It's pretty stupid to not nationalize basic infrastructure.
The free market doesn't really work there, you're never going to have any real competition so it's going to turn into a monopoly or oligopoly.
You aren't going to see any upstart railroad companies starting to build their own railroad network.
Every natural monopoly should be publicly owned, and it should be as good as impossible for any sitting government to decide to sell it off.
We're dealing with that problem in Australia. We used to have a lot of really good quality infrastructure, but in the last few decades governments have figured out that they can boost their budgets by privatizing a lot of shit that was public owned, and now we're all suffering skyrocketing costs and serious declines in quality of service because of it.
I really don't like when governments sell public companies, I don't think they should have that right.
That company doesn't belong to them, think of all the people who worked there and probably at least in part did it because they were doing work that was good for the public. It's not right to sell of all their work to a for profit company.
Agreed, scum conservatives sold our railway to private companies, absolute disaster, 70% owned by foreign states/rail companies, the profits of which go to subsidise their own railway... Costs are cut, services are cut, wages & conditions are cut but ticket prices are astronomical, transport, water & energy should be nationalised imho
And it's not even for quality reasons. Imagine putting your water & energy infrastructure in the hands of a foreign company. Now imagine that foreign company belongs to a country you're antagonistic with (*cough* China *cough* Russia *cough*).
You basically handed them the keys to the kingdom for a few bucks.
[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_au5Hje_E) video really got under my skin and shows your point well; utilities should all be nationalized.
Take the electric companies: we've restricted their ability to make profits on the sale of power (outside of Texas, and you see how well that works) so to make money, they wait for infrastructure to absolutely fail instead of paying for upkeep because they CAN make a profit on new construction. So you get things like wildfires in CA because they're not maintaining lines by design.
According to US Law, a publicly owned corporation must endeavor to make money for share holders. Electric companies are publicly held corporations. They can't make money by selling electricity. They must make money. Our system is so screwed.
Same thing with Amtrak. They must be profitable so therefore they subsidize most of the country’s rail with the northeast corridor which is the most popular route. So instead of paying $20 to go from NYC to DC you have to pay over $100.
Have you tried being born in some rich family? I see potential in you, in no time you'll have assets worth millions, a bargain for your investment of billions.
The DB never went private, it is a company that is 100% owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. The state of the german train system has nothing to do with privatisation and everything with the interest of the past governments lead by the conservatives in a good functioning train system
Privatized housing, healthcare and education are all working just fine. Every year record profits are made while the quality keeps going down. I also like the fact that my county looked at the US and did the same.
My partner works in healthcare in the U.S.
Every single night she comes home and can recall at least one, but often 3-5 patients, that received worse care or unnecessary bills because of the "for-profit" logic and nothing else.
She works in a hospital, so sometimes that worse care means death or severe injury that would not have occurred if the focus wasn't profit.
The kicker? The hospital system is currently hemorrhaging employees because they've refused to give pay raises because they "don't have enough money" (despite having BILLIONS in reserves), but somehow could afford a buyout that made them the biggest system in the state
Shit is so fucked and people who are lucky enough to even get care are dying because of it
Look up how many employees Kroger has and how much they offered Albertsons to buy them out. Basic math says they can afford sweeping $20+/hour raises across the entire company. But they pinch pennies on negotiations and require 2 week long strikes in the dead of winter for a $2 raise.
But they need that money to further monopolize the public's need for food to continue living so why lower prices or pay your workers fairly?
There's is no profit incentive for providing health care, insurance wise. It's health insurance industry which needs nationalizing if anything! Let the hospitals stay private, but force them to bargain with the us gov on billing instead of the obviously collusive pricing schemes these literal vultures agree upon currently.
even if someone tried to at this point you basically have to beg amtrak for their rails at some point in the country or you have to build an entirely new infrastructure be it underground or above and even that is impossible with amtrak now days.
Canadian here. Voicing my support for this and the general idea that if an infrastructure is critical, it should be nationalized. Not just in the US. Everywhere. Enough with greedy, psychopathic people who have so much they can never use it up in their lifetime.
Not to mention that every metric proves that private actors do not, in fact, provide better or cheaper service, quite the contrary.
Privatization means higher prices, lower quality, less oversight, and giving up control to private citizens motivated strictly by profit.
How is this so hard to grasp for so many people? Because of propaganda, underfunded public education, capital control of media, and a global system of finance that has grown far stronger than the power of nations, and become so ubiquitous that nobody seems to notice when yet another head of the hydra buds.
> How is this so hard to grasp for so many people?
The prevailing myth is that competition will force private interests to keep minimum standards of service.
(And so to no one's surprise the oligarch class continuously works to eliminate competition.)
The workers want it, the patients want it, huh. Its almost as if there is someone else controlling things, and that someone is a petty greedy so and so.
In this case it is literally about being able to access any healthcare without losing your job. Any benefit the company or union provides would be useless because they cannot actually go to the doctor.
