Interesting Opinion Piece ... Actually, a series of OP ...

[1StrongBlackMan]

I know that PUBs and pro lefties don’t think they’re racist or sexist, but that’s kind of the point. For some reason, there is a sense that they believe that calling themselves progressive gives them a pass to say whatever they want to People of Color, immigrants, and women.

...

And this is the problem with these people in a nutshell. PUBs have convinced themselves that the issues they have decided are most important in our society are the most important issues for everyone and that their position on these issues is the only acceptable position. They live in a tiny white (mostly male) bubble and don’t care how anyone else thinks about anything.

http://pleasecutthecrap.com/racism-isnt-exclusive-to-the-right-wing/

The rant(s) is/are written by a white person; but, could have been written by any African-American that has regularly posted thoughts to the group, that is unrelated to Sanders, as it is what has been written, repeatedly, since January 2009.

[irisblue]

1. Progressive Unicorn Brigade

bookmarking this to read tonight

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. It is the third, in what promises to be an extended rant ...

each one, to this point, I could have written every word, as it is spot on to where I am. Please read the previous two, as well.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. That was an excellent read

Thank you!

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. Please go back and read the previous two OPs at the link.

They reflect where I am, and what I have written, with respect to "progressives".

[JustAnotherGen]

17. The first blog posting

Whoa! Just . . .


http://pleasecutthecrap.com/tilting-at-the-third-way-windmill/

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. Yes ... Yes ... Yes.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. Thank you for proving the OP's point, Mr./Ms. whiteman that must make something perfectly clear ...

Last edited Thu Jun 30, 2016, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

to this Black man, while posting in the African-American Group.

Zero self-awareness.

ETA: Oh Yeah ... Welcome back! Or, rather ... Bah Bye!

[brer cat]

6. Excellent! K&R

[giftedgirl77]

7. Man, ain't that the truth.

[BlueCaliDem]

9. Milt Shook is AWESOME!! Thanks for the links, 1SBM. Everything I read in his three OPs

remind me of what some posters on this site have been posting.

I've been pretty much called just about everything Shook's been called, and it's always baffled me when that name-calling - totally without basis in truth - was directed at me from fellow Liberals. It had gotten so bad that I had to leave DU for a year or two just to not be crucified for supporting President Obama and understanding why he had to make choices that wasn't as far-left as many here would like.

Yes, as Deaniac (former DUer) had said looooong long ago, he's a pragmatic progressive, but so am I. It's why I'm a Democrat, not a Greenie or a Socialist, but a Democrat. It's why the Democratic Party is the only Party strong enough and big enough to defeat the well-funded Republican Party. It just tells me we're more popular, more powerful, more organized, and willing to move forward pragmatically than burn the bridges to get our way than the more leftist Parties. It's why we've survived so long.

Thanks again for the excellent find and for sharing it with us!

Bookmarked for future reference.

Oh, and edited to add:


Just cuz it's so dang CUTE.

[1StrongBlackMan]

10. LOL ...

I've been pretty much called just about everything Shook's been called

Me, too ... and more!

[BlueMTexpat]

11. These are outstanding rants, 1SBM!

It's as if the writer has been living in my mind! Only he expresses himself much better. Thanks so much for posting the initial link and, thanks to you, I have bookmarked this blog and have become a Milt Shook fan. I'll be reading it from now on.

From this rant at the same blog: http://pleasecutthecrap.com/while-far-lefties-were-sleeping/

Many of the people who need our help the most – you know, the poor people PUBs and pro lefties claim to be advocating for, still don’t have access to healthcare, and it’s not because we don’t have a single-payer system, it’s because a number of Republican-led states have refused to provide Medicaid to the poor in their state. Everyone in poverty in every state in the union would have access to free or really cheap healthcare if Republicans were not in charge.

And that is the key. For all of their hemming and hawing and your pretending to care about those who have nothing, they have apparently been sleeping and not noticed that, while they have been dreaming about frog-marching Bush and Cheney to The Hague and parading “banksters” to prison in orange jumpsuits during their slumber, the poor in this country have been royally screwed by a major political party that is not the Democrats and is most certainly not Hillary Clinton.

Wake up and get a clue, far lefties; Democrats are not the enemy. Not even close. If you really want to make the United States more progressive, start by embracing Democrats and getting rid of the current GOP. That’s the first step in any such plan.

