Right-wingers keep resorting to abuse and smears because they know they'd lose the debate on policy

Next time some pro-austerity, pro-privatisation right-winger calls you "cultist", or "dog", or "trot", or "thug", or "anti-Semite" or "brainwashed" just because you support Labour's return to it's democratic socialist values under Jeremy Corbyn, just remember that it's because these people are absolutely terrified of debating you on policy.

• They know that running vital services and infrastructure as not-for-profit public services (as is commonplace across the developed world) is overwhelmingly popular with the British public.

• They know that the creation of a National Education System to provide free education and training for all, from cradle to grave, is a fantastic idea, especially given the ever increasing need for retraining as technological advancements revolutionise our work environments.

• They know that ending the systematic abuse of sick and disabled people isn't just the moral thing to do, it would also save money because the Tories' dehumanising and discriminatory disability assessment regime actually costs more to administer than it will ever save in reduced disability benefit payments!

• They know that it's only really the beneficiaries of tax-dodging who oppose proposals to clamp down on tax loopholes in order to make the UK economy a fairer playing field for all.

• They know that Tory cuts to the police have resulted in a massive increase in violent crime rates all over the country, and that Labour's proposal to put more police on the streets is a vital step in unding the damage.

• They know that reversing the ideologically driven Tory cuts and privatisations to properly fund the NHS and the social care system are incredibly popular too.

• They know that Britain desperately needs a solution to the housing crisis that goes way beyond the neoliberal "leave it to market forces" dogma of the last four decades that's created this outrageous mess.

• They know that British workers need a pay rise after eight punishing years of Tory wage repression, and the British economy needs a proper industrial strategy (as opposed to the Tory "let's cut our way to growth" ideological madness.

They know Labour's democratic socialist policies under Corbyn are actually popular, so they resort to insults, smears, abuse, lies, whatever they can dig up ... to stop people talking about Labour's policies.

They know that the more they can get people talking about smears (either repeating them or by debunking them) and slinging abuse and lies around, the less focus will fall on actual policies.

And that's exactly the way they want it.

They want to deliberately degrade political discourse, because they see it as the only way they can stop people from thinking about how Britain should be a better and fairer place where we look after vulnerable people, the young, and the elderly ... rather than systematically abusing them, denying them a future, and slashing funding for the care services they spent a lifetime paying for through their taxes.

So just remember that it's actually a really good sign that this rudimentary muck-slinging abuse is all they've got. Try not to engage with the bullies, definitely avoid retorting with insults of your own (because these people are notorious cry-bullies), and above all stay focused on doing what they don't want you to be doing; talking about the democratic socialist policies to make Britain a better and fairer place.

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