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Agree or disagree? (Original Post) True Dough Thursday OP
Hard agree DemocratSinceBirth Thursday #1
That's basic Humanity Jerry2144 Thursday #2
How could anyone disagree? William769 Thursday #3
Those who disagree... GiqueCee Thursday #4
👍 claudette Thursday #5
Trump: "I want every advantage over my fellow man, and if he is weaker than I, all the more reason to destroy him." sop Thursday #6
Exactly. ShazzieB Thursday #37
I think Trump wrote something similar in 'The Art of the Deal.' sop Thursday #43
Debs ran for the presidency while in prison Buzz cook Thursday #7
Good one! keithbvadu2 Thursday #9
Debs got about one million votes while in prison. Shipwack Thursday #38
Agree 100% geardaddy Thursday #8
Agree malaise Thursday #10
Agree. ancianita Thursday #11
Of course seta1950 Thursday #12
Absolutely agree. LoisB Thursday #13
Of course...that's how I was raised...👍 MiHale Thursday #14
Agree. debm55 Thursday #15
Eugene Debbs was way ahead of his time. nt Javaman Thursday #16
Agree Picaro Thursday #17
Debs was a giant. Sailingfish Thursday #18
We are still fighting the battle soldierant Thursday #48
Agree. Magoo48 Thursday #19
Debs is the one felon I agree with on so many fronts - TBF Thursday #20
Life is like an escalator SARose Thursday #21
Absolutely. As Charles Dickens pointed out bronxiteforever Thursday #22
absolutely agree gopiscrap Thursday #23
Agree, and history dcweed Thursday #24
Thumbs up. NoMoreRepugs Thursday #25
Agree... NT bee_peaceful Thursday #26
Agreed Mblaze Thursday #27
Total agreement from Red Kansas...nt wcmagumba Thursday #28
Agree. brush Thursday #29
Definitely agree FoxNewsSucks Thursday #30
That's how I was brought up. To believe that if you are blessed with strength, should use it for helping weaker people Walleye Thursday #31
Yes, agree Wild blueberry Thursday #32
That depends on who this "fellow man" is. A follow-up question: JustABozoOnThisBus Thursday #33
Rollingstones Bluethroughu Thursday #36
That's pretty woke rambler_american Thursday #34
Damn rights! True Dough Thursday #46
AGREE!!! Bluethroughu Thursday #35
Every student should learn about him duhneece Thursday #39
Yes Codifer Thursday #40
Every student should learn about Eugene Debs duhneece Thursday #41
Strongly agree....... WestCoastDem42 Thursday #42
Capitalize on taking from the weak, or, Festivito Thursday #44
Patient Mother: "We are put on this Earth to help others." Beartracks Thursday #45
Fully agree! (n/t) OldBaldy1701E Thursday #47
Agree. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. patphil Thursday #49
Welcome to 2025, where that would be called "woke" ck4829 Thursday #50
Agreed! I'm even keeping that quote for further use. calimary Thursday #51
Agree stage left Thursday #52
So, e.g., should everyone who wants to make the trip to the Moon snot Thursday #53
Agree. H2O Man Thursday #54
I agree, but Pototan Thursday #55
Basic Human Compassion Baron2024 Thursday #56
My family had a connection with Eugene Debs. summer_in_TX Friday #57
Absolutely agree gademocrat7 Friday #58
Yes! Ohioboy Friday #59
yes! bluboid Friday #60
Yes! Clouds Passing Friday #61

GiqueCee

(1,592 posts)
4. Those who disagree...
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 11:39 AM
Thursday

... are the same people that vilify "woke", without knowing what it means and DEI because they do. In short, people with whom I would not shake hands before I'd had the shots.

sop

(11,955 posts)
6. Trump: "I want every advantage over my fellow man, and if he is weaker than I, all the more reason to destroy him."
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 11:49 AM
Thursday

sop

(11,955 posts)
43. I think Trump wrote something similar in 'The Art of the Deal.'
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 04:00 PM
Thursday

Or maybe he offered it as business advice during one of 'The Apprentice' episodes, just before telling someone "you're fired!"

ancianita

(39,093 posts)
11. Agree.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 12:14 PM
Thursday

This is what makes Democrats different from Republicans who themselves, in the main, want only money and power or to serve those with money and power, and care nothing for the poor, the sick, the widows, the orphans, and the children.

Sailingfish

(8 posts)
18. Debs was a giant.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 12:40 PM
Thursday

Overly optimistic in his visions of the class consciousness and the direction of the working class in the US, but a giant in agitating for workers and labor nonetheless. The authoritarianism and totalitarianism of "actually existing socialist" governments and experiments didn't help matters, but his words and agitation should haunt the souls of anyone still dedicated to business as usual and the current relationship between capital and labor.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs



soldierant

(8,093 posts)
48. We are still fighting the battle
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:47 PM
Thursday

with leftist government being authoritarian and scaring people. Even if the governmanr is not actually leftist at all. Russia admitted when the Soviet Union broke up that its government was no longer Communist, but many people, including many Democrats, appear to still believe it is. It might help if we could all stop referring to "Comrade Putin."

