Liberty And Freedom Are Left-Wing Ideals
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- čas přidán 28. 10. 2021
- If you live in the US, you already know who likes to talk about freedom and liberty the most. In the national contest over who gets to represent what values, the Republican party, and conservatives in general, have monopolized the idea that their politics are the politics of freedom. Unfortunately for the right, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Liberty And Freedom Are Left-Wing Ideals - Second Thought
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Citations and Further Reading:
Are You Really Free Under Capitalism?
• Are You Really "Free" ...
Freedom: An Unruly History
books.google.be/books?hl=en&l...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...
www.jddavispoet.com/book-revi...
Theories of Freedom
books.google.be/books?hl=en&l...
quillette.com/2019/04/17/why-...
plato.stanford.edu/entries/li...
Left/Right Simplification
• The Political Spectrum...
• Political Ideology: Cr...
books.google.be/books?id=KYY-...
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Politicians always promise to create ever more jobs, even though we've already got so many that everyone can have two or three and still barely make ends meet. I want to vote for the politician who promises more leisure.
What about one that wants to decomidify survival?
@@vxicepickxv That’s a lot better. Why make survival a battle to begin with? Why are we struggling like this?
When the poor demand more equity it’s called class warfare. But when the rich demand bigger and bigger tax cuts it’s called job creation and economic growth. How about subsidizing the rich and leaving nothing for everyone else?
@@thomasmaughan4798 where the f**** did you hear this shit? take it? its not how it works - socialism has its economy as well, its an economic system after all
you are just proof how badly politics are distorted nowadays, you cant imagine anything beyond free market
@@thomasmaughan4798 How about this? We have a man Jeff Bezos who is so rich that he can’t figure out what to do with $200 billion dollars so he self funded a penis shaped rocket to go on a joy ride to go into orbit. He pays no taxes and lives off of the hard work of 1 million employees and underpays and over works them.
Leisure is important but food and health are priorities.
I want freedom from wage slavery, freedom from worrying about medical costs, and freedom from people telling me what I am or am not allowed to believe.
How dare you wish for these things to be provided by the goberment. Silly leftist don’t you know that vuvuzuela no iPhone 100 trillion dead?
Me too man ;-;
@@TheSundownState but where is latin america us supported dictatorship 100 quadrillion dead no healthcare middle east destroyed vietnam afghanistan silly rightwing troll
Sure, but you have to force others to pay for that anyway.
@@josephanglada4785 You have to force others to pay for other things too. For the building of roads, for instance.
And you say that as if others would not also get said freedom. With more money in their pockets taxes would be relatively fewer.
Unless you were talking about the bourgeoisie, in which case yes. Because they don't deserve that wealth.
I read a quote on reddit the other day, it went something like:
"The phrase 'cost of living' is truly horrifying when you really think about it"
Exactly. The mere fact that we have to pay to live is sickening.
Poverty carries the death penalty.
@@michealforguson5317 Which system, would mean that we wouldn't have to pay to live?
Reality is a bitch....
@@michealforguson5317
You'd rather others paid for you!
I'll never forget the day that my stepdad collapsed to the floor from a heart attack... and my mom yelled at me NOT to call an ambulance because we couldn't afford it. My stepdad... lying on the floor, clutching his chest, and struggling to breathe... nodded his head in agreement with my mom. If you are American and not rich... you have the freedom to die.
Edit: Luckily he ended up pulling through, but it still was a very eye opening moment for me.
Is that a product of capitalism, or a product of really shitty government regulated healthcare?
@@vanguard6937 It's the product of capitalism. If health insurance and drug companies didn't constantly lobby our government, we would be able to have universal healthcare, and nobody would have to worry about incurring massive debt because of their health problems. European countries are already able to do this, while the US spends more on healthcare than they do and yet medical emergencies are one of the biggest causes of bankruptcies.
Freedom and wealth are different things.
Primitive tribes may be free even if they don't have free healthcare and ambulances.
Free medical in the UK. The problem with the U.S is that it stretches its borders too thing. Now it suffers for its greed. Get you KILLED for its greed.
Only with violence do those with power change their minds. It's the ONLY language they understand.
Never knew the origin of 'right' and 'left' politically, super cool thank you for sharing :]
@@johnmanole4779 no thanks, we don't consider facebook groups to be a reliable source.
@@johnmanole4779 The terms "left" and "right" appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president's right and supporters of the revolution to his left. ... The majority ultraroyalists chose to sit on the right. - wikipedia
didn’t know gokanaru watches second thought. that’s great
Elite even considered the psychological effect, right means right.
I think that’s one of the biggest problems with people in politics now a days. Most people don’t actually know the definition of political terms they use which in turn leads to a lot of confusion regarding which positions lie where on the political spectrum.
To help a little left and right are best defined as social progression towards community (the left) and economic progression towards oligarchy (the right)
These day’s it’s mostly rich corporate authoritarian oligarchs pitting average groups of people against each other to avoid the masses turning on them, which leads to a society of civil strife.
Finally someone who gets it!!!
Bravo! That is the situation
The authoritarian oligarchs of the west will point at china as their scapegoat
It's not these days. That is the historical norm
Pitchforks and motherfuckin' torches!
“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?”
― Angela Y. Davis
“Those who would give up a their freedom for safety deserve neither.”
Its the freedom to grow your own Food. And the Obligation to create something that covers your existential needs is a Part of the human condition. You need it to exist, and to get it you have to so something to get it. Under authoritarianism you cant choose, it gets given to you, like a child. In a liberal society, you can choose to be a child or to do the shit by yourself.
you are out in the woods and you don't wanna get out of your tent to find some food, and just like that you expressed your freedom to live without being coerced into working to get food, anyway you then die from starvation as nature became authoritarian/capitalist/fascist and decided not to give you food
I know what that is. Communism.
