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Boston Globe: "To young voters, socialism isn’t a bad word"

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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 07:56 PM
Original message
Boston Globe: "To young voters, socialism isn’t a bad word"
TIM ROESCH, a 46-year-old tea party supporter at last Wednesday’s rally on the Common, was not happy with a group of nearby college students.

“You should get a group picture and send it to your parents,’’ he grumbled at them. He was displeased with the signs they held, which he found offensive; one referred to folks like him with a derogatory sexual term. He blamed the youthful flippancy on a lack of critical thinking and genuine knowledge as to how the world works. “They don’t understand what socialism means. They don’t understand what democracy means.’’

But it’s not that the youngest voters don’t know what socialism means. It’s that most aren’t scared of it — and find it bizarre that, decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a political movement would center itself around opposition to it. The fact that both the tea party and the Republican Party have made vociferous opposition to “socialist’’ policies a key part of their rhetoric helps explain the tepid response among young adults.

Republican strategists see short-term advantages in the tea party movement’s passion. But if conservatives can’t wean themselves off of Cold-War-era rhetoric, they risk alienating an entire generation of young people. The tea party is well on its way to doing just that. A recent New York Times/CBS News survey found that three-quarters of the movement’s supporters were older than 45...

More here: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/04/20/to_young_voters_socialism_isnt_a_bad_word

:rofl: @ the Teabaggers! Claiming that us "kids" have no critical thinking skills? :crazy:
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foxfeet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 07:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. “They don’t understand what socialism means. They don’t understand what democracy means.’’
:rofl:
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 08:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. These Teabaggers are certifiably MORANS!
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 08:05 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Did the reporter bother to ask the tea-p what "socialism" and "democracy" mean?
Just so we're all clear what we're talking about?
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 08:09 PM
Response to Original message
4. They also understand the difference between Soviet "socialism" and Eurosocialism.
The Soviet elite were certainly not constrained by anything but the rhetoric of socialism. They described the most thoroughly opressive, inhumane policies in the language of Marx and Ingalls while not really trying to follow the principles for which that language was created. That left a stain on the name of state Socialism (with a big S), but does not discredit the idea of socialism (little s). People who confuse labels with ideas won't understand the difference. "These kids today" do understand, at some level. Big-S Socialism is lost to history; small-s socialism is not something to be feared, but an idea to be considered.
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wroberts189 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 08:13 PM
Response to Original message
5. Communism used to be a the boogyman but the rw think tanks found it did not scare anymore.

So they replaced it with Socialism because the younger generation had not been programmed to hate it since the fall of the Soviet Union. ... but when young people look at what Socialism really means they think Western Europe and say "So what is wrong with that?" Free medical care? 2 months vacation? They have seen the M. Moore movies.

"Liberal" does not work anymore either .. mostly since Clinton destroyed Welfare. And "Progressive" is a hard word to attack.

I swear to god I believe there are people who sit around all day trying to think of ways to mislead and scare people into voting for their cause.


knr
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LWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 09:12 PM
Response to Original message
6. I'd love to see us give those young (and not so young) voters
some actual socialists to vote for. Some might actually be elected, and the nation would be better for it.
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Juche Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. Horrible stuff
http://socialistparty-usa.org/platform/

Civil rights, helping the poor, international labor movements, renewable energy, etc. Basically stuff that is common sense enough to have a major political party devoted to it in every other wealthy democracy on earth.

Sanders is a socialist. According to Cenk he even won areas that Bush won in the presidential election over in Vermont. Left wing economic populism is great.
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marmar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 09:15 PM
Response to Original message
7. Good......Let the Gordon Gekko model die.
A new era of conscientiousness is long overdue.
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dflprincess Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 09:45 PM
Response to Original message
8. I hope so
though this may give the PTB another reason to further dumb down American education.

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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 09:59 PM
Response to Original message
9. You teabaggers don't know what FASCISM is.... It is a term coined by Mussolini (in case your
critical thinking doesn't remember, he was the DICTATOR of Italy during WWII), and what Mussolini meant by Fascism was GOVERNMENT RUN BY CORPORATIONS.

Got it, teabaggers? Fascism is what we HAVE, and what you ADVOCATE.

I believe that the word that you are looking for is AUTHORITARIANISM.

One teeeeny problem... authoritarianismm is ....

.............RIGHT WING.
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Juche Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 10:09 PM
Response to Original message
11. We lack critical thinking skills
Shit, I had no idea. Coming from people who have been told that every media outlet except fox and talk radio have a 'liberal bias' and can therefore be ignored, that is pretty comical.

I don't even know how to start on them calling other people ignorant and lacking critical thinking skills.
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WolverineDG Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-20-10 10:14 PM
Response to Original message
12. Socialism = economic system, Democracy = political system
Ya, Roesch, I don't think it's the college kids who don't understand what those terms mean.

I'm around Roesch's age & as I told my teabag brother months ago "I stopped being afraid of Commies under my bed a very long time ago."

:rofl:

dg
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 08:00 AM
Response to Original message
13. Kick for the morning crowd
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southernyankeebelle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 08:14 AM
Response to Original message
14. Am 62 and I am and always will be a social democrat. I believe in paying my fair
share of taxes. We give our taxes and our government should give back to us by helping us pay for health insurance if we need help and pay into a social security fund for when we get old. Its ok if your rich and you don't want to participate than you shouldn't be forced to. But if you loose your money and get old don't expect the people who paid into the social accounts to help you.
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