Does anyone else feel helpless right now?

[white_wolf]

I'm not sure where to post this, I may cross post this in GD, I don't know. My question, is does anyone else feel extremely frustrated and helpless in the face of our current political and economic problems. There is so much wrong with this country, but I can't think of anything that can feasibly be done to improve it, let it alone fix it. Elections seem pointless, because most of the politicians are bought and paid for, and the ones who aren't get overruled by those who are. Labor unions are constantly under attack, it seems. I don't know why I'm posting this, I'm just frustrated. Perhaps, I'm just naive, but this whole situation seems wrong to me.

[southernyankeebelle]

1. I often feel the way you do. The thing is people need to stick with the OWS I think they made Obama

move his butt more to the left. It is up to us to push him. He can't do it without our help. Like FDR said you have to make him do it. It started with WI, OH and moving to AZ. They are trying to destroy unions. Middle class has to stand up. I know you and I get sad but ok feel that way today. Sometimes I get myself off the news channels for a day or 2. Find something you like do to or watch something that you can laugh for awhile. Then come back after a couple a days.

[TBF]

5. This really has nothing to do with the bourgeoisie (middle class or what is left of it) -

this has to do with the working class rising up. You're correct that the status quo has been working hard for decades to push the unions back down, and building them will be key to building resistance. I don't mind OWS either - their leaderless style has been helpful and gotten attention.

[southernyankeebelle]

7. We all must step back when we feel so helpless and breath some fresh air. That is a terrible

feeling for sure.

[TBF]

8. Sure, can't argue with that. But WhiteWolf isn't posting in the lounge

he is posting in the Socialist Progressives group so I answered from a political perspective. Thanks for visiting us

[southernyankeebelle]

10. I hope he is feeling alittle better with some of the posters views.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I have my helpless, hopeless moments but

for the most part, I'm pretty much up for the possibilities that inhere in the new interconnectivity of the species. Things like Arab Spring/Madison/OWS are all children of the WWW, and people are just starting to figure out how to use it all most effectively. The social media (and whatever they will evolve into) are systems that permit the lateral distribution of power and broad-based decision making. The Network is already evolving ways of handling conflict (hey--consider our own jury system as one small experiment in this realm), and will no doubt over time evolve ways of separating reliable from unreliable information. Given this matrix, i think we're in for some surprisingly rapid changes in the social structure.

[TheWraith]

3. Nope, not at all.

In fact, I recognize that even though it's slow, things are moving in the right direction, and continuing to win elections will keep them moving.

[Wait Wut]

6. This ^

I feel a million times better than I did 4 years ago. Pessimism is no way to change the world. We need to be working harder, not crying because the GOP drank half the milk.

Takin' back teh HOUSE!

[TBF]

11. I think you and theWraith may be lost -

you clicked on a post and wound up in the socialist progressives group.

Thank you for visiting us and no worries - for those of us who vote we will not let you down.

[TheWraith]

21. The door lacked a sign saying "social democrats keep out."

[TBF]

23. I can only take you at your word -

fair warning that it's pretty anti-capitalist in here ...

[Wait Wut]

24. I apologize.

I will never try to spread optimism here again. I remember what it was like when I thought everything sucked. I hope where you are the day is as beautiful as it is here!

Happy Friday!

[TBF]

25. I realized we don't have our group SOP up yet, we had talked

about it when this group formed and never got around to finalizing it. It will be up soon!

[Kellerfeller]

27. Same here

If I had to choose between living a hundred years ago versus now, I definitely pick now. That means we are moving forward.

Sure, there is ebb and flow, but the overall direction is positive.

Life is too short to sit around hand-wringing. I prefer to live live as best I can and make the most positive contribution I can. Beyond that, what will be, will be. I con't control other people, so why fret over it? The best I can do is try to educate them to see my view of the future is best.

On edit: Accidentally typed "Sane here" for the title. Wouldn't want to lie!!

[TBF]

4. In some ways I feel frustrated, but not helpless

But that is because I don't put all my eggs in the election basket. Voting is important and there are consequences so I do vote and try to make the best choice given the candidates. Of course in a two-party system that's always going to be a slide to the middle. In this country it means a slide to the corporate middle ...

