"to write about the similarities between between equity-based progressivism and communism, and between equity-based progressivism and classical liberalism."
Did you ever get around to explaining what is similar between equity-based progressivism and classical liberalism (which I think of too devoted to principles of liberty to fall into a Woke frame)?
I don't think equality of opportunity must be taken to the absurd extreme of equity any more than law and order must be taken to the the absurd extreme of fascism. The problem is not the inherent tendency in the extremes of both, but rather that the left's extreme has been so influential. It hasn't been resisted by the normal left, nor successfully opposed by the right (outside of Rufo recently). Why?
communism and socialism are both failure modes for wealth/health creation because they destroy /impair the means of error correction provided by free markets and nature.
Creating a state apparatus, hierarchy, armed force, and professional class to coerce free citizens to redistribute their wealth according to the state's definition of fair, equitable, correct, etc. should be odious to anyone who understands human nature and isn't a naive child, gullible fool, or venal power-grabber dressed up as a caring pity-humper. If you're none of the above and still favor "progressive" politics than you are just a boiling frog repeating shibboleths.
The professional class of money redistributors will never be done with their "work" because that would mean they would be out of a job.
Grown up in East Germany, a Soviet branch, I am always astonished about the misunderstanding how the system actually has worked: the party-line was for 85% of the population 'lip service' (your 1970 commie groups would fall into the "eager 15%"). The East collapsed purely out of economical reasons: the capital allocation was inefficient, productivity was low, and money could not buy stuff. And there was no accountability for most things. Not because of the existence of a better alternative (the West). Sounds familiar? History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes pretty much... 2023 feels to me very much like 1988 in East Germany... we saw something big coming (the bs couldn't further sustain), we just did not knew what... and then the system collapsed on Nov 11th, 1989.
“What’s fascinating is that most intellectuals were in fact communist back in the day. There’s something about the fantasy of equality and a centrally organized society controlled by technocrats that appeals to academics. I wonder what it is. :)”
Is there any data on this? The rift between the anti-Stalinist Left and the Stalinist Left opened up pretty quickly and the Stalinist Left was routed.
Communism with American Characteristics
"to write about the similarities between between equity-based progressivism and communism, and between equity-based progressivism and classical liberalism."
Did you ever get around to explaining what is similar between equity-based progressivism and classical liberalism (which I think of too devoted to principles of liberty to fall into a Woke frame)?
I don't think equality of opportunity must be taken to the absurd extreme of equity any more than law and order must be taken to the the absurd extreme of fascism. The problem is not the inherent tendency in the extremes of both, but rather that the left's extreme has been so influential. It hasn't been resisted by the normal left, nor successfully opposed by the right (outside of Rufo recently). Why?
communism and socialism are both failure modes for wealth/health creation because they destroy /impair the means of error correction provided by free markets and nature.
Creating a state apparatus, hierarchy, armed force, and professional class to coerce free citizens to redistribute their wealth according to the state's definition of fair, equitable, correct, etc. should be odious to anyone who understands human nature and isn't a naive child, gullible fool, or venal power-grabber dressed up as a caring pity-humper. If you're none of the above and still favor "progressive" politics than you are just a boiling frog repeating shibboleths.
The professional class of money redistributors will never be done with their "work" because that would mean they would be out of a job.
Grown up in East Germany, a Soviet branch, I am always astonished about the misunderstanding how the system actually has worked: the party-line was for 85% of the population 'lip service' (your 1970 commie groups would fall into the "eager 15%"). The East collapsed purely out of economical reasons: the capital allocation was inefficient, productivity was low, and money could not buy stuff. And there was no accountability for most things. Not because of the existence of a better alternative (the West). Sounds familiar? History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes pretty much... 2023 feels to me very much like 1988 in East Germany... we saw something big coming (the bs couldn't further sustain), we just did not knew what... and then the system collapsed on Nov 11th, 1989.
“What’s fascinating is that most intellectuals were in fact communist back in the day. There’s something about the fantasy of equality and a centrally organized society controlled by technocrats that appeals to academics. I wonder what it is. :)”
Is there any data on this? The rift between the anti-Stalinist Left and the Stalinist Left opened up pretty quickly and the Stalinist Left was routed.
Equity based progressivism is also known as Bioleninism.
Leftism, not liberalism. (Sorry to be a hall monitor.)