Recently, I have mused about how opinion leaders on the left like Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald sound more like MAGA right-wingers in their criticisms of the Biden Administration, championing of “free speech,” pushing back on the Me Too movement, attacking vaccines, and cheering on of Russia more than traditional leftists. Additionally, some of the people I know that are the most obsessed about “woke ideology” are people on the far left.
I have also noticed increasing criticisms of climate action by opinion leaders on the left, some with huge followings. This is a topic I’ll save for another time but will tease it by saying the view of many on the left seems to be that anything championed by “neoliberals” (which is a broad term now applied to anyone who has the temerity to support a Democrat for office) ought to be rejected. In fact, I’ve been lectured by folks on the left calling, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris among other things “Neo, liberals.”
Personally, I don’t like neoliberalism or corporatism or corproate socialism. I spend much of my time fighting against it, but what we’ve recently experienced is some of the most vocal and celebrated activists on the left finding fault with ANYTHING either center-left or mainstream Democrats champion. And they have a catch all term to deride any of us that might care about these issues. We’re all neoliberals.
Now we have Jimmy Dore, the most popular of the Biden-hating, free-speech preaching “leftists” playing host to fascist conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in what was a softball interview of epic proportions.
What has gradually happened in the post-Obama United States is a clear convergence of radicalized people. The grievance culture that has permeated both the far left and right might have different origins but today many extremists are saying similar things and finding common cause and comfort with one another.
This is something ominous to watch in 2024.
The Florida Squeeze 
One of the first political science courses I took displayed the political world as the face of a clock.
Twelve o’clock was stated as the ultimate center of moderation with the greatest amount of freedom and liberty had be the citizenry.
The political Left were represented by the numbers eleven through seven with the Right one through five.
Each hour towards 6 represented the style of governance operated by the powers in control in regards to the amount of freedom and liberty remaining to each individual.
Regardless of direction either left or right the citizens lose as those possessing power increasingly use the power of government to enforce compliance to the operating theory of government.
The hour six is where both the Left and Right become Police States with individuals no longer living in a free society.
The Watergate era mantra of Follow The Money may produce surprising results.
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One of your former writers here is constantly going on about vaccines, DEI and free speech. Never stops attacking Biden. But always claims it’s from the left. Never attacks Republicans.
In case you didn’t notice it.
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The vaccine thing I partially get because there are vaccine injured but it’s a small percentage of people. Nothing is statistically guaranteed 100%. Nothing in the world. My dad died a few months ago because of chemotherapy. I’m not out there railing against chemotherapy because something bad happened to my family. I’m genuinely supportive of it and understand out of every hundred patients maybe one or two has an issue with it which he did.
Leftists today seem to be hell-bent on taking any small piece of data they find and projecting it all over on everything- mostly designed not to discredit the right or the GOP, but to attack Democrats. – just like the right. Genuinely they seem to be losing the sort of communalism and community-based goals that made people like me progressives in the first place.
So I get the vaccine injured piece, but I don’t get the Hay don’t make us take a vaccine piece. Because quite frankly, if you believe in community and you believe in public health, and you believe in the greater good all of which they claim through the years then , you do what’s right for society. Not just for yourself. They used to say we not me or whatever that certainly not the case with them anymore.
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Going a little further on this the rugged individualism, which characterized the goldwater and Reagan is something I completely reject. It is the reason why common good progressive philosophy like the New Deal and Great Society were eventually rejected. Yet so many on the left now adhere to the same individualistic anarchist philosophy, because they assume anything that we promote to build community has some sort of liberal tinge to it. In fact, they’re making liberal a dirty word as much as the right is.
I’m going to get into the climate action issue in a few weeks, but that now is being questioned by the left. If there’s one thing that shouldn’t be controversial to anyone left of center it’s that but for whatever reason they now are buying into the GOP talking points that it’s all about corporate green industries that give money to Democrats. Never mind the fossil fuel companies that load up the Republicans were donations. They’re just peachy!
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None of my left wing friends have any intention of voting for Biden and constantly call him a fascist on social media while remaining silent about Trump
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Same here. They call him a fascist and even compare him to Mussolini. And even when he does something that’s genuinely left they claim it’s because someone paid him or some industry is behind it.
And they’re OBSESSED with Hunter Biden.
Taibbi & Greenwald talk about Hunter Biden constantly. More than the GOP.
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You left out the obvious one – leftists who oppose gun control because they’re really anarchists.
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Oh geez, you’re right. That’s an obvious one and that one that’s been going on a little longer than these other things. Totally forgot that!
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You’ve often talked about Trump’s populism and how it’s somewhat of a progressive message, even though political professionals and the media see through it.
I think a lot of the left have been hoodwinked to believing he is more progressive than Biden.
Plus, there is the war thing which I myself admit the Democrats have become quite bad on.
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