A Critique in Maxims of Mainstream Political Ideas

I am a left-leaner (specifically a social democrat), but I have become disillusioned with mainstream thoughts in leftist and liberal movements over the past few years. These maxims show why, and as a side effect often criticize mainstream conservative views as well. Note that some, but not all, maxims are specific to the current American situation.

Economic justice and especially political justice are often overlooked in today's political sphere, and they are intrinsically tied to each other as well as social justice. Overlooked problems that result from a "pure social justice" mindset include gerrymandering, corrupt lobbying, third parties being shut out of ballots and debates, the lack of ranked-choice voting, and corporate campaign finance.

Social justice must be forged with a path that upholds peace, liberty, and democracy, even if this path is the long and hard one. Therefore, ANTIFA is contrarian to just ideals despite their opposition to much more troubling right-wing extremists.

Society should be structured to maximize individual liberty on a small-scale and collective well-being on a large scale.

An understanding of history is essential in making political decisions for the present and future.

Institutions that funnel people with outrage to become Marxists and hate conservatives are as guilty as religious institutions that funnel people with outrage to become fundamentalists and hate liberals in propagating counterproductive political polarization. This fact stands even if you consider these institutions more reputable than conservative religious institutions.

America is, in totality, neither "the greatest nation on Earth" or "the Imperialist dominator" that many portray it as. America is a complex nation that has been represented by many actors with many motives that have, both positively and negatively, affected the world in ways of great magnitude. America has both transcended and perpetuated barbarity, prejudice, and corruption, depending on what/who you are referring to as "America".

The local and state are as important as the national: looking at trends at these scales, in many places, you can realize the amazing positive change that has occurred as a result.

Climate change doom narratives and scare tactics regarding guns have led to the spread of nihilism and hedonism, not the reduction of conservatism.

Environmentalism must focus on how human society can collaborate with nature's support systems and wonder, not how humans only mess up the environment and must be diminished. Indigenous communities have often been pushed out of ecosystems they help maintain by misguided environmentalist groups.

LGBTQA+ rights and abortion cannot be lumped together as issues where its the just vs. the religious right. LGBTQA+ rights are a common-sense issue of individual freedom and should be enshrined, although because they have come into the public conciseness so fast, time should be thoughtfully taken to educate non-LGBTQA+ people. Abortion, on the other hand, is a complex, multifaceted issue in which both hardcore "pro-choice" and "pro-life" activists are extremists. In my opinion, abortion should be legal to prevent dangerous black market operations, but universally thought of as tragic and only used in last-case scenarios. Comprehensive sex education, birth control, economic support to lower-class women, and adoption services should be prioritized to help minimize cases in which abortion is desired.

Guns are hideous tools of killing that in a perfect society should be outlawed, but as long as military and police forces are distrusted and equipped with these weapons, the right to bear arms must be upheld (with some limitations).

State violence and corruption are human problems: they can prop up across the political spectrum, but generally are linked with authoritarianism.

The gross problem of the popularity of media that promotes use of extremely dangerous drugs, sexual and physical violence, and loveless sex and its connection to young people's increasing practice of these acts is massively overlooked and abhorrently troubling.

Drug abusers are dealing with medical issues and should be helped through rehabilitation, not imprisonment. They are not criminals and should retain rights to adequately-paying work and the vote. The case of marijuana is even more simple, as why is a drug less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol often illegal? Racism against minorities is a major reason why. However, the case of dealers of extremely dangerous drugs is more complex, as they perpetuate the medical issues of others.

The freedom of speech, even in saying unconventional or possibly offensive things, should be exalted and not shut down, but the freedom from being harshly criticized for speech seen as offensive should not.

Individual racism against Caucasians occurs in isolated incidents, but it pales in comparison to cases of racism against other people groups that has been perpetuated throughout history in small scale and systematic ways.

When one stumbles upon the black or latino conservative commentator, the rich white straight male philanthropist or inspiring philosopher, the atheist libertarian or anti-abortion activist, the anarcho-socialist Trump apologist, and the church that places social justice over belief in God, one begins to realize how complex the world truly is.

When the corporatist-political media perpetually sways stories to favor one side over the other, they still may be right in their opinion, but you know that it is time for critical thinking and further research. Neutral cooperatives should ideally run a just media.

When sexual assault cases, foreign interference claims, measures of what is true or not become politically dichotomized by two powerful forces, it may be the time to look for impartial investigations of matters.

Education taught in a thorough, unbiased, and historically-minded way, not "RESISTANCE through militant force" (even in a largely nonviolent sense) is the best way to bring about social justice.

Trump is one of many symptoms, not THE problem. F***/Dump Trump does nothing but make his supporters angry: Intelligently criticizing his policies by engaging in intellectual debate, as well as writing, acting, protesting, does needed work.

Starting another Cold War, or a hot war, will not save oppressed political dissenters and LGBTQA+ people in Putin's Russia.

People vote for whoever most strongly says they will improve people's safety and economic standings, no matter if their policies will do so or not. Whether a candidate is "in line with the party" is of little matter to voters, especially if they are lower-class.

Conspiracy theories spread because people distrust institutions of government, business, media, and higher education. Saying "scientific data should make some ideas more valid than others" may be true, but just heightens this distrust. Science and inquiry into "matters of conspiracy" must be completely neutral and separate from distrusted institutions to erode this suspicion. Unfortunately, some relatively probable theories are mixed in as "crazy" with actual nonsensical ideas.