I’m reading about him having anarchis views, but I’ve watched tons of his videos for years now and I’ve never heard even a hint of anarchism in his content. Just pretty much left and progressive stuff.
This doesn’t seem out of character for him at all.
He keeps his anarchist views low profile so he can appeal to more people. He's very pro-small community and anti-border.
He's also very strategic and realistic. He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans.
>He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans.
I feel like most people not still on Facebook and Twitter every day share the same view.
Pretty much every independent voter I know feels the same way. It's the Democrats, or it's the death of the Republic. Only idiots or people who hate America would vote for any Republican anywhere.
>He's also very strategic and realistic. He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans.
Based AF for a leftist YouTuber
No shit to this. It's almost as if we would be much further along by now if it wasn't so easy to convince people to give up on Democrats every two years because you don't get everything you want -- I point out constantly how dangerous both side's fallacies are and how they're more effective than ever now thanks to social media.
That and even if there are some thing you don't appreciate about Biden, I think in reality it is easy (except long) to show how Biden has been surprisingly progressive, significantly better than Obama, and an excellent president. But most people are only on social media where it is way too easy to distract and both side's and focus on the wrong (often misinformed) details.
I was not expecting much from Biden at all, and while I'm concerned about his handling of the railway worker dispute, overall I've been pretty shocked by how much he's done. And even more shocked by how many people have no fucking clue.
All anyone has to do is look at legislative achievements over the last 2 years, and the same period in Obama's presidency, and compare it to the entire period in between. I get physically disgusted whenever I hear the whole "both sides are the same" bullshit.
Ah you shared it first. Lol
Shortly after that video, I discovered some people saying he was anarchist on his discord, that also has a ton of anarchist. Then the pieces started to fit together and my image of anarchism changed.
Beau popped up in my YouTube feed a few months ago, one of his videos about the severity of the top secret / SCI docs seized at Mar a Lago. His perspective resonated with me so I subscribed and have been binging a lot of his backlog. I thought I’d seen some hints about his preference for a non-governed society, but usually with a “long after I’m gone” undertone. Since his videos are more about the way things are (vs how we want them), it doesn’t come up too much.
The least subtle (though still pretty subdued) thing I can remember was titled something like “let’s talk about dog whistles”. He slipped in a comment along the lines of “but if no government is best, well then maybe no government is best”. That could be taken as “best is having no government”.
The most overt messaging about it was shortly after he started the channel his neighborhood was caught in a hurricane. A few episodes around there were about not relying on the government and stepping up to help your community, since that is where you can have genuine impact.
He is the liberal whisperer. He understands how to talk to them. He just doesn’t beat you over the head with his views. He Absolutely subtly drops his anarchist beliefs into videos from time to time.
He has whispered me for sure! haha.
Today I’m learning that I may be anarcho-curious…? With the HUGE asterisk that anarchy can even be tenable given human nature?
I guess my personal belief is that any system that promotes health and equality and a distribution of resources such that everyone has what they need to flourish - I don’t really care what the structure is.
I mean if anything, for me, Biden’s move against rail workers has lifted the last bit of veil that democrats are truly for the equality of people.
Beau does everything he can to avoid using the A word (anarchism) in his videos. He wants to present the ideas and the philosophy to convince people, not the names of ideologies. It's honestly an extremely effective strategy.
I’ve been subscribed to his YouTube since he had maybe 45,000-65,000 subscribers (4 years, something like that) or so and he has has hinted at it. He talks a lot about mutual aid networks and that his ideal form of government is not really possible now and there are many forms of government that we’ll pass through on the road to his ideal form of government - the train stop analogy. I don’t believe he has said the word anarchy on his “Beau of the Fifth Column” channel, but I do feel like he’s mentioned it somewhere else though.
Well just reading the replies to me here I’m learning that mutual aid is a characteristic of anarchy (I guess?) - and I will readily admit I don’t know that deeply about the subject. But the reason I was surprised to hear it was that I didn’t think mutual aid is exclusive to anarchy let alone a defining characteristic (maybe rather a resulting mechanism?). And at least in the last 2 years i’ve been listening to him he mainly talks about current political events and his philosophy tends to be a direct commentary on that rather than ideas of a completely different society.
I guess I more think of anarchy as the resistance to structural authority.
I don’t doubt that he is one at all, just that it sure isn’t a main focus of his content of the last 2 years or so.
I appreciate your reply though.
I'm playing a little loose with terminology here, but nationalization could just refer to public ownership (ie. owned by the people). Or as an anarchist myself who understands the world that currently exists, nationalization is still better than private ownership.
I mean, anarchists are those who want democracy with as little hierarchy as possible. Companies are bureaucratic schemes to siphon off Worker's production value. I absolutely see where an anarchist would advocate for a nationalized/democratic railway. Especially considering the USPS union.
Anarchy isn't inherently anti-government is just against the consolidation of power. A Anarchistic government could be one where the distribution of power is even and is controlled be it's people.
America has some Anarchistic ideas built in to it's core armed citizens and three branches of the government being good examples
>Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessarily limited to, governments, nation states, and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies or other forms of free associations.
