Left wing, Right wing? Same damn bird I say by golly, good gum.
That depends entirely on your scale/perspective. In the US, what most of the developed world consider reasonable centrist policies that “everyone” agrees on is considered radical left by many in the US, thanks to decades of indoctrination.
Also, there are more axises (axii?) than left-right. Sticking every political position on a left-right axis is a very US point of view.
Democratic vs authoritarian
Open society vs closed society
Free market vs central planning
Interventionism vs isolationism
Individual liberty vs collective responsibility
…Just to name a few.There’s also decentralised planning. Seldom are even those axes on one line - they can overlap and have shades and nuances.
And we also should ask ourselves: what makes a free market? Is it a market in where cooperations are allowed to grow “too big to fail”, and have the power to seize entire societies? Or is it a regulated market in where this cannot occur?
Or a market in where the focus lies on social ownership? Is it therefore not the freest, when one can decide for and by themselves at work?
As for the first one, yeah, I forgot about that one.
When it comes to the second one, I consider 100% free market to be an ancap’s wet dream with 100% corporate freedom with no regulations - Think of it like a market where McFentanyl would be allowed to make and sell their product in every town. And in the other end of the spectrum we have where ancomittee on top of the government determines uotas for how many M8 nuts a factory on the other side of the country must produce per month, as well as setting the price.
The plural of “axis” is “axes”, pronounced “AX-ease”.
TIL, TYVM
Center or center right normally ( actual center think way left of Obama). It’s a taxation concept for a capitalist based society… Source I am a Geoist Minarchist Libertarian. When I test I normally hit 1 square to the right of center and 6-7 into liberty.
We should replace the property tax with a LVT.
Centrist economic policy (no hard one way position on economy), libertarian social policy (little government). Hard to say really… what would you call a system which advocates workers rights while also supporting a free market?
Depends on what you mean by worker’s rights and free market.
Let’s say that that’s;
- right to holiday, parental and medical leave
- wages linked to inflation
- adequate safety standards
- strong and robust unemployment protections and social assistance
- free healthcare
- workplace democracy
and:
- free travel of goods
- free travel of people
in short, you’re looking for a Nordic model within the EU… you can’t really advocate worker’s rights without fully committing on the left economic model, imho. The centrist ways are acceptable for getting the rich onboard to move away from the right. But not acceptable for moving the rest away from left.
You can have all of that without an authoritarian government. Even higher taxes are irrelevant as a guaranteed minimum income would offset 70-80% of the population’s tax losses and give them a minimum income. We could replace the property tax with a lvt to raise money for public social programs. We could create state chartered non-profit NGOs that raise money through fees. As revenues generated from these NGOs increase the minimum income increases.
We should tax corporations more with a minimum global corporate tax. Corporations are not people. There should be a tax on unrealized capital gains. 25% inheritance tax. There should be a tax on stock buy backs for corporate entities. Repeal the Taft Hartley act. Ban Medicare and Medicaid funding to for-profit corporations. Have a single payer healthcare option.
We should use direct democracy like Switzerland does and a national referendum process and a national recall for federal employees. There should be term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court. Heavily restrict the power of the executive. Abolish broad presidential immunity. Plead with congress to abolish ICE. Use the Wyoming rule to determine the number members of the US House. Amend the War Powers Act to heavily restrict the president waging wars without congressional approval.
I don’t know what planet you live on that you think I advocate for an authoritarian government – but I prefer worker rights within a decentral framework, à la council or anarchist communism.
As for the American situation itself, assuming no such model, I think there’s more necessary, such as better urban planning with free, frequent, punctual and high-quality public transit and bicycle lanes. Not to mention the Supreme Court should be appointed solely through apolitical processes, not by executives. Its appointment requirements should also be determined apolitically.
No branch should have the power to increase its own power. The state is a centralised entity with a monopoly on violence; therefore the state must be abolished, and a “power vacuum” avoided through decentralised self-governance.
An ideal solution that promotes innovation and rewards labor
It’s basically a version of Georgism, rebranded to avoid Georgism’s left-wing association.
Is it left wing or right wing?
Most of the underlying concepts are left wing, but the people using the label aren’t.
(The main example I can think of is Foldvary, who I’d hesitate to call either left- or right-wing).
The enemy of progress is perfection
I’ll forever find it depressing that leftists have no quams about authoratianism as long as it’s branded for the people but will refuse to work with centrists who want the same things as them
