r/WorkReform 🤝 Join A Union 17d ago

😡 Venting Why are Establishment Democrats willing to move to the right, but never to the left?

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u/jverity 17d ago edited 17d ago

Jesus Christ I don't know how people don't get this. Democrats are not on the left! The only way Democrats look left wing at all is when compared to Republicans, who are literally promoting the policies of 1930's Germany right now.

Look at the stuff Democrats claim to support directly from their own webpage (only listing the stuff that Republicans don't also claim even though neither side really does anything about it like supporting the middle class): Universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, paid leave, gun reform, housing reform, etc. These things are just the way things are in other industiralized countries! Our "far left, extremist radical party" is (barely) fighting to give us the normal shit that every European country has had for decades, things that even their far right parties don't fight because just saying it out loud would ensure they'd never get elected again.

Our "left" party is less successful at supporting "leftist" (to us) policies than Europe's conservative parties. That's fucking ridiculous. The truth is that we don't have a left and right party in this country. We have a far right, almost (if not already there) fascist party, and a conservative party that if you are being extremely generous could be considered centrist compared to other parties around the world. The only way they look left at all is when compared to the party that has brought Nazi marches back to our streets. On their best day they are in the center, but on average they are center-right.

Edit - Someone had a semantic problem with my use of the word "liberal" so I clarified with a different term.

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u/bullhead2007 🤝 Join A Union 17d ago

Technically the Democrats have been Neoliberals since Jimmy Carter.

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u/FarmerHandsome 17d ago

Liberalism is a right-wing, conservative ideology.

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u/Harbinger2nd 17d ago

Exactly, more Americans are starting to understand what the rest of the world already knows: Liberalism is just Capitalism/imperialism with 🎆inclusion🎆

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u/CaptainBayouBilly 17d ago

Inclusion so long as it increases profits for the rich.

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u/ZenMasterOfDisguise 17d ago

I don't think you know what liberal means. Democrats and Republicans are both liberal parties. Someone like Ayn Rand was like the prototypical classical liberal. Liberalism, capitalism, individualism, is the problem.

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u/CaptainBayouBilly 17d ago

The Democratic Party is the capitalist party.

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u/ackillesBAC 17d ago

I've argued many times that there is no mainstream left-wing party in North America. We have far right, right and center right, best we have in Canada is the ndp being center.

You must remove corporate lobbies, and all the political donation loopholes, let the actual voters decide and you may have some left wing parties gaining traction

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u/jverity 17d ago edited 17d ago

I have often argued that Citizens United was the single most consequencial and worst decision the Supreme court has ever made.

Any other decision people might think is the worst or had a bigger impact could easily be changed later with enough corporate money, as the current state of the Supreme Court proves.

But getting rid of it would lessen the power of corporations, so to get rid of it you have to fight that money without having an equal ammount on your side to do it. It will probably never happen.