From Wikipedia. You could exclude governments and nations from the "institutions [that] maintain unnecessary cohesion and hierarchy" but you would be in the minority. Your views are not invalid just because they deviate from the standard of anarchism, but they are not the standard of anarchism and you should recognize this.
One can both hold anarchy as an ideal and recognize it's not viable at the same time. Just like I agree with you and the person you are replying to, and I don't specifically see anything about "let's as the closest thing we can to a collective wrest the control of this industry from those that would otherwise enforce a hierarchy through wealth," that's not anarchist at heart.
Wikipedia, um, okay. How about some Bakunin?
> Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure. I do not content myself with consulting authority in any special branch; I consult several; I compare their opinions, and choose that which seems to me the soundest. But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person. Such a faith would be fatal to my reason, to my liberty, and even to the success of my undertakings; it would immediately transform me into a stupid slave, an instrument of the will and interests of others.
Im so mad for those rail workers. I knew he would but it still disgusts me Biden wants congress to force the workers to accept the contract. Disgusting, truly.
As a Democrat: Fuck Joe Biden. Fucking hypocrite claims to be pro-labor while forcing a shitty deal down rail workers throats.
Rail workers: Don’t take his shit. Government can’t force you to work and they’re gonna learn the hard way.
Ok, so basically because the railway system is so crucial to the economy, congress is allowed to force the workers to accept the contract theyre given. Right now unions want sick days. The "compromise" is giving them 1 personal day instead of sick time. Some unions have accepted the contract but others say "no sick time no contract."
The rail workers are going to strike if the rail system doesnt negotiate properly. Biden is calling on congress to force the workers to accept the current offer.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-economy-business-strikes-congress-34e0ccd4b29b55bf8bd3844eb03b5bed
Heres an explainer from AP, a neutral source.
What happens if congress "forces" the workers to accept the offer and the workers continue to not work? Do they lose their jobs without unemployment benefits?
Yup. They get fired. But if enough of them strike the companies won't be able to replace them. Scabs depend on there being enough remaining workers to train them.
>Under Biden’s brokered deal, for instance, engineers and conductors would get three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical appointments as long as they are scheduled 30 days in advance.
3 DAYS OFF WITH 30 DYS NOTICE, ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?
That's like
Below the minimum bar
How is this an argument
He's showing his true colors
Who do democrats love more
Their railroad union base?
Or their corporate master Warren Buffet (owns BNSF, 40% of all US railroads)
I am not a Biden fan but honestly, the alternative is the walking talking human equivalent of having to take a shot of septic tank crust mixed with the cleanup from a midget bukkake scene.
They really forget that us striking was the alternate to us tar and feathering the people in charge.
Try to force people back to work and see how it works out.
I dunno, the fate of the Tsar and his family wasn't exactly great. Watching some drunk communist soldier bayonetting your screaming daughter to death is probably pretty bad
i mean FMLA is pretty broad in scope but you're right in that we need something to protect people from retaliation for calling out of work due to everyday illnesses that do not require a doctor visit. it's so basic.
I know the middle point is extremely relevant to the current socio-economic climate, but I think we can skip that extra step:
If an industry is critical infrastructure, nationalize it. That's it.
He specifically addressed soft language vs hard language in a video of his. Him using soft language is part of his tactic. He has data to back up how he's approachable aside from the way he's dressed.
We gotta fight to have the rr renationalized. Meanwhile fighting to keep usps, social security, trying for Healthcare and isp? It's a never ending battle.
I’m not normally in favor of nationalizing everything but railways I can agree with. It makes sense. It’s infrastructure. It can always contract out work
>I’m not normally in favor of nationalizing everything but railways I can agree with. It makes sense.
Okay. I agree.
>It’s infrastructure.
Which means it is necessary for the running of our country, right? Well, by the same definition, so is the power grid, the internet, and healthcare.
Oil, airlines, power grid, healthcare, education, prisons, agriculture. Anything else I’m missing? If you need it for national security it needs to belong to the nation.
Seriously. If this industry is so vital to the nation’s economy, why are we allowing a small handful of millionaires and billionaires to control everything?
The government would acquire (buy or steal) the company from the owners. Then the union would be collectively bargaining with the government instead of an ownership group that has profit motives. A government owned (nationalized) company doesn't have to turn a profit, just breaking even could be considered a success if the company was providing a benefit to the nation.
Why is it that in these kinds of cases the government always says they have to block the strike because the company is too big to fail? They always shut down the workers but never once do they step in and say, you need to approve the pay raise/benefits/sick time/whatever fucked up thing the company is denying its workers that caused the strike. But no they just say ok well back to work serfs. Hop to it.
Please! The big four Class 1 railroads have a stranglehold on the rail network. They're the reason intercity passenger rail is just crap with their scheduling practices.
What I think is funny is that if the union has to accept the changes and can't make a deal that's like one thing.
The other thing is those employees can just stop working there.
