Um, no, not really "leftism". The trans stuff you mentioned, which first of all is a little bit blown out of proportion--it's not as if there's a huge concerted movement to turn the majority of school kids into transexuals--is just an identity-politics elevation of a minority (trans folks) to a pedestal out of proportion to their numbers. Call it "wokeness" if you like, but it's not really a true left ideal. (I still remember when Ralph Nader called it all "gonadal politics", something he couldn't get away with today.)
Same with abortion. I happen to be a proponent of the "right to choose", which I realize puts me in opposition to a large swath of the US population; fine. I think the proper perspective on this would be to get the goverment out of the business of dictating what women can and can't do in this area, which would be a libertarian ideal, not a "leftist" one necessarily.
Haven't thought all that much about the whole student-loan thing, so I'll pass on that one.
Regarding the food price issue, it's been pointed out even in the MSM that since the grocery business runs on such slim margins (around 2%), there's really not much opportunity for "price gouging" there, so this will probably turn out to be another nothingburger. Not sure what actual Marxists would do about the situation.
Give some more thought to the student loan biz! We have been teaching "younger" people that they can make commitments and NOT HONOR them. Their Gub-mint will bail them out! It's only fair, right? Fair to everyone except those who did not take out loans and then decide they are too hard to pay back! Who is paying back these loans? We the peeps who already paid ours back! We the peeps who never took out the loans in the first place and went to work in the auto shop, or the plumber's apprentice or the coal mine! For chrissakes- if you're going to dismiss someone's comments- maybe you need to give some thought to what their argument is!!
Well, in fairness I passed on this specific issue, as I haven't thought it through. I don't like to give snap judgments on shit I don't know about, unlike some other people.
What you wrote is persuasive, so I'll put that in my pipe and smoke it.
It's NOT blown out of proportion. In Calif and other states they can take your kids from you abd provide " trans medical care to minors over afe 8. That is in the state LAW. PARENTS objecting. At PTA are being arrested. Yes. And FBI is investigating them as domestic terrorists. Yes. This was on TV with Biden admin.
My college roommate has spent the last five years of her adoptive (correction from previously stated) daughter's life dealing with the trans issue....from 7th through early 12th grade. You just cannot imagine the trials they've been through and the massive numbers of psychs and counselors and teachers who will tell these kids they can be whoever/whatever they want. We're older parents and I point that out because if we had children in our 20s or 30s, we wouldn't even have touched this subject. It's insane. Don't underestimate the pain and the insanity of the far left on this and so many other issues. Taking the rights of parents away? That's down right Marxist.
All I can say is that there are some people, some kids, who have genuine "gender dysphoria" issues. It's a real thing, not something made up by leftist goons to warp the minds and bodies of kids who question their gender identity.
That said, I'm pretty sure that the kind of anguish you described doesn't happen to all that many families; getting to the point of seriously considering SRS (sex reassignment surgery) or anything that radical is NOT common.
That said, if there is any abuse of this kind happening, like giving kids bad medical or psychological advice, then that's a sociological issue, not necessarily a "leftist" one. No leftist that I know from 10-20 years ago would consider this a legitimate part of their political agenda.
As I said, the problem is the artificial and inappropriate elevation of "trans" to some kind of pedestal. like pushing drag shows on communities who are opposed to them.
So far as the rights of parents go, that's quite a problematic issue. What if a gender-questioning kid has parents who aren't at all sympathetic to their suffering, or who see it as some kind of immorality on the part of the kid? Or who are downright abusive because of it? (It happens.) In such cases at least getting the kid to talk to someone--a neutral counselor--outside the family might be the right thing to do. NOT to immediately jump to hormone therapy or SRS or puberty blockers; I think that's been somewhat hysterically pumped up by the "anti-woke" (or just anti-trans) people.
"No leftist that I know from 10-20 years ago would consider this a legitimate part of their political agenda." Ok, George, then why are the lefties promoting it now? Do you see any conservatives promoting it? Not a chance! Clearly it is part of their agenda. Michelle Obama, Biden, Harris and Walz have all raised the same "let kids be who they think they are" crap in their speeches. They are sick as f*ck.
You've made yourself incredibly transparent and for that I applaud you. Parents are hauled into court if their child is truant from school (just ask former DA Kamala Harris who loved prosecuting these cases) but are not allowed to make the decision about their child chopping off their body parts which will for a lifetime require additional surgeries (at whose cost), damage their sex drive and consume their lives for the next 60 years? WPATH is funded primarily by JB Pritzker (the IL Gov who gloated about being a billionaire during his DNC speech last week) and his family. All they care about is making money off of confused kids and parents who are told to comply or their kid will commit suicide.
My friend used therapists for her daughter until she realized that every single one wanted to affirm the "feelings" of a 12 year old. Thank God my friend and her husband never allowed their daughter to take any puberty blockers much less have surgery because at 18, she knows she's a woman and was just a very confused and culturally influenced 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 yo.
If you want your kid to chop off their body parts, go ahead and make that decision for them and live with it for the rest of your life. Keep us posted on how that goes.
Men cannot become women and women cannot become men. Women have XX chromosomes and men have XY chromosomes regardless of how they dress or the plastic surgery they elect to have. Trans will die on the vine after docs and hospitals are sued to oblivion; selfish bastards just looking to make as much money as they can.
There are lots of resources out there to inform yourself which I suggest you do, especially since this is a platform of your party.
