Can Young People Save Our Democracy?

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Can Young People Save Our Democracy?

[DavidJ]

"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."
-- David Frum

[DavidJ]

Nowadays most of the people who call themselves "conservatives" have little notion of what conservatism even is. They have been deceived by one of the great public relations campaigns of human history. Only by analyzing this deception will it become possible to revive democracy in the US.

The tactics of conservatism vary widely by place and time. But the most central feature of conservatism is deference: a psychologically internalized attitude on the part of the common people that the aristocracy are better people than they are.

Economic inequality, while certainly welcomed by the aristocracy, is best understood as a means to their actual goal, which is simply to be aristocrats. More generally, it is crucial to conservatism that the people must literally love the order that dominates them...

People who believe that the aristocracy RIGHTFULLY dominates society, because of its intrinsic SUPERIORITY, are conservatives; democrats, by contrast, believe that they are of equal social worth. Conservatism is the antithesis of democracy. This has been true for thousands of years.

The defenders of aristocracy represent aristocracy as a natural phenomenon, but in reality it is the most artificial thing on earth. Although one of the goals of every aristocracy is to make its preferred social order seem permanent and timeless, in reality conservatism must be reinvented in every generation. 

Conservatism in every place and time is founded on deception. The deceptions of conservatism today are especially sophisticated, simply because culture today is sufficiently democratic that the myths of earlier times will no longer suffice.

The opposite of conservatism is democracy, and contempt for democracy is a constant thread in the history of conservative argument. Instead, conservatism has argued that society ought to be organized in a hierarchy of orders and classes and controlled by its uppermost hierarchical stratum, the aristocracy. For example the emphatic if vague claim that people are different. Of course, most of these arguments, if considered rationally, actually argue for meritocracy rather than for aristocracy. Meritocracy is a democratic principle.

But isn't conservatism about freedom? Of course everyone wants freedom, and so conservatism has no choice but to promise freedom to its subjects. In reality conservatism has meant complicated things by "freedom", and the reality of conservatism in practice, has scarcely corresponded even to the contorted definitions in conservative texts.

To start with, conservatism constantly shifts in its degree of authoritarianism. Conservatives have no difficulty claiming to be the party of freedom in one breath, and attacking civil liberties in the next.

The real situation with conservatism and freedom is best understood in historical context. Conservatism constantly changes, always adapting itself to provide the minimum amount of freedom that is required to hold together a dominant coalition in the society.

Many conservative theorists to the present day have argued that freedom is not possible at all. Without the internalized domination of conservatism, it is argued, social order would require the external domination of state terror. In a sense this argument is correct: historically conservatives have routinely resorted to terror when internalized domination has not worked...

For thousands of years, conservatism was universally understood as being in opposition to democracy. Having lost much of its ability to attack democracy openly, conservatism has tried in recent years to redefine the word "democracy" while engaging in deception to make the substance of democracy unthinkable.

Conservatism has opposed rational thought for thousands of years. What most people know nowadays as conservatism is basically a public relations campaign aimed at persuading them to lay down their capacity for rational thought.

Conservatism frequently attempts to destroy rational thought, for example, by using language in ways that stand just out of reach of rational debate or rebuttal.

Conservatism has used a wide variety of methods to destroy reason throughout history. Fortunately, many of these methods, such as the suppression of popular literacy, are incompatible with a modern economy. Once the common people started becoming educated, more sophisticated methods of domination were required. Thus the invention of public relations, which is a kind of rationalized irrationality. The great innovation of conservatism in recent decades has been the systematic reinvention of politics using the technology of public relations.

The main idea of public relations is the distinction between "messages" and "facts". Messages are the things you want people to believe. A message should be vague enough that it is difficult to refute by rational means.

One of the most important patterns of conservative message-making is projection. Projection is a psychological notion; it roughly means attacking someone by falsely claiming that they are attacking you. Conservative strategists engage in projection constantly. A commonplace example would be taking something from someone by claiming that they are in fact taking it from you..

knowledge is best produced in a liberal culture. This is why the most prosperous and innovative regions of the United States are also the most politically liberal, and why the most conservative regions of the country are also the greatest beneficiaries of transfer payments. Liberals create wealth and government redistributes it to conservatives. This is, of course, the opposite of the received conservative opinion in the media, but it is true.

