barrbaric [he/him]

Given that Israel is militarily occupying and actively colonizing Palestine, I would say that Palestine is unable to exercise its sovereignty. Should it be granted more sovereignty? Yes, but that seems as though it will require either the radical reformation or outright destruction of Israel.

The dispute at this point is over how we define a country, especially because Taiwan clearly falls in a grey area within that definition. I claim that they are fundamentally unable to exercise their sovereignty given they aren’t formally recognized as a country by even their greatest allies and benefactors, thus they fail. You claim that they can fulfill the roles of the state, have a national identity, and have various semantic work-arounds for that fundamental illegitimacy, thus they pass. There’s also the question of the legitimacy of their founding, with me saying that the ROC was originally an oppressive colonial military dictatorship, but then you would say that it’s been long enough and their government has changed enough that it doesn’t matter, then we bicker over what constitutes a democracy.

Ultimately the argument would continue indefinitely and I don’t think there’s much chance either of us would be convinced by the other.

As an aside, the point of the prior comment was that surveys of beliefs can very easily be detached from reality, and so aren’t good evidence for claims.

In practice, Taiwan is not internationally recognized as a country. It doesn’t get to participate in many important international bodies like the UN or WHO, for instance. I get your implied point that this doesn’t mean much because it really only matters on the diplomatic level, and true enough a lot of that works out to semantics, such as their having “Economic, Trade, and Cultural Offices” instead of formal embassies despite them doing largely the same thing.

70% of US adults believe in angels, but that doesn’t make it true. No countries with any actual amount of power on the global stage recognize the ROC (see the US’ One China Policy), which means that regardless of whatever views people claim to have when surveyed, Taiwan is de facto part of the PRC.

Taiwan only exists because it served, and continues to serve, US interests as a staging point for military operations against China. A war over Taiwan would absolutely see the US using Taiwan as a proxy, much as they are currently using Ukraine against Russia.

It’s the same as the housing market or 401ks. Tie someone’s future to the institutions of capitalism and they’ll fall in line rapidly. Swap out capitalism for naked imperialism and you have the MIC jobs program.

Contrast that with America, which has had hegemony only since 1945 and already looks like it’s in terminal decline.

They’ve lasted less than the British! The BRITISH!

We’ve had one, yes, but what about second proxy war?

We must invade Italy to protect human rights and democracy in Europe.

But Russia is stupid, hopefully they’ll do something Russian and pick a fight with the rest of NATO, because that’s just what they do.

I hope they don’t because that would in all likelihood escalate to nuclear war.

You’re thinking of wage theft. “Time theft” is when you slack off on the job.

The action that leads to security and a better life for yourself and those around you is to organize your community along whatever lines are possible. Unionize with your coworkers, form a tenant’s union with your neighbors, physically get out in the street and provide security for LGBT+ events and spaces. Build up parallel structures so that when the government fails, you and those you care about will still have access to food and water, a place to live, and security. Join a political organization that’s active and actually does things in your area (one of the communist parties, DSA, or even just Food not Bombs) and do all you can to prepare for a revolution that might never come.

I’ll close this by saying that I’ve been harsh on voting and the electoral system in general during this conversation, and probably too hostile in tone towards you. I apologize for that, because it’s sometimes hard to tell when someone is actually acting in good faith, this being the internet and all. Voting isn’t something I think is particularly useful, but if you vote for the democrats because they’re less openly fascistic, that’s up to you. The key is to not let your political activity start and end at voting, because direct action in the real world is by far the best way to achieve positive change. I wish you and yours the best in surviving the collapsing fascist hellhole we find ourselves in.

We have nothing to lose but our chains.

What word did I say that made you think I’m happy with the Democrats?

I never said you were. I was addressing the claim that they’re a lesser evil, which I’m not convinced by.

It’s all fucked.

Agreed!

And the Supreme Court was stacked by the last administration

Largely irrelevant. Biden could stack the court, or just tell them to fuck off since they have no real power, or codified Roe into law when the dems controlled congress. There are excuses for why they couldn’t do any of those things, sure (not least of which that Biden opposes abortion rights himself because he’s a fucking monster). But all of them show that they’re fundamentally unserious in fighting back against the fascists. I’m not going to vote for von Hindenburg 2.