And this one: http://pleasecutthecrap.com/tilting-at-the-third-way-windmill/

I am an idealist, just like them. The only difference is, I have both feet planted in the real world, where making demands results in absolutely nothing getting done. The real difference between the morons on the far left, with all of their screaming and demands, and me is that I can appreciate the concept of nuance.

Why have these idiots not realized that nothing they demand ever actually gets done? And why would it get done? The key to a democratic system is getting the most people to vote for your side, but who the hell wants to support a group of people who are always screaming at others, for Chrissakes? I mean, when two crazy people are shouting at each other on the sidewalk, are you more likely to cross the street to get away from them or do you listen more closely, to see who’s making the better point? Again, I live in the real world; like most people, I cross the street.

Darn you, 1SBM! I may end up reading EVERY post in this blog!

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. My favorite line (from the Neoliberalism, My Ass Rant) ...

They live in a fantasy world, and they demand that we join them. No thanks, I live in the real world, as do most actual progressives. I mean, how smart are you, really? Democrats elected a progressive president, Barack Obama, and we put Democrats within 2-3 votes of having a 1960s-style Democratic supermajority in Congress, and you decided to sabotage that by targeting Blue Dogs, whom you accused of all sorts of delusional “crimes” and replacing them with Tea Party members? But we’re supposed to follow your lead?

Strategic-f@$king-Genius on display ... not unlike, pouring out your water because you think there might be a desert rain storm coming.

[BlueMTexpat]

15. Exactly. eom

[FairWinds]

12. Of course Shook does a lot of name calling too . .

and in the rant he distorts the debate over John Lewis.

Shook writes that the BB's (Bernie Backers) criticized Lewis
for backing Hillary; but the source he uses is about Lewis'
initial dismissal of Bernie's civil rights record. (For which
Lewis later apologized, as well he should have.)

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. Yeah ... he did call a lot of names ... And, regarding the BB's treatment of John Lewis ...

let's all pretend it was about Bernie's (45+ year old) civil rights record. It'll fit the living in a fantasy world description well!

[FairWinds]

19. Well, Lewis did apologize . .

Lewis said . ." he had not meant to express doubt “that Senator Sanders participated in the civil rights movement, neither was I attempting to disparage his activism”. (Guardian)

I'm a huge Lewis fan, and always will be. Our Vets For Peace Golden Rule project honors sailors and freedom riders whom Lewis credits with saving his life. (Bert Bigelow)

Thanks for helping to keep this civil . .

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. Let's continue pretending that the BBs treatment of Lewis was unrelated to his endorsement ...

https://www.facebook.com/JohnLewis?fref=ts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141227355

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251654332

[Person 2713]

13. bookmarked site . ThAnk you for the link

[mcar]

20. This is so good!

And so true. It lays out all of the frustration I have felt about the "left" turning on Pres Obama the way they did.

[1StrongBlackMan]

22. I am far less frustrated with the (progressive) Left's turning on President Obama than ...

their penchant for magical thinking and their reaction(s) when others don't follow suit.

[mcar]

27. I find it so hard to fathom how grown ups can think like that

[1StrongBlackMan]

32. I know ...

But then, I read where a significant segment of the population includes lottery winnings, as a part (or all) of their retirement planning.

[mcar]

47. Yikes

[1StrongBlackMan]

48. Here it is ...

A recent survey sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association indicated that 20 percent of the 1,000 Americans polled were counting on winning the lottery for their retirement. This is not a joke. People do not believe they can accumulate the $200,000 in net worth that is the minimum (with Social Security) necessary to retire, according to planners. Indeed, the lower the income of those questioned, the more doubtful about savings and the more "reliance" on the lottery.

http://www.naplesnews.com/community/is-winning-the-lottery-your-retirement-plan-ep-406501770-332099182.html

And, it ain't just Americans ...

A similar study of Canadians showed that about 12 percent were counting on winning a big lottery so they could have enough retirement income to retire in style.

Even more recently, a study found that one-third of Canadian female Baby Boomers are hoping for a lottery win to fund their retirement.

http://www.retirement-cafe.com/Winning-a-Lottery-The-Retirement-Plan-with-the-Most-Bugs.html

[mcar]

49. That's just sad

[Blanks]

33. There certainly is a lot of Obama bashing around here...

About the kind of things that were mentioned in the link in the OP.

Folks around here don't seem to understand the limitations placed on the executive branch when congress is controlled by the opposition party.

The thing that President Obama has done that has most impressed me, is that he was able to maintain his dignity in the face of overwhelming opposition.