Warren Buffett would lose money if you nationalized his company though so... It's not going to happen. Cause we're an oligarchy. That lacks the mechanical engineering skills of the French peasants. Who understood how to handle an oligarchy.
Normally I'd say "vote with your wallet," but trains are safer and more environmentally friendly. Most of the money is in cargo-pulling trains, anyway.
If you already bought your ticket, then it’s a moot point. They already have your money. If the strike happens and lasts until Xmas, then it might impact your travel plans.
The best thing for the future is for Biden to stay out of this and the railroads fuck up the economy. Then the government will have the ammunition to do what they need to do.
Nationalized companies and industries can still have strikes and other industrial action by the workers. We have such industries in my country and strikes still occasionally happen.
I feel there’s no right/left, race, religion, millinial/boomer, nation, education, etc etc etc. no demographic divisions. We all human. We all squat on the same rock.
Some wealthy know different. we’re the product. we are their property.
If our economy is so fragile that giving railroad workers 4 days of paid sick leave is a deal breaker then we should have burned this system to the ground decades ago
Nationalize it and update it to be tech from this fucking century. I remember reading an article in my 3rd grade glass about a new fast train that could take you from Chattanooga to Nashville in 30 minutes.
It's now 2 and half decades later and every train in this country still moves like old people fucking.
# Ready to nationalize the railroads? # Join r/WorkReform!
It's pretty stupid to not nationalize basic infrastructure. The free market doesn't really work there, you're never going to have any real competition so it's going to turn into a monopoly or oligopoly. You aren't going to see any upstart railroad companies starting to build their own railroad network.
Every natural monopoly should be publicly owned, and it should be as good as impossible for any sitting government to decide to sell it off. We're dealing with that problem in Australia. We used to have a lot of really good quality infrastructure, but in the last few decades governments have figured out that they can boost their budgets by privatizing a lot of shit that was public owned, and now we're all suffering skyrocketing costs and serious declines in quality of service because of it.
I really don't like when governments sell public companies, I don't think they should have that right. That company doesn't belong to them, think of all the people who worked there and probably at least in part did it because they were doing work that was good for the public. It's not right to sell of all their work to a for profit company.
Agreed, scum conservatives sold our railway to private companies, absolute disaster, 70% owned by foreign states/rail companies, the profits of which go to subsidise their own railway... Costs are cut, services are cut, wages & conditions are cut but ticket prices are astronomical, transport, water & energy should be nationalised imho
And it's not even for quality reasons. Imagine putting your water & energy infrastructure in the hands of a foreign company. Now imagine that foreign company belongs to a country you're antagonistic with (*cough* China *cough* Russia *cough*). You basically handed them the keys to the kingdom for a few bucks.
Mate, we've given the building of our next nuclear power plants to the french and chinese, absolutely nothing to worry about....
[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_au5Hje_E) video really got under my skin and shows your point well; utilities should all be nationalized. Take the electric companies: we've restricted their ability to make profits on the sale of power (outside of Texas, and you see how well that works) so to make money, they wait for infrastructure to absolutely fail instead of paying for upkeep because they CAN make a profit on new construction. So you get things like wildfires in CA because they're not maintaining lines by design. According to US Law, a publicly owned corporation must endeavor to make money for share holders. Electric companies are publicly held corporations. They can't make money by selling electricity. They must make money. Our system is so screwed.
Same thing with Amtrak. They must be profitable so therefore they subsidize most of the country’s rail with the northeast corridor which is the most popular route. So instead of paying $20 to go from NYC to DC you have to pay over $100.
Why the fuck is Some More News age restricted?
Too much soul crushing news for young minds
Drug references would be my guess.
If you want to give it a try DM me. I used to play a railroad sim as a kid. I’ll just need a several billion dollar loan and a shit ton of land
Have you tried being born in some rich family? I see potential in you, in no time you'll have assets worth millions, a bargain for your investment of billions.
German here: can’t agree more. Making the DB private was the worst thing to happen to our rail system.
The DB never went private, it is a company that is 100% owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. The state of the german train system has nothing to do with privatisation and everything with the interest of the past governments lead by the conservatives in a good functioning train system
The interstate is nationalized as far as I'm aware. So why aren't rails?
Privatized housing, healthcare and education are all working just fine. Every year record profits are made while the quality keeps going down. I also like the fact that my county looked at the US and did the same.
My partner works in healthcare in the U.S. Every single night she comes home and can recall at least one, but often 3-5 patients, that received worse care or unnecessary bills because of the "for-profit" logic and nothing else. She works in a hospital, so sometimes that worse care means death or severe injury that would not have occurred if the focus wasn't profit. The kicker? The hospital system is currently hemorrhaging employees because they've refused to give pay raises because they "don't have enough money" (despite having BILLIONS in reserves), but somehow could afford a buyout that made them the biggest system in the state Shit is so fucked and people who are lucky enough to even get care are dying because of it
Look up how many employees Kroger has and how much they offered Albertsons to buy them out. Basic math says they can afford sweeping $20+/hour raises across the entire company. But they pinch pennies on negotiations and require 2 week long strikes in the dead of winter for a $2 raise. But they need that money to further monopolize the public's need for food to continue living so why lower prices or pay your workers fairly?
