- Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:47 pm
#73590
The idea that the Democrats are left wing in any meaningful way doesn't hold water.
What have they done since Reagan's day to reverse his "trickle down" economic policy?
What have they done to sort out the unregulated free-market capitalist mess that is the healthcare sector?
What have they done about the unregulated labour market, where people can be hired and fired at will, and companies are free to cut employees' wages and tell them "if you don't like it, quit"?
What have they done to close tax loopholes to prevent situations where school teachers pay more in tax than billionaires? You can ask Elon Musk about this one.
What have they done about regulating the additives put in food as a matter of course, many of which are banned on this side of the Atlantic for very good reasons?
What have they done about the insane situation where an unstable indiviual's right to possess firearms outweighs other people's right to live? I know Harris has said something about this, but she ain't President yet.
The fact that, for the past few decades at least, they've been happy to maintain the status quo suggests they don't have any real right to claim to be left-wing. While they are left-of-centre in the US, the political centre ground in the USA is much further to the right than it is in most European countries.
I think Obama, Biden, and Harris are probably more socialist than America has seen in a long time, but I don't think any of them are particularly left-wing by European standards. They are left-wing only in relation to the Republican Party. Don't forget, it was a Conservative government which legalised gay marriage in England and Wales.
Passing laws legalising gay marriage and trans rights etc is meaningless without the corresponding legislation to criminalise the words and deeds of the haters.
What Trump disparagingly refers to as "Obamacare" has the bizarre result of the Federal government paying a lot more per head for 'socialised' healthcare than the UK government does*, and the American people getting far less for it, because a large chunk of that money is being legally siphoned off as profit.
*Over 30% more, from what I have seen.
It might only be the Imperial Service Medal, but I've got a gong. What's Paul Dacre got?