WTF Happened To The Left ?

That is the trillion-dollar question we should all have been asking all along.  From the moderate liberal left to the progressive left to the socialist far left, we saw far too many were either silent or went along with the neoliberal pseudo-left in pushing these illiberal, authoritarian, totalitarian, dystopian, and technocratic restrictions--lockdowns, shutdowns, school closures, mass quarantines, mask mandates, travel restrictions, gathering restrictions, and now even vaccine mandates and "passports".  That was one of the most shocking observations in history. 

There is literally nothing progressive or "woke" about these draconian measures that arbitrarily revoke individual human rights and civil liberties, destroy economies, destroy family and community cohesion, disproportionately harm the poor and people of color, disproportionately harm women and children, and quite frankly don't even work to stop the virus in the long run.  Up until March 2020, it was largely a consensus even in the medical community that doing these worse-than-useless things would do far more harm than good on balance, thus blatantly violating the Hippocratic oath of "first do no harm", and the left generally felt the same way.  So what changed?

From the ACLU to Vox to Noam Chomsky to the UN to the WSWS to Jacobin to Ms. Magazine to the AMA to the AAP to the AARP to nearly every left-wing or left-leaning political party in the world (outside of Sweden, Belarus, and Nicaragua), some of the last people one would expect to carry water for such a horrible agenda of the oligarchy and Big Pharma ended up doing exactly that.  Was it simply fear?  Was it generous payola from the oligarchy and Big Pharma?  Was it manipulation and coercion from them?  Was it blindly taking orders from Beijing, like the WHO is known to do?  Was it activation of some latent (or not-so-latent) authoritarian tendencies estimated to be present in 20% of the general population?  Was it what started as a merely silly "Orange Man Bad" political take that simply metastasized throughout the entire body politic?  Or perhaps a deep-seated desire to destroy capitalism (and/or industrial civilization) once and for all at any cost, regardless of the collateral damage?  

Most likely, it was all of the above.  Either way, the vast majority of the Left has SOLD OUT.  

The Democratic Party is beyond repair now.  News Flash:  The ubiquitous hashtag #DemExit is trending, and going viral.  Somebody needs to answer the Clue Phone, and fast!  Otherwise, 2022 and 2024 will thus be a bloodbath at the polls for the Dems.

Meanwhile, the ever-insightful British organization Left Lockdown Sceptics has consistently been a prinicipled beacon of sanity and reason on the genuine Left, no matter how far off the rails and utterly unhinged the rest of the self-proclaimed "Left" (whether (neo)liberal, progressive, or radical) have become lately.  They have truly stood the test of time, and their integrity will not be forgotten.

The time for the increasingly compromised and increasingly phony "Left" to genuinely repent cold turkey and make amends is yesterday.  Scratch that, the best time was 21 months ago.  The second best time is RIGHT NOW!  What are they waiting for?

UPDATE:  We would be remiss if we did not also note how egregiously ableist (in addition to being racist, sexist, ageist, adultist, eltist, and classist) these draconian measures have been, and still are in the places that continue to impose them.  People with disabilities and chronic illnesses have clearly gotten the brief end of the stick in countless ways, from worsening isolation to denial of services to interference with communication to denial of freedom of movement and more.  And it created a truly massive and persistent mental health crisis on top of it all.  All while the zealots who promote these measures have cynically and disgustingly used such vulnerable members of society as a fig leaf for these measures, with all of their empty rhetoric about "protecting the vulnerable", a promise that has been utterly broken time and again.  Thus, the overall intersectionally oppressive system known as the kyriarchy has clearly only gained strength all the more since from the very same "woke" pseudo-left who hypocritically claims to be dismantling it.

Also, it seems that organized labor (which has historically been quite left-leaning) has sold out as well, or at least some unions in the USA and UK, alas.  Particularly the teachers' unions, from the start.

Where We Stand Today

Since our founding in 2009, the True Spirit of America Party (TSAP) has come a long way.  Many of our positions on various issues have evolved since then, in some cases rather dramatically.

• Originally, we believed that capitalism could perhaps be redeemed and used for the greater good.  Currently, the TSAP is essentially anti-capitalist since we now realize that capitalism cannot be redeemed, and its addiction to growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell, which eventually kills its host.  We must leave room for Nature, lest Nature not leave room for us.
• Originally, the TSAP was staunchly pro-guns and in some ways to the right of the NRA.  But with the recent increase in mass shootings and what we have learned since then, we have since adopted a more nuanced and moderate position on the issue of gun control.
• Originally, the TSAP attempted to find common ground with the nascent Tea Party movement and the broader Patriot movement in 2009-2010.  Since around 2011 or so, we have since ended such attempts upon realizing that they are, by and large, just another reich-wing racist and neo-fascist movement.  We now prefer the Occupy movement instead, by far.
• Originally, our stance on immigration was relatively hard-line; it has since softened quite a bit.  We now believe in a more generous amnesty program, as not doing so would be far too cruel. And we also realize just how blinded by white privilege we once were.
• Originally, the TSAP was pro-nuclear power all the way;  as of 2015 we now currently take the more neutral stance that the Union of Concerned Scientists takes, neither for nor against it.
• Originally, the TSAP believed that with very few exceptions, every able-bodied adult should "work for a living".  We now feel that such an idea is archaic and outdated, and that Buckminster Fuller would be rolling in his grave.  There are more than enough resources in the world such that with today's technology we no longer NEED everyone to "work for a living" unless they really wanted to.  The real problem is that our abundance is being wasted and/or hoarded by the oligarchs, to the detriment of everyone else.
• Originally, the TSAP was "egalitarian" on the issue of gender for the most part.  We also assumed that our party (including our leader Ajax the Great) would eventually save the world, lol.  But more recently, we now believe that it ain't gonna be us fellas who will save the world.  Only women would really be able to do so, and to do so they must take over.  Yesterday.  The futurists are unanimous about this:  the future belongs to women.  Thus, as of 2014 our party has been an observer of the Matriarchy movement, and as of 2016 we have basically joined the movement fully.  At the same time, we will continue to support our cause of progressive libertarianism to the fullest, as we believe that the two are perfectly compatible.  We would like to thank the distinguished Guru Rasa von Werder and William Bond for helping us see the light in that regard, as well as several others such as Pat Ravasio and Riane Eisler who have inspired us along the way.

Thus, our rather dynamic third party is continuing to evolve.  As John Mellencamp and India Arie would say, "If you're not part of the future, get out of the way!"

UPDATE:  The TSAP party leader, Ajax the Great, has recently created a new blog about the Matriarchy movement, called "The Chalice and the Flame".   Please check it out.  Opinions expressed therein are those of Ajax the Great and not necessarily the TSAP as a whole.