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

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Because in politics, liberal means something else entirely. It’s an ideology defined by support for capitalism.

    • Maxnmy's@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I understand we don’t like capitalism on Lemmy, but I’m curious how liberalism fares versus the other capitalism-supporting ideologies that are more commonly found in the world.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I’ve thought about this for most of the day. Social Democracy (think Denmark, Norway, Sweden, etc) is probably the best out of all capitalist ideologies, but is still subject to the regressive nature of private capital. Other than that, most of them are complete dogshit. Capitalist monarchies, “anarcho-capitalism” (read neo-feudalism), US libertarianism, capitalist oligarchy, fascism*, etc are awful for regular people and horribly lacking in their analysis of capital and it’s relationship between the capitalists and workers. We’re currently living under neoliberal democracy, so imagine things getting much worse for us. That’s what most of those ideologies are like.

        * it should be noted that fascism is mostly just a death cult that loves hierarchies like capitalism.

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          Fascism isn’t merely a randomly appearing death cult, but the violent death throes of crumbling Capitalism. Where Capitalism is failing, fascism rises. That’s why Leftists must thoroughly stomp out fascism while also pushing for Socialism.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      In European politics.

      American liberals do not support free markets. They’re advocates of greater regulation amd stronger unions.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        yes, they do. Both* US political parties are neoliberal parties. Regulation of markets is still a free market. Unions do not inherently oppose free markets either.

        * must go back at least 10 years for this to be true for Republicans

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Stop prevaricating.

          More regulation = less free markets. It’s a spectrum, not a light switch. Dems want more restricted markets. Repubs want more free markets.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It’s actually specifically not true in American politics.

        Liberal in America = left wing, favors greater regulation of markets