Eco-socialist David K. Cobb shows what the left can learn from George Washington

Washington was hardly an anticapitalist, but he and the eco-socialist podcaster make the same point about arguing with stubborn people

In the very first episode of the new podcast series “Turning Left,” Rob Robinson and David K. Cobb discussed the future of socialist politics in an increasingly fascist world. Given that Robinson is a respected New York City-based community activist who was once homeless himself, and Cobb is an eco-socialist widely known for co-hosting the hit podcast “Redneck Gone Green” with Shane Knight.

For this reason, I did not expect to hear echoes of America’s first president in that conversation. I admire and respect Washington, but not as much as I do left-wing political leaders; the Federalist-leaning president admirably refused to be a monarch, but in his economics consistently sided with capital over labor. Despite these shortcomings, however, Washington astutely observed that when it comes to politics, some people are so stubborn that there is just no point in talking to them.

While composing his 1796 Farewell Address with top adviser Alexander Hamilton, Washington observed with disgust and alarm the rise of political partisanship in America. The Democratic-Republicans and Federalists were willing to do anything to acquire power, and Washington understood human nature well enough to realize that this tendency could easily be corrupted to bring out the worst in human beings.

“It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection,” Washington wrote. “It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”

Compare these two sentences with Cobb’s observation. Uttered shortly after the 14-minute mark in the video, Cobb explains that he has “given up trying to persuade people to think differently. I try to articulate my narrative, how I see the world in what I'm doing, and inspire and entice them to engage with me. Now if folks want to have genuine principled debate, I will do so, but if people are just dug in and say, ‘Convince me,’ I say, ‘It's not worth my time, or yours.’”

If you have ever tried to criticize capitalism to a capitalist — and even though the Democratic Party is disgustingly pro-capitalist, anticapitalists nevertheless must go there if they wish to participate in two-party politics at all — you will find that they do indeed often respond “with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms.” Instead of realizing that all except the super-rich benefit from anticapitalism, they succumb to outside forces that kindle “the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”

As evidenced by the rise of South Africa-born and Canada-raised Elon Musk to the highest echelons of power, based primarily on him being the world’s richest person, Washington was almost eerily correct in predicting that partisanship “opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”

At the same time, Cobb’s response to this dilemma is far superior to Washington’s. After leaving office in March 1797, Washington retired to his plantation, Mount Vernon, where he retired by living off the unpaid labor of more than 300 people. Instead of merely scolding hyper-partisans and then retreating into a world where we can exploit others, authentic anticapitalists should instead follow Cobb’s guidelines.

There are only two, so simple that like Edgar Allan Poe’s purloined letter they can be missed because of their seeming obviousness. Then again, if they were actually obvious, so many of us wouldn’t waste our intellectual and emotional energy fighting futile forensic battles against capitalists.

Cobb’s two rules are:

1. If folks want to have genuine principled debate, do so.

2. If people are dug in, say, “It's not worth my time, or yours.”

When you follow this advice, you will quickly find that your personal relationships improve drastically. If you want intellectually stimulating conversations with people who think differently, you can do so with the confidence that your sparring partners are acting in good faith. By contrast, people who simply want to troll or bully you can be quickly identified and sifted out.

Cobb’s advice is important not only because it helps us in our individual lives. The types of people who refuse to ever listen to reason threaten all of our freedoms because, as they displayed by supporting President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, they proved they will not abide by the rules and norms of democracy. They believe the law is above them, and the hostile attitude they adopt in private conversation is thereby extrapolated onto our entire political life. January 6th, though the most grotesque attack on our Capitol since the British burned down the White House in the War of 1812, was only the nadir of this tendency.

Again, Washington predicted it in 1796:

“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government,” Washington said. “But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.”

When this doesn’t happen, the consequence is the destruction of the principle of democracy, one that Washington warned is “of fatal tendency.”

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Back Seat Socialism

Column by Matthew Rozsa who is a professional journalist for more than 13 years. Currently he is writing a book for Beacon Press, "Neurosocialism," which argues that autistic people like the author struggle under capitalism, and explains how neurosocialism - the distinct anticapitalist perspective one develops by living as a neurodiverse individual - can be an important organizing principle for the left.

Twitter (X) @MatthewWRozsa