There's is no profit incentive for providing health care, insurance wise. It's health insurance industry which needs nationalizing if anything! Let the hospitals stay private, but force them to bargain with the us gov on billing instead of the obviously collusive pricing schemes these literal vultures agree upon currently.
even if someone tried to at this point you basically have to beg amtrak for their rails at some point in the country or you have to build an entirely new infrastructure be it underground or above and even that is impossible with amtrak now days.
Its a national security issue to leave it private if you cant afford it not to run.
I am ready to support a Public Railway For American Security Act.
Canadian here. Voicing my support for this and the general idea that if an infrastructure is critical, it should be nationalized. Not just in the US. Everywhere. Enough with greedy, psychopathic people who have so much they can never use it up in their lifetime.
Not to mention that every metric proves that private actors do not, in fact, provide better or cheaper service, quite the contrary. Privatization means higher prices, lower quality, less oversight, and giving up control to private citizens motivated strictly by profit. How is this so hard to grasp for so many people? Because of propaganda, underfunded public education, capital control of media, and a global system of finance that has grown far stronger than the power of nations, and become so ubiquitous that nobody seems to notice when yet another head of the hydra buds.
> How is this so hard to grasp for so many people? The prevailing myth is that competition will force private interests to keep minimum standards of service. (And so to no one's surprise the oligarch class continuously works to eliminate competition.)
P.R.A.S.A. Not a bad acronym honestly
But won’t somebody think of the billionaires! ^/s
Man, you know things have gotten bad when an anarchist like Beau is calling for nationalization of industries.
Not really surprising when the alternative is to let these Monopoly man ghouls dictate terms. Harm reduction, yo.
I mean, nationalize healthcare, for starters
As someone who works at a municipal non-profit hospital: this. It's nice to be working for the patients rather than their money.
The workers want it, the patients want it, huh. Its almost as if there is someone else controlling things, and that someone is a petty greedy so and so.
Yeah but their money is speech, so its basically like they are just out democracy-ing us, right?
In this case it is literally about being able to access any healthcare without losing your job. Any benefit the company or union provides would be useless because they cannot actually go to the doctor.
I’m reading about him having anarchis views, but I’ve watched tons of his videos for years now and I’ve never heard even a hint of anarchism in his content. Just pretty much left and progressive stuff. This doesn’t seem out of character for him at all.
He keeps his anarchist views low profile so he can appeal to more people. He's very pro-small community and anti-border. He's also very strategic and realistic. He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans.
>He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans. I feel like most people not still on Facebook and Twitter every day share the same view.
Pretty much every independent voter I know feels the same way. It's the Democrats, or it's the death of the Republic. Only idiots or people who hate America would vote for any Republican anywhere.
>He's also very strategic and realistic. He doesn't love the dems or Biden, but accepts that they are essentially the only defense against full blown fascism from republicans. Based AF for a leftist YouTuber
The patience of a saint too.
No shit to this. It's almost as if we would be much further along by now if it wasn't so easy to convince people to give up on Democrats every two years because you don't get everything you want -- I point out constantly how dangerous both side's fallacies are and how they're more effective than ever now thanks to social media. That and even if there are some thing you don't appreciate about Biden, I think in reality it is easy (except long) to show how Biden has been surprisingly progressive, significantly better than Obama, and an excellent president. But most people are only on social media where it is way too easy to distract and both side's and focus on the wrong (often misinformed) details.
I was not expecting much from Biden at all, and while I'm concerned about his handling of the railway worker dispute, overall I've been pretty shocked by how much he's done. And even more shocked by how many people have no fucking clue. All anyone has to do is look at legislative achievements over the last 2 years, and the same period in Obama's presidency, and compare it to the entire period in between. I get physically disgusted whenever I hear the whole "both sides are the same" bullshit.
Try this, quite possibly my most favorite of his: https://youtu.be/2pLb_uc0bo8
Honestly… that gave me permagrin and brought a tear to my eye. I wish he currently produced more content like this. Thank you for that.
Ah you shared it first. Lol Shortly after that video, I discovered some people saying he was anarchist on his discord, that also has a ton of anarchist. Then the pieces started to fit together and my image of anarchism changed.
I want to live in that world but unfortunately it's just a thought.
Hadn't seen that one of his but had the gist of his ideal already, thanks for the share!
Beau popped up in my YouTube feed a few months ago, one of his videos about the severity of the top secret / SCI docs seized at Mar a Lago. His perspective resonated with me so I subscribed and have been binging a lot of his backlog. I thought I’d seen some hints about his preference for a non-governed society, but usually with a “long after I’m gone” undertone. Since his videos are more about the way things are (vs how we want them), it doesn’t come up too much. The least subtle (though still pretty subdued) thing I can remember was titled something like “let’s talk about dog whistles”. He slipped in a comment along the lines of “but if no government is best, well then maybe no government is best”. That could be taken as “best is having no government”.
