think you might be interested in my Read Theory, Darn it! introduction to Marxism reading list targeting new leftists. Let me know what you think if you check it out!
Since you're a new Leftist, I think you might be interested in my Read Theory, Darn it! introduction to Marxism reading list targeting new leftists. Let me know what you think if you check it out! Getting armed is a good first step, the next is to read theory and get organized with your fellow comrades!
"Liberal" can mean centrism, capitalism with a human face, capitalism with some socially progressive elements, etc.
"Leftist" can be anything from "liberal" (as the far-right likes to pretend left=evil), to any form of actual leftism, which also can range from libertarians to authoritarians, with the latter sometimes weirdly being pushed a lot by the right (Fidesz, the Hungarian far-right party masquerading as "moderate, center-right, christian democrats", have paid off the election debts of Munkáspárt 2006, and now they're one of their satellites).
Tl;Dr the Constitutional Congress didn't really believe in citizen militias providing a sufficient check on federal power. Some power, sure, but by and large the British armies destroyed the militias in the field, with only a few notable successes.
They did, however, recognize that they could serve as a rapid reaction force for wars against natives and putting down slave revolts until the real army showed up. And, of course, militias could be rolled into a professional army and retrained, like what happened with the Civil War.
That isn't to say a genuinely popular revolt wouldn't work, it's just not what the 2nd was really about.
If it actually happened, I would happily support it. The system is working as it is intended by those with the money to manipulate it. It needs to come down.
I just don't believe enough people really give a shit anymore.
They fucking re-elected him. We know who he is, what the GoP really is. And they still fucking elected him.
(this is only directed at the people who seem to have wanted Trump to win to "accelerate" the ushering in of a socialist society):
Deluding themselves about how often there isn't a glorious revolution, and ongoing, armed resistance by the oppressed isn't guaranteed.
Accelerationists have a weird hard-on for revolution, as if it's easy-peasy to dismantle and replace all institutions all at once.
This socialist thinks we ought to fight tooth and nail via disruption/extra legal actions, implied threats of the power of the masses (in the same mould that workers won rights by threat), AND ideally within the system itself.
Yes. Make them explain their words. Deluding how, exactly? Deluded that women would fight for their bodily autonomy? That doesn't seem very delusional to me.
leftists very much believed trump could win a second term primarily because neoliberals would drop the ball during the election. we were warning liberals all year.
To me this is the right answer. Both always exist. I think people's propensity to believe the oppressed will definitely pick up arms in the face of oppression are kidding themselves.
I agree that women are not going back "into the bottle" as it were. There definitely are females out there opposed to women's rights (especially reproductive and career rights). They will be opposed by a greater number of women + the men who want women to meaningfully participate in society. A nation that refuses to take women seriously ends up cutting their potential leadership, ideas, production, and so on basically in half. Already we see women planning how they are going to resist misogynistic policies, and maybe they don't need my support as a Canadian man but they've got it.
With respect to The Internationale, that's just not a banger like Bella Ciao is. If I'm thinking of 'let's oppose a fascist regime and/or do some Operation Gladio shit in 1970's Italy while carrying submachineguns, dressed in leather jackets and balaclavas', Bella Ciao is a much more appropriate choice for a modern era.
A lot of the versions of The Internationale that I've heard sound more like school plays. It's not something one would describe as 'rousing'.
A lot of them abstained due to the dems failing to do anything on the state level.
A lot of them who voted just thought the Project 2025 was there to make the libs cry, and no human would be evil enough to execute them all.
Also a lot of Trump voters in the swing states are already regretting, if it continues, it can very well lead to a civil war, especially if Project 2025 will be executed. Who knows, maybe even the military will have issues with it.
As a whole-ass army... maybe? They'll have an issue with it if ordered to do anything unconstitutional. The tricky bit is what the individual leader(s) in the military think about any such order. An additional complication is how the Supreme Court may or may not weigh in, as their responsibility is to interpret the constitution.
None of the answers you've received are really correct.
Liberalism has a specific meaning in political science. Modern Liberals support market economies, strong individual rights, and the right to own private property (not personal property like your house, car, or toothbrush - private property means capital).
I'm going to use socialism as a proxy for Leftism broadly because Socialism + Anarchism is too broad. Socialism is a political philosophy characterized by public ownership of capital (aka the means of production). That is the primary thing that binds leftists together.
Leftists view Liberalism as an improvement over feudalism, the system that it replaced, but criticize Liberals for protecting the status quo of neoliberal capitalism and the injustices, inequities, and evils it has perpetuated (slavery, colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, labor exploitation, etc.). They also assert that any Social Democratic reforms Liberals champion are ineffectual at addressing the core problems of capitalism.
The reason that the leftists in the meme have guns is because Leftists have historically been violently opposed to fascism and have engaged in revolutions to overthrow feudal, liberal, and fascist regimes.
Leftists HATE capitalism. They want to replace it altogether with some alternative economic system (market socialism, planned economy or a combination of the two) depending upon the type of leftist. Differences in leftists also exist based on the HOW of replacing capitalism (violent revolution, democratic reformation and so on).
