Notably Quotable: “The few who tried to plant a flag on their opposition to socialism are …”

“The few who tried to plant a flag on their opposition to socialism are passing from the scene. It’s as if Democratic voters have been thirsting for progressive proposals for decades, and now they will drink as much as can be offered.”

— Max B. Sawicky, The Sunset of Neoliberalism

*****

“If we embrace a far-left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. So let’s just stand up for the right policy, go out there, and defend it.”

— Mayor Pete Buttigieg, second democratic presidential debate (7/30/19).

*****

“As a practical matter, in the routine lexicon of U.S. mass media, “moderate” actually means pro-corporate and reliably unwilling to disrupt the dominant power structures. “Moderate” is a term of endearment in elite circles, a label conferred on politicians who won’t rock establishment boats.”
*****

“I’m talking about the slaughter and starvation of six billion people this century, that’s what the science predicts. That is the projectory we are on and that requires absolutely desperate measures to stop it and it’s going to be painful.” 

— Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, interview.

*****

“And what is usually forgotten is that racial violence in America has almost never been a two-way street. Instead, it has been visited, unfortunately, by the majority — whites. What whites have historically called “race riots” have actually been one-sided assaults by whites: Anglo-on-Latino in Texas, white-on-Chinese further West, white-on-blacks in Oklahoma and the Deep South. And so it continues, in 2019.”

— Richard Parker, Was Trump’s El Paso Visit a Turning Point?

*****

“From police partnerships with Amazon’s Ring doorbells to these privately contracted spying balloons a dystopian surveillance state is being built in plain sight, by government agencies with authoritarian dreams and corporations willing to trample our rights to turn a profit.”
*****

“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”

– President Franklin Roosevelt