Once again, more evidence

[RGacky3]

F45_MiefrjI

Poll after poll after poll consistantly shows the same thing, American values are progressive values.

[ComradeMan]

What are "American values"?

[Bud Struggle]

What are "American values"?

It depends on how they word the poll.

[RGacky3]

What are "American values"?


What American people value when it comes to public policy.


It depends on how they word the poll.

Yeah because the Wall Street Journal is so leftist, this is poll after poll after poll, so its pretty hard for you to argue that its just bias.

[Bud Struggle]

Yeah because the Wall Street Journal is so leftist, this is poll after poll after poll, so its pretty hard for you to argue that its just bias.

FWIW: I AGREE with most of the things on the poll. I certainly think not taxing the rich is idiotic--for two reasons first it keeps money out of the general fund and secondly it builds up a mutigenerational "aristocracy" in America. Neither of those things is very good.

I suppose there might be a couple of things I disagree with--but not many. So now I'm a Progressive? ;)

[RGacky3]

I guess.

[Viet Minh]

Thats actually surprising to me as an outsider. The impact of the commmunist witch-hunts is still felt, and liberal is pretty much a swear word, but the vast majority, like anywhere, have a lot of common sense it seems. Good news! :)

[RadioRaheem84]

The average inclination of any worker is to be left wing. They know that they being exploited, they know the boss takes all the money while they do all the work. These are basic notions that they can clearly see in the workplace. No one can be that blind to notice that while they live in a relatively free democratic country that they do not notice the undemocratic nature of the workplace. The only way to balance these two contradictory notions out is to accept that the workplace (i.e. production) is some natural by product of civilization. Some own, some work. That's "life". And they are told this by the ruling classes of each epoch.

The propaganda machine tell the populace that since there is relative freedom in the political sphere and in exchange, that they are likewise "free" to leave any place they think is not to their liking (including their place of work). Therefore, the workplace only becomes a "democratic" place like the other spheres, because we can "choose" to leave. The mere fact that we can leave somehow assumes consent, therefore right wingers tout this consent as consenting to the social order. In sum, we freely "choose" capitalism.

As you can see, the mental gymnastics the propaganda machine employs to keep people from naturally seeing the social system that has been created is without a doubt, ingenious. It is in itself a world of appearances.

Working people are going to be left wing, despite their traditional outlook on life.

[Apoi_Viitor]

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/opinion_paradox.html

Two leading public opinion researchers in 1967 noticed a contradiction in Americans’ attitude toward government: They wanted the public sector to do more but were resistant to expanding its authority. The U.S. public was “operation- ally liberal” and “ideologically conservative,” wrote Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril in their book, The Political Beliefs of Americans.

This public opinion paradox has been one of the more enduring and frustrating features of the political landscape over the ensuing five decades. Public mistrust of politicians and bureaucrats drains support from government programs in precisely those areas where the public demands more action. Case in point: This dynamic nearly derailed recent government attempts to reform health care, with opponents warning of a coming “Faustian web of Washington bureaucracy.”

The public’s jaundiced view of government will continue to endanger progressive initiatives until we finally bridge the yawning gap between what people want from their government and what they believe it is capable of.

The Center for American Progress has commissioned a national poll that explores how to align the American political psyche’s contradictory impulses as part of its Doing What Works project to promote public confidence in government by improv- ing government operations. (Survey findings will be released July 27 at a Doing What Works conference.) But we must understand the gap before we can bridge it.

This report synthesizes major public opinion research about Americans’ attitudes toward government and summarizes key findings about the public’s positive agenda for government and its negative outlook on government’s ability to execute that agenda.

The positive agenda: Surveys show Americans want more government action in key areas such as health, poverty, law enforcement, and improving the environment.

The negative outlook: Polls reveal the U.S. public lacks trust and confidence in government, and believes it is inefficient, unresponsive to ordinary citizens, and often hurts more than it helps.

The paper aims to provide a richer understanding of this public opinion paradox in anticipation of the upcoming DWW poll on how to fix the problem. The appendix includes additional background on the major polls and surveys the report analyzes.

[Nolan]

FWIW: I AGREE with most of the things on the poll. I certainly think not taxing the rich is idiotic--for two reasons first it keeps money out of the general fund and secondly it builds up a mutigenerational "aristocracy" in America. Neither of those things is very good.