Um, no, not really "leftism". The trans stuff you mentioned, which first of all is a little bit blown out of proportion--it's not as if there's a huge concerted movement to turn the majority of school kids into transexuals--is just an identity-politics elevation of a minority (trans folks) to a pedestal out of proportion to their numbers. Call it "wokeness" if you like, but it's not really a true left ideal. (I still remember when Ralph Nader called it all "gonadal politics", something he couldn't get away with today.)
Same with abortion. I happen to be a proponent of the "right to choose", which I realize puts me in opposition to a large swath of the US population; fine. I think the proper perspective on this would be to get the goverment out of the business of dictating what women can and can't do in this area, which would be a libertarian ideal, not a "leftist" one necessarily.
Haven't thought all that much about the whole student-loan thing, so I'll pass on that one.
Regarding the food price issue, it's been pointed out even in the MSM that since the grocery business runs on such slim margins (around 2%), there's really not much opportunity for "price gouging" there, so this will probably turn out to be another nothingburger. Not sure what actual Marxists would do about the situation.
Give some more thought to the student loan biz! We have been teaching "younger" people that they can make commitments and NOT HONOR them. Their Gub-mint will bail them out! It's only fair, right? Fair to everyone except those who did not take out loans and then decide they are too hard to pay back! Who is paying back these loans? We the peeps who already paid ours back! We the peeps who never took out the loans in the first place and went to work in the auto shop, or the plumber's apprentice or the coal mine! For chrissakes- if you're going to dismiss someone's comments- maybe you need to give some thought to what their argument is!!
Well, in fairness I passed on this specific issue, as I haven't thought it through. I don't like to give snap judgments on shit I don't know about, unlike some other people.
What you wrote is persuasive, so I'll put that in my pipe and smoke it.
It's NOT blown out of proportion. In Calif and other states they can take your kids from you abd provide " trans medical care to minors over afe 8. That is in the state LAW. PARENTS objecting. At PTA are being arrested. Yes. And FBI is investigating them as domestic terrorists. Yes. This was on TV with Biden admin.
My college roommate has spent the last five years of her adoptive (correction from previously stated) daughter's life dealing with the trans issue....from 7th through early 12th grade. You just cannot imagine the trials they've been through and the massive numbers of psychs and counselors and teachers who will tell these kids they can be whoever/whatever they want. We're older parents and I point that out because if we had children in our 20s or 30s, we wouldn't even have touched this subject. It's insane. Don't underestimate the pain and the insanity of the far left on this and so many other issues. Taking the rights of parents away? That's down right Marxist.
All I can say is that there are some people, some kids, who have genuine "gender dysphoria" issues. It's a real thing, not something made up by leftist goons to warp the minds and bodies of kids who question their gender identity.
That said, I'm pretty sure that the kind of anguish you described doesn't happen to all that many families; getting to the point of seriously considering SRS (sex reassignment surgery) or anything that radical is NOT common.
That said, if there is any abuse of this kind happening, like giving kids bad medical or psychological advice, then that's a sociological issue, not necessarily a "leftist" one. No leftist that I know from 10-20 years ago would consider this a legitimate part of their political agenda.
As I said, the problem is the artificial and inappropriate elevation of "trans" to some kind of pedestal. like pushing drag shows on communities who are opposed to them.
So far as the rights of parents go, that's quite a problematic issue. What if a gender-questioning kid has parents who aren't at all sympathetic to their suffering, or who see it as some kind of immorality on the part of the kid? Or who are downright abusive because of it? (It happens.) In such cases at least getting the kid to talk to someone--a neutral counselor--outside the family might be the right thing to do. NOT to immediately jump to hormone therapy or SRS or puberty blockers; I think that's been somewhat hysterically pumped up by the "anti-woke" (or just anti-trans) people.
"No leftist that I know from 10-20 years ago would consider this a legitimate part of their political agenda." Ok, George, then why are the lefties promoting it now? Do you see any conservatives promoting it? Not a chance! Clearly it is part of their agenda. Michelle Obama, Biden, Harris and Walz have all raised the same "let kids be who they think they are" crap in their speeches. They are sick as f*ck.
You've made yourself incredibly transparent and for that I applaud you. Parents are hauled into court if their child is truant from school (just ask former DA Kamala Harris who loved prosecuting these cases) but are not allowed to make the decision about their child chopping off their body parts which will for a lifetime require additional surgeries (at whose cost), damage their sex drive and consume their lives for the next 60 years? WPATH is funded primarily by JB Pritzker (the IL Gov who gloated about being a billionaire during his DNC speech last week) and his family. All they care about is making money off of confused kids and parents who are told to comply or their kid will commit suicide.
My friend used therapists for her daughter until she realized that every single one wanted to affirm the "feelings" of a 12 year old. Thank God my friend and her husband never allowed their daughter to take any puberty blockers much less have surgery because at 18, she knows she's a woman and was just a very confused and culturally influenced 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 yo.
If you want your kid to chop off their body parts, go ahead and make that decision for them and live with it for the rest of your life. Keep us posted on how that goes.
Men cannot become women and women cannot become men. Women have XX chromosomes and men have XY chromosomes regardless of how they dress or the plastic surgery they elect to have. Trans will die on the vine after docs and hospitals are sued to oblivion; selfish bastards just looking to make as much money as they can.
There are lots of resources out there to inform yourself which I suggest you do, especially since this is a platform of your party.