- Joined
- Nov 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,443
- Reaction score
- 733
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
In you own personal experience what is the ‘establishment’ party? Explain.
Growing up in New York in the 1960s and 70s, the establishment was the Republican party. They belonged to the country clubs, they owned the land, they ran the government.
The Democrats were the blacks, the Jews, and the unions.
The Republicans are the ‘Establishment’ as far as I am concerned, then and now.
In you own personal experience what is the ‘establishment’ party? Explain.
Both of them. Neither party represents a threat to the status quo.
What 60's and 70's did you live through? How did Republicans "run the government" in New York or anywhere else for that matter? The Democrats had huge majorities in Congress for that entire time and the presidency for the bulk of it, while NYC was in the middle of a 50-year period of Democratic mayors (minus a little bit of quasi-Lindsay) as well as an ongoing century+ period of Democratic control of the City Council.
I understand that you don't like the Republican party and that might tend to color your opinions, but that doesn't mean that you get to pretend that history played out differently than it did.
What 60's and 70's did you live through? How did Republicans "run the government" in New York or anywhere else for that matter? The Democrats had huge majorities in Congress for that entire time and the presidency for the bulk of it, while NYC was in the middle of a 50-year period of Democratic mayors (minus a little bit of quasi-Lindsay) as well as an ongoing century+ period of Democratic control of the City Council.
I understand that you don't like the Republican party and that might tend to color your opinions, but that doesn't mean that you get to pretend that history played out differently than it did.
In you own personal experience what is the ‘establishment’ party? Explain.
Of course you're all right that they are both elements of the same establishment. They're both products of capitalist rule. Both belong in their entirety to the elite rich.
Each serves its own purpose and has its own niche within capitalist rule. The Republicans present a shamelessly pro-business image and generally draw the short-sighted capitalists who wish to offer the working class no concessions whatsoever (save a proudly maintained myth of racial superiority for white working class people over their Black brothers). These are the people who believe that the workers are basically too dumb to revolt regardless of how badly they are treated.
The Democrats pretentiously pose as the party of the people and tend to be led by the capitalists with a more longterm view who realize that in order to control the workers you must grant certain minimal concessions. A relief program here, a breadline there. The Democrats have long held the historic role of co-opting and then completely destroying any popular worker's movement in the United States.
Which is more the establishment? Does the question even make sense?
I was reffering to rule by the big capitalists, the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, etc. Society as it currently exists and is run.What is capitalist rule?