But there are other things going on as well ... as the income inequality becomes so much more pronounced at the same time as more jobs are lost and safety nets cut, something has to give. OWS has managed to get quite a lot of attention and that is saying something during a democratic administration. I don't see them slowing down and I see similar activity in other countries. Young people are resisting and that is the thing that has to happen. It's going to take some patience on our part and continued education/agitation.

[WheelWalker]

9. Focus on what you can directly see, feel, smell, taste and hear.

You will empower your will to effect the change you desire. Frustration and helplessness arise when one intends to grasp and hold more of the universe than is within one's reach.

[BrendaBrick]

12. +1

Depends on where you live in this vast country. This is NOT to take anything away from the overall scenario and stats...still, may want to check out this site called Patchwork Nation, which I first found out about via a PBS segment(s) from Ray Suarez last year?

http://www.patchworknation.org/ Breaks it down...

[snagglepuss]

13. Hear! Hear!

[TBF]

14. Here is an article that might be helpful in going forward -

Towards a Revolutionary Anti-Capitalism

PHILLIP LOGAN

As the irrationality of the neoliberal political economy takes its toll on America, the masses have begun to stir for something new. From the Tea Party to the newly created Occupy Wall Street movement, there is a foreboding sense amongst the American people that something is fundamentally wrong with the dominant social-economic order. Yet, why is it that after three years of suffering and austerity that only a critique of reactionary anti-capitalism has emerged as the dominant dialogue among the American people? While “reactionary anti-capitalism” is a term that may seem off-putting, I think it is the proper framework to analyze this new emerging narrative and its parochial analysis of what is wrong in our society.

In America, most people would agree that the current “regime of accumulation” in place has failed and the government-state nexus’ recent actions are not fulfilling the general will of society. However, understand, while this general attitude is shared by many Americans, it is not necessarily expressed uniformly across the board...

<snip>

While I feel the anti-capitalist idealist and materialist designations respectively define the emerging ideology in the current social movements in America, I feel that they are not dichotomous and are two sides of the same ideology. While idealists might oppose the current regime of accumulation, their devotion to the ideal of the free market creates a contradiction that sees the current order as a problem of state intervention and not a systemic failure, which makes them materialist in this sense. On the other hand, materialists, while rejecting the pure ‘laissez-faire’ vision of the idealist, still remain ardent defenders of the free market. Elizabeth Warren’s progressive defense of the free market reveals a desire to construct a free market capitalism with a human face, often reaching back to a romantic portrayal of the Keynesian/Fordist regime of accumulation and arguing for effective state intervention. While these two terms demonstrate a plurality within this narrative, this plurality I have designated is problematic because of the continuities between them. Thus, I have created a new term that I feel is more adequate to describe the new politics that is emerging in the current dialogue, reactionary anti-capitalism...

Much more here: http://theactivist.org/blog/towards-a-revolutionary-anti-capitalism

[Smarmie Doofus]

15. Rec for posing a good question.

My short answer is "yes".

But I see some stuff going on that is encouraging. OWS, for instance.

Yes, they're trying to eliminate unions.... and succeeding -- largely because most people are not unionized and don't feel that anyone else should enjoy any workplace advantage that they themselves do not enjoy.

But... bottom line... would you really rather be a republican?

[socialist_n_TN]

16. i can't go into detail now, but........

(@ work). I've got some thoughts I'll lay on you tomorrow.

[infidel dog]

