What am I? Cunt, Dick, Loony or Insufferable?

[Fidel_Castronaut]

It does confuse me somewhat when I see Americans on here labelling democrats (so called liberals I guess) as 'far-left'.

I don't think any American has seen or encountered anything beyond the centre right, at least not in the last 50 years or so. As you say, general central right European politics is centred on the ground that the democrats occupy currently, at least by my reckoning.

I don't think the US electorate is really that familiar with socialism apart from what they saw/heard in the USSR or Cuba. God bless 'em.

True story. People should educate themselves better. Most americans probably don't know that socialism and capitalism are two necessary realities of a mixed economy system, you can have more one than the other but you can't live without both. What countries are there without a mixed system? China, North Korea, Cuba (not so much now), etc. Most Americans don't realize their system too is mixed, it has government owned property and services even if it is a lot less than in europe

Here even the nationalists (what we call ultra conservative and 'fascists' as a form of insult) support a national healthcare system. In america I guess an UHS would be labeled as 'commie shit'.

I have to say amen to that.

Edumacation is the key, not just for the yanks but for people over here (UK/Europe as well).

I'm a politics PhD student and lecturer in political science and international relations and the ignorance that I'm often confronted with on the basic ideas inherent within political spectrums often takes me back. 'The left is synonymous with Marx and Hegel! The right is synonymous with Hitler!'

Simplistic perhaps but it emphasises a point that people become tribal about politics to the point where reason and consideration is thrown out, and reason is arguably the most important facet of political discourse, doubly so when one considers that politics is society and is people.