Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

Been listening to this excellent song "All You Fascists." Here's a thread about a term in the lyrics:

"The people in this world are GETTING ORGANIZED."

The trade union movement's MO has traditionally focused on the concept of organization. It's closely tied to democracy.

https://twitter.com/FreedomFriesInc/status/1429273304213331972

The thread I linked above at the start of this one has more context about my current views on American democracy and why I left the T**** cult after the sore loser refused to accept the result of the 2020 Presidential election. (He somehow accepts all the other results, lol.)

Read the song lyrics here.

"Words and Music by Woody Guthrie, Derivative by Billy Bragg."

I was a Billy Bragg fan in the 1980s and kinda rediscovered him in the late 2000s. He's unapologetically left wing in his music.

woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/All_You…

"Race hatred cannot stop us
This one thing we know
Your poll tax and Jim Crow
And greed has got to go."

"Poll tax" was a British reference. It was an unpopular policy of then-PM Thatcher. I agreed with it in principle, & opposed the riots.

bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

"Jim Crow" is a reference all Americans *should* understand and be able to have an informed discussion about, but many are unwilling or unable to do.

The "unable" I have in mind are school students who have been denied accurate facts about "race hatred" in the past AND present.

Poverty and racism are related, anywhere you go in the world. It's not just the US, and it's certainly not just in the 21st century.

The left have tended to keep these ideas related in their discourse, while the right (in the US at least) have tried to separate them.

The #NeverTrump moderate right & moderate left in the US are now, thanks to TFG himself, a force to be reckoned with, despite them being made barely visible in media & elsewhere. Understandably, they don't want to "come out" rn, bc they fear reprisal from a future R government.

I have the good fortune in this tense environment of not being American, or resident in the country. This makes it easier for me to be out and proud as an #XGOP supporter.

I am not triggered by lyrics about poverty and race being in the same sentence. Cult members are.

To me, it's pointless to say greed "has got to go." Greed is a normal part of human nature. The role of government should be to regulate the economy, not to redistribute wealth (except to provide a social safety net.)

Rs used to agree with this. Then they became radicalized.

Most Rs seem to have forgotten that during major emergencies the social safety net needs to be strengthened and expanded. This supports having a stable democracy, which enables individuals to invest with confidence. It's inarguable but: if you want to try, it could be fun for me.

Starving those who rely on the social safety net in an emergency tends to weaken a country, making it more vulnerable to takeover by its adversaries.

FDR's New Deal enabled the US to later be capable of winning WWII along with us, their allies.

"People of every color
Marching side to side
Marching ‘cross these fields
Where a million fascists died."

People of every color served in WWII & took part in the 1960s civil rights movement. White people march alongside POC now, as they did then.

Within the T**** cult, white Americans who decide to become allies of POC in the struggle against organized racism are denigrated and shunned.

When I decided to become an ally, I knew I couldn't stay in the cult. And I didn't care, of course.

#BlackLivesMatter

"I’m going into this battle
And take my union gun
We’ll end this world of slavery
Before this battle’s won."

Woody Guthrie wrote these words in 1942. Obviously he meant using a gun as a soldier in WWII. I'm more interested in the American Civil War reference:

Because... in today's radicalized far right Republican party, many followers have bought a dishonest trope about which side was which. It is a consequence of inaccurate history being promoted instead of the facts. And it highlights the *critical* importance of education.

Because Lincoln was a Republican, today's cult followers believe that their side was the Union side, and today's Democrats were the CSA.

What an embarrassing lie to have bought into.

Hard to know where to even start, isn't it?

Oh and they do the same intellectual gymnastics about Hitler supposedly being a socialist, not a fascist.

Hitler, like T****, had no political ideology beyond personal self interest & racism. The historical #facts bear this out. T**** hates Afghan interpreters bc of their race.

In this thread I only have space to touch on these enormous issues of research and debate.

The challenge right now is what to do about them, and fast.

Americans and their allies need to get organized.

The Union side got organized to make the fascists of the South lose.

The US in WWI and WWII got organized to make the Axis fascists lose.

The Civil Rights movement got organized to advance equality for ALL Americans.

We are called to do it now, too.

Far right fascists have already made gains in local and state elections in preparation for trying to steal 2022 AND 2024.

The odds in 2020 are against us. However, we* have no choice but to fight as hard as we can to keep both the Senate and the House in Democrat hands.

*I say "we" because it flows better in sentences and space here is limited. Obviously I mean US citizens who want to make the fascists lose. Legally, I can't donate, and so on.

So I donate in kind by reading, thinking, and writing.

Historically, Democrats have been good at organizing. Democrats and their Never T**** allies of all stripes need to organize like they have never organized before.

Forget 2024 for now, because if you lose in 2022, the fascists WILL be able to steal 2024.

Trade unions. I've had a love/hate relationship with them over the years but one thing I know is - you/we will need them in order to fight the fascists and win.

Because of what Rs have allowed to happen to their party, my support has been loaned to Ds for as long as it takes.

The time for me to get back to writing about the benefit of free, stable markets and a strong military defense will be AFTER we have organized against the fascists and won.

The R party rn is at the apex of a domestic terrorism network. They threw it all away, for nothing.

Dammit. Typo found too late:

"The odds in 2020 are against us." I meant that the odds in 2022 are against us, the anti-fascists.