17. No, you're not the only one.

I'll tell you, dog to wolf, that things are pretty goddamn bad in this republic and our entire suffering planet. Capitalism is making existence miserable or impossible for all life on Earth. Here in the States we are degenerating into society of (mostly) willing serfs ruled by a plutocratic corporate elite. Humanity in general seems to be comprised of greedy, willfully ignorant scum who will destroy the only world they can possibly inhabit for a few pieces of Monopoly money. I'm very pessimistic in the short term, WW. But I think we can cautiously hope in the future. I like to imagine a society a few centuries or millennia from today that will look upon our global Society of Profit and Ignorance with the same distaste most sensible people today feel for the Assyrian Empire or Stalin's regime. But I'm afraid that kind of change will only come with evolutionary as well as revolutionary progress. Socialism will come as humanity realizes our survival is impossible without giving up our mindless, screaming chimpanzee greed and the all-powerful trinity of Me, Myself and I. A tall order. Will it happen tomorrow or next year? Not a chance in hell. This doesn't let us off the hook however, Mr. Wolf. If you get truly discouraged, as I often do, remember how much real progress has been made in the past 150 years or so and the people who worked, sometimes without much hope at all, to bring it about. It may be, in a regressive age such as this, that our job is to simply hang on to what is Good in this nightmare situation, and do everything we can to keep the Bad and Ugly from outlawing/destroying/forgetting it. I fear things in the short run may get very bad indeed, WW. The times are very grim and I wish with all my heart I lived in different ones. But as Gandalf the Grey tells us, so do all who live to see such times. Our job is to keep up the fight, WW. In our seemingly insignificant individual ways or in Union with others or as a movement that knocks crowns from the heads of monarchs, and sometimes takes those heads clean off! Keep the faith, WW. A word of encouragement from an old Wobblie...

[TBF]

18. Thanks so much for your words of wisdom -

Wobblies are especially welcome in these parts.

[white_wolf]

19. A great post. Thank you.

You are right, it may be our task to hold on to what good we can, but we can do that at least. The Gandalf quote is very apt, thanks for the encouragement.

[socialist_n_TN]

28. Let me add a baritone to the choir on this one.......

GREAT post dog and as one of my comrades uptread said, Wobblies are especially welcome.

I was going to say something very similiar (but not nearly as eloquently . It's almost a Zen thing with radical, revolutionary left politics. You need to keep the ideal in mind, but you can't compare the ideal to the now or you WILL go nutz. Just try to improve the moment bit by bit and comrade by comrade is all you can do and hope that your unified efforts pay off someday.

Hell wolf, you might even get to see it. I doubt that I will, but that doesn't mean I won't fight for it every chance I get.

[Starry Messenger]

20. ((hugs)) white_wolf

I swing between wild hope and despair. I had a moment in Oakland last year, at the first port shut down in November. I came out of the BART station and heard all the drums and saw thousands of people and a huge banner that read "Death to Capitalism". I honestly never thought I would see this in my lifetime, and I felt that even just for a moment, things had taken a turn in history that will never quite go back to the way things were.

Watching the sun set with two veteran commies at the Port itself, even they felt it. We all looked over the crowd of tens of thousands and they said, this might really happen. We might see socialism in our lifetimes, in this country.

I don't put too much faith in elections to fix anything. Any change is going to come from people. There is a rising consciousness again that change needs to come from us. The best we can do is vote for people who are not actively worse for labor and keep hitting in that arena. I was talking to my partner about this just this morning, and he is frustrated with the defensive posture that labor is always in. I am too, but it might be an inevitable result of the death throes of capitalism, that these attacks get more pervasive and savage. We can only do what we can do.

It's hard not to feel depressed, especially when reading about the hard-hitting labor and leftist resistance in other countries. You get an urgent sense of wanting to scream, go faster! Get out there! Those of us with a knowledge of what is wrong have a need to get out there and help, and it feels like you're just watching things roll rapidly downhill. But I think the larger trend is towards progress in the US. I have to believe it, anyway. :/

[ellisonz]

22. No.

I'm going to change the world with my big fat mouth.

[sagetea]

26. Well you can look at it this way...

It's always blackest before the dawn!

[TheKentuckian]

29. Angry, certainly frustrated, and very concerned about the trajectory over the forseeable

but far from despair, our problems are human scale. The answers are either there or in reach so it is mostly a matter of will and unlearning some absurdities.

Despair isn't a helpful position when you are stuck in "won't" rather than "can't".

The rules of the universe allow us to advance far further than our dreams, it is only human systems and ideology holding us back. Those are winnable battles.

[Starry Messenger]

30. Hey!

Nice to see you.

The rules of the universe allow us to advance far further than our dreams, it is only human systems and ideology holding us back. Those are winnable battles.

Well said and agreed.

[TheKentuckian]

31. and it is always nice to see you as well

[joshcryer]

32. No.