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.

[Dystopia]

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.

Where I live, because of fascism you are called a fascist if you are right wing, even if you are merely a moderate center right. I consider myself center right and some people consider me either a fascist, a close minded or someone who wants an ancién regime society with an archaic hierarchy. I hate this.

---

The terminology does differ between Europe and the US.

In Europe, apparently, "libertarian" does not mean a greedy corporate cocksucker who steals everything that isn't nailed down in the name of "freedom."

Libertarianism is not very well known in europe, in some countries there is not even a libertarian party. It also depends if it is socialist left wing or right wing capitalism laissez faire libertarianism

[CapnAwesome]

I'm in favor of policies which support enlarging the middle class. An inescapable graduated tax scheme is preferred but I'm open to whatever gets the job done.

Foreign policy-wise I'd like to see us support international standards and comport ourselves as a good citizen of the world rather than its self-appointed sheriff.

I like to see personal liberties maximized but policies which affect the general health of the economy should not be up to the individual. Spend your lawfully acquired wealth anyway you like but when pursuing that wealth don't expect to get away without appropriate safeguards to guarantee safety, the health of the overall economy and fair play for the consumer.

Discussions of morality and justice when applied to public policy decisions should not be justified by appealing to religious sources. Those may of course influence an individuals vote but have no place in discourse.

The middle class in America (and the rest of the first world) is rich and incredibly environmentally destructive by the standards of everyone else on the planet. Your average first world citizen uses something like 15 times the resources of your average third world citizen. Expanding the middle class is arguably a terrible thing for the planet. Maybe we should all just learn to live with less. Eventually we will have to anyway.

[The Grand Nudger]

I'd rather just bring their quality of life up to my own. I think that's the better answer anyway, rather than telling 3rd (or 1st) worlders that we're all just going to suck it up from now on. We've all sucked it up enough, thousands and thousands of years of sucking it up.

[Whateverist]

The middle class in America (and the rest of the first world) is rich and incredibly environmentally destructive by the standards of everyone else on the planet. Your average first world citizen uses something like 15 times the resources of your average third world citizen. Expanding the middle class is arguably a terrible thing for the planet. Maybe we should all just learn to live with less. Eventually we will have to anyway.

I don't entirely disagree but I don't think billions of serfs is the answer. Cull the herd. We have way more than enough biodiversity. The problem wouldn't be our lifestyle if our numbers were more appropriate. The planet shouldn't be all about us.