We Didn't Start the Fire
Class conflict isn't something we choose to engage in. It's just how capitalism works.
Day, Meagan
http://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/12/gop-tax-plan-bernie-sanders
Date Written: 2017-06-12
Publisher: Jacobin
Year Published: 2017
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX22204
Day urges the historically Liberal US Democratic party to turn to the left, embracing class conflict as an integral component of left-wing politics.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
Bernie Sanders's speech in Dayton, Ohio last week was pivotal. "This is class warfare," he said of the Senate tax bill's passage, "and we’re going to stand up and fight." With this simple sentence, broadcast around the country, Bernie became the first national politician to use the term "class war" properly in decades.
I say properly because, while the term has mostly been expunged from our political discourse, it does occasionally make an appearance. Mainstream Democrats won't utter it — the closest they come is Barack Obama calling himself a "warrior for the middle class." But Republicans do talk about class war. They either use the term derisively, accusing Democrats of "class war demagoguery" when they attempt to halt tax cuts for the wealthy, or sadistically, such as when Paul Ryan said "we should not shy away from class warfare," by which he meant politicking on behalf of oligarchs.
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