• Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Because what the US considers left (universal health care, helping the poor, school lunches and affordable education) is considered middle of the road normal stuff in Europe and other developed countries.

    • TheMurphy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Even the historical, biggest right wing party in Denmark would not remove any of the things you mentioned, except school lunches.

    • yarr@feddit.nl
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      10 months ago

      As a proud American wingnut, I vehemently denounce these so-called “benefits” that you claim are merely considered middle-of-the-road in other parts of the world. Let us break it down for the sake of argument.

      First off, Universal Health Care is nothing more than a government-controlled monopoly on healthcare services. This is the first step toward socialized medicine, which has proven to be detrimental to the medical industry worldwide. In the name of equality, doctors will no longer strive to excel in their fields, as their paychecks will not reflect their efforts. The result? A decline in quality of care, longer wait times, and diminishing innovation in the field. This is how the slippery slope begins!

      Next on your list is ‘helping the poor.’ While this sounds like a noble cause, it must be understood that government intervention is neither necessary nor effective when it comes to uplifting individuals out of poverty. It’s time we stop enabling dependence on handouts. Instead, we should promote personal responsibility and self-reliance—core American values, after all. Only by standing on one’s own two feet can a person truly gain an appreciation for life’s hardships, and ultimately, its rewards.

      Moving onto school lunches, let us examine our Founding Fathers’ vision for the country. They cherished individual freedom above all else. By providing free meals to students, we’re essentially stifling entrepreneurship by removing the incentive for young people to start businesses that could potentially provide lunch services to schools. Additionally, such measures only serve to deepen the divide between the haves and have-nots. Why should children who are fortunate enough to receive these free lunches continue working hard if they know they’ll always be provided for?

      Last but not least, affordable education is nothing more than a clever Trojan horse for communist brainwashing. When the cost of higher education is reduced, the barriers to entry for subversive ideologies also decrease. We cannot sit idly by while our youth are corrupted with socialist propaganda. In fact, the price tag of college tuition serves as a natural selection process that ensures only those who value their education will pursue it, consequently maintaining the quality of graduates entering the workforce.

      In conclusion, I implore you to reconsider your support for these so-called “middle of the road” concepts. These policies may sound pleasant in theory, but make no mistake; they’re merely disguised stepping stones toward a godless society where individuals cease to think or act independently. The American Dream would die a slow and painful death under this system. First, free lunches, next COMMUNISM!

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I guess the downvoters either didn’t get the joke, or completely agree with what you typed and noticed the sarcasm. 🤷🏻‍♂️

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          I’m tempted to downvote because the “parody” is also literally what a lot of people on the right literally think. There’s zero difference between this comment written in jest and the same comment written totally honestly. That means this potentially spreads that idea, however absurd it sounds to us.

          In the end I didn’t downvote because I think if people are here they probably understand how stupid it is for it to be serious. If this were Reddit I would probably downvote because odds are some right-wing idiots would think it agrees with them and see the upvotes as confirmation of their ideas.

  • splonglo@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    A lot of people have left-leaning economic views ( tax the rich ) but there’s basically no political or media representation of those views. ( because the rich run the media and government )

    • zzzzzzyx@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      This is the correct answer.

      There is social liberalism to satisfy mainstream liberalism but there is little to no representation on behalf of fiscal liberalism.

  • theluddite@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Other people have already posted good answers so I just want to add a couple things.

    If you want a very simple, concrete example: Healthcare. It depends on how you count, but more than half the world’s countries have some sort of free or low cost public healthcare, whereas in the US, the richest country in the history of countries, that’s presented as radical left wing kooky unrealistic communist Bernie idea. This isn’t an example of a left-wing policy that we won’t adopt, but of what in much of the world is a normal public service that we can’t adopt because anti-socialism in this country is so malignant and metastasized that it can be weaponized against things that are just considered normal public services almost like roads in other countries.

    A true left wing would support not just things like healthcare, but advocate for an economic system in which workers have control over their jobs, not the bosses. That is completely absent.

    Also, this meme:

    Two panel comic. top one is labeled republicans. bottom one is democrats. they're both planes dropping bombs except democrats has an lgbt flag and blm flag

    It’s glib, but it’s not wrong. Both parties routinely support American militarism abroad. Antimilitarism in favor of internationalism has been a corner stone for the left since the left began.

    • frostmore@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      in my world, that’s called same shit different pile.

      also,while i am no right wing supporter, i constantly run into leftist who wouldn’t hesitate to brand me a phobe of their convenience ,none of the right leaning people i interacted with does this… anecdotal i know.

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yeah, but no one lives in your world but you. In the real world, you’re so hilariously off the mark.

        i constantly run into leftist who wouldn’t hesitate to brand me a phobe of their convenience ,none of the right leaning people i interacted with does this… anecdotal i know.

        Maybe the leftist has a point because you actually align with the right? Crazy, I know, but I’ve seen this argument play out irl more than once with some rightoids that loved to pretend their politics weren’t right aligned.

      • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 months ago

        “I constantly complain about anyone left of Thatcher and have reactionary social views, the people who agree with me don’t criticise me. Curious!”

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    There’s no leftist party, nothing Socialist in the least. The furthest “left” you go is the DNC, which is liberal, and therefore right wing. The furthest right you go is the GOP, which is fascist.

  • vin@lemmynsfw.com
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    10 months ago

    Examples of true left would be codeterminisn in Germany and banning tuition fees in Finland.

  • Jumi@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    If the party I vote for in Germany would be one in the US they probably would be banned for being communists or something like that while here they’re a widely accepted part of the goverment.

  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Politics is about power structures. Both of America’s parties support the same structure, capitalism.

  • MrMobius @sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    A few years ago I would have agreed with this statement. But lately, I’ve seen a change described in several press articles and news pieces. The younger generations in the US demand true social justice and aren’t afraid to say they’re socialists, against capitalism or consumerism. It’s a burgeoning revolution of course, since the establishment is still in control of traditional political parties. But this crack in the old broken system could bring about positive change in the long run. At least I hope so.

  • bouh@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    It’s simple really : the US left is liberal, thus it is not truly the left.

    • TheMurphy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Well, that’s not true.

      We say it because both US parties are very similar, and both of them are very right leaning compared to the rest of the western world.

      It also indicates that’s there’s no democracy in the US, because there’s only really one choice.

      • neatchee@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Deleted because nobody can read, apparently.

        YES, THERE IS NO FAR LEFT PARTY IN AMERICA. THAT’S LITERALLY WHAT I WAS SAYING.

        America’s “left” isn’t actually left. Actual far left is communism. There is no communist party of any importance in the US

        • azimir@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          Which major US party is far left (on a global political scale)? I must have missed them somehow.

          Our Overton Window is crazy right at this point.

    • neatchee@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Deleted because people can’t fucking read, apparently.

      I was literally saying the exact same thing as what is in the replies.

      I’ll simplify:

      USA no have real left party. Real far left party communism. No American communists. America bad. Communism good.

      Do I pass the purity test now?

        • neatchee@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          There was no discussion. There was me saying “America has no communist party” followed by several people saying “you’re wrong, there’s no far-left party in America”

          It was a giant misunderstanding and distraction, not a discussion

          • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Ok. You still ruined the thread by removing your replies. This is disrespectful of the ones you had the misunderstanding with and any others joining in afterwards.

            • neatchee@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              … Why would I allow a misunderstanding to be perpetuated? People don’t have a right to read something just because it was there at one time. And it kept happening because people were only reading one comment in isolation without reading the prior context. Like, I replied with “in this context one of those is far left and the other is far right” and a third person came in with “there is no far left in us politics” which is exactly what I was saying, they just failed to read the prior comments.

              It was only getting worse so I simply decided to stop it from progressing because I wasn’t about to sit there explaining over and over again the same damn thing.