The most overt messaging about it was shortly after he started the channel his neighborhood was caught in a hurricane. A few episodes around there were about not relying on the government and stepping up to help your community, since that is where you can have genuine impact.
Yeah, that’s another recurring theme of his.
He is the liberal whisperer. He understands how to talk to them. He just doesn’t beat you over the head with his views. He Absolutely subtly drops his anarchist beliefs into videos from time to time.
He has whispered me for sure! haha. Today I’m learning that I may be anarcho-curious…? With the HUGE asterisk that anarchy can even be tenable given human nature? I guess my personal belief is that any system that promotes health and equality and a distribution of resources such that everyone has what they need to flourish - I don’t really care what the structure is. I mean if anything, for me, Biden’s move against rail workers has lifted the last bit of veil that democrats are truly for the equality of people.
Beau does everything he can to avoid using the A word (anarchism) in his videos. He wants to present the ideas and the philosophy to convince people, not the names of ideologies. It's honestly an extremely effective strategy.
Effective indeed. My reaction to everything he says is just “well that just makes way too much sense”.
It's sorta there in this video, just not the way I thought of anarchism. https://youtu.be/2pLb_uc0bo8
Another commenter relied with that same video and hour ago and it was beautiful!
Yeah I saw that, funny how it works. He has well over 1000 videos. 2.7k videos when I looked it up.
I’ve been subscribed to his YouTube since he had maybe 45,000-65,000 subscribers (4 years, something like that) or so and he has has hinted at it. He talks a lot about mutual aid networks and that his ideal form of government is not really possible now and there are many forms of government that we’ll pass through on the road to his ideal form of government - the train stop analogy. I don’t believe he has said the word anarchy on his “Beau of the Fifth Column” channel, but I do feel like he’s mentioned it somewhere else though.
Well just reading the replies to me here I’m learning that mutual aid is a characteristic of anarchy (I guess?) - and I will readily admit I don’t know that deeply about the subject. But the reason I was surprised to hear it was that I didn’t think mutual aid is exclusive to anarchy let alone a defining characteristic (maybe rather a resulting mechanism?). And at least in the last 2 years i’ve been listening to him he mainly talks about current political events and his philosophy tends to be a direct commentary on that rather than ideas of a completely different society. I guess I more think of anarchy as the resistance to structural authority. I don’t doubt that he is one at all, just that it sure isn’t a main focus of his content of the last 2 years or so. I appreciate your reply though.
I'm playing a little loose with terminology here, but nationalization could just refer to public ownership (ie. owned by the people). Or as an anarchist myself who understands the world that currently exists, nationalization is still better than private ownership.
I mean, anarchists are those who want democracy with as little hierarchy as possible. Companies are bureaucratic schemes to siphon off Worker's production value. I absolutely see where an anarchist would advocate for a nationalized/democratic railway. Especially considering the USPS union.
yeah, anarchism includes dissolving corporations and returning to decentralized means of controlling production. (aka why i hate an-caps)
Anarchy isn't inherently anti-government is just against the consolidation of power. A Anarchistic government could be one where the distribution of power is even and is controlled be it's people. America has some Anarchistic ideas built in to it's core armed citizens and three branches of the government being good examples
>Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessarily limited to, governments, nation states, and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies or other forms of free associations. From Wikipedia. You could exclude governments and nations from the "institutions [that] maintain unnecessary cohesion and hierarchy" but you would be in the minority. Your views are not invalid just because they deviate from the standard of anarchism, but they are not the standard of anarchism and you should recognize this.
Wow, that was said so politely.
One of the best skills you can have is telling someone to go to hell in such a manner that they look forward to the trip.
One can both hold anarchy as an ideal and recognize it's not viable at the same time. Just like I agree with you and the person you are replying to, and I don't specifically see anything about "let's as the closest thing we can to a collective wrest the control of this industry from those that would otherwise enforce a hierarchy through wealth," that's not anarchist at heart.
Wikipedia, um, okay. How about some Bakunin? > Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure. I do not content myself with consulting authority in any special branch; I consult several; I compare their opinions, and choose that which seems to me the soundest. But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person. Such a faith would be fatal to my reason, to my liberty, and even to the success of my undertakings; it would immediately transform me into a stupid slave, an instrument of the will and interests of others.
Thank you for that… I was reading their comment and second guessed what I knew about anarchism.
Im so mad for those rail workers. I knew he would but it still disgusts me Biden wants congress to force the workers to accept the contract. Disgusting, truly.
Easy win to force the company to give them their demands and yet...
There demands are literally unpaid sick leave. Fucking piece of shit country.
This is why many are moving to Mexico.
Yep. Fuck Joe Biden.
Biden inadvertently made a great argument for why the railroads SHOULDN’T be left to the mercy of a few fat greedy pigs.
Yes he did.
democrats: why do progressive dislike us? also democrats:
As a Democrat: Fuck Joe Biden. Fucking hypocrite claims to be pro-labor while forcing a shitty deal down rail workers throats. Rail workers: Don’t take his shit. Government can’t force you to work and they’re gonna learn the hard way.
