NationStates Jolt Archive

If anyone has taken the political compass test, you'll know that politics go beyond simply "left" and "right", and that some stereotypes about what makes someone left or right are untrue. Of course beyond political compass, there are many other factors that map the poltical ideologies of people.

So the point of discussion is this: Do you think that Democrats are leftists and/or liberals?

Should the party be grouped in a general position at all?

Are some Democrats "left" but not others (for example, Hillary Clinton vs. Mike Gravel)?

Is Barack Obama, the probable nominee for president, a "leftist"?

Are they only leftists from an American-centric view?

Is the Labour Party of the UK even "left" anymore?

Do right-wing commentators like O'Reilly and Hannity unfairly call groups like "Move On" and "Code Pink" the far left (do leftists unfairly call people like O'Reilly the far right)?

Whilst I certainly agree that the democrats are not left, being center at best, center-right to right at worst, isn't it a bit unfair to not even include the option of putting them as being left-wing or even far-left?

I mean, come on, it's 50% of the voting population we're talking about here, you really think they're That homogeneous?

It's all relative and specific to the context in which it is used.

If anyone has taken the political compass test, you'll know that politics go beyond simply "left" and "right", and that some stereotypes about what makes someone left or right are untrue. Of course beyond political compass, there are many other factors that map the poltical ideologies of people.

So the point of discussion is this: Do you think that Democrats are leftists and/or liberals?

Should the party be grouped in a general position at all?

Are some Democrats "left" but not others (for example, Hillary Clinton vs. Mike Gravel)?

Is Barack Obama, the probable nominee for president, a "leftist"?

Are they only leftists from an American-centric view?

Is the Labour Party of the UK even "left" anymore?

Do right-wing commentators like O'Reilly and Hannity unfairly call groups like "Move On" and "Code Pink" the far left (do leftists unfairly call people like O'Reilly the far right)?

It's relative. The Dems are Left relative to the Republicans--specifically the Neo-Con part of the party--but Center-ish relative to the World.

If anyone has taken the political compass test, you'll know that politics go beyond simply "left" and "right", and that some stereotypes about what makes someone left or right are untrue. Of course beyond political compass, there are many other factors that map the poltical ideologies of people.

So the point of discussion is this: Do you think that Democrats are leftists and/or liberals?

Should the party be grouped in a general position at all?

Are some Democrats "left" but not others (for example, Hillary Clinton vs. Mike Gravel)?

Is Barack Obama, the probable nominee for president, a "leftist"?

Are they only leftists from an American-centric view?

Is the Labour Party of the UK even "left" anymore?

Do right-wing commentators like O'Reilly and Hannity unfairly call groups like "Move On" and "Code Pink" the far left (do leftists unfairly call people like O'Reilly the far right)?

In the context of American policy, Democrats are certainly the left. However, the left-right spectrum is entirely dependent on the politics of the region.

As for O'Reilly and Hannity, I must sadly say that they are not the far right (though I wish they were). Right of the center, but unfortunately not so far right as we would wish.

I'd say the Democrats are just barely left of centre

Because of the unique social, economic and political coalitions that went into the construction of the US party system, neither party can be considered fully left or right, rather, they are hybrids, with broad constituencies that range the length and breadth of politics, although, even with this, the Democratic party does lean "left", whilst the Republican party leans "right".

I am farther left than any democratic candidate that would ever stand a chance. Hell, Im farther left than any AMERICAN candidate that would ever stand a chance.

No, America is a right-wing dictatorship, the only 'choice' is between liberal capitalists and conservative capitalists, so in short one side thinks gays should be able to own sweatshops, the other doesn't. The only difference are the party symbols really.

The US political spectrum is so dominated by big business and individualism that any even slight objective left-wing view is ultimately evil to the core. It's interesting though because this 'white man who loves his property and exploitation' mental disorder seems to be largely contained in America, you'll find no such things outside America.

In short, organized labor and altruism took the bullet in America long ago, abandon ship.

so in short on side thinks gays should be able to own sweatshops

Incidentally, that pretty much is the political position of the Human Rights Campaign. :)

Democratics are like the rest of the western world's extreme Right wing, and their Right-wing is so far right it's not even conservative, it's reactive.

Do right-wing commentators like O'Reilly and Hannity unfairly call groups like "Move On" and "Code Pink" the far left (do leftists unfairly call people like O'Reilly the far right)?
Yes (No).

If anyone has taken the political compass test, you'll know that politics go beyond simply "left" and "right", and that some stereotypes about what makes someone left or right are untrue. Of course beyond political compass, there are many other factors that map the poltical ideologies of people.

So the point of discussion is this: Do you think that Democrats are leftists and/or liberals?

Hell no. The American Democratic Party is, at best, moderate centrist. It's usually slightly to the right.

which wing is the unbelievable corporate whores on again? :p

Is the Labour Party of the UK even "left" anymore?


ROFL, as if.

In all seriousness, main Labour policy hasn't been "left" in a long time, although there are still a significant number of left-wing Labour MPs. The differences between Labour and Conservatives, at least in their front-benchers are, unfortunatly minimal. Labour tends to be more towards authoritarian and central governance and bit more socially liberal, conservatives tend to be a bit more economically liberal but more socially conservative.

The Lib Dems are probably most left (if you don't count the Greens) and they've always been centre, they just ended up left-wing when Labour did it's complete about-face and marched off to the right.