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When working class citizens hear "more immigrants", they think "housing shortages, longer lines, fewer jobs available."

When the PMC hears "more immigrants" they think "Cheap au pairs and ethnic restaurants!"

I am generally in favor of immigration, but let's not pretend that it is cost-free, or that the costs are evenly distributed.

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I have had decades of lecturing & hectoring from the media and corporate classes. I ignore most of it now and listen to audio books mainly on history and philosophy.

I think there is a train wreck coming and these idiots don’t see it .

The best solace that I found was summed up in a short review of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Iggy Pop.

Worth a look if you are interested.

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You can tie this back to your previous. Aesthetics politics is how current "progressives" became theological. Their thinking is concerned with theoretical explanation of how somebody is sinful in their thoughts more than with actions or consequences. Hence if someone says xyz it can be argued as indicating some kind of sinful thought (racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia etc.). Successfully doing this gives the pious progressive a sense of moral superiority and of its power.

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"Qu'ils mangent du brioche", eh?

If we assume that cognitive pattern for the PMC, then the action of current European elites makes a whole lot more (internal) sense. The question of interest becomes, at what point does the whole illusionary edifice collapse, if at all? Can they establish a sufficiently effective and ruthless dictatorship to survive the upcoming winter of discontent? Preliminary indications from Ukraine are a fairly strong Yes, but we haven't mage it to the hunger (and freezing in the dark) winter, yet.

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Outstanding article!!!!

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With the news that the new Swedish government will be formed with a core of allegedly=formerly-nazi-adjacent politicians, its clear that all former ideas of left and right and conservatives and so on have lost all meaning. Much of this comes down to the utter refusal of the PMC (aided by the left) in talking about key issues such as immigration and the meaning of nationality and nationhood.

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Excellent summary and perspective on a complex idea. Thank you. I’ve commented that Elizabeth was competent and serious and that holds true whether I agree with her actions, positions, etc or not. But I have a feeling that duty and service won’t be hallmarks of the English monarchy anymore. There’s video of Charles throwing a tantrum because his pen leaked and mumbling about how “he hates this”. The idea that the queen’s pen would leak seems absurd. That she would handle it with anything except grace is unthinkable (she may have raged in private of course, but would never have done so publicly). Part of her duty was to appear unflappable. It appears that having a steady and reassuring hand may be of great value to Britain over the next few years. I’m not sure it has one to balance a dysfunctional politics. The same goes across the Atlantic where the president is supposed to exhibit some qualities of a monarch. Obama could pretend, trump didn’t bother and Biden can’t even pretend.

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Back when governments were sort of democratic, their function was to implement polices desired by voters. This lead to politician/leaders that actually had some skill in working together and problem solving. Now, in the developed west, the political parties, and hence governments, are all neoliberal. Now the function of government is to prevent democratically desired policies from being implemented. You know, regulations, single payer health care--all those things interfere with the Sacred Market, and must be stopped. And thus the leaders are only skilled in destruction, and looking good in front of the camera. In the election, you get the choice of 2 neoliberals in 2 different color culture war coats.

Wolfgang Streeck "How will Capitalism End"

"“After a certain amount of time, it may no longer be possible to stop the rot: expectations of what politics can do may have eroded too far, and the civic skills and organizational structures needed to develop effective public demand may have atrophied beyond redemption, while the political personnel themselves may have adapted entirely to specializing in the management of appearances,rather than the representation of some version, however biased, of the public interest.”

Thus we have the spectacle of Bilinken pretending to be a diplomat. He can no more do that job than a brain surgeon actor can actually perform the surgery.

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