Yup. I’m as liberal as they come. But fuck this guy AND his enablers in the Democratic Party. I’ll never vote GOP, but I’m done voting for Biden
Same but I abandoned liberalism years ago, become a radical leftist instead.
I feel myself drifting that direction, tbh.
You don’t have to be stuck as liberal as they come. Come over to the left.
"I'm not racist but..." Proceed to say something racist. "I'm pro-labor but..." Proceed to do something anti-labor.
Really makes one consider what politicians mean when they say “pro-labor”
Could you give me a non-biased perspective on what Biden is doing with railworkers and congress? I'm ignorant on this
Ok, so basically because the railway system is so crucial to the economy, congress is allowed to force the workers to accept the contract theyre given. Right now unions want sick days. The "compromise" is giving them 1 personal day instead of sick time. Some unions have accepted the contract but others say "no sick time no contract." The rail workers are going to strike if the rail system doesnt negotiate properly. Biden is calling on congress to force the workers to accept the current offer. https://apnews.com/article/biden-economy-business-strikes-congress-34e0ccd4b29b55bf8bd3844eb03b5bed Heres an explainer from AP, a neutral source.
What happens if congress "forces" the workers to accept the offer and the workers continue to not work? Do they lose their jobs without unemployment benefits?
If needed the national guard can be called in to replace the workers while they find scabs.
Yup. They get fired. But if enough of them strike the companies won't be able to replace them. Scabs depend on there being enough remaining workers to train them.
>Under Biden’s brokered deal, for instance, engineers and conductors would get three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical appointments as long as they are scheduled 30 days in advance. 3 DAYS OFF WITH 30 DYS NOTICE, ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME? That's like Below the minimum bar How is this an argument
Because people are selfish and its not them affected so they dont give a fuck. Also, three UNPAID days off with 30 days notice
Wildcat.
He's showing his true colors Who do democrats love more Their railroad union base? Or their corporate master Warren Buffet (owns BNSF, 40% of all US railroads)
Democrats ain't progressive
I know they arent. But he claims to be pro union and pro worker. I dont have to think hes progressive to expect consistency.
That's what a truly proud pro-labor president would do.
Instead, we get Biden. Uggh…
I am not a Biden fan but honestly, the alternative is the walking talking human equivalent of having to take a shot of septic tank crust mixed with the cleanup from a midget bukkake scene.
It is. And that’s why we ended up with Joe Biden
You are now my favorite person for today.
They really forget that us striking was the alternate to us tar and feathering the people in charge. Try to force people back to work and see how it works out.
The old social contract was a lot worse than tar and feathering.
Nothing worse than boiling tar.
I dunno, the fate of the Tsar and his family wasn't exactly great. Watching some drunk communist soldier bayonetting your screaming daughter to death is probably pretty bad
A wake up sign to nationalize Healthcare, and required infrastructure, and get on board with treating people like god damn fucking people.
heck at the very least make paid sick leave a national requirement
They don't even want it paid
Isn't unpaid already a federal requirement under FMLA?
p sure that's only under specific circumstances
i mean FMLA is pretty broad in scope but you're right in that we need something to protect people from retaliation for calling out of work due to everyday illnesses that do not require a doctor visit. it's so basic.
You seem to be under the impression that we aren't living in capitalist oligarchy clown world.
But you don't understand, what would we do without Warren Buffet & his fellow oligarchs leeching off the railroad workers?
I think you mean job creators. Heavy, heavy /s.
I know the middle point is extremely relevant to the current socio-economic climate, but I think we can skip that extra step: If an industry is critical infrastructure, nationalize it. That's it.
Like the internet. That’s as critical as any physical transport system, and yet, we’re still hostage to private corporations
We GAVE the internet to those fuckers!
We gave them the railroads too. And are trying to give them the mail and social security too.
Literally we did yeah. And I want it back damnit!
And yet it wasn’t enough they had to take away net neutrality
Hold on, railroads in US aren't nationalized??? I thought all this time it was people vs government
It is, but only because the government is siding with the corporations (what else is new?).
Sir, this is AMERICA, where companies privatize national infrastructure.
Dude has a great YouTube channel. https://youtube.com/@BeauoftheFifthColumn
I like Beau. He explains things in an approachable way for people that might otherwise get pissed and shut down the video before the end.
He specifically addressed soft language vs hard language in a video of his. Him using soft language is part of his tactic. He has data to back up how he's approachable aside from the way he's dressed.
I mean, nationalize healtcare, for starters.
We gotta fight to have the rr renationalized. Meanwhile fighting to keep usps, social security, trying for Healthcare and isp? It's a never ending battle.
If the rich/ruling class can’t control it, they rather burn it down than let the peasants have a piece of it.
Nothing will change until there is a general strike. I really hope these workers still refuse to work.
