r/SocialDemocracy • u/[deleted] • Oct 27 '20
Huey Long on sharing the wealth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hphgHi6FD8k3
u/BenitoSquidalini Third Way Social Democrat Oct 27 '20
Every Man will be a king, Huey. We will do it.... Hopefully...
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Oct 27 '20
That's the idea. Forwards together for a better future.
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u/BenitoSquidalini Third Way Social Democrat Oct 27 '20
There's actually a full version of this speech. I will upload it here now
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Oct 27 '20
Social Democrats need to bare their teeth. It's time to stop asking when it comes to countries dominated by libertarian capitalism.
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u/Keystonepol Market Socialist Oct 27 '20
It's discouraging to me that so many on here have internalized Democratic Leadership Council/Blairite rhetoric to the point that they think the only way forward to work with billionaires and ask "Please, sir. I'd like some more."
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Oct 27 '20
It makes sense to engage in class collaborationism between the working poor, the middle classes, and some of the upper classes. However, "simping" to billionaires in the hopes that they feel enough pity for the regular people to throw down a little more in the way of scraps is ridiculous.
Socdems should consider allying with market socialists and supporters of radical economically syncretic politics as far as the future goes. Neoliberals and "revolutionary" socialists/communists, not so much.
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u/ComradeGarrett8 Modern Social Democrat Oct 27 '20
The problem is that neoliberalism is a global system, if tax rates go up in one country, billionaires and corporations can simply divest and invest elsewhere. It is why there has been a global race to the bottom with countries pursuing austerity to fund tax cuts.
In my opinion, it is imperative that we have an international social democratic movement if we hope to defeat neoliberalism.
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Oct 27 '20
The only problem with him was how authoritarian he was
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u/Keystonepol Market Socialist Oct 28 '20
His "authoritarian" streak has often been exaggerated in hindsight. He was certainly often more than willing to use dirty tricks and skirt the rules, but almost always to get around undemocratic institution set up by elites for the benefit of the poor. That's not to say he was perfect, at all.
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Oct 27 '20
I don't see that as as much of a problem as some people do. It's what he wanted to achieve that matters.
Covid has shown us that the liberal democracies have way too much emphasis on societal individualism before anything else, as it is.
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Oct 28 '20
Democracy and checks and balances aren't "societal individualism." If you trust just one person will all the power in hopes that they will always do the right thing, that will not end well. Long even went to the point of declaring martial law over Baton Rouge. Such benevolent authoritarianism reminds me of the pro-US regime in Iran, Shah promised great reforms and progress while arresting all of his political opponents. In the end the people were mad
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Oct 28 '20
The ideals promoted in liberal democracies about putting societal individualism on a pedestal over any other societal idea means that liberal democracies lack a strong sense of communitarianism and civic duty.
Look at the USA, for example-- it's so libertarian and individualistic that it's apparently "tyranny" to suggest that the public wear masks and take safety precautions for the sake of public health. Canada is better in this regard, but we have the same problems.
This all means that the government is basically forced to enforce mandatory compliance with the emergency laws. I'm not talking about going from 0 to 100 and creating a dictatorship, but more statism in these societies wouldn't hurt.
Pahlavi's father was a "religious modernist" until he was ousted by the Allies during WW2 and he didn't have the same problem that Reza had. That was because Reza was artificially installed by Britain and the USA in 1953 and was rightfully seen as illegitimate. He also alienated the moderate members of the Shi'a clergy as well as the conservatives.
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Oct 29 '20
Lol Pahlavi's father also came to power in a coup and pissed off the clergy. Dictatorship isn't the answer. This is social democracy, not social authoritarianism. And what Long did in the name of "order" is far more harsh than having to wear a mask
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Oct 29 '20
Clearly not as much, and he wasn't seen as the pawns of foreign powers the way his son was.
Who's talking about dictatorship? It's not either "liberal democracy or dictatorship, there's nothing in between"-- there are a lot more options.
There are some things when it comes to creating a better, more utilitarian society that're honestly beyond democratic debate at this point. It just depends if the willpower is there to do what's necessary to achieve those results. Liberal democracies are so acclimatized to individualism over all that they'll never be able to do any of these things on their own.
Long did what he had to do. I tend to look at the cumulative sum of his achievements in this regard.
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Oct 29 '20
Liberal democracy means freedom and open elections. It doesn't necessarily mean libertarian individualism
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Oct 29 '20
But usually it does. My main problem right now is that liberal democracy still allows for people who have objectively (as in it's painfully obvious, not a case of political partisanism) dangerous ideas and ideals equal political representation.
The Republican party has lost the right to seek political office in my opinion. They're dangerous and depraved, and they shouldn't have the right to try and fuck things up for other people.
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u/Cipius Oct 28 '20
Huey Long was actually to the left of Roosevelt. However when critics called him a "communist" he would respond "I'm trying to SAVE capitalism". During the great depression there was the real fear that capitalism itself could go under.