Could anything make you not liberal?
- Thread starter Thatonedice1
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We should’ve been voting for the Green Party this entire time apparently
Political labels shift and change over time.
What I will never change about is opposing: authoritarianism, oppression, bigotry, exploitation of human life, the denial of objective reality.
What I will never change about is opposing: authoritarianism, oppression, bigotry, exploitation of human life, the denial of objective reality.
This post is so incredibly accurate. I will always vote democrat, but some of the shit I see that this post highlights is extremely disheartening.
But then we'd have to better fund and develop public education and it's harder to actually build things. But that and somehow overcoming the dissociation of identity or narrative caused by contemporary capitalism seem necessary for us to be able to muster up the concentrated/unified/directed and passionate political will to enact necessary radical change. Like in the smokescreen we're all living in people are somehow able to pretend that no one is really in charge, so we're deprived of even correctly diagnosing and excising the problem.
I was going to say the only thing that pushes me away from the left is the far left, but you've stated it very nicely.
LIBERALS ARE NOT LEFTIES. REPEAT AFTER ME, THE FAR LEFT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS
Same with me. I grew up in a super conservative family. Listened to AM radio every morning. Ironically, joining the Air Force is what started to change my views on things.
I spent two years in Japan (05-07), which was my first time being in another country.
Deployed twice to Qatar, once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan.
I got to meet people from different ethnic backgrounds, different religious beliefs,
I'm glad I joined the Air Force because it got me out of my small, backwards, conservative community and enabled me to see the bigger picture.
As for the topic at hand, there's nothing that can make me no be a liberal anymore.
Liberals have already made it impossible for me to be a liberal by being nothing but gutless conservatives.
I think the big migration helped a bit too.
But we do still have a lot of people who I would consider centrists (even if they don't).
Using this series of NPR podcasts as a source: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/10/711918772/episode-905-the-chicago-boys-part-i
The consensus according to Chileans they interviewed is that the economy benefited from the neoliberal reforms. (The consensus is also that they weren't worth Pinochet's evil.)
So it's pretty much nothing. Thanks!
Neoliberalism is cancer here
That won't get far in America's broken two-party system.
Green policies are more viable in a European-style political system, though. And, surprise surprise, Europe has indeed enacted more green policies as a result.
Speaking for myself, I've always been further left than the nominally left representatives for whom I've been forced to vote. They've just been getting my vote because they'd successfully convinced people like me that the candidates who actually do speak for us are unelectable, but 2016 showed everyone that they're clearly not palatable any more either.
So for me it's just that the devil's bargain which has always left me supporting liberals has fallen apart completely. If they can't even beat the reality-tv-star rapist then what fucking use are they?
Weird that Chileans keep voting for parties that have kept those neoliberal policies in place. Maybe your opinions aren't representative of Chileans?
If the left in the US ever goes full on totalitarian I definitely wouldn't identify with them. That's what it would take for me to check out.
Frighteningly, that is exactly what the right is doing right now. So I doubt I'll stop identifying as a liberal/leftist/progressive anytime soon.
Frighteningly, that is exactly what the right is doing right now. So I doubt I'll stop identifying as a liberal/leftist/progressive anytime soon.
I could see myself softening on my socialist leaning in the unlikely case that a legitimate socialist uprising were to occur to little avail/benefit to the nation. More likely, I could also just get fatigued after decades of suppression of far-left/socialist policy proposals and resign myself to voting for less progressive options even though my beliefs may still be on the left. Maybe in that scenario I'd rationalize it to myself so extremely that I'd actually start to become a center-left Dem.
But no, I will never totally flip and become a conservative. It just doesn't match up with my experience or lifestyle.
But no, I will never totally flip and become a conservative. It just doesn't match up with my experience or lifestyle.
If we mean the way alt-righters and Fox News viewers use liberal, then no.
If we mean the actual definition of liberal, I'm already not, I'm leftist.
If we mean the actual definition of liberal, I'm already not, I'm leftist.
I think the failures of the American Capitalist system to address major problems (or even contribute directly to such problems) has made some forms of socialism more appealing. Not sure I'd call that a radicallation though. Not many Communists around.
As for this forum in particular, I think the migration from Gaf combined with the rise of Trump have led to an even more explicitly left leaning forum community. Many more Conservatives gave up pretense and became more overtly racist, and the embrace of outright white supremecy by nearly the entire Republican party gives them even less to bring to discussion. Some of the "rational" polite Conservatives from neogaf just went full alt-right Nazi when the shit hit the fan.
Conservatism and "both sides" centerism aren't all that compatible with a place that wants minorities to be treated like full human beings, for example.
In the spirit of the question the answer is no. I just continue to go left past 30 and I don't see that going back anywhere close to the right.
but yeah as others i've said I would not call myself a liberal if we are using capital "L". Leftist, socialist something like that.
but yeah as others i've said I would not call myself a liberal if we are using capital "L". Leftist, socialist something like that.
In the grand scheme of things, the younger generation are considerably more progressive than they were 10-15 years ago. The GFC is probably one of the defining factors, if not THE defining factor. When I was in undergrad, Fukuyama was still being hailed as a foundational text for the 21st century. I have my doubts that it's the same these days. It's just a pity that 18-29 year olds are still by far the least politically-engaged in terms of raw voter turnouts (and that applies to virtually every Western country).
And not to be all 'old man yelling at clouds' about it, but it gets mildly tiresome to watch people turn out in droves for SSM referendums or feelgood climate change protests and then not actually bother voting in federal elections.
I lean to the left on most topics, but there are a few areas where I hangout around the middle (middle-left, really). I really wish this wasn't looked down upon as much on this forum, but it is what it is.
And yes, I know, please refrain from posting that Boogie gif...
And yes, I know, please refrain from posting that Boogie gif...
Republican party is for middle-class and up that have it pretty good and want to keep it that way. They are in a good spot and they don't want to have to send more money to other people. Republicans at this point are just selfish, doesn't really matter who is in power, as long as they don't take your money and give it to people that actually need it..
The Overton window has been shifted so far to the right, that the left is just a few steps away from the center, so I'm not sure there is such a thing as a "far left." I would add that this hesitance to appear too intolerant of intolerance is reason the West has slid into a nascent stage of fascism.
This is a disingenuous framing of what the Republican party stands for, since they have no objections to taking money from the Middle Class and funnelling it to corporations and the military.
What exactly are those issues? It's only looked down upon because most conservative issues are selfish
This is my view too. It’s a bit disturbing that anarcho communism is treated as the good alternative to current system by so many . Not good for the future of the country
I'm pretty sure White Australia was a policy implemented from above, not forced from below. I do agree that socialists are racist, because we grew up in society, which has racism rooted in, and nobody is immune to its effects. However, you cannot try to force for economic liberation without tackling racism as that's one of the obstacles in the way.