@@user-co7fo Many USA cities and neighborhoods ban residents from growing food - must have lawns and other non productive purely aesthetic landscapes. And what about apartment dwellers without access to a yard to plant things or space for containers? Community gardens are rare.
My son quit a job when he realized the application he was writing was intended to allow the management to surveil the workers although the job paid several times the average wage. Now he makes more than twice that amount doing work that harms no one and to make it even better he has one of the best benefits package I've ever seen.
@@SyndicShadow His son's job was just off-shored to India to cut labor costs and increase short term profits, because Capitalism. Ain't capitalism great!!!
It creeps me out to hear things like "In job a, he would have earned x, in job y, he would have earned *several times as much* , and in job z he now earns twice as much as he would have earned in job y". Those are extreme wage disparities.
I have earned 15 francs an hour in one job - which in most cases is an audacity - and should I ever earn the equivalent of 60 francs an hour (no-one has such an hourly wage; if you earn that much, you have a monthly salary) this would already be a lot of money. I have worked somewhere I earned 25 francs an hour as a cleaner/member of the janitorial staff, and I know for a fact that the person with the highest salary there earned hardly more than twice than that. My own salary was the lowest one, which I shared with at least one other employee. Yes, in other places the difference would have been bigger. But a ratio of 1:3 is already seen as quite extreme by many. A ratio of 1:5 is very clearly an exception already, unless you have someone on top who just cashes in massively.
@@SyndicShadow My son is upper middle class, not wealthy, so he works for a capitalist but doesn't have enough money to be one. Unless your income is made by your money rather than by working you are not a capitalist but probably work for one. However he told his agent he was looking for work which had nothing to do with a social program. He does pay into Social Security and Medicare which are social programs. While we have a capitalist government we do have some social programs such as the fire department and public libraries. There are a few others such as SNAP but they don't really provide enough assistance to be of much help to those who need them.
@@SyndicShadow in case you hadn't noticed you can be very productive as a socialist or as a working person who is neither a capitalist or a socialist but the definition of a capitalist is someone who's money makes their money for them rather than someone who makes their money with their labor.
@@SyndicShadow Capitalism by Adam Smith is about self-interest the invisible hand is something to behold. The interest of labor is to survive. We can view capitalism as broadly synonymous with what Smith called " the liberal plan" or the natural system of liberty in which every man as long he doesn't violate "the laws of justice," is perfectly free to pursue his own interest, his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital in competition with those of other men. It is liberty in Smith's view is the heart of capitalism and at the heart of liberty lies a commitment to humankind. Considering Smith's position reminds me of a long-standing, but increasingly endangered, American moral sensibility: liberty and economic freedom it entails to serve the common good. That is the ideal, not the perverse capitalism we presently have today. The more I study Adam Smith the more I see his egalitarianism. He detest slavery, it was morally repugnant to him and economically unproductive.
Really enjoyed the depth of this one going all the way back to Greek slave society. Had no idea that liberty originally appeared as an antonym to slavery, though it makes sense in hindsight. Great work!
Bro the video isn’t even done yet
Woah hey its that guy, from that thing, with those ideas!
@@_.paprecum._8902 I peeped the crystal ball and watched it in advance
Thanks, Paul! Glad you liked it 😁
One day I will join you guys among the great Marxist CZcamsrs but I have to finish reading theory first and also get a storyblocks account lmao
Thank god my mom was a history buff and talked to about it and had good books at home. We talk about this stuff and when I try to talk to anyone you can see their eyes glaze over. It's bonkers.
You have a good mom.
Recommend any good books for me and my teen? Would be greatly appreciated!
@@motimaat1999 critical race theory
What did you and your mom talk about?
Left wing is freedom. It doesn't make sense. What does that mean specially?
2015 Austin, TX, hospital stay was over $7.2M for 23 days in the ICU and 2 brain surgeries. We need a better system 💙
Conservative "freedom" in a nutshell.
Rome (2000 years ago): Patrician to his sons: "If you work hard to be a greedy, violent, backstabbing Roman patrician then one day you might even make it to the senate or who knows maybe even an emperor. You have the FREEDOM to do all that because you live in the freest empire on Earth."
America today: CEO to his sons: "If you work hard to be a greedy, violent, backstabbing sociopath business exec. then one day you might even make it to be a billionaire or who knows maybe even a private banker. You have the FREEDOM to do all that because you live in the freest empire on Earth."
I've literally had an ancap argue that coercion is only a thing done by governments. If we eliminated government and left everything to the free market there would be no one to coerce individuals.
As if threat of homelessness and starvation is not coercion.
Ancap vs Ancom
We need a discord debate
I agree with you. Sadly there used to be a group of a tribe of people that were very peaceful and respectful and they all helped each other out, but there was another tribe that was bigger and meaner that destroyed the other tribe and took their women. Fortunately though that tribe got beat out by another bigger tribe. But that first peaceful tribe was really nice not having a government or a leader. To bad humans do what they do and strive for power and control
Have you seen Adam Something’s videos on Ancap? Both why it doesn’t work, and Ancap in Practice?
@@BlitzkriegOmega Yes, I love his videos. I have seen both of his ancap vids. He just did the second one earlier this week.
So, imagine you are stranded on an island…
A lot of people like to talk about capitalism in terms of it lifting people out of poverty....I just never realized how deliberately manufactured that state of poverty was to begin with. Why do we need capitalism to save us from something it created??
