4 ms·
Liberalism and neoliberalism have always been about the rights of the individual above everything else. But the concept of "liberal" has been perverted in Ameri
by baisq 4y ago
Liberalism and neoliberalism have always been about the rights of the individual above everything else. But the concept of "liberal" has been perverted in America.
- usrn 4y agoThe idea of a "political compass" helps. The left has two groups: authoritarians who want to replace culture with something secular and have strong social services and government regulation, and the liberals who want to reject culture and let people do what they want. The right also has two groups: the conservatives who want the government to enforce our culture and the libertarians who want to be left alone. For the past ~100 years we've found consensus between the liberals and libertarians but everyone is radicalizing away from that. So we still think of liberals as being the leftward movement and libertarians as being the rightward one.
- nicoburns 4y agoDoesn't the political compass usually use the label "authoritarian" and "libertarian" for both the left and right? There's nothing about being libertarian that is inherently right-wing (in particular if you generalise the logic of "big government bad" to "any large powerful organisation including governments, corporations, and individuals bad" then you end up with a very much left-wing position).
- robertlagrant 4y agoI've never heard government bad being described as left wing. Which left wing organisation would say that?
- nicoburns 4y agoAny anarchist one for starters. But looking towards more mainstream positions, anyone who is advocating for a Universal Basic Income. While UBI involves high levels of taxation, it does not lead to a big government because the government isn't actually spending that money.
- robertlagrant 4y agoUBI may not create big government (although it probably does) the sort of politics that likes big government also likes UBI.
- nicoburns 4y ago> although it probably does What makes you think that? > the sort of politics that likes big government also likes UBI. I don't think you can really generalise like that. Certainly the reverse doesn't seem to be true, in that UBI seems to have appeal to many of those who are opposed to big government. It certainly seems to avoid a lot of the bureaucracy that comes with more traditional welfare systems.
- emteycz 4y agoThe incredible machinery required to collect the current amount of taxes suggests so. Each percentage point requires increasingly more complex tax administration, and with each point more people will try hard to evade it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
- usrn 4y agoYes, the liberals are the libertarian left.
- nicoburns 4y agoPerhaps it's a US/UK terminology difference, but most of the left-libertarians I know would not take kindly to being described as liberals.