Do any of them know what the word “liberal” actually means?

  • Baahb
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    1 month ago

    Op, are you in the US?

    In the US, the choices for voting are Republican and Democrat.

    Which of these parties is “liberal?”

    The argument being made when non conservatives dislike liberals is when the liberals in question align with the Ds, because the Ds have every interest in pushing vaguely progressive policies during elections and never actually follow through in office.

    Remember student loans? Still out there Remember universal healthcare? Still gotta pay for insurance Remember tax reform? Still paying higher rates than people who can’t conceivably spend all of their money.

    The primary goal of the Dems when in power is to maintain power. Fuck those guys. Not quite as hard as Republicans, but it stands.

    Signed, Not a fucking tankie

    • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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      1 month ago

      The democrats are the liberal party. They support abortion, religious freedom, police reform, civil rights (sometimes), drug decriminalization, etc.

      That being said, they are trying to encapsulate and entire half of the political spectrum. There’s going to be gaps, disagreements between individual party members, and places where one policy or value has to override another.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        They support

        • Abortion (in campaign ads and fundraising emails)
        • Religious freedom (by wagging a finger when Republicans don’t and then doing fuck all about it)
        • Police reform (by throwing cash at cops for “better training” while refusing to actually change the inherently abusive system)
        • Civil rights (sometimes) (when it won’t effect the bottom line of their owner donors like AIPAC and the fossil fuel industries
        • Drug decriminalization (in theory, but never in practice)

        they are trying to encapsulate and entire half of the political spectrum

        No. They are trying to be IN CHARGE OF over half of the political spectrum. The only ideologies other than their own (which is center right to right wing) that they ever try to appeal to is the couple dozen “undecided that are almost but not quite Republicans” left in the country.

        There’s going to be gaps, disagreements between individual party members, and places where one policy or value has to override another.

        Nope, there’s going to be nothing but neglect and abuse towards anyone to the left of the leadership, which is now to the right of Reagan.

        In spite of the name, the Democratic Party is not democratic or even a party. It’s a private for-profit corporation controlled by a small group of people who are in turn controlled to varying degrees by rich people, other corporations, and industry lobbying groups.

      • Baahb
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        1 month ago

        Nah, your first statement is close, but you miss by a bit:

        “The democrats are the liberal party. They [pretend to] support abortion (when trying to get elected), religious freedom (when trying to get elected), police reform (when trying to get elected), civil rights (when trying to get elected), drug decriminalization (when trying to get elected), etc.”

        When not trying to get elected they don’t actually DO anything.

        Drug decriminalization was a big deal in the 70’s and we are maybe just now kinda getting around to it.

        I didn’t even call out the shit behavior on civil rights, you did that.

        They seem a-ok with police fucking with college kids right now.

        They’ve had 50 years since roe v wade to guarantee the right to abortion, and they didn’t.

        What DID they do?

        Helped give money to people who are already rich through tax breaks. Helped give money to people who are already rich through deregulation they allowed through. Helped give money to people who are already rich through defense contracts. Helped give money to people who are already rich by overthrowing foreign governments with control over resources out oil barrons want.

        Id call those “gaps”, yeah.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Literally everything Democrats do is bad, especially the good things they do.

          Got it.

          Definitely not sounding like fash talking points at all.

          • Baahb
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            1 month ago

            When choice 1 is kill me slowly (maybe suggest slowing down oil emissions but not actually enforce it), and choice 2 is kill me quickly (lets sell Alaska to Exxon), what is the correct choice?

            I would honestly prefer choice 3 which is stop fucking trying to kill me.

            Should I commend the D team for not being quite as bad as R? Jesus man, I just want to have options that aren’t two different versions of wrong.

            Seriously, how do you not understand that this is an ENGINEERED false dichotomy?

            Additionally, everyone is coming at me going “the liberal party is progressiveby definition” and yet no one gives any examples of ACTUAL progress o. The D platform that ever a tualky gets acted upon. So far I’m the only person here who’s even. Rought up the ACA, and I do grant that it is mild progress, for the US, not for anywhere else in the developed world.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Choice 3 is just choice 2 with a fake mustache.

              Should I commend the D team for not being quite as bad as R?

              Yes.

              Jesus man, I just want to have options that aren’t two different versions of wrong.

              Sucks, welcome to being an adult.

              and yet no one gives any examples of ACTUAL progress

              It’s pointless because every time we do you just throw out a red herring. Or start screaming that doing something to fix the problem is somehow worse than making the problem worse. Or you just go quiet.

              Let’s try. Biden has forgiven $153 billion in student loans that would not be forgiven under the GOP. That is progress.

              Commence with the mental gymnastics.

              • Baahb
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                1 month ago

                Debt forgiveness is a decent step… Again unless educating your populace is as high a priority as it should be, in which case higher education would be freely available to any who wanted it. That’s not a moving goalpost, that’s simply how it always should have been.

                Under that, there simply is no student debt. Also, worth noting that debt forgiveness doesn’t actually fix the problem, it just gets people to shut up and go away, so yes I am still screaming for good and free public education for the public good.

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  There it is. No progress is good enough. Ever.

                  Fuck you and your “biden bad” propaganda.

    • FozzyOsbourne@lemm.eeOP
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      1 month ago

      I am not, and I’ve observed that every American seems to have their own definition of what “liberal” means, which is not really very helpful when trying to use the word in a discussion

      • Baahb
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        1 month ago

        I’m reasonably sure making discussion difficult is the goal. When the right refers to libs, they mean “anything left of me” without ever acknowledging that a significant number of people being referred to are neither progressive lib or left. The American D party is a center right organization, so how do I, as a leftist express “fuck the platform of the ‘liberal party’ is pushing, they’re clearly bought and paid for too, and are serving the bourgeoisie and don’t give a fuck about me, but I still have to put the guy in charge back in charge cause the alternative is dictatorship.”

        Yep, sounds about right.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Democrats tried to fix all those things but were blocked by Republicans in Congress and on the Supreme Court. And that is Democrats fault somehow? Give us more numbers, we’ll get you more results.

      • Baahb
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        1 month ago

        I vote D because I have no other valid choice. When Obama was in the president seat, he had both houses of congress and only managed to get the aca. Don’t get me wrong, telling insurance they have to cover preexisting conditions is a good thing, but only by the standard that we are required to use insurance anyways. We need single payer.

        Don’t misquote me. I don’t think D and R are the same thing. I know that I suffer less under D leadership than R, however, things only actually ever seem to move further right. For example, why are we throwing college kids in jail for stating the obvious: that supporting the massacre of civilians is heinous? I think that D and R are playing the same game, Power, and the little people who aren’t rich are the ones paying their dues.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I don’t think D and R are the same thing.

          BUT

          I think that D and R are playing the same game

          Suuuuure.

          For example, why are we throwing college kids in jail for stating the obvious

          That’s not moving right. The US has always done this. You’re just too young and/or uninformed to know about the countless time this has happened throughout history.

          • Baahb
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            1 month ago

            I like how the fact that “this has happened before” is somehow a valid excuse for it to happen now. Dismiss me if you like but you still aren’t offering any actual rebuttal.

            Since the 80s, and Reagan bot major parties have facilitated the transfer of wealth away from the middle class and to the rich specifically.

            I don’t need to call that out because it’s been there for everyone to see for 40 fucking years. What the actual fuck are you on about.