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lelianadelrey.bsky.social
Flying Chaucer
@lelianadelrey.bsky.social
43 followers 28 following 5 posts
Everything is anti-poverty ☭🇩🇴🌇
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radiofreeamanda.bsky.social
🚚 📦 Let's talk about what really matters: the historic showdown btwn Teamsters and UPS.

After their contract negotiations collapsed w/ UPS July 5, the Teamsters have been holding practice pickets across the country in anticipation of a potential strike.
July 21, 2023 at 8:44 PM
lelianadelrey.bsky.social
A kitchen cabinet, assortment of spices, empty alcohol bottles, a photo of a cute butt in lingerie
July 18, 2023 at 4:06 PM
lelianadelrey.bsky.social
Between Liberty and Slavery: The Tangled Paradox of Liberalism (2012)
https://redsails.org/between-liberty-and-slavery/
WHAT IS LIBERALISM? In this brief presentation, I will try to explain the content of my book, Liberalism: A Counter-History. This book aims to answer a key question: what is liberalism? This question may sound superfluous and provocative at the same time. Everybody knows that liberalism is the tradition of thought and the political movement whose central concern is the freedom of the individual, of every individual. But is this the answer to my question, what is liberalism? Is this answer correct? If that is the case, how should we situate John C. Calhoun? This eminent statesman, the vice president of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, appealed to John Locke and made an impassioned ode to individual liberty, which he vigorously defended against any abuse of power and any interference by the state. And that is not all. Along with “absolute governments” and the “concentration of power,” he unstintingly condemned “fanaticism” and the spirit of “crusade,” to which he opposed “compromise” as the guiding principle of genuine “constitutional governments.” With equal eloquence, Calhoun defended minority rights. Unquestionably, we seem to have all the characteristics of the most mature and attractive liberal thought. On the other hand, however, Calhoun disdained the half-measures and timidity of those who restricted themselves to accepting slavery as a necessary “evil.” No, Calhoun declared slavery to be “a positive good” that civilization could not possibly renounce. He repeatedly denounced intolerance and the crusading spirit, not in order to challenge the enslavement of Blacks or the ruthless hunting down of fugitive slaves, but exclusively to brand abolitionists as “blind fanatics.” Blacks were not among the minorities defended with such vigor and legal erudition. So is Calhoun a liberal? We face a dilemma. If we answer this question in the affirmative, we can no longer maintain the traditional (and edifying) image of liberalism as the thought and volition of liberty. If, on the other hand, we answer in the negative, we find ourselves confronting a new problem and a new question, which is no less embarrassing than the first. How should we situate John Locke? As the renowned historian of slavery David Brion Davis stresses, Locke was “the last major philosopher to seek a justification for absolute and perpetual slavery.” He had a hand in drafting the constitutional provision according to which “every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his Negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever.” If Calhoun was a slave owner, the English philosopher too had sound investments in the slave trade: he was a shareholder in the Royal African Company. We cannot exclude Calhoun from the liberal tradition, while considering Locke a liberal. The paradox we are analyzing is growing stronger: the father of liberalism is not a liberal at all?
July 2, 2023 at 7:34 PM
lelianadelrey.bsky.social
Got a pretty alright trove of recommended texts for all who need quick references. Includes a shortcut link to another feminist reading folder!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NA2YmJyiikBm6kROx5-U9Ezn__faD7rb
Rec Texts - Google Drive
drive.google.com
July 2, 2023 at 12:40 AM