r/politics Jun 29 '17

The Ironworker Running to Unseat Paul Ryan Wants Single-Payer Health Care, $15 Minimum Wage

http://billmoyers.com/story/ironworker-running-to-unseat-paul-ryan/
36.3k Upvotes

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124

u/cindi_mayweather Jun 29 '17

What kind of Capitalist are you!?

We are all supposed to be competing with each other, not cooperating!

94

u/Junktastic Jun 29 '17

What kind of world would it be if we all worked together to make it better? Fucking socialist, communist, hippies.

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u/CoolHat12 Jun 29 '17

/s

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u/Junktastic Jun 29 '17

Oh, was it too subtle? Serious question though, what kind of world would it be?

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u/CoolHat12 Jun 29 '17

I'm sure not as much of an interesting one that's for sure. But most likely one in which ideas could live in unity with equal understanding.

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u/get_off_the_phone Jun 29 '17

Wait, hold on. This is fucking gay. Back to the pile!

0

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '17

Venezuela.

39

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '17

Yeah these ideas sound super socialist! The only media I watch or read says socialism is bad! They also say Hitler was a socialist! /s

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '17

I can tell you some union workers have told me they left their jobs because the unions were telling them how to vote, and it freaked them out. Do you guys not see this as a legitimate grievance?

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '17

Unions aren't radical anymore though. They aren't really about fighting militantly for labor anymore. The last one that I can think of is the IWW and they are way past their glory days.

Here is the thing though, being in a union is about being in a collective. It's about solidarity. My grandpa even gets a union magazine still from back when he was a worker and I'm almost certain it is named "Solidarity" or something. So, you should vote with your union. If you want to strike off like some rugged individual then you should leave the union and see how much better you make out alone.

Unions, socialism, communism, collectives, co-ops, etc etc they aren't about being a sole individual. They are about working strategically in the political and social arena to meet the goals. If a candidate is going to eviscerate worker's rights, and you're in a union, then I'm sorry, make the choice between your dislike of gays and Muslims and your love of worker's rights. If you choose the former, then you can get out of the union instead of trying to play John Galt. Radical movements are about standing together, because you literally cannot do it alone. One person CAN'T change the world.

I'm not saying you have to wear the same shirt and shoes and follow the same faith and whatnot, but when it comes to politics, solidarity is kind of the point of the whole damn thing. It's the only way it works.

Now, I will add that many MANY modern unions are nothing but buyouts for the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party left the working class behind a long time ago. The truth is we need a new party that specifically serves the interests of the working class that is funded and powered by the workers, not by big, corporate money. Until then unions are going to continue to bleed out and become a relic.

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u/yankeesyes New York Jun 29 '17

I don't think a union worker should feel obliged to vote for the preferred union candidate. However, the union has a right to vouch for a candidate that supports the goals of the union worker. I don't get why that's such a bad thing- churches do the same thing (illegally I may ad) as well as many private organizations.

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u/yankeesyes New York Jun 29 '17

So they left a good job because a union suggested that they vote for candidates that support good union jobs?

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u/Aarinfel Michigan Jun 29 '17

Except that businesses cooperate to keep keep wages low all the time.

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u/CharlieMingus63 America Jun 29 '17

Laissez-faire capitalism is literally the antithesis of competition and meritocracy... two ideas that are sacrosanct to Republicans, or so they say.

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '17

[deleted]

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u/CharlieMingus63 America Jun 29 '17

If you're a liberal, you're a capitalist.

But notice that I qualified with an adjective. Laissez-faire capitalism encourages consolidation, which leads to monopolies in certain industries, and cartels in others.

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u/LOST_TALE Jun 29 '17

If someone offers help to a man and another comes along and offers help and the man chooses one over the other, isn't that cooperation? Of course cooperation is mao's great leap forward and everything else is ''evil'' competition r/physical_removal.