Keep Your Friends Close...

[¿Que?]

I wish to inquire as to people's opinions about working with organizations whose broad political goals may be different from yours but whom you may agree with about immediate goals. Some of you may or may not be aware of the liberty movement, a group of from what I've met are mostly young disaffected tea party (yes, disaffected with the tea party) types, but which also tend to lean heavily towards hippie or other similar lifestylisms. At the same time, I get the sense that there's some old white men in suits calling the shots but there are some issues that warrant attention. For example, when there was a protest about body scanners at my airport, the liberty movement took the lead, and various local leftist movements had nothing to say about it (from what I've seen). In any case, I think body scanners are something that should be fought against, and it makes for strange bedfellows, to say the least. I ask, is this smart or stupid? Similar issues concern DWI's and blood tests.

What are your thoughts?

[Sensible Socialist]

I have no problem working with groups whose views differ radically from my own. If anything, it allows people of different ideologies to get together and realize that they actually have a lot of common ground. The example you mentioned is a good one. It would be great is the Tea Party crowd realized that anyone left of a Democrat is almost certainly going to be opposed to this type of oppressive government. That Democrats aren't socialists, and that Marxism isn't devil-worship.

There are limits, of course. I'd prefer people on the left don't work with the KKK in order to fight against Jewish oppression in Palestine, even if our views are the same in the end goal.

[¿Que?]

There are limits, of course. I'd prefer people on the left don't work with the KKK in order to fight against Jewish oppression in Palestine, even if our views are the same in the end goal.
Good point. It takes examining the issue closely, and coming to an analysis of concrete conditions and whatnot. It is, I guess, difficult to generalize, since the Tea Party crowd has been known to associate with British nationalism (as if Tea Part folk weren't already a form of nationalism). But let's be clear, the liberty movement is not the same as the Tea Party movement. In some ways, the liberty movement is the more radical branch, working on what I would have to describe as a sort of bourgeois populism with these personal liberties issues. I mean, they actually work with the ACLU, an organization that if I'm not mistaken, would never want to be associated with the Tea Party and vice a versa.

[Sensible Socialist]

Good point. It takes examining the issue closely, and coming to an analysis of concrete conditions and whatnot. It is, I guess, difficult to generalize, since the Tea Party crowd has been known to associate with British nationalism (as if Tea Part folk weren't already a form of nationalism). But let's be clear, the liberty movement is not the same as the Tea Party movement. In some ways, the liberty movement is the more radical branch, working on what I would have to describe as a sort of bourgeois populism with these personal liberties issues. I mean, they actually work with the ACLU, an organization that if I'm not mistaken, would never want to be associated with the Tea Party and vice a versa.
Is the Ron Paul movement associated with this? I've seen many of the same things. Often young people, before their 30's, coming out in droves in support of civil liberties and personal freedoms, albeit with a free-market (yet limited) government. They're not entirely bad; we can often agree on government interference in personal lives, as most tend to be "new-libertarians," which compared to most American politicians who claim to be actual libertarians, is a better title. But I digress. If we can manage to convince the many people in that movement and others like it that socialism is compatiable with their views, it will be a great achievement.

[¿Que?]

Is the Ron Paul movement associated with this? I've seen many of the same things. Often young people, before their 30's, coming out in droves in support of civil liberties and personal freedoms, albeit with a free-market (yet limited) government. They're not entirely bad; we can often agree on government interference in personal lives, as most tend to be "new-libertarians," which compared to most American politicians who claim to be actual libertarians, is a better title. But I digress. If we can manage to convince the many people in that movement and others like it that socialism is compatiable with their views, it will be a great achievement.
Well, it helps that some of these people take liberal arts courses in college where they are required to read Marx :cool: