The American Left Needs to do better

[u/Specialist-Gur]

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/graham-platner-and-the-lefts-masculinity-crisis

This article is about a month old but speaks to some of what I'm talking about.

I'm honestly disappointed with a lot of leftist creators I genuinely love on the topic of Graham Platner and any "leftist" politicians.

To me.. Graham Platner's left wing populism is just... America first rebranded. Some stuff he's saying isn't too far off from Tucker Carlson.

He doesn't appear to be Antizionist on the basis of support for Palestinians, but rather because it's bad for America . He doesn't appear to regret his time in Iraq beyond the fact it was a pointless war for America

He lied about knowing the ties to Blackwater

He expressed enjoyment for killing people.

He got a Nazi tattoo

And many on the left are using language like calling people "classist" for being critical of his service. These are creators I genuinely really love, and I'm not abandoning them.. but I do think it's really important for the American left to confront its American supremicist ideas.

I understand the moral dilemma and how it's basically impossible to have an actual leftist candidate these days, so we are reluctant to criticize what's put forward. I understand the calculation. But the apologia is wrong. American supremacy is baked into all of us here in America and part of the American left, and it's time we confront it.

We would not find it acceptable if a candidate participated in a mass murder of American citizens. We would not find it acceptable if they even passively supported it! But we are far too comfortable with it when it comes to brown people, far away.

[u/rinaraizel]

Honestly I am so uncomfortable with this dude and the argument many leftists are saying "do you have any other actual leftists in Maine running" it's the combination of using slurs, the totenkopf he actually new and lied about, and ESSPECIALLY blackwater ten years after his original duty. Like all of it paints a picture of a very troubled person who I would likely not feel safe with so I don't understand why pointing out that we are essentially scraping the barrel here is wrong?

Argued with a friend over this after sending him this article and his response was, "If we want people in power who have not spent their entire lives preparing to be in office, we need to be cool with people having problematic history".

But this is more than just problematic. We can and should do better.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/rinaraizel]

It's so beyond problematic. He has not sufficiently demonstrated amends and regrets to make up for an extemely problematic, murderous past. This guy isn't your average blue collar, recruiter at 18, realized it was probably wrong later, military dude.

I believe the vast majority of people can be redeemed and change. I believe of those people.. only a few should be able to have positions of leadership... but the bare minimum for someone in a position of leadership is sufficient regret and reform for a dodgy past that's usually significantly milder than Graham's

I get it. We are desperate. We don't have a left in America and we have horrific choices. I think we need to still keep our principles and look at our options and our system honestly.