Accelerationism

I am an “accelerationist”. It is a newer term from what I understand of it, one in which people like me are willing to completely fire sale our elections in order to create the situation where things are so dire, that people are forced to reevaluate their positions. We are a dangerous lot, you see, we have a candidate we like, we are showing up to vote for the man, and should he fail to make the cut we will sit back idle. You see, we are playing long ball, a phrase a friend uses.

We are playing for the long term goals, which our ideals seek to achieve. Equal rights for all regardless of gender identity, sexual identity, race, and religion. Affordable education, health care, housing, utilities, and something that resembles a standard of living that is not bare basic survival. A country where everyone has the ability to live their life in comfort, without fear of constant debt, the added stress of robbing Peter to pay Paul, while keeping the lights on and food on the table. And to do that, we are willing to gamble.

We are willing to risk the advancements of the last eight years, the rights gained by those in the LGTB communities, those who have gotten a taste of health care. We are willing to allow another GOP president, no matter the harm that it will cause not only to the poor and disenfranchised, but to our own well being. We are willing to live with the blood of innocent victims of war on our hands, we are willing to make that stand, to change this nation, to grab it by the nap of the neck and drag it forward, even if we have to concede the victories we have already acquired.

Like others who post to this blog, I study history. I read history daily, I research it, I study it, I think about it. I see history slowly coming about, repeating, in our nation, we are making the same mistakes that were made a century ago, and all the while we are laughing like a mad hatter. It is a failing of our educational system, we teach a nice version of history, a history where facts are omitted because they are not pleasant. Men fought and died in this country for the right to unionize. That is right, they fought a rebellion, an insurrection in order to achieve the right for a fair days wage. Women marched in the streets to gain the right to vote, African Americans marched to gain their equal rights.

All in the past century those things happened. We watched helplessly as banks and Wall Street destroyed our nation, left millions standing in lines for meager portions of bread, and we vowed to never let that happen again. We swore that we would never allow the events of the Roaring 20's to happen again, we placed checks and balances on banks, we made them gain insurance to make sure they never ran out of money again. We put people to work doing things that made little sense (digging holes and filling them back in), we changed this nation as it spiraled into the depths of oblivion, and like a Phoenix rising from its ashes, the United States was reborn.

We saw growth, we saw the rise of the middle class, we say more people escaping from poverty than any time before or since. But we forgot those lessons. We forgot what it was like to do without, to suffer such travesties as starvation, and illness. We forgot what it was like to slowly freeze to death on a cold winter night. Life became easy, and we neglected all the warning signs. Deregulation, corporate person-hood, and boot strapping became the rage, all because we forgot what those beliefs did before. As an accelerationist, I feel its high time we learn those lessons again. Maybe this time, in an age where you have members of generations so closely grouped, maybe this time we will remember what happens when you allow these things to happen. This time we may be more willing to learn those lessons and never forget the vow we made when we elected FDR into office, and kept him there.

Sanders is no FDR, but his ideas shine as brightly as ever in this overcast graying world. For his supporters, he is a ray of light, a beacon of hope that the worst can be prevented. There is an air of optimism surrounding him like a coat of armor. Yes, I will support Sanders, because somewhere in my mind, I do not want to see what my grand parents and parents saw. I do not wish to live that life. But I also know that I can survive that. I regret that some of my family and those I love and cherish would not, could not survive in this brave new world. But again, I am willing to live with that, if it brings about the reformation of this nation. I can live with this, if it finally opened peoples eyes to what is really happening. However, there is a real tragedy about this line of logic. It is unhealthy to feel this way, and there are people who are willing to do whatever it takes to stop it from happening. People like Sanders, and many of his supporters are willing to do whatever they can to prevent it. I will side with them until the bitter end, but I am also willing to help push the button to burn it all. Change is hard, this is the truth, sworn in my own blood. But to advocate for no real change, to just tread water is cowardly. To advocate for small amounts of change, while you give up ground on other fronts, is equally cowardly. For that reason alone, I would rather spend another decade of my life floundering in my own personal hell, than I would to continue on with business as usual. However this plays out in the end, we accelerationists are not to blame entirely, we are just doing what needs to be done. We are allowing the current system to burn to the ground so we can start anew, so we can build a better system.