Communism and socialism and communalism also created poverty. Being able to look at both sides of the coin keeps an open mind unless you're brainwashed in a tribalistic doctrine
So much of what we see everyday is propaganda designed to convince us that capitalism is working for us and improving our lives even as it pushes the world towards climate collapse and makes our working lives increasingly miserable.
Also if you ignore China, poverty didnt change a bit
@@50733Blabla1337 based dave
@@AngryAndNegativeHistoryProject good thing I'm not a communist then huh
This is possibly your best video yet. Glad to see you pushing back on the idea that freedom is protected by the right.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you liked it
yes, in my lifetime, all the infringements on freedom and rights have been done by the riight
@@rishabhanand4973 like what?
I live in the religiously conservative country of Indonesia. Our concept of freedom, or rather "too much freedom," i.e. LGBT and Women's rights, is narrated by reactionaries and even teachers at school as something that must better be avoided or else we would become too much like the West.
Ironic considering how much the West itself contributed in shaping our anticommunist views during the Cold War, in the 1960s the CIA did a lil regime change from a Socialist president to a more Western-investor-friendly dictator. Spreading of Marxist-Leninism ideologies has since been outlawed. Today, multinational companies outsource cheap labor from us, offering wages as low as 85 USD/month. Freedom to exploit I guess?
I'm currently taking a class on the philosophy of leisure and this video hit the nail on the head! Great work.
There's a Thought Slime video on the topic of Having Fun (which is the title or the text in the thumbnail) that might interest you.
You have on average more than 2/3 of your waking hours for leisure that video is fake news
@@albertpaquin7876 ?? Don’t you mean 1/3??
@@albertpaquin7876 On average people don’t even get a half or 1/3 of their waking hours for leisure, it’s all work work work so stop BS-ing.
@@styx8975 !!
Imagine playing just one of your videos in front of the entire US Congress
That ain't gonna do shit mate
They'd blink and keep on going
it would educate some but it wouldn't stop them from being corrupt
You can actually do that but they won’t listen to you at least you can do that in America and not in many other countries.
@@dadnonlyd3 more likely their corruption would stop their education...
"Land of the Free" with its far-right politics, has the highest incarceration rate and number in the World.
Yeah, you are the ones who wants to ban the "far right" and it doesn't exist
@@andraddya8447 Cry.
@@Nai-qk4vp Then, don't be mad at Proud Boys
@L M bruh you can't score "freedom" wtf
@@ANDROLOMA
Americans even work on average more than Japanese.
Here in Murika "freedom" means, "you are free to suffer my abuse and do nothing about it..." We have ample Freedumb here...very little real freedom exists, however.
Sadly, that's the type of "freedom" Murica gives to every country around the world
No wonder they have so many Bases
Murican freedumb
I'm stealing that for later lol
Republicans like the freedom to rip you off and pillage every natural resource
@@DJ-GASM Democrats as well.
@@amihart9269 sad to see a country have only center-right and right parties :(
It's also important to precise that the French moto is : Freedom Equality Fraternity. And its interchangeable. there is no freedom without equality, and no equality without freedom
And to achieve both freedom and equality (in every sense of those words) and to protect it we must stand in brotherhood and solidarity
/cries in French
Please don't show the 1848 revolution painting (the lady with the French flag and the boob out) to talk about the French revolution. Wrong revolution! :')
Yeah my little french eyes are crying
But the video is still very educational tho
But the boob! It's too iconic to leave out of the discussion
Wrong revolution yet the spirit of the Paris Commune sticks with the theme of the video.
booba > facts
To tell you a story about democracy.
A farmer asked his son who was about to inherit the family business before his death. The pigs on our farm complained about poor food, the cattle complained that the work was too tired, the chickens complained that the environment in the chicken coop was too bad, and the dogs complained too little rest time, how will you solve these problems?
His son said: Feed the pigs better foods, let the cows do less work, clean the chicken coops, let the dogs rest more..., the old farmer said: You don’t have to do anything, you just have to give them the right to vote and let them decide whether you or your wife will manage the farm and make them feel that they are the owners of the farm, that’s enough. 😜
13:00 this is what Andrew yang criticised: human value should not be equated with their economic output/value
"human capital" bro
Yes, Andrew Yang was definitely the first one to make this point..
Lmao that centrist has no new Ideas. Marx, Engels, Rosa, and Lenin came up with that a hundred years ago
Too bad he wants to cut social welfare programs. He's a capitalist fraud posing as a progressive.
@@8BitMunky I'd take UBI cash over the equivalent value in food stamps any day
I lose my hope for humanity at least once a day. Yet I find solace and hope renewed, in the notion that you continuing to upload the truth, might mean it could be catching on. Keep up the good work. The best work.... The only work that makes sense, at least until we can manifest a chance at a "good life" for everyone in our tribe. The whole tribe.
the veiws he gets per video makes the outlook of his veiws catching on not so good.
@Pepsi Man they may be Native American smart ass
Keep on finding those videos, those people, those thoughts and ideas that keep you going, keep you sane and keep you at least a bit hopeful. Believe me, I know it is hard. I lose hope a lot, too. Ever see the movie Elysium? I have. And the way our socio-economic system is structured and the destructive trends it brings makes me think we are headed towards that sort of future.
Unless, more people like Second Thought and their viewers are willing to open up, learn and change the system. Then, just maybe, we have a chance. Check out Lee Camp and Peter Joseph's work on YT. They have some great stuff, too.
