4 ms·

> because of the 'unfettered capitalism' ideology of many in Washington, which is heavily skewed to the right I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Washi

by skrowl 8y ago

> because of the 'unfettered capitalism' ideology of many in Washington, which is heavily skewed to the right I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Washington DC is over 70% Democrat (which is our left wing party) https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blog/13124106/mapping-d-c-s-party-affiliations-from-republican-georgetown-to-democratic-washington-highlands https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blo... Washington DC hasn't elected a Republican (our right wing party, about 6% of the population there) since the 1870s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Washington,_D.C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Wa....

tom_ 8y ago
It's probably a figure of speech, not to be taken literally. See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy#Places_and_institutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy#Places_and_institutio...
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  Correct. That's how I meant it.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Washington DC is over 70% Democrat (which is our left wing party) In American English, in political contexts, “Washington” is a frequently used idiom for “decision-makers in the US Federal Government”. (This applies mutatis mutandis, to the names of political capitals generally, which stand in for the leadership of the government seared their; in the context of discussions of a particular corporation or other organization, this also applies to the names of cities wherein regional or central HQs are related). Anyone who misses this has really no place commenting that other people must not be American because of ignorance free of the partisan alignment of the electorate in the capital district.
- drcoopster 8y ago
  > electorate in the capital district You know they don't have any real federal representation, right? Calling them an electorate when referring to anything other than local DC politics is probably not appropriate.
AsyncAwait 8y ago
> I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Am not, but follow the politics there closely. > Washington DC is over 70% Democrat Am not talking about the actual place "Washington DC", am talking about it as a seat of power, the seat of government. The politicians in the House and Senate and their leanings. > which is our left wing party The Democratic Party is nowhere near "left-wing" by what most of the developed world understands that to mean. The Democratic Party has policies equivalent to the Conservative Party in Britain, (The Conservative Party is a right-wing party). It is precisely because of the extremely right-wing ideology of most lawmakers in Washington that you have moved to such a position where the center-right, (Democrats), are called "left-wing" and the far-right, (Republicans), are refereed to as "center-right". Only in the USA. You don't have a viable left-wing party over there. There's people like Bernie Sanders and AOC that are what I'd call center-left, but because how far right the acceptable debate in the USA has shifted, they're "socialists".
- skrowl 8y ago
  AOC literally refers to herself as a socialist https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/democratic-socialists-ocasio-cortez-689647 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/democratic-sociali...
  - AsyncAwait 8y ago
    You misunderstood, again. Yes she does, because she's working within the American context. What I am saying is that she would not be refereed to as"socialist" in much of the rest of the developed world. She is only a "socialist" because of how right-wing the USA political context is. An easy way you can tell, even as an American, is that she's not advocating for abolishing capitalism and seizing the means of production, which are the central pillars of socialism. She's advocating for some social policies that have been common elsewhere for decades.
    - allannienhuis 8y ago
      I'm no student of politics, so I could well be way off base, but isn't 'abolishing capitalism and seizing the means of production' central pillars of communism, not socialism?

by skrowl 8y ago

tom_ 8y ago

It's probably a figure of speech, not to be taken literally. See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy#Places_and_institutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy#Places_and_institutio...

AsyncAwait 8y ago
Correct. That's how I meant it.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Washington DC is over 70% Democrat (which is our left wing party) In American English, in political contexts, “Washington” is a frequently used idiom for “decision-makers in the US Federal Government”. (This applies mutatis mutandis, to the names of political capitals generally, which stand in for the leadership of the government seared their; in the context of discussions of a particular corporation or other organization, this also applies to the names of cities wherein regional or central HQs are related). Anyone who misses this has really no place commenting that other people must not be American because of ignorance free of the partisan alignment of the electorate in the capital district.

drcoopster 8y ago
> electorate in the capital district You know they don't have any real federal representation, right? Calling them an electorate when referring to anything other than local DC politics is probably not appropriate.

AsyncAwait 8y ago

> I'm going to assume you're not in the USA. Am not, but follow the politics there closely. > Washington DC is over 70% Democrat Am not talking about the actual place "Washington DC", am talking about it as a seat of power, the seat of government. The politicians in the House and Senate and their leanings. > which is our left wing party The Democratic Party is nowhere near "left-wing" by what most of the developed world understands that to mean. The Democratic Party has policies equivalent to the Conservative Party in Britain, (The Conservative Party is a right-wing party). It is precisely because of the extremely right-wing ideology of most lawmakers in Washington that you have moved to such a position where the center-right, (Democrats), are called "left-wing" and the far-right, (Republicans), are refereed to as "center-right". Only in the USA. You don't have a viable left-wing party over there. There's people like Bernie Sanders and AOC that are what I'd call center-left, but because how far right the acceptable debate in the USA has shifted, they're "socialists".

skrowl 8y ago
AOC literally refers to herself as a socialist https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/democratic-socialists-ocasio-cortez-689647 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/01/democratic-sociali...
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  You misunderstood, again. Yes she does, because she's working within the American context. What I am saying is that she would not be refereed to as"socialist" in much of the rest of the developed world. She is only a "socialist" because of how right-wing the USA political context is. An easy way you can tell, even as an American, is that she's not advocating for abolishing capitalism and seizing the means of production, which are the central pillars of socialism. She's advocating for some social policies that have been common elsewhere for decades.
  - allannienhuis 8y ago
    I'm no student of politics, so I could well be way off base, but isn't 'abolishing capitalism and seizing the means of production' central pillars of communism, not socialism?