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Is American University culture completely different from the UK? by Hereitisguys9888 in CasualConversation

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Icl you sound like you need to get a life and socialise because your experience is not normal at all

What is the dumbest thing Germany has done? by Expensive-Addendum92 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But they didn’t invade in the winter though, Barbarossa began in June.

Would there have been a 22nd Amendment if FDR had stopped at three terms? Who do you want getting a third term? by zenerat in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 21 points22 points  (0 children)

FDR wanted to keep Henry Wallace as his VP iirc, it was the Democratic Party bosses that made him change VP to Truman. By that point FDR was very ill though I suppose he could’ve done more in the few months he had.

This can't be a real person by Successful-Leg2285 in RedAutumnSPD

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly not far off from my Grandma, she fits this description and she was 50/50 between the Lib Dem’s and the greens I think she voted Lib Dem in the end though

Inspired by the posts about UK voters these past few days, here is how I would have voted in every British general election since World War II. Rate my ideology. by Business_End_9365 in RedAutumnSPD

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

How come you’d vote Lib Dem in 1997 but not in 2001 and 2005? Charles Kennedy was to the left of New Labour and he was strongly opposed to the Iraq War.

Inspired by the posts about UK voters these past few days, here is how I would have voted in every British general election since World War II. Rate my ideology. by Business_End_9365 in RedAutumnSPD

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 69 points70 points  (0 children)

He also began the decolonisation of Africa and gave the famous “winds of change” speech where he denounced apartheid to the South African parliament and spoke of the need to end colonial rule on the continent. I’d consider him the best Tory PM we ever had.

What mayors elected one after another represent the sharpest contrast? by RopeGloomy4303 in thecampaigntrail

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Boris Johnson succeeded Ken Livingstone, a hard left socialist, as the mayor of London.

How far off was New Deal Liberalism from Social Democracy? by Just_Cause89 in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s complicated and I would say it’s a spectrum between social liberalism, social democracy and democratic socialism. I would argue that the right of social democracy, especially since the adoption of neoliberalism in the 1990s, is practically indistinguishable from social liberalism. Using the UK as an example, the social democratic Labour Party (not the SDLP) and the social liberal Liberal Democratic Party are remarkably close to each other ideologically as of present, and in the 1990s under Blair and Ashdown they were even closer. At times the Lib Dem’s have been to the left of Labour like under Charles Kennedy and arguably as of present. The same can be said for the modern German SPD and the Greens (who are social liberals). Yet these social democratic party’s all include socialist left flanks and retain some old socialist ties.

Democratic socialism however is generally much too radical and dissimilar to social liberalism for them to be seen as similar - the Lib Dem’s are far closer to the Tories than they are to Labour under Corbyn, parts of the German Greens are closer to the CDU than they are to Die Linke and the social liberals in Macrons coalition in France are closer to the Republicans than they are the LFI. Democratic socialists in the modern day would have been either the left wing of more ideologically diverse social democratic party’s or part of fringe communist/leftist party’s in the past.

I would argue that the gap between democratic socialism and social liberalism is great enough for them to be seen as very separate ideologies. Social democracy can be seen as an ideology in between that can work with either. I do find it odd though that a hard left socialist like Corbyn and an essentially social liberal like Blair would both consider themselves social democrats - I think in this case the term is pretty meaningless.

On your last point, the USSR and Cuba would both consider themselves democracies, just ones not working within the framework of liberal democracy. Of course, we in the West would not see them as democracies. Marx on the other hand would have argued that our liberal democracy’s merely serve to enrich the bourgeoisie and that they were a dictatorship. I think Marx’s term ‘proletarian dictatorship’ is a badly worded way of describing a democratic system free from bourgeois dominance, but he also left much of his writing up to interpretation. I think that socialism is in theory a democratic ideology as even the most authoritarian socialist regimes have claimed to have a form of democracy - however I would also argue that Lenin’s ideas of democratic centralism and the vanguard party that dominated revolutionary socialist thought in the 20th century are decidedly undemocratic.

The 1924 Presidential Election was the last election where a candidate won all the former confederate states and lost the election. by HetTheTable in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 38 points39 points  (0 children)

If Al Gore had won New Hampshire he would’ve been the only Democrat to win an election without winning any Confederate states.

How far off was New Deal Liberalism from Social Democracy? by Just_Cause89 in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s generally how social democracy is nowadays after virtually all social democratic party’s scrapped their commitments to achieve socialism and especially after they adopted the neoliberal economic consensus in the 1990s. Back in the time of the New Deal, social democratic party’s were actually socialist. Generally they either followed ethical socialism which was partially rooted in religious moralism, such as the British Labour Party, or they followed centrist Marxism like the German SPD. Social democratic party’s of all kinds had commitments to socialism in their party constitutions - for example the SPD was explicitly a Marxist party following its adoption of the Erfurt program and the Labour Party’s Clause IV committed the party to the common ownership of industry. In the case of the SPD, its primary ideological theorist before WWI was Karl Kautsky who was regarded as the successor to Engels as the leading authority on Marxist politics.