Getting to see these videos early with Patreon gives me plenty of time to come up with a fire comment that will get me tons of likes and here we are two days later and I still got nothing. Amazing video as always, it’s time the left took back freedom as a talking point
@@Sindrakeit’s time to repent for your sins Jeremy. The Church of the New Left does not tolerate heresy against The Party 😡🥵
@@Sindrake do you consider Florida a red state or a blue state
@@Sindrake Cute
@@Sindrake what does blue states have to do with leftism
@@Sindrake Says the guy who has never heard of Texas.
This explained so well my frustrations with the term "freedom." Conservatives keep using it to mean "I can do whatever I want without consequence" and your explanations of what freedom actually means is pretty much exactly what I've been saying lately.
It’s as if the left has been the ones fighting for freedom this whole time! We’ll get there one day :)
@@TheSundownState Oh, I seriously doubt that. We are in a dark present and the future is bound to be darker. After all, the Left lost the Cold War and we're at a point where capitalists successfully begged the government to start letting them hire 14 year olds and stuff.
@@missZoey5387 well, in the long run progress is inevitable! Unless we go basically extinct or lose all forms of current society, in my honest opinion, we are bound to reach equity. I think conservatism exists because of people's fear of change... most people that I've met that are conservative but not like... bad people... clearly just weren't ready for solutions that meant changing things and trying new things. Obviously this doesn't mean that anything that is progressive and tried is good, but if we don't try anthing and just accept doom then I'll be very disappointed with humanity! What's your opinion?
@@meetu_ I don't have much faith in humanity. Even when we try to make things better, they end up back-firing in someway. Obviously, not trying won't actually solve anything, but I just can't help but think that dystopia is inevitable, if it hasn't already arrived. Furthermore, the only form of progress guaranteed is the progress of time, everything else has to be fought for.
@@missZoey5387 Firstly, loved the progress of time setence! Secondly, yeah I get the doomer prespective on the world. The planet is going to shit, the right is getting stronger almost everywhere and a more populist version of politics is evolving which CAN be good but will most likely be used, as it has before, for evil. I guess that, in my prespective, if I lose hope then I just... can't see a reason to fight for a fairer future. So maybe it's a selfish thing to have hope. I don't know. When you say dystopia you mean the "digital hard capitalist" dystopia? Cause yeah, I fear that too.
I love that Second Thought helped revolutionise me and still makes insanely deep and thought provoking videos. It’s Socialism or Barbarism, we must secure our future.
Socialism has it's downsides too, just like capitalism, like the power vacuum it creates in which dictators thrive. The people are supposed to be the ruling class, but the people can be coerced, overpowered, bribed and more by literally anyone who wants power. It's socialism's biggest asset and biggest weakness.
No system created yet is perfect, and humans are going to human.
@@Azurath100 No system is perfect, that's true. But still, socialism is a much better alternative than capitalism. Maybe one day there'll be an even better alternative, but right now, the best alternative is socialism.
@@Azurath100 It's the literal opposite, socialism solves this problem by equalizing political power across society. Yes, many people want power, but a bureaucrat's ability to sustain themselves would fundamentally depend on the people in a society with equalized political power, since political unrest could easily overturn that ruler. A capitalist society does not equalize political power, the wealthy hold all the political power it is basically impossible for regular people to challenge the oligarchs since they lack equal political power. There will always be leaders and those who are lead, bureaucrats and regular citizenry, because not everyone wants to be a leader, not everyone wants to be involved in politics. But sometimes circumstances forces people to get involved into politics who otherwise would prefer not to, such as, if they are hungry. A socialist society gives those people political power to actually challenge those bureaucrats who are contributing to the problem, while a capitalist society does not. You're stuck with whoever your ruler is, because regular people have no power.
So how will a socialist society even work properly when you gain no benefits from studying? In Sweden we have education for everything. You need education if you use specific vehciles, you need education if you use specific tools. So if we were to have a socialist system many jobs would fall because there's no benefits from working there.
@@darkwolf4434 If a job would be rendered useless with an educated population then why should that job even continue to exist? This is just a bizarre argument, you think the population should be illiterate for the purpose of propping up artificial and unnecessary jobs? ...what???
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
Denis Diderot
It's also worth noting that as I dive deeper into left wing governance, there is actually MORE democracy than in super centralized systems.
For example, most things in a union are done by vote. They vote on whether to strike (90% majority minimum) and whether to accept a contract negotiated by the union. Whereas without a union, the company and its workers are subject to the whims of the CEO or the shareholders board of directors.
Great video! You should make one that goes into the Socialist history of the Libertarian movement and how the right twisted Libertarianism into a right wing capitalist ideology in the mid-20th-century.
Totally! I support this idea!
If he does, I hope he uses clips from that one libertarian driver's license debate. If you know, you know
Libertarian leftists never stood for the whole leftist movement. Libertarian socialism built on the tradition of liberal thought and expanded it with anti-capitalist ideas as they thought that the liberal ideas of personal freedom and human rights can only be truly fulfilled in a post-capitalist society. Yet there are fractions of the left that fundamentally reject this premisse and are actively illiberal (predominantely represented by Bolshevik/Marxist-Leninist thought).
@@s_h136 "Libertarian leftists never stood for the whole leftist movement." Who are you responding to? Who said that it does?
Libertarianism isn't left or right wing. It's a oxymoron to say it is such.
I, honestly, never get tired of listening to your videos. A lot of the times I try to Replay you past videos and continue to think of the actuality of what's happening. For the most part even when I was a kid, I saw this working cycle problem coming a mile away. However it didn't occur to me up until Ive seen your videos. I think it's worth it making these videos to at least let people think of the real problem in hand. Thanks for your hard work my friend.