Conservatism is almost gone. People no longer worship the pharaohs. To defeat conservatism today, the main thing we have to do is to explain what it is, and what is wrong with it. 

What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world..

[eliza]

Voting is absolutely important!
HOWEVER!
I *really* need establishment democrats to understand how underwhelming they are.

Being a young democrat voter feels like being berated every election year about our adult responsibility to vote but being relegated to the kid’s table the rest of the year.

It feels like going to a restaurant, ordering, *never getting what you ordered* THEN having the waitstaff who make 1, 000x more money than you tell you that if you keep them as your waitstaff they *might* be able to get what you ordered.

It feels like a CON because you need us but you do nothing for us.

The thing is, we know it’s either the con or fascism, so the only other choice that feels like power is choosing to not vote at all.

It is desperately important that everyone, especially young people vote in this election. But Democratic leadership really need to ask themselves why they keep looking down their noses at people they apparently need so badly.

[feldegast]

Young voters backed Bernie Sanders but instead Biden was nominated maybe if there was ranked choice voting more would be engaged

[doodelay]

Older voters could save our democracy if they'd just stop supporting people who take millions of dollars in corporate donations

[Scarter]

"We need to have a generational shift in the United States Congress in order to have a policy shift in the United States Congress." - AOC

"We need to get the old white Democrats out of office and put in new younger people who actually defend the rights of people all over this country". - Zoe Warren, protester.

[SuperBallscratcher]

Mr. Small's name face and voice need to be on the campaign trail. HIS story needs to be heard by all. Perhaps he never saw himself as a leader but a leader he has become; followers will flock to his David and Goliath reality.

[thegreatgazoo]

Not just voting. More young people need to get into politics (horrifying, but necessary). The 70 and 80 year-olds need to step down and let the 40 and 50 year-olds take the reins. This is not the same world it was even as little as 40 years ago. Us old fogies are out of step. Time for a serious change.

[ginahickman]

RISE UP YOUNG PEOPLE AND SAVE DEMOCRACY...YOUR VOICE MATTERS.

[charlesbeaudry]

It is definitely true that voting makes a difference and that is extremely well documented.

[bluezinnia]

We also need all the Voting Democrats to come out in November! Vote Blue or say goodbye to the United States of America! Don't wait, act now! We have power in numbers! Register to vote! Vote early, and never stop voting for OUR DEMOCRACY! Thank you!

[rubenbunyi]

It is for GenZ to save and fight for their future and the future of coming generations.Not only should they vote but also become part of the government.

[PaloDuro]

And how has voting for Joe Biden worked out for them?

[aliciataylor]

Everyone needs to vote. Every Vote matters to save our rights and democracy.

[cholt]

In 2020 158 million people voted.
There are 240 million ELIGIBLE voters (as of 2020) in the US. If half are women, approximately 120 million women are eligible to vote blue.
Biden received 81 million votes. Trump 74 million in 2020 elections .
Midterm elections are in November.
The 2020 election was the highest turnout of the 21st century. Your vote makes a difference. Make your voices heard.

[cherylburke]

Yes YOUNG people DEFINETLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! This is YOUR FUTURE SO VOTE to get CORRUPT POLITICIANS OUT OF OUR GOVERNMENT!!!!

[livefromplanetearth]

put that roland martin segment up please 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[ShirleeKnott]

Action is the antidote to despair --- Joan Baez NOW is the time for action Help the TRUE BLUE TIDAL WAVE in 22 and 24
get active in the campaign of your choice, knock on doors, hand out flyers, put up yard signs, make phone calls, donate, engage in conversations
JUST GET INVOLVED

[LambertBrady]

Not when old people supress and oppress the opposition. Enact legislation the severely limits terms and upper-age limits for both Houses Executives Secretaries Appointees JUDGES NOW

[tlm]

Are y'all news people missing the boat?! That's why we stood in long lines during COVID-19 to elect leaders to save our democracy! Why must we do all the work AND their jobs for no pay and the same friggin problems terms after terms. Go ahead young people because the rest of us are TIRED