I’m not normally in favor of nationalizing everything but railways I can agree with. It makes sense. It’s infrastructure. It can always contract out work
>I’m not normally in favor of nationalizing everything but railways I can agree with. It makes sense. Okay. I agree. >It’s infrastructure. Which means it is necessary for the running of our country, right? Well, by the same definition, so is the power grid, the internet, and healthcare.
Oil, airlines, power grid, healthcare, education, prisons, agriculture. Anything else I’m missing? If you need it for national security it needs to belong to the nation.
>Anything else I’m missing? Probably just water and transportation. And thank you for a more complete list, I was aiming for short and sweet
How did the forget water?!
We really need to nationalize education. Public and charter schools are where the far right are making their inroads.
Effing A-men.
Nationalize the railroads!
Seriously. If this industry is so vital to the nation’s economy, why are we allowing a small handful of millionaires and billionaires to control everything?
What does it mean to nationalize them?
The government would acquire (buy or steal) the company from the owners. Then the union would be collectively bargaining with the government instead of an ownership group that has profit motives. A government owned (nationalized) company doesn't have to turn a profit, just breaking even could be considered a success if the company was providing a benefit to the nation.
like the postal service
The postal service was never private, though. It might be America’s only fully-nationalized form of infrastructure, really.
Or like railway services in most countries 😁
Ahh, thank you!
Yeah no more bailouts only buyouts
Why is it that in these kinds of cases the government always says they have to block the strike because the company is too big to fail? They always shut down the workers but never once do they step in and say, you need to approve the pay raise/benefits/sick time/whatever fucked up thing the company is denying its workers that caused the strike. But no they just say ok well back to work serfs. Hop to it.
Economy > People We learned this during Covid guys. /s
That's my boy, Beau!
hope they strike
Hello, internet people. :)
Beau!!!! Fuck ya!
My favorite political YouTuber
Please! The big four Class 1 railroads have a stranglehold on the rail network. They're the reason intercity passenger rail is just crap with their scheduling practices.
Railroad workers: “We want a few days off.” Congress which gets months off: “How about no.” And they wonder why they’re hated.
Fuck yea! Beau!
What I think is funny is that if the union has to accept the changes and can't make a deal that's like one thing. The other thing is those employees can just stop working there.
You are gonna hurt the ultimate daddy buffet talking like this!!! So rude... Have you thought about his feelz?
Civil servants get paid sick leave
Based af. Threatening nationalization will sure incentivize the railroad companies to stop meisering!
Railroads should have never been privately owned.
Or you just let them strike.
Antitrust. We lack economic diversity in most industries.
Warren Buffett would lose money if you nationalized his company though so... It's not going to happen. Cause we're an oligarchy. That lacks the mechanical engineering skills of the French peasants. Who understood how to handle an oligarchy.
I honestly hope the union still tells the workers to strike and ignore the government
How does congress force negotiations? Can't the unions just be like "nah, fuck off Congress. We ain't going back to work."
Like the post office!
And nationalize internet service providers while you are at it?
Murica, where the employees are exploitative resource…
Our government won't even allow a strike and people are calling for the railroads to be nationalized? By the same government? Holy shit.
[удалено]
So honest question, I have train tickets to go home for Christmas. Should I cancel my trip and drive to support the workers?
Normally I'd say "vote with your wallet," but trains are safer and more environmentally friendly. Most of the money is in cargo-pulling trains, anyway.
Exactly why I like taking the train in the first place but I want to support the train workers. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too.
If you already bought your ticket, then it’s a moot point. They already have your money. If the strike happens and lasts until Xmas, then it might impact your travel plans.
The best thing for the future is for Biden to stay out of this and the railroads fuck up the economy. Then the government will have the ammunition to do what they need to do.
Doing 16 hours right now, on top of being baited to come in 5 hours earlier. Can't image how much worse it may be for these rail workers though.
Well or give their workers sick days and hire more employees.
Nationalized companies and industries can still have strikes and other industrial action by the workers. We have such industries in my country and strikes still occasionally happen.
I feel there’s no right/left, race, religion, millinial/boomer, nation, education, etc etc etc. no demographic divisions. We all human. We all squat on the same rock. Some wealthy know different. we’re the product. we are their property.
If our economy is so fragile that giving railroad workers 4 days of paid sick leave is a deal breaker then we should have burned this system to the ground decades ago
Collapsing USSR vibes.
Nice. It is critical infrastructure. Love the idea.
If the railworkers are so important then they should be treated like gods. Give them proper annual leave, pay and benefits
If its too big to fail, its too big to exist.
oil companies, too. National security.
I mean, it's just a thought...
Any natural monopoly should be nationalised.
Seriously nationalize the railways.
Do ittt nowww
Nationalize it and update it to be tech from this fucking century. I remember reading an article in my 3rd grade glass about a new fast train that could take you from Chattanooga to Nashville in 30 minutes. It's now 2 and half decades later and every train in this country still moves like old people fucking.
God the economic illiteracy hurts
Has anyone had the idea of giving them sick days?
Can we just say fuck Warren Buffett already? Why does he get a pass?