"Freedom", like every word and situation...CONTEXT is important in explaining circumstances
Go home, Horseshoe Cultist...
agreed... this video is subversive in that it lacks context, speaking of the origin of Liberty and pinning it to the modern American body politic. very good at ousting future commies, though.
@@seand.g423 make him, Seany boy.
Imagine being part of a Greek philosopher reenacter union
Can we use modern weapons on the one playing Plato and call them "Atlantean"?
No
This goes hand in hand with what I'm learning in world history in college rn. Interesting timing and even more interesting discussion. Keep the voice up!
It's interesting how I learn so much more on this CZcams channel then in my own history class. Thank you for making these videos
Human beings are made to live free. The freedom and right choose, think, and feel. Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear. The right to question everything to get answers. The right to mistakes so we can learn from them. And the right to fail so that we have the incentive to improve till we succeed.
Freedom and liberty has always been an orwellian concept used by the right. Freedom to subjugate, oppress, discriminate, without consequence
You probably live in the USA, but you dream of a left-wing totalitarian fascist society. How did we get here?
War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength
Get em. Tell those fascists off.
@@Sindrake correct!
Said the fascist
I'm willing to bet the two idiots above couldn't describe what fascism is if their life depended on it
@@paradisearcher9334 Clearly they have found a work around to not understanding what fascism is by using the old "I'm rubber you are glue" argument. 😂 Not like they could offer a rebuttal to the idea that if you need to work to exist and survive you can't really be free.
@@paradisearcher9334 Most people can't come up with a good definition of fascism, even scholars find it difficult. Even the feature list that most people end up using, Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism, is near useless in defining or even identifying fascism. Could you describe fascism?
Awesome, thanks for listning to my request and make this video!
I knew it would be a really good fit for this chanel 👍
French revolution, "What role the king was going to play."
Well first. His head was gonna roll, then his body would roll in his grave. :D
Only to result in an authoritarian emperor 10 years later.
@@westwoods7675 Yeah, sadly, a real shame.
Just think about this: If you had all the money in the world, would you wake up every morning to do your current job? If not, is very likely that you're working out of necessity, hence not free. In Capitalism, only the rich can call themselves free.
@@nicktarnowski7069 No, everyone should WANT to work, not be forced to work by artificial means. We aren't monkeys living in caves anymore, we don't have to live like this.
@@nicktarnowski7069 If they didn't have to work, these "essential jobs" wouldn't exist, they'd be automated or not needed. Society as it exists currently demands work. Society can however, and needs-to be reformed.
@@nicktarnowski7069 You have a really negative view of your fellow man. You should probably address that before coming in to dump on others.
@@Ben-ek1fz Yes, it's called "outsourcing."
And it's not that people don't want to do them, they just want to have a modicum of comfort in their lives when/if they risk themselves in dangerous jobs like mining. Why would I think that anyone mining outside "the West" doesn't also deserve these considerations? I'm not sure what you were trying to say.
@@nicktarnowski7069 No, reforming society is not going to be easy. That is why a full on revolution is needed. However hard it may be though, changes are essential if we wish to survive.
And then we have consumer 'contracts' to use electronic/internet services which are pages and page of legalese which, not only cut into any leisure time, but are framed by those who can afford big time lawyers in the first place!
Your content is GREAT and VERY IMPORTANT in this time of global political confusion. Please keep up the great work!! 👏 👏 👏 👏
It’s insane that basic liberty and freedom are considered radical political thought.
Well, it is
You guys are breath of fresh air in a time of crisis...keep doing the amazing work we need your voice more than ever...thank you.
Loved the quote at the end. Keep up the good work comrade!
Thank you for all the work you do to spread thoughtful information through these awesome videos.
I listened to your podcast. Good stuff!! Excited for more!
didn't know this, thanks for the video
Your works are always appreciated and fascinating to listen to. Here is a comment for support.
loving your content and style more and more with each of your presentations that I watch. You're going places!
Really enjoyed this!
“It is difficult for me to imagine what "personal liberty" is enjoyed by an unemployed person, who goes about hungry, and cannot find employment. Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible.”
And clearly socialist societies such as Venezuela embody this fairytale land of which you speak. Coming in a mere 143 spots lower on the Cato Freedom Index shows it’s clearly working there!
In a society where food, water, shelter, and clothes are provided to you, it means that you will need to take from somebody else, whether that is property or labor. And in a society where everybody expects things to be provided, there will be more leeches than providers, leading to a collapse or forced labor participation
@@chriskopco5545 cope
No one said freedom is without worry. It is what it is....
I can watch your videos over and over again. I'm very grateful to all you do on behalf of the movement
Thank you for making this. The topic of freedom as a political goal has been on my mind for a long time.
Excellent topic of discussion! Keep up the great work man!
“Freedom is an illusion. It always comes at a price.”
― Jonathan Stroud
One must earn his or her sovereignty... and have the means to safeguard it. The "liberals" (who are defaulting to the Progressive, Socialist wing of the Dem party) with for you to have no such thing. They want power... they have no intent on serving.
There is no price too high, and no other goal more glorious.
@@realMikeBenz Hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but people don't go into politics because they want to help people .. they go into politics because it provides power, wealth and all kinds of benefits for minimal effort invested.
@@sotirmilivojevic6233 Him - They want power... they have no intent on serving
You - Hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but people don't go into politics because they want to help people. They go into politics because it provides power.
Your statement, in no way, diffuses his. You quite literally repeated what he said...