I suppose there might be a couple of things I disagree with--but not many. So now I'm a Progressive? ;)

I thought you were already a social democrat or something.

[Robespierre Richard]

The thing is though, most people in America really don't care about politics unless they are of a class that allows enough leisure time to go to tea party rallies and make racist internet comments. Fox News and the like are really something people with money can afford to watch as otherwise there is no benefit from being angry all the time because all that propaganda isn't really aimed at you. I mean what, 15-20% of "eligible voters" voted Republican, about as many Democrat in the last elections? Being involved in politics is really a class privilege in this country unless you're some crazy guy with a website.

I guess in offices this might be different but at my workplace there is no one who has political views except an African guy who wears a hat that says "I <3 America I<3 Obama" but no one likes him because he keeps talking about how much better he is than everybody else.

[Viet Minh]

The Confederate States should just be given secession and all the neo-cons will hopefully fuck off there and have their United States of Jesus loving jew haters White Nationalist theocracy or whatever

[Bud Struggle]

I thought you were already a social democrat or something.

Oh I am. Nobody believes me, though. :(

[Apoi_Viitor]

The Confederate States should just be given secession and all the neo-cons will hopefully fuck off there and have their United States of Jesus loving jew haters White Nationalist theocracy or whatever

Or better yet, the Union should simply finish the Civil War...

[RGacky3]

Thats actually surprising to me as an outsider. The impact of the commmunist witch-hunts is still felt, and liberal is pretty much a swear word, but the vast majority, like anywhere, have a lot of common sense it seems. Good news! :)


One of the bigest pieces of propeganda from the US is American exceptionalism, that some how, the United States is fundementally different than the rest of the world, or that Americans are different from everyone else, many outsiders also buy into this picture, so from their standpoint, Americans are stupid, or boneheaded.

The reality is Americans are just like everyone else, there is no American exceptionalism, people are generally supportive of democracy, equality, justice, liberty and so on, its not an American thing, its not a European thing, its a human thing.


I mean what, 15-20% of "eligible voters" voted Republican, about as many Democrat in the last elections? Being involved in politics is really a class privilege in this country unless you're some crazy guy with a website.


Exactly, its pretty well documented that in the last couple decades low voter turnout helps the republicans tremendously, and the democrats being basically corporatists has really helped that low voter turnout.


Or better yet, the Union should simply finish the Civil War...

Or better yet get rid of corporate funding of electoral campains, start public funding, I GUARANTEE YOU, you start public funding of campains, all of a suddenen Washington starts galloping left.

Also get rid of corporate personhood, you do that and watch rich people suddenly become accountable.

You do those 2 things in that order, you'd do wonders for democracy.

[RGacky3]

Cenk interviewed a buisiness school "economist" (never trust an economist from a buisiness school), who said the American people are not actually liberal because the oppose a sales tax ..... WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST REGRESSIVE TAXES AROUND, Apparently the American people are better at economics than this buisiness school clown.

[Jimmie Higgins]

The Confederate States should just be given secession and all the neo-cons will hopefully fuck off there and have their United States of Jesus loving jew haters White Nationalist theocracy or whateverNah, if Wisconsin and other budget/austerity battles are an indication of what's ahead, we are going to win the south this decade IMO.

The south is much more industrial and is practically a solid block of nonunionized labor and "right-to-work" states. Every wave of union militancy in US history has crashed against the solid south with it's strong racism and divisions within the working class and been forced back. This time, the south is too fully integrated into normal US capitalism and is no longer the backwater it was before. Atlanta, many places in Texas and whatnot are now major industrial and financial areas as opposed to the 1930s when it was mostly things like textiles and raw material extraction and most of the population were poor farmers or migrating to Chicago or California. So I think the next time labor struggle re-emerges in a generalized way in the US, the south is going to be like the new mid-west. Because workers will have to take on founding new unions where there have been none on top of fighting openly hostile state governments, it will require a great deal of militancy (and illegal actions) even to make small gains and will have to fight against racism and for solidarity; I think this will potentially lead to rapid and deep radicalization for many workers.

Baseless prediction: general strike somewhere in Texas by 2014 :D