In short, the working class need to be better organized, class-conscious (IE aware that they are members of the working class and opposed to the capitalist class), and militant, and the repressive organs of the state need to be much weaker. Organization is trending up with things like increased unionization rates (though many of those unions are collaborationist and not revolutionary) and increased membership in revolutionary orgs like the PSL or even reformists like the DSA. Class consciousness is increasing naturally as the social contract that bought off the working class of the USA (and the rest of the imperial core) is torn up and people begin to look outside the status quo for alternatives. Likewise, militancy will come once people have nothing to lose, and as you say, the younger generations are well down the path, but the key element missing is the aforementioned organization.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. This mass radicalization will be slowed, and worse, redirected towards fascism, by that omni-present multi-billion dollar propaganda network controlled by the capitalists. Further, any increases in worker organization will be met with increasingly brutal crackdowns by the cops, FBI, and other alphabet agencies. Ultimately I find it far more likely the US will descend into fascism; it would not be unreasonable to argue that it’s already there. That said, we must still fight for the better tomorrow we know is possible.

Roe V Wade was repealed under Biden. The concentration camps at the border are still open. In response to the mass murder of black people by cops, Biden gave more money to the cops. The extermination of trans people is continuing apace at the state level and the dems are doing nothing to stop it. This is all to say nothing about foreign policy, where the US is still complicit with killing thousands if not millions since 2020 through sanctions and facilitating genocide in Yemen. Or lifting all COVID restrictions despite the massive danger still posed.

There is a rhetorical difference between the two parties, but there isn’t much evidence of a material difference.

Under the policies of the greater evil, billions will die due to climate change because corporate profits are more important than human lives to them. Under the policies of the lesser evil, billions will die due to climate change because corporate profits are more important than human lives to them.

It makes no difference, both parties should be opposed and true change can only come through revolution and the abolition of the capitalist class.

America isn’t actually a democracy. The views of the average person have no influence on what the state actually does. The senate is anti-democratic by design (see James Madison: “[The Senate] ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.”), and all of the founding documents were created by a bunch of slave-owning rich assholes to be as favorable as possible to themselves (reminder that slavery is still legal under the 13th amendment). The elected “representatives” do not accurately represent their constituents; compare the median wealth of a US congressperson (over $1 million) vs the median wealth of a US citizen family (~$121k).

The people who actually hold power in America (and indeed all capitalist nations) are the ultra-wealthy capitalist class, which is to say those who own the means of production (the factories, tools, raw resources, etc that a business needs to produce a product or service). In “bad countries” (Russia etc), they would be called oligarchs. Since its founding, the US state’s primary purpose has been to perpetuate and grow the wealth of this capitalist class above all else. The interests of this capitalist class run counter to the interests of the working class, the common citizen. The capitalist wants their employees to work for as long as possible for as low a wage as possible, while the working class wants to work for as short a period as possible for as high a wage as possible. With this in mind, let’s now go through policies you listed.

Changing the second amendment. The capitalists generally aren’t effected by this, as they live in a safe and secure world separate from the general populace. However, this (and many other things, such as abortion rights and LGBT+ rights) serve as ways to divide the common people against each other, distracting them from the fact that their true enemies are the capitalist class. Between them, the state and the capitalists control almost all of the media in the country, so they are able to push the issues to the forefront. To be clear: I am not minimizing these policies. Things like gun rights reform, abortion rights, and LGBT+ rights are incredibly important; they just don’t matter to the capitalists.

The college tuition scam. This one is simple: the financial capitalists make loads of money by giving out predatory loans. They want that money, so the policy will continue.

Free healthcare. As above, the capitalists are making money hand over fist, and do not want to stop. Consider also that “Obamacare” and other policies primarily ease the burden on the common citizen NOT by regulating the healthcare sector to charge lower prices, but rather by simply handing tax-payer funds to the capitalists directly through subsidies.

In general, when looking at the policies pursued by a capitalist state, one should always ask “how does this benefit the capitalists?” America’s foreign policy, for instance, largely revolves around keeping the “developing nations” of the world poor and their markets open to “free trade” such that their wealth can be extracted by American (and allied) capitalists at a lower price. Similarly, the US refuses to address climate change because the fossil fuel capitalists would stand to lose money.

The only way to achieve a better future is through the abolition of the capitalist class, which can itself only be achieved through a revolution.

I don’t subscribe to anything because they’re all scams.