Young people are the future and will most likely be the primary drives of needed social change. However, baby boomers are going to be around for a while longer too (to an extent). The idea of "waiting for the old people to die" is abhorrent, and I take it as an insult to my loving older friends and relatives. If you know an older person who has ideas you strongly disagree and who is not hateful, engage in thoughtful conversation with them and defend your views. Older people love to talk!

Fundamentalist, dogmatic, hateful religious dogma is wrong, but its hypocrisy does not justify charging people with the hopeful view, backed up by millennia of anecdotal precedent, of believing in a God and/or afterlife as "deluded". Non-fundamentalist organized religions are often corrupt and hypocritical, but these downsides are in many cases outweighed by how they can be amazing community-builders, support systems, and even supporters of necessary sociopolitical change.

The "aggression" part of the term microagression is problematic because it implies intent, and microagressions focus on impact no matter the intent. Nevertheless, microagressions can be hurtful and should be thoughtfully discussed and minimized. One who microagresses should not be thought of as "hateful" instead of uneducated or misunderstood unless, after being told about why what they said was wrong, they continually say it anyways: then they are hatefully harassing.

Identity politics and intersectionality are important, but should focus on each person's various identities that together define that person's privilege instead of defining singular identities as those of "oppressors" and others as those of "the oppressed". Race, gender, religion, and sexuality are very important identities, but economic status, level of political opportunity, disability status, mental health status, experience with traumatic events, and interests in sports, music, as well as other areas of culture also shape individual identities. Affirmative action programs should consider the full scope of identity.

National security is important, and measures to oversee migration are just if they thoroughly uphold the human rights of migrants. "Open borders" and "abolish ICE" rhetoric seems to me a way to pass over the fact that ICE is a deeply troubled organization that needs major reform to erode racism, neglect, and violence. A "New Ellis System", named after Ellis Island, should be promoted with ports of entry around the country that welcome and thoroughly vet and test immigrants. Diverse refugees and skilled workers should be joint priorities in recruitment, and all undocumented immigrants in the country should have a chance to come forward, go through the same process as new arrivals, and be granted amnesty if they pass a background check. Immigrant gang activity and violence should be contextualized but not ignored.

A balanced mind admires Marx but knows how to intelligently criticize him, dislikes Lenin for his clear authoritarian leanings, and harshly condemns Stalin as a proprietor of genocide. A blindly ideological leftist worships Marx, is cozy with Lenin, and ignores Stalin.

Capitalism and socialism are both ideals that work well on principle, but extreme forms of both economic systems have both been extremely problematic in practice. Extreme capitalism leads to deep corruption, systems of oppression, and the neglect of the lower classes. Extreme socialism leads to violent revolution (with violent backlash), autocratic governance, and the suppression of entrepreneurship and small business. Social democracy with regulated capitalism is the path to success, as seen in the world's happiest nations.

You are better able to critique the group or perspective that you are a part of; but if you interact with only this group or perspective, you are at risk of becoming so devoted to it that it clouds your view of other groups and perspectives.

Democrats must acknowledge that although most undocumented immigrants commit no crimes besides illegal border crossing (and asylum seekers commit no crimes), violent and exploitative criminals do cross the Southern border: therefore, measures of border security are needed. Trump and Republicans must realize that more physical barriers at the Southern border will either be ineffective (like they are now) or inhumane, border security agents have committed crimes so ICE must be reformed, and the border crisis will not end until conditions in Central American nations are stabilized.

The left-leaners of Western society, especially those people who are younger, privileged, and more ideologically socialist, have had a reckoning that the rest of the world has not about the tendencies of the free market, driven by Classical, Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment thought, to herald the most destructive aspects of the Anthropocene. This reckoning, which has both understandable and worrying aspects, is shown by the increase in societally-induced depression, rejection of political, religious, and social norms, and rejection of entrepreneurial training for social science and humanities learning by Westerners of this disposition. These trends are less evident among those young people who lean right or who did not grow up in the West.

When social science courses treat, through the selection​ of readings/lecture topics, the entire last 600 years of human history as essentially a failure driven by Western white male interests, it’s no wonder that colleges that offer these courses have many ideologically socialist and/or nihilist graduates who soup this view up or right-reactionary graduates who can’t comprehend it and reject it all. This, of course, is not healthy for the social fabric of the world.

It’s a weird, unfortunate case to witness people making sure words relating to (non-self defense) killing are not racist. Of course it is great to no longer use racist terminology, but our society still has a long way to go in ridding itself of its popular obsession with making unjust violence heroic.

Neoliberal actors (often in business) and ideological socialist actors (often in academia), must come to a compromise that promotes social democracy. Then they must show the traditionalists and reactionaries that social democracy preserves their most important values, while also providing needed reform. Only after these processes occur and societal harmony is reached can the decentralization that anarchists so craved be reached successfully. This process will be hard, but its general form is necessary.

Most criticisms of capitalism consist of factual information, but only succeed in proving unjust colonialism, racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, environmental degradation, hierarchy, and a lack of regulation. A capitalism within a social democratic society free of identity-based discrimination, which puts sufficient environmental limits on economic growth and which has democratically-run, cooperative firms, has not in my view been proven unjust. In this society, money, competition, innovation, and a limited profit motive are all basic capitalist ideals still maintained.

There’s a slide on the Political Compass from the center to the bottom left. If you start to travel to far up and left, even if you’re still below the center line, you’re on the fast track for going very far up and left (and eventually to the right with backlash). We need to reformulate social democracy (which is currently faltering in elections), make stable progress under it, and then transition to a less hierarchical society. Reducing factionalism, disavowing dismissive, apocalyptic, and violent radicalism, and having a solid understanding of some conservative values we should keep will lead us on this slide.