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> In the United States the Overton Window is so far right even the Democratic Party is center-right. I'm sorry, but what? Within the party, they've promoted u

> In the United States the Overton Window is so far right even the Democratic Party is center-right. I'm sorry, but what? Within the party, they've promoted universal basic income (marxisim), state healthcare, universal education, etc. It's almost completely authoritarian marxist. They're far left of most of Europe in terms of social policy (LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, drugs, etc) and economic (complete universal education, health, payments, work, etc) If that's center-left what is left, exactly?

AlexandrB 5y ago
Let's take the example of state healthcare. The Democratic Party talks a big game about universal healthcare at election time, but only ever proposes modest reforms (like the ACA) when it's time to craft policy. Meanwhile many (all?) European countries actually have some form of state-run or state-funded universal healthcare. The Democrat Party is only "far left" if you believe their wildest election rhetoric and don't judge them on their actions. To call them authoritarian marxist is ridiculous when they fail time and time again to reign in corporate power and are financially beholden to that same power.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > The Democratic Party talks a big game about universal healthcare at election time No, it doesn't, at least if you are talking about general elections since the failure of Clinton's reforms in the 1990s. Since then, it's talked about moderate mitigations of the problem of massive gaps in the healthcare system, or, more recently, simply about not continuing dismantling past progress on that issue.
disentanglement 5y ago
Your comment calling political measures which are universally accepted across the entire range of politics in Europe (state healthcare, universal education, ...) authoritarian marxist is a hilarious example of what the top poster meant by "the Overton Window is so far right even the Democratic Party is center-right".
- lettergram 5y ago
  Authoritarian - centrally controlled and managed Marxism - attempt to remove classes from society The Marxism is being implemented through high taxes and redistribution of wealth via services centrally administered via government. That seems to meet the definition.
  - tdeck 5y ago
    What you're describing are simply ordinary welfare state policies, and what you view as "high taxes" are not particularly high compared to historical tax rates even within the US. The idea that you'd have to be a Marxist to want to centralize health insurance to reduce costs so people don't go bankrupt paying for medical care is simply propaganda. In fact, most Marxists would probably view these kinds of measures as capitalist Band-Aids to keep the entire system from collapsing.
    - lettergram 5y ago
      > What you're describing are simply ordinary welfare state policies Yes, people who support these policies are authoritarian Marxists. I'm not disparaging it, it just is what it is. The U.S. is authoritarian and largely Marxist. > The idea that you'd have to be a Marxist to want to centralize health insurance to reduce costs so people don't go bankrupt paying for medical care is simply propaganda. Not propaganda, it is by definition what it is. It's not really arguable. The propaganda are the opinions on whether or not it's good. There's a fair argument it's good to make centralized healthcare, there's a fair argument against.

AlexandrB 5y ago

Let's take the example of state healthcare. The Democratic Party talks a big game about universal healthcare at election time, but only ever proposes modest reforms (like the ACA) when it's time to craft policy. Meanwhile many (all?) European countries actually have some form of state-run or state-funded universal healthcare. The Democrat Party is only "far left" if you believe their wildest election rhetoric and don't judge them on their actions. To call them authoritarian marxist is ridiculous when they fail time and time again to reign in corporate power and are financially beholden to that same power.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> The Democratic Party talks a big game about universal healthcare at election time No, it doesn't, at least if you are talking about general elections since the failure of Clinton's reforms in the 1990s. Since then, it's talked about moderate mitigations of the problem of massive gaps in the healthcare system, or, more recently, simply about not continuing dismantling past progress on that issue.

disentanglement 5y ago

Your comment calling political measures which are universally accepted across the entire range of politics in Europe (state healthcare, universal education, ...) authoritarian marxist is a hilarious example of what the top poster meant by "the Overton Window is so far right even the Democratic Party is center-right".

lettergram 5y ago
Authoritarian - centrally controlled and managed Marxism - attempt to remove classes from society The Marxism is being implemented through high taxes and redistribution of wealth via services centrally administered via government. That seems to meet the definition.
- tdeck 5y ago
  What you're describing are simply ordinary welfare state policies, and what you view as "high taxes" are not particularly high compared to historical tax rates even within the US. The idea that you'd have to be a Marxist to want to centralize health insurance to reduce costs so people don't go bankrupt paying for medical care is simply propaganda. In fact, most Marxists would probably view these kinds of measures as capitalist Band-Aids to keep the entire system from collapsing.
  - lettergram 5y ago
    > What you're describing are simply ordinary welfare state policies Yes, people who support these policies are authoritarian Marxists. I'm not disparaging it, it just is what it is. The U.S. is authoritarian and largely Marxist. > The idea that you'd have to be a Marxist to want to centralize health insurance to reduce costs so people don't go bankrupt paying for medical care is simply propaganda. Not propaganda, it is by definition what it is. It's not really arguable. The propaganda are the opinions on whether or not it's good. There's a fair argument it's good to make centralized healthcare, there's a fair argument against.