As much respect as I have for Jimmy Carter, if he could have stayed as cool and collected, he would have been reelected in 1980. Carter looked worn out, and it was obvious that 2012 was supposed to be a repeat of that election in the republican playbook.

Overall Obama has done an excellent job given the mess that Dubya left for him to clean up.

People don't seem to understand that it takes a while to break the government, and it takes a while to fix it. When the republicans took over in 2010, I thought democrats were done for, but that doesn't appear to be the case. In fact, it looks more like the opposite.

[uponit7771]

64. +1, even thinking someone who has no followers and no delegates and no down ballot money can

... "demand" anything from the person who has all of that.

[sheshe2]

23. Milt Shook

Is always a good read.

Bookmarking to read all 3 when I get back

Thanks~

[freshwest]

24. K&R

[JustAnotherGen]

25. oooh

Freshwest!

[99th_Monkey]

26. "Those people" cuts both ways.

Thanks for outing yourself as NOT progressive, as that explains a lot.

[1StrongBlackMan]

34. Hell ... I proudly "outted" myself more than a year ago ...

If being (DU) "progressive" means ... advocating income equality AND championing sacrificing the poor and working classes (i.e., "Let's go over the fiscal cliff!&quot ; and/or, advocating income equality AND championing sacrificing PoC, women, and the LGBT community (i.e., "Income Equality IS the most important issue of our time&quot ; and/or, advocating a set of policy goals that begins with "IF" (and that "IF" involves a series of unlikely occurrences) AND criticize Democratic policies (established in the current political environment), as inadequate; but, in their imperfection, do benefit the majority of the poor and working classes (i.e., the ACA, Executive Orders, etc.); and/or, spending the vast majority of your posts (especially during election season), criticizing Democrats, Democratic candidates, and "other" Democrats for supporting Democrats and/or Democratic candidates, as has been presented by DU "progressives"; then, ...

you are quite correct ... I am in no way a DU "progressive"!

Thank the universe!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1277&pid=5911

Notice how closely my grievance(s) matches that/those of the OP. I said it before him, and agree with him now.

[99th_Monkey]

37. Are Progressives perfect, and above reproach? No.

Are Progressives on the correct side of the issue 90-95% of the time? Yes.

I like those odds, so I'm happily remaining Progressive. So good luck with your
Progressive-bashing ... you'll need it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

43. See that's the thing ... It's NOT about being on the right side of the issues ...

rather, it's about HOW you relate to those issues, in order to get them accomplished. And more, I haven't had any (few) problems with the progressives I have met in real life, as none (few) have exhibited any of the traits described above.

But then, I suspect ... as the OPs observe ... those progressives would be called everything, but ... if they where to post on line.

[99th_Monkey]

45. So how do you "relate" to the TPP?

I relate to it thusly: Hell No! No Way.

[1StrongBlackMan]

46. I "relate" to TPP like most trade agreements ...

without the hyperbole that would have it being the end of American labor, as we know it.

The TPP will be no where near as good as it proponents say; nor, as bad as its detractors predict ... and we will not know, one way or the other, for maybe 15 years.

[99th_Monkey]

50. We've had about 20 years to see how NAFTA has killed US jobs ..

I would not expect anything but more of the same from the TPP.

[DonCoquixote]

58. If I may ask

is this where we bring back the old term "liberal?"

[99th_Monkey]

67. Perhaps

or maybe "Retro-Liberal" (FDR) since "Neo-Liberal" is already spoken for.

[seabeyond]

66. Please do not define others as "not progressive" because they do not support your candidate.

[Orrex]

29. This white progressive says hell yes they are.

But YMMV.

[1StrongBlackMan]

36. Wait ... I must be mis-reading this ...

are you saying that African-Americans are more racist than white progressives ... by far?

If so, perhaps you should learn what "Racism" is ... and not what the collector of popular parlance, Webster's says it is; trying what the social scientists and anti-racist say about it.

[JustAnotherGen]

41. Group Host - Please Clarify This Statement

fbc

28. In general, would you say that white progressives are more racist than African Americans?

View profile


My experience has been the opposite. In fact, it's not even close.

The way I'm reading this - you jumped into the African American group to tell us we are racist?

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. That's how I read it, too.

[fbc]

55. If you want to keep this group exclusive...

Perhaps your moderators should ask that its threads do not appear on the front page.

I've never "jumped into the African American group".

