Reply #96: I'm glad you're not advocating a dictator but you're still pushing an authoritarian mindset. [View All]

[Radical Activist]

It's odd that you accuse me of straw-man arguments considering your heavy use of them in response to me.
If we assume that a person's level of authoritarian ideology can be measured on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being total dictatorship) it's obvious that you're not a 10. But that doesn't make you anti-authoritarian.

The argument in your first thread is that change happens through the President "utilizing the power of the White House." In other words, you're disregarding the power of people's movements that I'm advocating for and suggesting that we focus on having an authoritarian figure use more power on our behalf.

Do you realize that this is how populist dictators come to power? The people hand over their power in the belief that an autocratic leader will force the rest of government/business to carry out their wishes for them.

You wrote "I am speaking of pressuring the Executive to, in his role as the head of the party, pressure members of his own party." That's exactly what every populist dictator has promised to do before abolishing/ignoring the legislative body of their country. Since there's a mountain of evidence that Obama is already pressuring Congress (using the bully pulpit, media appearances, personal calls, etc) them I must conclude that you're wanting the Executive to exercise some greater level of power to overrule Congress that isn't part of our Constitutional framework.

Your authoritarian attitude sounds somewhere between 5-8 on that sliding scale. I'm a 2 or 3. Thankfully Obama doesn't appear to share your viewpoint. He has frequently called for change through popular movements.

You shouldn't accuse me of making a straw-man argument when you're previous comment is still here in this thread. This is what you wrote, playing the martyr:
"I will not stop criticizing violations of the implicit expectation of good-faith efforts by the party to enact policy. In other words, no, I will not shut up when the Democratic Party tries to bullshit me into believing I'm not being sold out."
But no one is telling you to shut up. That's your own straw-man argument. I'm arguing that complaining about one person isn't enough to make change. These comments about not being silenced have become a cliche of people who want to defend their right to criticize without having to defend the validity of their criticism.