@@realMikeBenz Imaging believing that dems want a socialist organization or reps and liberturds won't crush you like they always do
Excellent episode yet again!
Fantastic video, thank you!
These videos just keep getting better and better. Props to you dude
*ish taste my guy
Right wing ideal: Individual persons should be free to hold as much power as they can acquire (minority rule)
Left wing ideal: Power should be distributed amongst all of the people (majority rule)
For real, I've always had this economic idea in mind. Like my economic ideal system is the wealthy can still get wealth due to them putting work into their corporations. However, my idea on taxation is monthly taxes depend on your income. The wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. The poorer you are, the lower the taxes. Tax the people justly based on their monthly income. Then re-distribute the collected money to help those with very low to no income get on their feet.
@@ZackarySchejbalCODBO2RGM2 that's how it's supposed to work now, but there are loopholes in place that allow the wealthiest to pay less effective tax than the average earner who makes $45k per year.
@@ZackarySchejbalCODBO2RGM2 The problem with that is that if you don't tax rich people REALLY heavily, they take the money that have left and use it to aquire power to leverage the system into a lower and lower effective tax rate for them (among other things). This keeps happening (and escalating) until the rich effectively control the society... and that's where we are now, late stage capitalism... essentially oligarchy.
Lol, there are many uninformed idiots who don't deserve power. If everyone had power, we would be nowhere.
@@Briggsian well I the American tax code has 7500 pages and only 60 of them talk about actually paying tax if I was rich i would definitely do the same thing
Thank you so much for laying out my thoughts on the subject exactly I really appreciate you and your efforts
Always love your videos but this is one of the best recent ones, love the detail and the free history lesson included lol.
as james connolly put it
"If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle., unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs"
there is no freedom for the masses under capitalism
James Connolly came from Scotland, a rebel to the core.
He wanted not just freedom, but socialism and more!
He said when we gain our freedom from England's cruel hands,
we'll have to fight the bankers, we'll have to make a stand!
So, rise up the Starry Plough in James Connolly's name!
Rise up the Starry Plough for his glory and his fame!
He joined the Transport Union so the workers could be free,
he fought for Irish freedom, for the likes of you and me.
He held his life for liberty in the GPO,
He held his line for freedom, and he would not let it go.
Well the Brits, they bombarded them and they smashed them brick by brick.
He held his life for freedom, and the Socialist Republic!
I realized back in the early 2000s that in America "freedom" is the fascist right's politically correct word from "money".
You're really churning out the content. Great work, man. Keep it up.
Thanks for the video :)
I wouldn't call capitalism an anti-freedom system. Rather, in capitalism, freedom is tied to money. The level of freedom you can have in a capitalist society is determined almost solely on how much money you have. And it is possible to achieve a higher level of freedom within capitalism. But not for everyone. Socialism on the other hand don't value a person based on the amount of money they have, or their ability to earn money. Instead everyone is considered equal simply because they are human. And the more towards socialism a society moves, the more freedom is given to people regardless of money. In most Western European countries for example, you can't go bankrupt due to medical reasons. Thus you are more free. But you are still required to work in a capitalist economy to be able to afford other freedoms, such as leisure.
Capitalism is antithetical to freedom, economic or leisurely. Most of america can't afford an emergency of a few hundred dollars. A system sustainable only for the elite is unsustainable, and isn't freedom. It's tyranny.
Best comment I've read in awhile
That makes sense I Kinda agree
@@xuto2693 America isn't the only version of capitalism though. The Nordic countries are also capitalist societies. And regular people have a higher degree of freedom in those countries (where I live, by the way). Capitalism is probably inherently incapable of providing a high level of freedom to everyone (it's not the goal). But it is possible in many capitalist societies to achieve a significant amount of freedom for a large portion of the population that aren't considered to be in the elite.
@@Astillion yeah but y'all also have free healthcare and guaranteed paid time off; things Americans can only dream about haha. My ex gf is Swedish and my first time going to Stockholm was eye opening, Europe is vastly different than the US
Imagine being in such a fast changing world and wanting to be a conservative. Things are changing so quick. We need laws and everything else to change quick as well. The founding fathers didn't want the constitution to just be one and done. That's why we have amendments. If everyone stayed conservative forever we'd still have slavery. We'd still have monarchy. Why would you ever want things to stay the same?
Because basic human instinct is to resist change. That's why in many democratic societies, conservatives seem to win more often than they don't. Convincing people of change is often an uphill battle, even if said people would benefit from some change. All the status quo supporters need do is highlight just one minor possible complication or disadvantage (for instance: a small tax increase to pay for better healthcare will increase the cost of living, the second bit being emphasised over the first) and well, you know the rest.
because life is very comftable right now. plus we know that if we let Berny sanders do whatever he wanted we would have a dictatorship by 2030
What's changing quick?
The only thing we should be progressive in is tech to better our lives but not normalize obese people lazy people and people who think they are actually attracted to the same gender thats just nonsense
@@philliplarson6452 Uh technology, rights, ways of life, etc. When I was a kid I had AOL and it took like a minute to load a web page. Now I can download a full length movie in a few minutes. Women couldn't vote before 1920. We used to have slavery. I know the last 2 are further in history but 100 years ago is a drop in the bucket when it comes to human history. The ancient Romans were as far away in time as the ancient Egyptians were to the ancient romans. We have bombs that can decimate entire cities in a fraction of a second. What's changed? A lot.
God bless what you're doing bro!
Always a pleasure, thank you.
