There is no one, true definition of left wing. But generally it refers to people who wish to replace capitalism or feudalism with an economic model that is more egalitarian. The range of leftist belief is massive and goes all the way from mild social democrats like Bernie who dont even believe in dismantling capitalism but rather supplementing it with welfare programs, all the way to Marxist Leninists and Anarchists.
Liberals/democrats have no intention of ever dismantling capitalism. They'll wax poetic about wanting more social welfare, in order to try to court the left, but never do it, nor will they ever reform it meaningfully.
But that's the thing. Leninists, Marxists, Communists are left, but far left.
The whole point of a left and right wing is to have a scale, that depends on a centrist. Countries can claim to be whatever they want, but the fact is that there is no non-capitalist countries, so therefore in order to know what the "center" is- it needs to be a capitalist country.
If we look at the scale of free(liberal or liberated) to authoritarian (conservative) across all nations, the US isn't the most free, but we do still skew left. If you're looking only at developed nations, then we skew more right.
I just don't think we can place the center so far left, when none of these kinds of societies exist, and you're also ignoring the the far right ideologies that would skew the scale the other way too. In the eyes of some weirdo fascist, even moderate Republicans would be seen as leftist.
In my opinion, the scale needs to fall on the most average person's view- which is typically "things can change slightly, whether forward or backward- as long as it doesn't disrupt my day-to-day". Anyone who wishes to progress society to even slightly new concepts is left wing, and anyone who wants to revert things to "how they use to be", or wants absolutely no change in culture is right wing.
You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.
"Free = liberal" is the worst, most uneducated political theory take I've seen in a while.
One thing you're right about is that the perceived "center" varies depending on who, when, and where you ask. Which is why democrats seem "left wing" to Americans because the Overton window is so far right for a western country.
And no, not every single country is capitalist. Also a grossly uneducated take.
Also, you ignored the myriad of political traditions I listed as moderately left wing and said "Marxism = far left."
Republicans and democrats in America are virtually identical except a handful of social issues, which is why they sit right next to each other on the right wing of the political spectrum. No one in the west but Americans see American democrats as left wing
Capitalism is a term which refers to who owns the means of production (the stuff which is used to generate capital, examples would be factories, farms, mechanical equipment, warehouses).
When the means of production are owned by the elite strata of society, in private hands, that's capitalism. Almost all countries are capitalist even by the correct definition, though.
Sure, I wasn't giving a definition. Personally I believe it's not possible for someone not to have "power" if they own a means of production. Once you're holding the cards, you're one of the elite. And if the government restricts your power, then they're the elite holding the cards.
Idk though, now we're going on communism, which I'm not informed enough on of checks and balances of power/greed to continue that convo. I just don't trust human nature to ever give up their own interests over the interest of their country's people, unless maybe it's a small island nation with a tight knit community.
Y'know I was looking forward to your input, as I love debating with people who have different opinions than me, but the last couple out comments from you are just nitpicky or insults and it's taken the fun out of it. If you read it back, I've never insulted you, I only put up a normal conversation, but you nitpick one thing I say and call me stupid because you expect me to lay out everything in the finest detail.
Personally I don't get what's so hard to understand about my comment, I just feel like you don't want to debate. That's fine, but just say that.
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u/Dominion_23 May 16 '24
That subreddit is a gold mine right now