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For Americans it could be called a socialist country, take into account that the parties we call right-wing in most European countries propose economic policies

For Americans it could be called a socialist country, take into account that the parties we call right-wing in most European countries propose economic policies that are to the left of America's mainstream left. In fact, probably even Le Pen is to the left of America's mainstream left in terms of worker's policies.

tasogare 7y ago
Exactly. The political landscape is really skewed towards left, but to realize that you need to live abroad and expose yourself to other ideas. All political parties basically are 50 shades of left. Marine Le Pen ideas are qualified as the absolute evil in France while far stronger ideas (the one held by the real far-right, represented by Zemmour & MMLP) are totally normal in other places of the world. Take Japan for instance, where death penalty is approved by 60% of the population, criminals are actually sentenced to jail and immigration is severely restricted. This doesn’t make it a fascist state and it’s actually a really good place to live.
- Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago
  I didn't actually mean to discuss what's normal and what's skewed, and much less what's better or what's worse, but just to state a quite objective fact (that even the rightmost parties in Europe are to the left of American mainstream left) without sparking controversy. But I'll bite. The Japan example is true (although they do have serious social issues), but the fact is that European countries utterly dominate most list of the best places to live. See for example http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to-live-in/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to... https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-r... https://ceoworld.biz/2019/04/11/best-quality-of-life-2019/ https://ceoworld.biz/2019/04/11/best-quality-of-life-2019/ where most of the countries in the top ten are European, with special predominance of particularly leftist countries like the Nordic countries. And at least the first two are American sources (not sure about the location of the third one).

tasogare 7y ago

Exactly. The political landscape is really skewed towards left, but to realize that you need to live abroad and expose yourself to other ideas. All political parties basically are 50 shades of left. Marine Le Pen ideas are qualified as the absolute evil in France while far stronger ideas (the one held by the real far-right, represented by Zemmour & MMLP) are totally normal in other places of the world. Take Japan for instance, where death penalty is approved by 60% of the population, criminals are actually sentenced to jail and immigration is severely restricted. This doesn’t make it a fascist state and it’s actually a really good place to live.

Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago
I didn't actually mean to discuss what's normal and what's skewed, and much less what's better or what's worse, but just to state a quite objective fact (that even the rightmost parties in Europe are to the left of American mainstream left) without sparking controversy. But I'll bite. The Japan example is true (although they do have serious social issues), but the fact is that European countries utterly dominate most list of the best places to live. See for example http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to-live-in/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to... https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-r... https://ceoworld.biz/2019/04/11/best-quality-of-life-2019/ https://ceoworld.biz/2019/04/11/best-quality-of-life-2019/ where most of the countries in the top ten are European, with special predominance of particularly leftist countries like the Nordic countries. And at least the first two are American sources (not sure about the location of the third one).