Freedom needs FREE WILL to survive. Critical thinking has been replaced with group identifying and the approval of said group. aka not free will. 🤔
Yep
Party politics should be abolished so people argue over issues and not team sports.
People utilize freedom in two different ways.
1. The freedom to do what you want. Achieve your goals. Go places. Do the things you want to do.
2. The freedom to do nothing. I don't have to do that if I don't want to. Do as little as possible and still survive.
Finally. 🙌🏼 been thinking about a post about this also
What a great video, 👍! IT WAKES YOU UP ! Hopefully ~ love and light
I just love how highschool leaves me so physically, mentally, and emotionally drained that I can't reasonably do the things I enjoy. This is made worse by the fact that it already takes up most of the time in my waking hours, anyway.
I am so glad you made this video. I am so tired of hearing right-wingers talk about freedom and liberty. What they never say is that their definitions of those words have little to do with their every-day meanings, the way most of us use them.
I see you don’t value you’re rights or amendments.
I was talking to my friend who has conservative parents about this and he said "Yeah it's kinda funny, for people who constantly talk about freedom and not being told what to do, they sure have a lot of ideas about what other people should and shouldn't be allowed to do."
You've been killing it lately JT, nice job.
This is really good. Thank you.
Love the video, some really good points made! It's important people understand Positive and negative freedoms, if we consider slavery (not wage slavery) then banning slavery deprived slave owners of their right to own people, but given their right to ownership of a person, deprived that person of their basic freedom, slave owners do not have a legitimate right to that freedom. It's the same as free speech, the right uses its free speech to control the speech of minorities and then cries foul when they are told that hate speech can't legitimately be considered free speech.
I think the greatest irony is the right co-opting the work of George Orwell, the amount of times the cry Orwellian, because of some aspects of society they don't like and they are directly exhibiting the behaviours they quote without understanding his work as a critique of higherachy and coercion.
Is it ironic? Orwell's most famous works are explicitly anticommunist caricatures of the USSR. The dude was a snitch who worked for the UK's foreign office and literally sent a list to the British government outing people who he thought were leftist. The Animal Farm movie was literally commissioned by the CIA, for reasons I'm sure you can imagine lol.
@@guy-sl3kr I don't think that animal farm is an unfair analysis of the USSR. It was an attack on authoritarianism which is what the Communist party became under Stalin. 1984 was also a criticism of authoritianism, which I don't recognise as a characteristic of the left, forever wars, hatred of the others, nationalism, surveillance, compliance with social norms is what I see in modern capitalism, especially in America, where a gay couple can't get married, immigrants are described like plague, Facebook keeps tabs on people, people pushing for schools to make kids say the pledge of allegiance. If you read road to Wigan pier, he does say that he doesn't really get on with middle class socialists because he prefers the working class, but given that he also went to Spain to fight with socialists there against facists, so I don't think he was right wing if that's what you think.
@@imemineph Define "authoritarianism" because what the USSR was doing was leagues better than what any western country was. You do know that it was Stalin who led the fight against Hitler during WWII, right?
Yes, Orwell was right wing. Fighting alongside socialists in Spain doesn't absolve him of everything he did afterwards. I don't know about you, but a person who spends most of their adult life castigating a country that is trying to realize socialism doesn't sound like someone who "prefers the working class".
I think it's worth mentioning that the information on socialism (and socialist countries) that is publicized in western countries is heavily, purposefully, distorted. The CIA funded Animal Farm movie I mentioned is frequently shown in public schools, as an example.
@@guy-sl3kr yeah totally agree, the propaganda against socialist countries is insane, it's hard to know what to believe about China, my girlfriend lived in Hong Kong and saw first hand how anti China protestors get handled/disappeared.
With regards to Russia, I'm sick of explaining to right wing people that as scary as the word gulag is it's the same as a prison and America has plenty of those, Inc Guantanamo bay, it's hard though to ignore the fact that Trotsky was offed when it suited Stalin, a fate that befell the other 2 socialist factions. They also withheld food from their citizens, I'm not saying they were worse than western capitalist cultures, I just don't think they reflect the kind of society I want to live in.
So yeah your question, the Soviets didn't have democracy, I know we have the illusion of democracy so we are no better but I consider that authoritarian, suppression of political rivals, army being used as a police force against your own people, all in all we don't have to pick between capitalism and Stalinism which is good, but the right frame it as a binary choice.
@@guy-sl3kr achievements of the USSR are exaggerated at times. But I will agree that it was in a far better shape than the rest of Europe post-ww2
12:30 (ish) Dang straight brother! The main reason I hate capitalism is that it is entirely apposed to freedom; which is amongst my most highly valued concepts. Like, I am driven to be free to a fault, and in an effort to not be enslaved (for lack of a better word) I'm more than willing to self destruct.
If you don't exist you won't be free. We just need to form a world where everyone work together to improve each other's lives.
Being able to trade with whoever you like is the epitome of freedom though. Restricting that would by definition be restricting people's freedom. You can be ok with that, but don't try to pass it off as freedom when it isn't. Capitalism is what lead to the greatest period of economic growth in all of human history. Look at the city of Shenzhen before and after China introduced Capitalism to their country. Shenzhen went from a small fishing village of 20,000 people to one of the biggest cities in the world over the course of 30-40 years. That is an economic miracle. Tell me how it wasn't the introduction of free trade that caused that.
@@cornheadahh yeah but talking about one fishing village expanding is a useless waste of time just cause a village expanded into a city doesn't mean capitalism is good also that population growth had to come from somewhere meaning that people had to move to this place because they where strapped on cash potentialy
@@cornheadahh China is market Socialist not capitalist, if you want to see the success of capitalism go to India lol.
