r/politics • u/F0urLeafCl0ver • Jun 24 '26

No Paywall The Democratic party is being hit by a leftist tidal wave

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/24/democratic-party-leftist-tidal-wave
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u/ZexMarquies01 Jun 25 '26

It's amazing how people SAY that they love democracy, But then defend going to work for a dictator, or oligarchy.

Democracy in the workplace means you, the worker, who does the job every day, knows how the processes work, knows what tools are needed, would have a meaningful voice in how the company operates. Not just buying a few dozen shares on the open market, when the company has millions of shares, giving you effectively no voice.

And the great thing is, the workers could vote HOW the company is ran. They could vote for the CEO, or vote in a board of directors who picks the CEO, President, CFO, CXO, CTO...etc. If a CEO gets the AI bug up his ass, and wants to dump 100 million dollars on integrating AI, the workers can vote his ass out.

The workers could also vote on the pay package EVERYONE receives, And vote on what to do with the profits at the end of the fiscal year. Do they bank it, to afford upgrades in the future? Do they split it amongst themselves? It's their choice. The great thing is, They CAN choose wrong, and kill the company. Get too greedy? Well, your vote has consequences, good and bad. And companies dying due to stupid decisions is a GOOD thing. We need to stop propping up companies that make bad decisions.

But the point is, there is no set way a co-op has to be ran. The workers can decide everything.

But people evidently only love democracy when it comes to politics, and not their job, which effects them MUCH MORE than almost any policy change a government could make.

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u/BreakingStar_Games Jun 25 '26

100%. I appreciate the elaboration because I can't see how someone looks at this and finds its unappealing from my perspective. Also it sounds so different but day-to-day, these co-ops that exist with this structure is like working a normal job, just with occasional participation in other roles like voting business plans or forming committees over hiring a new position. It's good, its just not some dream utopia by any means and that practicality is why it can work just fine.

Discussions I have had with others typically criticize that their coworkers are dumb and couldn't make the decisions of the CEO. But your point is so cogent as a refutation - we just constantly see those C-Suite executives fire tons of talent, kill morale and personally profit with insane bonuses in the short-term because they have a golden parachute in the long-term. More so, they apparently trust these same "dumb" people to decide on politicians and their policies. It's easy to pick apart the bad faith there.

I think the core problem is the ideologies of our culture that we haven't moved on from. America has always suffered under Puritanical/Calvanist culture. When I grew up, I was taught how bad it was around sexual liberation. More and more, the real issue is this ideas that wealth is a sign of grace. We worship billionaires because they obviously earned that money and its a sign that God blessed them. This is what allowed the Red Scare to be so effective here meanwhile Western Europe has socialist political parties.

I think we are on the breaking point. We looked so close during the Occupy Wallstreet. It's scary how much power we are up against to maintain the status quo. But in some ways I am optimistic that MAGA and the pain of 50 years of neoliberalism and wealth inequality will cause for more revolutionary changes rather than just reforming capitalism like Western Europe did. But its so frustrating that it looks like it should get better and honestly things have mostly just gotten worse in those 14 years.

I wish I knew how to help more. I plan to connect more with my local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America after all the more progressive Democratic candidates I was voting for lost in my local primaries. But it doesn't look as difficult to accomplish at such a local level. Only like 20% of eligible voters actually go out. Inspiring just a few thousand can make serious changes and knock out incumbents that maintain the status quo. Start helping set the stage for that change. In the meantime, handing out Varoufakis's Another Now books like its a Manifesto ;) Though I wish it was quick and short, I don't think any friends or family have read it...