Students for a Democratic Society

[SpyridonOCA]

Those who love freedom and individual rights should oppose all forms of collectivism, including socialism, communism, and fascism. The original Students for a Democratic Society was founded by the children of Communist Party members and ultimately devolved into a terrorist organization. I sincerely doubt that its latest incarnation is any better than the original.

 

[Verv]

I agree. It is one of those organizations that believes in 'democracy...' But a very strict version where they know what is best for you, and without them, you are brainwashed.

We learned some phrase a long time ago in gov't class, something that meant "democracy where choices are limited so as to guide the people properly."

It reminds me of the elections they have in China or North Korea:

"So, the Party decides the big leaders... You decide the mayors and your representatives! And they are all members of our Party already! Isn't that great?!"

 

[Voegelin]

At Yale Law, Hillary Clinton was on the opposite side of the SDS. She wasn't considered a radical. But the debate was not over goals so much as tactics. SDS, as we saw with the Weathermen spin-off, wanted action in the streets. The "moderate" leftists at Yale thought the best way to gain power was to rise in the institutions of government, education and popular culture.

We know who won that argument.

 

[celticfan83]

We know who won that argument.

You mean we know who you believe won the argument

 

[icedtea]

SDS is back? When were they a terrorist org?

 

[Steezie]

Kids have nightmares about monsters, adults have nightmares about Socialism.

If the vast majority of people even UNDERSTOOD Socialism they'd probably worry about something else.

 

[SpyridonOCA]

Kids have nightmares about monsters, adults have nightmares about Socialism.

If the vast majority of people even UNDERSTOOD Socialism they'd probably worry about something else.

Hayek’s central thesis is that all forms of collectivism lead logically and inevitably to tyranny, and he used the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of countries which had gone down “the road to serfdom” and reached tyranny. Hayek argued that within a centrally planned economic system, the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group, which would be incapable of processing all the information pertinent to the appropriate distribution of the resources and goods at the central planners’ disposal. Disagreement about the practical implementation of any economic plan combined with the inadequacy of the central planners’ resource management would invariably necessitate coercion in order for anything to be achieved. Hayek further argued that the failure of central planning would be perceived by the public as an absence of sufficient power by the state to implement an otherwise good idea. Such a perception would lead the public to vote more power to the state, and would assist the rise to power of a “strong man” perceived to be capable of “getting the job done”. After these developments Hayek argued that a country would be ineluctably driven into outright totalitarianism. For Hayek “the road to serfdom” inadvertently set upon by central planning, with its dismantling of the free market system, ends in the destruction of all individual economic and personal freedom.
Hayek argued that countries such as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had already gone down the "road to serfdom", and that various democratic nations are being led down the same road. In The Road to Serfdom he wrote: "The principle that the end justifies the means is in individualist ethics regarded as the denial of all morals. In collectivist ethics it becomes necessarily the supreme rule."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_road_to_serfdom

I believe in freedom, not collectivism.

 

[SpyridonOCA]

SDS is back?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society_(2006_organization)

SDS is back? When were they a terrorist org?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_(organization)

 

[Ringo84]

At Yale Law, Hillary Clinton was on the opposite side of the SDS. She wasn't considered a radical. But the debate was not over goals so much as tactics. SDS, as we saw with the Weathermen spin-off, wanted action in the streets. The "moderate" leftists at Yale thought the best way to gain power was to rise in the institutions of government, education and popular culture.

We know who won that argument.

What, pray tell, does the Op have to do with Hillary?

"All roads lead back to the Clintons, Soros, Media Matters, etc etc etc".
Ringo

 

[Maxwell511]

I agree. It is one of those organizations that believes in 'democracy...' But a very strict version where they know what is best for you, and without them, you are brainwashed.

We learned some phrase a long time ago in gov't class, something that meant "democracy where choices are limited so as to guide the people properly."

It reminds me of the elections they have in China or North Korea:

"So, the Party decides the big leaders... You decide the mayors and your representatives! And they are all members of our Party already! Isn't that great?!"

Personally I am starting to think that this same thing happens in our "proper republics". How much decision making is really left with the people in two party systems?

Although I am insanely Republican (in the political philosophy sense not the US political party sense) and I think that first-past-the-post elections are pro-democratic and anti-representative. Essentially I don't like the UK or US electoral systems as I believe they give an illusion of choice of representative.

 

[icedtea]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society_(2006_organization)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_(organization)

Wikipedia says they are terrorist? I am a member of the Youth International Party, have been since age 10 (1968).
That doesn't fly with me.

 

[Harpuia]

LOL.

BattleCry has a tendency to get a lot more violent, and hold more criteria for terrorists than these guys and the same people who hate SDS would back them in a second.

Maybe they just want to redefine terrorism... you know... as "those that go against our beliefs".

 

[RandyBonnette]

Hello,

Just found an excellent retrospective by Todd Gitlin (Professor of Journalism and Sociology at Columbia University) - What was the protest group Students for a Democratic Society? 5 questions answered: What was the protest group Students for a Democratic Society? 5 questions answered However, there has been a lot of criticism (from Dr TJ Martin mostly) concerning the facts represented in the article. What do you think?
Sorry for reviving the topic, just noticed it's rather an old one.