Also Shenzhen specifically was called a demonstration zone for Socialism, love how capitalist always try to take credit for Socialist success and policies.
Also trade exists in both systems.
@@milesdunstan-daams9162
Damn, that made no sense, LOL.
This channel sums up a lot of the thoughts I've had but could not express in a coherent way.
I forgot to say, I find your videos very interesting and this one in particular goes really to the core of the subject! Good work!
The more I learn about Politics the less I associate Freedom with the Right
As an engineering student this is all I want. For my friends and I to enjoy playing dnd when we want to while I can also enjoy helping design and build the infrastructure for fellow human kind. I hate this profit motive. I hate how it takes an engineering degree for the economic freedom of being able to afford an emergency bill or leaving this country.
I wish we can just switch to a Resource-Based Economy so that you can operate the machines that are meant to build the infrastructures needed for our people. Therefore, you can enjoy playing DnD with your friends all you want, until you are notified to fix the said machine when it is not working properly. However, that's just me and my vision for the future.
I wish you the best with your studies and the completion of your degree!
@@aganib4506 this
a lot of people (and i mean a lot) would simply not take 4 years of school to learn to be an engineer
if they will have the same quality of life as someone who sits and home and plays video games.
i wanna go into engineering but i would not go into school and have that stress for literally 0 benefit to me.
a full on socialist everyones 100% equal would make millions of people just not want to work. most people are selfish and could care less about society.
Commenting for the algorithm! Thx for the video!
Thank you for watching!
Thank you, as always for your awe4some videos! :-) xx
Im glad i actually got a notification that you posted this, does it seem to others as it seems to me that schools have such "boring" and "surface depth only" civics and social studys coarses and teachers that dont have enough time to get there students to comprehend at all.
Feels intentional by design because if the students did understand, the the powers the be would be toppled? for one feel like if it where not for SecondThought, i still would not understand.....im 31 and for the first time in my life i have had the wool pulled from infront of my eyes and all the people arround me just run away as soon as i say "this tought me what all the years of school couldnt."
Please keep this going. if i had a dollar to pledge i would, but im homeless and cant even get enough money to get a photo ID made in Oklahoma so that i can try to even get a job.......
I Wish you had been my teacher in school when i was taught about politics and government.
The sheer amount of right wing smoothbrains in this comment section
Thanks for doing what you do, comrade
Your content is always incredibly thought out and well-written, but I think this video is one of your better ones. It ties all of the concepts discussed together and really gets to the heart of people's understandings of their priorities and motivations in life. It takes exposure to such ideas of freedom and liberty to dream of and create a better world.
One of the few people talking about the capitalistic dystopia that the world has devolved into. I'm thankful for this voice of reason in a time of such deceit. The world is warped beyond reasonable belief and so few actually look up from the misery of their own bubble to see how better things could be or how terrible things already are.
@@balleraap007 that's not how this works. That is not how any of this works.
"In its place, economic self interest became cloaked in the value of freedom. To be free was to be successful, to mind your own business, not to achieve political equality or break down structural impediments to your freedom with the power of the collective. That was no longer an acceptable definition of freedom."
That hit hard.
one of your best episodes!
Your vids are always great but this was an especially good one. Really enjoyed this breakdown
8:09 As an indonesian, i didnt even know we define political liberty this way. I guess i fell asleep during this lesson in highschool LMAO.
As always, keep up the good work
Pls will you make a video about socialism in europe becouse its very important so we wont make same fails like before and also you can make a video about political system you would prefer like wich rules there would be how the state would work and other things becouse we need more information then opinions sry for pissing everyone off
With the recent Election of the Communist Party in Austria-Graz things sure are getting spicy huh
+1. I'd really love to know why the communism period in Romania was "so bad". And if any capitalist country declared economic warfare on us like USA does on Cuba. I cannot find any concrate details on that.
Are you french? Because I read your comment in a french accent and don't know why
European communists nowadays seem to focus much more on democracy than in the past, to prevent hierarchies of power from being replicated. They are also internationalists, which is opposed to Stalin's central ideology which dominated the USSR for so long.
Europe isn't socialist. It is social democratic.
This was a really good one, thanks!
I applaud the work and effort you put into your videos. It is really really good! I learn so much from you.
This video is so good, I'm going to watch & listen again! The myth that Republicans & Conservatives (Coerceatives) represent freedom has grated on me for at least 6 decades! It really *is* a matter of 'Engineering Consent', Orwellian at best!
it doesn't even make sense like america never would have been a country if the conservatives had their way lol
Orwell's work was a metaphor for the Soviet Union, not the political right.
@@44excaliburGeorge Orwell was a Lefty who tore into Reich Wing totalitarians like the Radical Republicans. Don't try to twist history!
@@SIMKINETICS You need to learn your history. Orwell considered himself a Democratic Socialist, but his novels, Animal Farm and 1984, were allegories for the Soviet Union, which was a left wing totalitarian regime. Orwell wrote his books to both criticize Communism and to warn his colleagues on the left that they were “playing with fire" when it came to their positions on the Soviet Union. You're really dumb, aren't you?
@@44excalibur You don't know the difference between Communism and Socialism, and you have the nerve to call me dumb. I stated that Orwell was a Lefty (FYI, Social Democrats are also Left). I knew Orwell parodied the Soviets likely before you were born, you arrogant & presumptuous twit! He also fought Fascists and ridiculed them as well. You're stuck in a logic failure, a false dichotomy that denies the fact that 2 ideologies can both be 'left', and their proponents can criticize each other.
Pay attention!