[civeng]

The battle between the modern 'Left' and 'Right' is pure theater. It’s a false choice designed to keep us arguing over who holds the leash while we remain wage slaves. It would be interesting if some of those individuals could have been more convincing 150 years ago

[poly2it]

Yes, it is a false dichotomy, and politics are in fact much more complicated than that.

[rc_kas]

Yep. The real battle is wealthies vs poors.

Everything else is just propaganda.

[thrance]

So, the left is right?

[nec4b]

Not true, the battle between wealthy and poor is the propaganda. In reality where revolution did occur, poor were used to battle the rich, so the communist party could enrich it self. By destroying the rich, they also destroyed the economy and made poor even poorer.

[nyc_data_geek1]

No war but class war

[was8309]

maybe i'm doing a No True Scotsman, but i can't see where the Left has ever been against the poors. I thought the the origin of the terms Left and Right was For Democracy (the poors have a voice), and For the King (the wealthies) from the French Revolution. How is 'wealthies vs poors' different from left vs right'?

[slibhb]

The term "wage slave" is a cop-out. People -- all of us -- are stomach-slaves, not wage-slaves.

[solatic]

Having needs is not the same as slavery. Wage slavery is described as such because of the power imbalance between employer and worker, who has limited agency to find another employer, with whom he would also have a relationship with a power imbalance.

A wealthy man who receives a check for dividends and interest most months is not subject to such power imbalances. Wealth makes him free.

It's not an argument that socialism would enable people to just live off a public dividend, so to speak. Somebody has to work, and workplaces require discipline. Rather it's an argument for better labor safety controls, and a personal appeal to people to save as much money as they can.

[Aloha]

that may be so, but a stack of bills or small bag of coins is sure easier to cart around than things I can eat are.

[IAmBroom]

It's 30F outside right now, and I can live a lot longer without food than without shelter.

You are just playing at word games. The system is trapping the have-nots into unpleasant, lifelong conditions, and that's what "wage slave" means. As you know.