This captures why I’ve felt so disconnected from where the left is headed

My theory is that there are two kinds of libs, one kind who can't stand to see poverty, and another kind who can't stand to see wealth, and that neither one can stand the other, even though they need each other in order to get anything done

Noah Smith 🐇

This captures why I’ve felt so disconnected from where the left is headed https://x.com/noahpinion/status/1941778261111148673

clicking @clicker (a @daylight ░░░░░░) | kylemccollom.com

The problem is Noah Smith is stupid and you shouldn't take his opinions as anything more than attempts at justifying the fact he's always wrong.

"can't stand to see wealth" JFC - this is what no theory does to a mfer

https://chainleft.art

Dad, data scientist, blockchain native artist.

Power consolidation=evil.

+1 i don't think Noah is very in touch with the left here (or ever)

i know lots of people from all over the left - from dems/libs (who id consider centrists) to theoried marxists and socialists, i don't think "can't stand to see poverty vs can't stand to see wealth" accurately captures the differences or disagreements between them. there's some uneducated dummies, who make a lot of noise, that fall into those camps, but i don't think they comprise the theoried political core of either group.

i guess i understand his point to be "the left is deeply polarized" (using the classic right-wing definition "anyone not a republican is The Left"), and moreover i think he's referring to the divide between dems/libs and marxists/socialists - this much i agree with, as they do indeed hate the hell out of each other - but saying dems/libs "hate to see poverty" and marxists "hate to see wealth" is a real shallow and meritless read of both groups

Full-stack digital product consultant @ BoundCorp.net

There's an abundance argument even among communists (see fully automated luxury communism) but let's be real; Klein's Abundance narrative is trickle down economics 2.0

appreciate your reply! i agree abundance is great, but i think my central refutation of klein's abundance is "for whom, controlled by whom, and paid for how?" without a theoried understanding of power, "build more" risks becoming a developer+landlord slogan, not a liberation/empowerment agenda.

noah’s framing - libs who hate poverty vs libs who hate wealth - misreads the actual tensions. most socialists i know don’t hate wealth itself, they hate that it's produced through exploitation and used to entrench class power.

i dislike klein's takes bc "constrictive vs expansive" makes it sound like its about vibes or aesthetics, but to me it’s about structure. rent freezes, wealth caps, labor protections get framed as "scarcity" but they’re important to shift control away from landlords/ultrawealth and capital toward working people.

the problem with the "abundance" framing is that without class consciousness, it doesn't decrease inequality. it depends on who owns what, who gets to decide, who benefits.

Thanks for laying it out like this. 

I often resonate with Noah, and I think he has an audience because the silent center left does too.

I’m just tired of constrictive policies (rent freezes) and excited about expansive policies (build more housing). I crave more thinking like Erza Klein’s abundance - ways to increase upward mobility through effort (which yes is becoming harder and harder rn).

More “yes we can” and less “no you can’t”.