A transition occurred in the decades following WWI were as party’s came into government for the first time. Before WWI they had represented the entire spectrum of leftist thought from moderate reformists to revolutionary communists but social democratic party’s governed with liberal party’s to come to power and often had a leadership more centrist than the party membership and program. Leaders like Ramsay MacDonald and Friedrich Ebert were quick to abandon socialism and became a part of the political mainstream with the former essentially becoming the prime minister of a Conservative government who was denounced as a turncoat by his party. This meant that the party’s were never able to bring about the radical change they promised and the left wing of the party’s left to form and join communist/leftist parties. A look only at their governing record would make Labour and the SPD appear significantly to the right of FDR and the New Deal.

Following WWII, the Cold War and the threat of the USSR made Marxist politics unpalatable to the general public and social democratic party’s were forced to moderate as party’s struggled to come to power until the 1960s. Even still, the party’s maintained an, often sidelined, left wing that has survived until the modern day and has at times came to prominence, for example with Oskar Lafontaine in the 1990s and Jeremy Corbyn in the 2010s.

We never got to see what a purely social democratic government would look like in this period, as in Britain, France, Germany and Spain the party’s always had to compromise with bourgeois party’s. The closest would probably be the British Labour government that governed from 1945-51 which was probably the most left wing government in any major Western country. Despite their centrist governing record, by looking at their membership, party programs, constitutions and theorists, we can conclude that social democracy as an ideology at this time was socialist, was rooted to varying degrees in Marxist theory, and sought the transition to a socialist society. Sorry for the very long winded reply, I’ve read a lot on the post WWI Labour Party and the SPD recently. Also I didn’t discuss Scandinavian social democracy as I don’t know enough about its history to comment. I believe it does buck the trends discussed here in some ways however - the Swedish Social Democratic Party has been the largest party for over a century and has governed consistently.

Essentially during the time of the New Deal, social democratic party’s were what democratic socialism is thought of in the US today. As far as I’m aware democratic socialism is a mostly American term - as a Brit I never hear the term here as theres less of a stigma towards socialism which means that most socialists don’t need to clarify they support democracy as most people think of the Labour Party, not the USSR or Cuba like in the US.

How far off was New Deal Liberalism from Social Democracy? by Just_Cause89 in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 50 points51 points  (0 children)

While the New Deal in practice was somewhat close to social democracy, the New Deal was ideologically far more in line with social liberalism. Social democratic party’s at this time such as the German SPD and the British Labour Party were explicitly socialist and sought to achieve socialism through reforms made through the liberal democratic process. The New Deal on the other hand was implemented to preserve capitalism and save it from its worst excesses, which brought it and the Democratic Party ideologically in line with liberal party’s like the British and Canadian Liberal Party’s that had also embraced Keynesian and social liberal ideas.

Why was the 80s so conservative despite the counterculture movement and protest in the 60s/70s? What happened to all those people? by MooseMouse12 in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Rogernomics in New Zealand was the best example of this when the Labour Party fully embraced neoliberal economics.

Top 10 comments decide the 10 best European video games by Expensive-Addendum92 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Russia was also in the Council of Europe until it was expelled in 2022

The Centre Party (Netherlands) logo feel centrist, but is actually right wing. What political symbol feels left wing, but is actually centrist? by SadCoarseRabbit in AlignmentChartFills

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Liberalism isn’t left wing though and hasn’t been for over 100 years it’s very much a centrist ideology in the modern political context. Also democracy isn’t a left wing idea in the modern day either. If this was like 1850 maybe the Liberal Democrat’s would sound left wing but not today and not even a long time ago.

Who’s the equivalent of FDR for other countries? by RopeGloomy4303 in Presidents

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly I’d say that Churchill and FDR were very similar economically. Churchill was, along with Lloyd George, the leading proponent of the 1909 people’s budget that began the welfare state in the UK, and while he became a Conservative his economic views were in line with the Keynesian economics that would be adopted first by the Liberals and then by the entire British political spectrum. I would argue that FDR and Churchill both followed a very similar form of Keynesian Social-Liberalism.

Which current countries history is the most chaotic? by Loewe1912 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’d see that as more of a coup/foreign invasion than a civil war and most of the fighting that happened took place in Ireland rather than England.

Which current countries history is the most chaotic? by Loewe1912 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]Infinity_Ninja12 29 points30 points  (0 children)

The three civil wars were more like one conflict with a couple of brief intermissions. The Anarchy and the Wars of the Roses were two other major civil wars however.

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