june gloom on 17/10/2020 at 09:09
If you want to say Left, then say Left. "Liberals" in US terms are milquetoast centrists who cape for the status quo and only support incremental change that doesn't inconvenience them.
Harvester on 17/10/2020 at 09:50
The terminology can be confusing. In the Netherlands ‘liberaal’ is often taken to mean you support free market capitalism with few restrictions. Dutch ‘liberalen’ often want to cut back on a robust social security system because if you can’t make it in life, too bad for you, must be your own fault because I’m doing fine. I used to be confused by the difference between that and what liberal means in the USA. The terms Left and Right are clearer for sure.
demagogue on 17/10/2020 at 10:02
If you're talking across multiple countries, just give your coordinates on the political grid. SubJeff was saying he's like (-3, -2), although I think it's more like (-1, -1).
Classic liberal means lower-right quadrant, what most of Western Europe also means by it and what the US uses libertarian for. US liberal means top-left quadrant to Republicans (which is completely detached from reality; they're using the term for a defined group alright, but that group isn't anywhere where Reps actually think they are), and top-right quadrant near the origin to democrats taking ownership of the term (which is real but a stupid use of the term; but we're stuck with it now). And UK Lib Dems are lower-left quadrant, or hovering under the origin anyway, now that they've completely absorbed the "dem" part. So it literally refers to every quadrant on the grid to someone or another, which is why the term should just be avoided and people should just give their grid coordinates outright.
june gloom on 17/10/2020 at 11:22
Kind of have to agree. Which is why we have "centrists" to describe the useful idiots of the right. But SubJeff's self-admitted authoritarianism and dusty-ass legalism places him pretty squarely in the upper half.
For the record, just retook the most common form of the test -- -8.63 / -9.03, quelle surprise, I'm way deep in the only good part of the chart.
Gryzemuis on 17/10/2020 at 11:29
You can't use words from the English language, and think they apply to politics in all other countries around the world. You can't take words from a country that has 2 political parties, and think they apply to countries that have 10 or 20 (semi-)relevant political parties.
Only Americans do that, because they think the world consists of just a few countries: The Mighty US of A, Canada, Europe, China, and a bunch of shithole countries. That world-view nicely fits the political view of most Americans. But it doesn't mean there is any validity their perception of the rest of the world.
And yes, SubJeff is right. Most people outside the US think Trump is an idiot. And his voters must also be idiots.
Jason Moyer on 17/10/2020 at 11:32
In the US the only two major parties both support unrestricted capitalism. The "New Democrats" exemplified by Biden and the Clintons and Obama basically started as the progressive wing of the Republican party, i.e. the pro-big business pro-free trade etc. northern Republicans who were indirectly racist instead of openly.
I don't think Trump voters are idiots. They're voting for Trump for the same reason I'm voting for Biden, because the alternative is fucking terrible. The people who I think are idiots are the ones who strongly support either of these assholes.
nickie on 17/10/2020 at 11:33
Congratulations to Jacinda Ardern and I hope her victory for the New Zealand Labour party against the main opposition, the centre-right National Party, is a good omen for the US.
(
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-54519628) New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party scores landslide win
Starker on 17/10/2020 at 13:12
Congrats, NZ, for having a sane leader.
Now, back to the dumpster fire: (
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1316811506613325824)
(I wish Project Lincoln would put their ads etc in one place, like on YouTube or something, instead of scattering them between radio, TV, Instagram, Twitter, etc....)
heywood on 17/10/2020 at 14:04
American media has perverted the word liberal. I blame Rush Limbaugh.
rachel on 17/10/2020 at 14:13
Quote Posted by demagogue
If you're talking across multiple countries, just give your coordinates on the political grid.
I'm getting -7.88/-6.21 from (
https://www.politicalcompass.org/) here. (It's the first on Google...)
