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What is the fascination with the left? Collectivism is fundamentally evil. Equating leftism with egalitarian outcomes is naive at best. Cuba, the Soviet Un

What is the fascination with the left? Collectivism is fundamentally evil. Equating leftism with egalitarian outcomes is naive at best. Cuba, the Soviet Union and others exemplify what happens when leftism triumphs - only the elites are well off. The rest suffer equally. If the democrat party wants to recover, move to the center. Otherwise, they’re done.

krapp 2y ago
There is no "fascination." Many people have political and cultural views which are commonly considered to be "leftist," as we live in a (supposedly) democratic republic in which people have the right to express their views and have them represented in government. In the common American parlance that term is so broad (because it's mostly used as a pejorative) and the overton window has shifted so far to the right that "leftism" now encompasses most of the ideological and political spectrum. But I could tell by your second sentence that you're neither willing nor able to engage with nuance and have an intelligent conversation on the matter. We wouldn't even be speaking the same language, so I'll leave it be.
hn_acker 2y ago
> What is the fascination with the left? Collectivism is fundamentally evil. Equating leftism with egalitarian outcomes is naive at best. Cuba, the Soviet Union and others exemplify what happens when leftism triumphs - only the elites are well off. The rest suffer equally. If the democrat party wants to recover, move to the center. Otherwise, they’re done. Let me swap out some of the words to demonstrate how overly generalized your argument is. > What is the fascination with the right? Capitalism is fundamentally evil. Equating rightism with fair outcomes is naive at best. DOGE, Project 2025, and "White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief" [1] exemplify what happens when rightism triumphs - only the dictators are well off. The rest suffer equally. If the Republican Party wants to recover, move to the center. Otherwise, they’re done. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43250070 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43250070

krapp 2y ago

There is no "fascination." Many people have political and cultural views which are commonly considered to be "leftist," as we live in a (supposedly) democratic republic in which people have the right to express their views and have them represented in government. In the common American parlance that term is so broad (because it's mostly used as a pejorative) and the overton window has shifted so far to the right that "leftism" now encompasses most of the ideological and political spectrum. But I could tell by your second sentence that you're neither willing nor able to engage with nuance and have an intelligent conversation on the matter. We wouldn't even be speaking the same language, so I'll leave it be.

hn_acker 2y ago

> What is the fascination with the left? Collectivism is fundamentally evil. Equating leftism with egalitarian outcomes is naive at best. Cuba, the Soviet Union and others exemplify what happens when leftism triumphs - only the elites are well off. The rest suffer equally. If the democrat party wants to recover, move to the center. Otherwise, they’re done. Let me swap out some of the words to demonstrate how overly generalized your argument is. > What is the fascination with the right? Capitalism is fundamentally evil. Equating rightism with fair outcomes is naive at best. DOGE, Project 2025, and "White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief" [1] exemplify what happens when rightism triumphs - only the dictators are well off. The rest suffer equally. If the Republican Party wants to recover, move to the center. Otherwise, they’re done. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43250070 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43250070