But it does jump out at me occasionally.

[JustAnotherGen]

56. That's not how DU works

If you want it - YOU ask Skinner.

And you jumped in and called blacks racist.

Don't come back. Do what I've done to the gun rights, socialists, men's groups etc etc - put us on block.

My first instinct is never to alert. I asked the question - you dodged, deflected, and deferred in response.

By not clarifying you are doubling down.

Now go.

[sheshe2]

57. If and when Skinner changes that...

I suggest you read the headers in GD before you post. It is clear which group it is posted in.

Thanks. I host HC and BOG.

[Digital Puppy]

59. Dumb....

[LanternWaste]

60. Reading simple and obvious headers at the top of a thread page must be so very difficult.

Reading simple and obvious headers at the top of a thread page must be so very difficult. perhaps you should ask they become flashing neon lights with loud sirens so that the mentally undisciplined do not "accidentally" click on a link.

[psychmommy]

30. In part I agree

But, I also see that during the primaries, Hillary supporters had that "it's her turn" , we need a woman in the wh attitude. I didn't care that Obama was black, there were black repubs running and I would never vote for them. There has to be more substance than they are in a minority group lets vote them in. This sounds more like bernie supporter bashing on the dl. He was not the messiah, but he did speak to my issues and to me, they are the most important thing.

[JustAnotherGen]

40. Other issues were more important to other people

but he did speak to my issues and to me, they are the most important thing.

See - from where I sit - my issues are the most important thing . . . in selecting a candidate.

I would never have the arrogance to tell you - psych YOURS should be mine.

Just please -out of respect - don't shove down my throat that your issues are more important than mine in selecting a candidate.

[psychmommy]

68. I vote in relation to my issues.

My issues may not matter to you but they are where i am lead to vote. But, if you vote for her because she is a her-not because she champions your issues-you are going to be sorely disappointed when she goes against your interests with say tpp or war or the environment. See I knew Obama had warts and I supported him warts and all. I will vote for Hillary but I don't support her warts and all. I will vote a straight d ticket. I don't see myself hustling for votes.
I do believe as dems we should have similar issues. I won't be surprised when my issues are ignored.

[JustAnotherGen]

69. You've experienced America differently from me

So of course your issues are different than mine.

You do you.

I'm also going to be just out for myself.

Why is that so shocking to Democratic Party members to understand .

What else is in that crystal ball? Please do tell this O'Malley supporter. My financial interests will never be represented by the Democratic party. Start there.

[psychmommy]

71. our issues will never be represented if we

continue to vote against them.

[JustAnotherGen]

72. I'm involved in an FDR discussion in GD

My interest - I make enough each year that I stop paying at the end of Q2 into SSDI.

My stake - will my targeted monthly payments be there when I'm older?

Will Fed Gov allow me to keep the current targeted monthly return - if they stop the stupid practice of stopping the collection at $118,500?

Will Fed Gov then make a targeted effort to make up the unfair and unequal wages our senior (of all races) women made?


I need DETAILS. See out there - someone is asking in ALL CAPS for explicit reasons as to why we wouldn't trust the dominant culture to vote these concepts into reality with an equal application to all. I need specific ways that previously ignored individuals will get their just rewards in this country.


I'm trying to wrap my head around - a bunch of people who fucked America up (that's all I've read, heard seen from the far left and far right in this country for about three years) -

Asking me to trust them to not fuck up again.

That's like asking me to hire a bank robber to be a bank teller. Only a fool would believe.

So what are my interests -

Black.
Affluent.
Work in Corporate America.
Married to a foreigner so now have dual citizenship (need the ability to move freely among countries).


What are you asking me to vote for? What are my interests?

[psychmommy]

73. I am not asking you to vote for anything.

If you think that the establishment you are voting for is going to try to make everyone pay their fair share you are mistaken. Though you are affluent, if you have kids-they are still black. if you have sons they are in danger. You are not as affluent as the top 10% and it is their issues being met by the establishment in each party. Do you want clean air to breathe and water to drink-no matter what country you are in? Do you want to know whats in your food and where it comes from? i want toys and cars to be safe. If any of these are your concern, then you are voting against your interests.

[JustAnotherGen]

74. You just made assumptions

I'm actually a democratic party member for these reasons

Environment
Race
Education
Gender/GLBT



We are in the top 5%.

