• DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    I don’t understand how the Democrats in USA can be considered left-wing. Sure, they are more left than the Republicans, but in my eyes they certainly not left-wing.

    • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I don’t know what country you are from or how your voting system works. But I will guess that your country has many parties and after the election, a governing coalition is formed.

      In the US voting system, similar parties get punished by stealing votes from each other. So, in effect, we have to form our coalitions before the election and choose the single candidate that will stand for all of us. So, you can think of the Democratic Party as the Democratic Coalition, made up of some truly left-wing factions, as well as some not very left-wing or even centrist factions, and so our candidate will be much more watered down than what you’d see in a different system.

      • DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml
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        1 hour ago

        I am from Sweden. You are correct that my country has many different parties that together form a governing coalition.

        Thank you for making it a bit clearer to me! I appreciate it.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      You said it yourself, they are less far-right than Republicans, so Liberals get to pretend they are punks and rebels despite supporting the status quo.

    • Clbull@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Because American politics is weird and partisan a f.

      Anything even remotely left will get you labelled a Commie or tankie by the right, while anything remotely right will get you labelled a Nazi by the left.

  • Fickle_Ferret@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    The Left begins with anti-capitalism. If you aren’t against capitalism, you aren’t left.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      Marx and Engels were called “authoritarian” so frequently by their contemporaries that Engels wrote On Authority. What’s considered “authoritarian” is a moving target, an arbitrary line in the sand just for people who succeed in revolution, or at least in throwing off western Imperialist powers.

      If your argument is that Marxism isn’t Leftist then that’s hilarious

      • random@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 hours ago

        my argument isn’t that marx isn’t left (especially since I’ve read his later works), nor that auth-left isn’t left… just that I’m an anti authotitarian leftist

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          2 hours ago

          Gotcha, you’re just anti-Marxist then. Can’t say I agree with that, but that’s less nonsensical than saying Marx isn’t left.

          • random@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            2 hours ago

            I don’t belive marx to be really auth, since he was striving for a stateless society, I just disagree with him on how we get there

            so I’m not exactly an anti marxist, but neither a marxist

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              What Marx calls the “State” and what Anarchists call the “State” are different concepts, ergo what Marx calls “Stateless” would still have hierarchy, and what Anarchists call “Stateless” would still have implementations of class oppression. Marxists and Anarchists do not want the “same thing.”

              If we take your statement that your only major agrreement with Marx is a “Stateless” society, but you’re working off the Anarchist definition of the State, then you are necessarily anti-Marxist. I’d rather you say that openly than try to twist Marxism despite being an Anarchist, so I hope it’s just a misunderstanding on your part.

              • random@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                1 hour ago

                well, then I’m an “anti-marxist” I wouldn’t really like to put it that way tho, since I agree with him on a lot of things

                also sry for twisting things, it’s been a long time since I read marx

                • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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                  1 hour ago

                  That’s fine, I would just focus more on your “pro-Anarchist” identity than your “anti-‘authoritarian’” side. You can be whatever you want to be, your political views are your own.

                  also sry for twisting things, it’s been a long time since I read marx

                  It wasn’t a moral judgement! Just wanted to clear up a clear misconception. I obviously recommend reading more Marx. What do you agree with about Marx?

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      It sucks. Liberals will be blaming Arab Americans going to Jill Stein if Harris loses, rather than Harris and Biden, just you wait.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    10 hours ago

    Turns out, if you’re further left than either realistic candidate (because FPTP), it makes it really easy to figure out who you should vote for. “I wonder if I should vote for the person who’s not left enough for my liking, or the one is so far beyond that as to be the diametric opposite of left. Whatever shall I do?”

    • basmati@lemmus.org
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      9 hours ago

      Both candidates fall under the latter category. An AG that was a prosecutor with a history of perpetuating the war on drugs and arguing in court innocent men should stay imprisoned because prison labor is good for the economy, who was also vice president to one of the most right wing men ever elected?

      That’s literally the state half of the fascist alignment of corporate and state power.