The Eugene Debs Syndrome

The Evening Bulletin ^ | 11/02/2006 | Michael P. Tremoglie

[MNJohnnie]

Great post

[AnAmericanMother]

Here's the major difference between Kerry and Gene Debs.

Everybody LIKED Gene Debs, even the warden of the Atlanta Federal Pen (who was Gene's host during WWI.) He was a warm-hearted man who actually believed what he said, even though he was wrong.

Unlike that wannabe upper class twit Kerry.

[DBrow]

What a coincidence that John Kerry should have similar views to a famous socialist when it comes to the military.

[MPJackal]

Something that no one seems to have mentioned is that the military is about 75% Republican (conservative). The dems know that and hate the military because of it. So kerry's statement fits the dems mantra about conservatives as well......stupid, ignorant hicks.

Of course it is a lie, like everything else spewed from the mouth of the demmies.

[x]

After all, as previously mentioned, this concept that the military is comprised of ignorant slobs did not originate with Kerry.

Was Debs really saying that? Was that his concept of the "working class"? And if Debs and Kerry were saying the same thing, is it really "the same thing" in the mouth of a labor leader and an Ivy League yuppie gigolo?

What Debs was saying would have resonated a lot with immigrant laborers who'd come here from Europe, where they probably didn't have any say in whether their countries went to war or not. The problem wasn't that the upper classes didn't want to fight and weren't willing to put their lives on the line -- some nobles could be quite bellicose -- but that humbler people didn't have a choice.

Debs's view doesn't fit the American experience so well, but it still resonates with a lot of people whose parents or grandparents may have come here to escape conscription in Europe's wars.

[Reo]

"The idea that those in the military are losers -

Of course the libs think this way. The only military men they know are Kerry, Cleland & Clark.....losers all.

[Alouette]

one of the first people to make this claim was the founder of the Socialist Party of America, Eugene Debs, who made this claim during World War I.

The same claim was made during the Civil War, that the Union Army was full of German and Irish immigrants, and the Confederate Army was full of poor whites (who owned fewer than 20 slaves). "Rich man's war, poor man's fight."

[ClearCase_guy]

The old socialist/Marxist line on war was that war is declared by the Rich but fought by the Poor. Debs was on traditional leftist ground when he said that the laboring classes were dying in the trenches, but the benefits of war would go to the Capitalists. The socialist view is that the workers should wake up and refuse to fight wars that do harm to the workers of the world. Put succinctly, this view is summed up in the old college poster:

"What if they gave a war and nobody came?"

John Kerry may not want to articulate this traditional Leftist view of international conflict, but he is clearly the heir to the tradition. There is real continuity between the thinking of Debs and the utterance of Kerry. The real difference is that Debs respected the workers (he was one) and Kerry clearly does not.

The Left has not changed. Same as it ever way (only more hypocritical).

[chesley]

Unlike the world portrayed in Robert Heinlein's great novel Starship Troopers, American citizenship is not contingent upon military service.

I loved the book. It was the first real science fiction novel I ever read, and it made me a life-long fan.

What a travesty the movie was, playing into the fascist stereotypes of the brain-dead leftists.

[headsonpikes]

Kerry suffers greatly by comparison to Eugene Debs, who for all his short-bus lefty delusions was rarely known to flip-flop.

Kerry's got the short-bus delusions down pat, but in terms of personal character Kerry falls short.

On the other hand, Debs was never in 'Nam.

[dfwgator]

Debs in that pic looks a lot like his hero, Lenin.

[ichabod1]

Yeah, that attitude allowed the Russian Revolution to succeed.

[ichabod1]

I'm sorry, I mean bolshevik revolution.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Though I am no fan of Eugene V. Debs, I wish to point out that Debs at least claimed to represent the people who made up the military and acknowledged their sacrifices. Today's elite Left dismisses them and their sacrifices entirely.

[cf_river_rat]

Awesome. Permanent link material right here.

[old_sage_says]

Down 31) Socialist candidate Eugene

That was the clue in my local paper's crossword puzzle, today.

[Miami Vice]

Tremoglie is a great writer. You should buy his novel A Sense of Duty.
It is the antidote to the liberalism that exists in novels and movies and songs and TV shows.

It is shame there is no such thing as an award for conservative fiction or politically incorrect novels it would win.

[Miami Vice]

Great piece about Kerry in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, Debs was certainly misguided (in his defense, I don't think he ever met ol' Vladimir and certainly had no idea what the man was really up to.)

Debs at least was sincerely motivated (like so many deluded Americans who thought socialism was the cure for the excesses of the Gilded Age) to do what he thought was best for the ordinary American. He was essentially a kind person trying to do right, though he went horribly wrong.

Kerry just despises "ordinary Americans" and thinks he is SO much better than everybody else. He's not interested in helping anybody but himself.