[psychmommy]

75. What assumptions did I make?

[Orrex]

31. I'm going to recommend this post 15 times.

k/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r/r

[Blue_Adept]

35. Thanks for posting this and links to the others

Pretty much encapsulates my feelings in general that were wildly reinforced throughout the primary, especially here.

[nolabear]

38. I SO want to have the courage of this conviction. I'm trying to speak up more but...damn.

Let me start off by saying I am white as hell. Not only am I white, I'm a native Southerner. Not only Southern but Mississippi-Louisiana Southern, raised there in the last half of the last century when things were, shall we say, cataclysmic. Why I was always a liberal I do not know. I'm the only one in the family. But the other half of that insane dynamic is that you do not have the bubble from which you proclaim what would be amazing and ideal and wonderful for just every damn body because, well, aren't we all the same and aren't we all just like me?

No, we are not all the same. And some of us have fought one another and loved one another and been stuck with one another and had to work things out in ways that leave everybody beat up and hurting, and trying to figure out what we have done to one another and what we can bear doing in the future.

Frankly I was impressed that President Obama, who seems to have had a foot in so many worlds that he couldn't immerse in just one, could stand all the things we all projected onto him and stay sane. The man is remarkable as hell. But he's got all the constraints of having to actually FIGHT the fights that others can believe they'd surely do more purely or nobly or with more of exactly what they profess to hate, the blinders of ideology. You know, those people who have not had to live intimately with people they disagree with, and sometimes hate. And the alternative isn't NO ideology, as the idealists seem to believe. It's pragmatism. It's recognizing that you might hate a whole lot of things that people say and do but you have to live with those people unless you're willing to kill them or negate their rights, and you have to learn to get along in ways that advance everyone a few steps rather than grabbing them by the balls and being just sure their hearts and minds will follow. Cute phrase, don't work.

So, Hillary. Hillary is a pragmatist like I'm a pragmatist and a liberal like I'm a liberal. The crazy kicker is that I love those family members whose ways of thinking and acting have never been like my own, and I don't want to subjugate them any more than I want to subjugate the people they DO want to. In a way it's more liberal. Liberal isn't just "us." It's everyone. It's having good will and hopeful intentions toward people who make you nuts and recognizing that even when you have to take a firm stand and say "Oh HELL no" to some of the things they want to do, doing it by force without consideration makes you a dictator in the name of liberalism.

[ismnotwasm]

39. Omg--I love this guy

And they never stopped beating up on Obama and the Democrats. Those of us who followed his campaign closely knew we were getting a progressive centrist (No, PUBs, that is not an oxymoron!), but they apparently envisioned him showing up on inauguration day wearing a dashiki and giving a “black power” salute. I used to laugh at the right wingers who derided liberals for treating Obama as if he was a messiah, until I realized they were right, if you think the professional left actually reflects progressive thought. I mean, President Obama, in concert with the Democratic Party, got us out of the deepest recession in the post-War era more quickly than anyone believed possible, and they did so with absolutely zero help from the Republican Party. For all of the professional left talk about Democrats being “anti-worker,” they managed to rescue unionized auto workers from losing their jobs at a time when the economy was still tanking.

And the rest is right on

[DonCoquixote]

42. thank you

This writer is going on my bookmark folder.

[lovemydog]

51. Great article. Thanks to you

I've stopped identifying as progressive. The term is too nebulous. And it tends to cover too many people who pull the 'more progressive than thou' card, without paying attention to the social changes that are moving us forward.

[1StrongBlackMan]

53. See my post #34.

It's more than a year old.

[lovemydog]

54. Prescient indeed.

[The Polack MSgt]

52. Wow, as I said in a comment on his blog

I may need a better tinfoil hat since he seems to have been reading my mind.

From rant 2 "Neoliberalism, My Ass"

in the minds of people like this, someone who says all the right things IS progressive, while those who make actual “progress” don’t qualify

Thank you 1SBM

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

61. This is fantastic! Most of us have been saying the same thing for years. The racism on the Political

Left to me is much worse, precisely because they DON'T think it exists. That form of psychological racism is much more insidious than the overt or explicit racism that we often see on the political right.

[Jamaal510]

62. K&R

[uponit7771]

63. The part about a black man sticking it to the establishment rings loud and true

[forjusticethunders]

65. Pretty much it's super sekrit club "progressivism".

It's about ego and virtue signaling to your club and showing off, not actually helping people.

[heaven05]

70. very interesting link

must read.......interesting opinion(s) of our end of the poitical spectrum.