Prolepedia
The Proletariat will from time to time use words which carry a particular meaning to this site. When new vocabulary is constructed I will try to include it on this page.
Burbs - A derogatory term for those living on the periphery of a city. Generally not far out enough to be a suburb yet not inward enough to be part of the central city. As burbia grows more and more services are cut in the central city to satisfy the demand for services from the burbs.
Capitalism: An economic system where the natural process is the accumulation of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. Marx’s famous reference to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat comes from his observation of this tendency.
In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality.
Karl Marx
Clintonistas - Similar to a Demopublican, but specifically targeted at anti-labor, pro free trade legislation. Clintonistas are masters of triangulation exemplified in the secret trade deals with Bush.
Common sense - The sense of the common ‘man’ or what would be sensible to the worker.
Bernie Sander is becoming the voice of common sense in the Senate.
Crimes against the people: Corruption, pay to play, corporate and PAC donations that dismantle the principle of one person - one vote.
Demopublican - A Democrat who acts like a Republican. This is particularly true of the New Democrats who are socially liberal, but very corporatist on economic issues. It has also been used for those Democrats who are apologists for New Democrats.
Doylie - Just a name for New Democrat Jim Doyle. I usually use Doylie when his corruption and corporate whoremanship are shining brightly.
IRV - Instant Runoff Voting is as simple as 1, 2, 3. In its simplest form, the voter ranks their votes in order of preference; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. If your 1st choice is knocked out of the race, your vote is not thrown away, but rather your second choice is used. IRV guarantees the winner has majority rather than simple plurality support of voters.
NeoCrybabies - This is my pet name for that Neo Conservative, whiny poor me conservative hybrid we have found ourselves living with.
Progressive: I know its fashionable for everyone to be a progressive but not all liberals and Democrats are progressive. At their core, progressives believe social institutions ought to respond to the needs of the people. A progressive has a trust for the people and a suspicion of power. Russ Feingold is a progressive, Jim Doyle is not.
To progressives, economic privilege and corrupt politics threatened democracy.
Proletariat - One who speaks up and defends the daily struggles of the working class against the capitalist, corporatist, or Neo liberal world view that desires to commodify everything and exploit everyone.
the proletariat is that class of society which does not have ownership of the means of production.
Recentralization: The process neo liberals and conservatives like to call decentralization. Recentralization emphasizes how what often occurs is a loss of democratic accountability while centralizing public services into few hands in the private sector.
Socialism - For some reason we hold socialism accountable for all statism but not capitalism for all fascism. Just as capitalism does not = facism, so socialism does not = statism. Even looking at capitalism’s own history it was laissez faire capitalism where it was the most statist in its orientation. Socialism is simply extending democracy from the political sphere to the economic sphere.
Libertarian socialists believe that all social bonds should be developed by individuals who have an equal amount of bargaining power, that an accumulation of economic power in the hands of a few and the centralization of political power both reduce the bargaining power—and thus the liberty of the other individuals in society. Wiki
STV - Single transferable vote is an IRV based system which elects multiple candidates based on the proportion of the vote. For example, in the U.S. electoral college system most electoral votes are delegated based on plurality. All of Wisconsin electoral votes are given to the political party with the greatest plurality. Single transferable vote could be utilized to delegate those electoral votes based on proportion of the popular vote. For example, if a third party received 20% of the vote, they receive 20% of the electoral vote (2). While the number of electoral votes is written into the constitution, states have great leeway on how to utilize those votes. Wisconsin would be in its full right to delegate those electoral votes with a STV like system.
I’ve been wondering lately if, while most often you’d associate socialism with old soviet type state-run factories or whatever, if we don’t actually fit a “socialist” pattern more than actual “free” market with the way things are today. It’s not exactly days of opportunity for the little guy anymore. Not with the marriage of super-coporations and government. That actually limits the opportunity ofr the individual so there’s not that much freedom as what people act like. It’s all stacked in favor of the already established with the government working hand-in-glove withthe business tycoons, so that seems kinda soviet to me. But then I don’t really know - just my impression. But it sure seems like the difference is in names only.
The average person is stressed trying to figure how to make themselves over so that they can fit into some existing slot in the lower rungs of a behemoth system, not forging a bold new future based on their own gifts etc.
And funny too how the best jobs left are always working for the government. It’s the public employees who are the ones who have good benefits and all that anymore - not the private sector folks unless they’re management.
Anyway…when you said “statist” I thought of that stuff again. Okay, bye.
That is why I call the Soviet system State Capitalism. In the end it does not matter if its a state or a Walmartopia that is all powerful.
I think it is best to see capitalism and socialism as straight economic constructions which can take various forms.
Um…okay.
So at least Mr. Seasoned Socialist can see some merit in my thought that Really Big Business plus Government is all the same to the worker trying to survive and feel some meaning in his paltry life, no matter how the system looks on paper.
You know, that goat avatar has a faintly demonic air. I don’t know if it just does, or if I’m still under the influence of my Ziegler the She-Devil project.
I hope The Boy Band is in the mood for a little levity today…..
[...] Prolepedia [...]
[...] Prolepedia [...]
You’re right about some things and wrong about others. Socialism hasn’t worked because a rotten apple will always take advantage of the rest of the barrel. AND, people are generally lazy.
BUT, there is a fine blending of Socialism and Capitalism that is coming slowly. BUT, it has to be molded by the MAJORITY of voters. Only by allowing the MAJORITY to decide the issues of the day can we control our own laziness, and yet still have all the social programs we want. People will vote for their own selfish interests and whenever these interests are agreed upon by the Majority, then we should indulge ourselves. When, the majority worries about too much indulgence we can cut back.
Moving quickly and efficiently in and out of cultural norms will eventually evolve the perfect state of government, but this evolution has to have the genetic makeup of as many of us as possible. Currently, we are only using 1 Millionth of our brain to achieve only one billionth of our potential.
Uniting now around America 2.0, the UPGRADE of our current 1.0 Version of Democracy is the ONLY answer in the long run.