Liberals ARE NOT leftists. Liberals believe that capitalism, with all its flaws is still the least bad economic system. They recognise some flaws of the free market and think that capitalism must be regulated to a certain extent by the government.
So again, all leftists HATE capitalism. Liberals dislike a free market, but think that regulated capitalism is the least bad form of governance.
Note: I know you didn't ask this, but just wanted to clarify - capitalism ≠ market. There's a large group of leftists called "market socialists" who want a market without the means of production owned privately.
That's kinda iffy. Liberals are still on the left, why should leftist be delegated only to democracy haters? It's basically making a special definition that isn't used on any common level
After the French Revolution, they arranged the seats in the legislature with the most progressive on the left, and the most conservative on the right.
This left-right axis is often still used in modern politics.
On the American politics version of this spectrum, "liberal" defines those in the center who are in the middle and who accept whatever they are given. Leftist progressives fight for a better future.
Liberal is the opposite of authoritarianism. Left politicies are less capitalism and more socialism. What America calls Liberal is more authoritative than what should be considered central party. Like in the political compass "Liberals" are middle middle top right, while "conservatives" are upper middle top right.
To me, a leftist is someone who looks at the status quo and goes this is fucked up. We need to fix it.
A liberal looks at the status quo and goes "this isn't this bad." Think Bill Clinton or Tony Blair. Politicans who continued to maintain the status quo after their conservative predecessors.
If a leftist politician served after a conservative politician. The leftist politician would be like "fuck this" and upend the status quo.
What you are saying is only applicable for North America/ Europe. Liberalism is already the status quo there, which is why liberals defend it. However what is liberalism in the first place?
Liberalism: "Regulated capitalism is the least bad economic system. Also, the state shouldn't encroach upon the personal matters of an individual."
Leftists: "Capitalism is the cause of all problems. Fuck capitalism. The eventual goal should be to have a stateless, classless society. However, we disagree quite a lot on how to achieve this goal. This goal is called communism. Some of us say that we should do a violent revolution. Some of us believe that we can abolish capitalism using democratic processes. Some of us believe that to achieve communism, we need a temporary powerful state led by smart people, intellectuals, etc. to achieve material conditions necessary for communism. Some of us believe that the previous idea is absolute dog shit, and instead, we can achieve communism slowly, using non state actors like cooperatives, unions, syndicates and so on."
Conservatives: "Capitalism is good. The morals and traditions of our ancestors were better than the ones coming up now, and deviating from them would cause a lot of harm. We need to take steps to conserve these ideas."
Fascists: "All problems in society are because of group X. We need to get rid of group X by either converting them to our ways (if possible), deporting them from our borders, or cleansing our country of them entirely by killing them. Democracy is a slow and inefficient process. We should give power to a strong, smart leader who can get things done a lot more efficiently."
I thought liberalism literrally meant that personal freedoms are the most important thing to that person and the belief is the government should not restrict them and needs to actively protect them.
No because a lot of it is bullshit people just drawing lines in the sand of an already silly way to plot political stances.
The truth is all liberals should be leftists. Politics leans left and right and people are broken down from there.
Currently people use the term "leftist" in too many ways but generally it suggests being against the system or capitalism. A liberal or liberalism is easy to Google but usually people mean it as left leaning folk who buy into the system, capitalism or neoliberal politics.
Except the fact that the women supporting maga is more likely to be gun nuts than the women supporting harris. They also have the military in control once Jan 20 comes.
We ain't winning. They will massacre us. The US will have its own Tiannamen Square.
I see leftist as Revolutionary. The resistance. Quite honestly, I loved nazi hunter stories growing up and stories of the resistance movements and operations to smuggle the vulnerable to safety. I will be a part of it this time around.
Honestly I think the idea that we're anti-gun is projection by right-wingers who are anti-gun because they want police and government to have more control. They won't admit it though because they believe that they should have guns to fight against us, but if they beat us, I guarantee they'd show their anti-gun side more prominently.
Man being unironically Anti-gun is so cringe. Like really if you're anti-gun you almost certainly believe that people shouldn't be allowed to defend themselves and therefore should instead rely solely on the police for their own protection, because that's who you'll rely on now if you can't defend yourself.
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
Thomas Jefferson
Were the people who fought against the rapid corruption and authoritarianism of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Stalin-era Russia unjust for refusing to obey the laws that told them to kill Jews, Chinese and anarchists?
Were the slave abolitionists in America wrong for freeing slaves, by illegal means? Were women who pushed for greater bodily autonomy by disobeying sexist laws incorrect?
It is your moral duty to resist any law that imposes an unjust inequality to anyone and everyone.
There you go, a call for insurrection, just like the right did when they lose. But ohh this one is done for good where the unjust haven't even started yet. The progressive lawmaker is working hard to trump-proof their state while the lefties is looking for insurrection. Lot of self own within america lately.
Yes, Liberals are whiny little cowards while leftists are the people who will actively fight back. I personally see nothing wrong with some good economic sabotage and militias.
Ohh yes, whiny little coward that go out and vote while the brave leftists sitting at home protesting the choice they have to made which in return allowing fascist to be voted in which then they whine about fascist being voted in and threaten violence. Bravo, lefties, bravo.