By SJ Otto
Republicans have had a shit-fit over the fact that many
young people have taken an interest in socialism. For the most part that is
democratic socialism, a system that is more in use in Europe
than anywhere else. There are also some young people interested in Marxism and
various ideas of such. So nothing could frighten the older generation of
right-wing conservative white men more than the word socialism and the idea
that there are actually people who support that. There are also people from
other countries that have developed their own prejudices on such a word as
socialism.
The Republicans have counted on the prejudice ideas of such
refugees as former California
Republican congressional candidate Elizabeth Heng. Since she survived an
ordeal in Cambodia ,
she has attacked all versions of socialism as if they are all the same—in other
words she is lumping democratic socialism in with the so called “socialism” of
Pol Pot. Of course such a link is ridiculous. It is like lumping together shop
lifters with the kind of back robberies carried out by Bonne and Clyde .
response is
the Democratic party in a nutshell. They are more offended by
truthful words than the acts of their political ideology that has killed
millions of innocent victims. I don't care about
feelings - I
care about stopping her lies about the lies of socialism.
Not Republicans.
Me. Are you really calling me a racist
? I’m
calling all Democrats out for supporting an evil ideology. Or are you just in
Congress to hang out with celebrities and tweet out ridiculous ideas like the
green new deal?
It doesn’t take long to see how extreme Heng’s views are.
Even for those Americans don’t like socialism, they can see through the idea
that democratic socialists are the equivalent of Nazis, Stalinists or Pol
Potists, or maybe even Satanists.
These kind of words are more than just policy difference.
They are the equivalent of an act of war, right here in the US . According
to Vox:
Attacking AOC and “the squad” is part of the
right’s electoral strategy
The New Faces PAC website says its
mission is to “Help elevate the next generation of Republicans so that we can
not only survive as a party, but expand beyond the boundaries we’ve set for
ourselves,” and “identify the new faces of the GOP who will lead us into
tomorrow.”
But its tactics — at least in the
Thursday night spot — are classic Republican talking points from the
last year, going heavy on the fear-mongering. Conservatives are worried about
moderate Democrats doing so well in the midterms last year, so they are going
to try to portray all Democrats as socialists.
Ocasio-Cortez has weathered plenty
of political attacks from the GOP. She’s part of the so-called progressive “squad” in the House that drew
ire from President Trump. In July, Trump tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez
and three other congresswomen of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested
places from which they came.”
The president’s tweets were an
example of a racist trope, and, of course, it’s worth noting Ocasio-Cortez and
two of the other women were born in the United States . But Ocasio-Cortez
has gotten particular attention because she, like Bernie Sanders, proudly
claims to be a democratic socialist and because she is a young woman of color.
As Vox’s Nisha Chittal explained, the squad’s race and
gender are inextricable from the way established political leaders
(particularly on the right) have responded to their rise. They have weathered
death threats, calls to resign from the president, and even censure from their
own party:
From the beginning, there has been
something distinctly racial (and gendered) about the aggression directed by
various parties at Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Pressley. Omar is black and
one of the first Muslim women in Congress. Ocasio-Cortez is Latina . Pressley is black. And Tlaib is the
daughter of Palestinian immigrants.
All four have been surrounded by
controversy and personal attacks since they took office in January — attacks
that are explicitly about silencing outspoken women of color.
Let’s hope the voting public are not such schmucks as these
folks want them to be. This becomes a fight over the rights of poor people and poor working people to be able to defend our rights and our very existence.
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