But I don't know how we can expect people to know any better without learning about The Political Compass.(thepoliticalcompass dot org.) In the eighties there was a short period when we started to get close to getting it when we started talking about "fiscally" and "socially" liberal or conservative positions. that at least got the point across that there were differences between economic positions and autocracy as opposed to democracy. But even that has been gone for a long time.

TBF

(34,873 posts)
20. Debs is the one felon I agree with on so many fronts -
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 12:46 PM
Thursday

and of course, w/this statement. He ran for president from jail under the socialist party and received nearly a million votes. I guess it helps me understand how supporters of Trump feel about him: they completely support everything he is doing. But that is probably the only similarity between Debs and Trump - actually being convicted of crimes. In terms of how they view the average person the gulf couldn't be wider. It is going to be a long four (or however many) years.

SARose

(1,004 posts)
21. Life is like an escalator
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 12:47 PM
Thursday

Each one stands on a step with their hand held up and down. Up to progress and mobility above and down to the hungry, marginalized and hopeless below. This is what it means to be an American. My Dad.



bronxiteforever

(9,651 posts)
22. Absolutely. As Charles Dickens pointed out
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 12:48 PM
Thursday

The failure to look after the weak will eventually lead to the destruction of both the powerful and the weak.
FDR knew that lesson and saved the country from Revolution while building the safety net.

dcweed

(21 posts)
24. Agree, and history
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 01:14 PM
Thursday

As the great-grandson of a man who;
A] was Debs jailer in 1894, and
B] attended Debs speeches as a Socialist in the 1907,
I fully agree.
W

Mblaze

(452 posts)
27. Agreed
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 01:50 PM
Thursday

Modern American "Prosperity Gospel" Christians have shitcanned that teaching of the Psalms and of Jesus Christ. They are ravening wolves in sheep's clothing.

Psalm 41-1
"Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble"

Acts 20:35:
“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Paul
"We then, who are strong, ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves."



Walleye

(36,903 posts)
31. That's how I was brought up. To believe that if you are blessed with strength, should use it for helping weaker people
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 01:53 PM
Thursday

I think that’s kind of the essence of Christianity. Also the good old American belief in fair play.

JustABozoOnThisBus

(23,882 posts)
33. That depends on who this "fellow man" is. A follow-up question:
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 02:13 PM
Thursday

If you were on a boat with a life preserver, and a certain felonious president-elect were in the water calling for help, what would you play on your phone, Beatles or Stones?

Bluethroughu

(6,205 posts)
36. Rollingstones
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 02:27 PM
Thursday

I ain't got no...


"Sympathy for the devil"...

As I sprayed him in the face with my boat wake!

Festivito

(13,629 posts)
44. Capitalize on taking from the weak, or,
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 04:10 PM
Thursday

Capitalize by investing in friends.

The latter is the better ladder.

Beartracks

(13,646 posts)
45. Patient Mother: "We are put on this Earth to help others."
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:14 PM
Thursday

Little Johnny: "Well... Then what are the others here for?"



====================

patphil

(7,224 posts)
49. Agree. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:49 PM
Thursday

We need to help the ones who have trouble helping themselves.
Bootstraps be damned.

calimary

(84,873 posts)
51. Agreed! I'm even keeping that quote for further use.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 06:05 PM
Thursday

Our Call to Action” email that my Indivisible group issues every week always starts with a quote. This one’s good!

snot

(10,917 posts)
53. So, e.g., should everyone who wants to make the trip to the Moon
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 07:38 PM
Thursday

be sent, regardless of their qualifications?

I agree with Debs insofar as, right now, our society treats too many desirable things as if there's one pie that can only be divided so many ways, when in fact, if the proper reforms were made, the pie itself could grow so as to allow more people to enjoy it. I do believe, e.g., that everyone who wants a college education should have an opportunity to get the best one they're capable of attaining, with the costs borne by the state.

But there ARE some things that we can't at present grow more of or successfully scale up, no matter how we reformed our systems. In that case, I think a rational and reasonably humane argument can be made for allocating limited supplies of desirable things based on hopefully-mutually-agreed criteria, such as who actually wants or needs a particular limited good the most, who happens to have the particular talents or whatever that would enable them to make the best use of the limited good, etc.

I'm a fan of Debs, but the particular formulation in the O.P. strikes me as too simplistic.

Baron2024

(330 posts)
56. Basic Human Compassion
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 08:46 PM
Thursday

Basic human compassion is the most important thing in the world. Human beings who do not have it are the source of most of our problems. I really think that many MAGAs have personality disorders and a lack of empathy. People like that seek power because they love only themselves, want power and wealth, and enjoy hurting others. People like that do not belong in charge. Many of them should probably be removed from society.

summer_in_TX

(3,372 posts)
57. My family had a connection with Eugene Debs.
Fri Jan 17, 2025, 12:40 AM
Friday

My great grandfather and great grandmother, good Austin liberals way back then, hosted Debs in their home when he came to town to speak and organize.

My mom's side of the family became more moderate over time, from full-on socialists to liberal democrats. Dad, on the other hand, was a Bernie fan.

Clouds Passing

(3,206 posts)
61. Yes!
Fri Jan 17, 2025, 11:25 AM
Friday

We are all born onto this earth equally, we are all deserving of the resources of this world equally. No one being is deserving of more than any other being.

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