It really looks like the Republicans are doing, or want to do, everything they accuse others of doing.
4 Likes
3 Likes
THEY’RE NOT F-ing LIBERALS!!
That why LEFtIES have been calling Clinton & their DLC clone pro-corporate allies NEO-LIBERALS 30 Years AGO
IF don’t know the freaking word NEO-LIBERAL IT"S TIME
DOM = “Dirty Old Man”
They should definitely be the DOP.
1 Like
First hand experience of the issues?
It’s a bit complicated; the US Overton Window is moving, and the ideological language is gradually shifting back into alignment with global usage,
Classical Liberalism is the original version; it’s a center right ideology, focused on deregulated capitalism, that represented the interests of the rising merchant/industrialist class in the 18th century.
It was eventually softened into Social Liberalism, but that was still center-right; they just shifted a bit closer to the Social Democrats and incorporated a limited welfare state, while the Classical Liberal holdouts rebranded as Libertarians.
Basically:
Assorted Radical Anarchists and Communists → Revolutionary Democratic Socialists → Reformist Democratic Socialists → Center ← Social Democrats ← Social Liberals ← Classical Liberals ← Conservatives ← Reactionary Conservatives ← Fascists
There’s a lot more complexity to it of course, but the basic gist is: Liberals ain’t left wing. Never have been, never will be.
The GOP range from Fascist to R-Con, the DNC Dems run from Conservative to Social Liberal, the Berniecrats are Reform DemSocs and SocDems, the DSA are Revolutionary DemSocs, Antifa and BLM are mostly somewhat to the left of that.
—
In much the same way as the Bismarckian welfare state was the Conservative response to the challenge of socialism, Social Liberalism was the Liberal response. In both cases, the strategy was to hold on to as much of their original ideology as possible, but add just enough of a concession to the peasantry to stave off a Socialist revolution.
“Neoliberalism” describes the return to Classical Liberal economic theories amongst both Liberals and Conservatives. That’s why we’re seeing the current Socialist revival; both Liberals and Conservatives have stopped caring about mollifying the peasantry, and have returned to unrestrained capitalism.
3 Likes
What are you classifying here? Is it society, with about half of the population in one side of the center, and the other half in the opposite side? Do you believe that the parliaments in advanced democratic countries like Germany, Sweden, France, Canada, or Australia do not accurately represent the actual political distribution of their respective voting populations? Just asking for a friend. 
It’s where I think you find the roughly median opinion in a modern, industrialised democratic society…if that democracy is not being distorted by disenfranchisement or money.
In Australia, the centre-left party (the ALP) is officially a Reformist Democratic Socialist party, but tends to be more SocDem in practice. Left of them are the smaller Greens, who are a mix of Reformist and mildly Revolutionary DemSocs.
The centre-right party in Australia are the Liberal Party of Australia; they began as Gladstonian Liberals with an anti-Communist focus, now they range from Liberal to Reactionary Conservative. At present, the leader is a Liberal but the party is dominated by the Conservatives.
Our politics are distorted slightly to the right of centre due to the influence of US hegemony and Murdoch’s media dominance, but a strong-until-twenty-years-ago union movement has historically kept the country relatively centred between labour and capital. We’re drifting right now.
In the Nordic countries, the major parties focus on the range from SocDem to DemSoc. Even their self-described Conservatives support social programs that the US Democrats would consider dangerously socialistic.
France etc. have large and influential Socialist parties. Mélenchon etc.
In the USA, if you poll on the issues rather than on tribal identity, you generally find that majority opinion is roughly in line with the policies advocated by the Berniecrats. If you include the opinions of the functionally-disenfranchised American working class, that opinion shifts even further left.
The Democrats and the Republicans do not represent the American people. They represent the competing factions of the American ruling class. The centre of American political opinion does not lie halfway between the two parties.
5 Likes
But you still consider Social Democrats to be at the right of the center?
1 Like
The term “Brociallist” created by Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager
@SenSanders was WAY MORE popular than Hillary Clinton among black M&F ,Hispanic M&F & asian M&F and WHITE Females
Clinton was ONLY more popular w/ WHITE MALES
Just barely; in practice, they’re often indistinguishable from mild DemSocs.
Basically, the mild DemSocs are trying to create socialism as unintrusively as possible, while the SocDems are trying to maintain capitalism as inoffensively as possible. The key difference is that the DemSocs are looking to empower the working class, while the SocDems are looking to keep the working class happy and healthy while the wealthy continue to manage the society.
In part, I put the centre there just because it’s a more obvious boundary than anywhere else on the spectrum. But I also think that it’s roughly where a modern society would tend to land if it was a genuinely unbiased democracy.
2 Likes
It’s a bit older than that.
You don’t need to defend Bernie to me; I thoroughly agree that he’s the best of the available major candidates. But given that my position would put me amongst the left of the DSA, that’s not surprising.
3 Likes
I agree that some people seem to vote against their own interests, e.g. socially disadvantaged working whites voting for Trump. Whether this is due to idiocy, being fooled by propaganda, or some other ideological issues (racism?), I don’t know.
It is also funny how the policies of European conservative parties would be considered leftist in the US. European conservatives nowadays support universal health care, access to abortion, low military expending…
Historical FACT
ENGLAND has been DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST since WORLD WAR TWO ended.
Most of USA European NATO ALLIES are too!
UK, Germany France Sweden, Norway Denmark ALL Democratic Socialist now
UK’s Tony Blair is in what POLITICAL party?? LABOR PARTY
France’s MIITTERAND was a Socialist, ffs !!!
Manarchist wasn’t though. Pointing at Hillary doesn’t help us here, sorting out our own missing stairs does. Don’t forget about the Comrade Delta scandal.
This doesn’t mean go easy on the conservatives and reactionaries, it means the opposite in fact. Hold them to the standards that we hold ourself to.
4 Likes
Personally I’d say they are the true centre, along with social liberals.
Social democrats tend to side more with labour, social liberals tend to lean towards capital, but it is always a balancing act.
3 Likes
Tony Blair was a social liberal at best. The bastard tried to cut disability benefits back in the 90s 
2 Likes
Greedy.
/9char
1 Like
I don’t want to alarm you, but you might want to look up British newspaper headlines from May of 2010.
2 Likes
It’s not that simple.
It never is.
Keep your eyes open.
1 Like
