Holding views that are fatal to modern society while enjoying its benefits… So hot right now! Maybe they’ll keep the dead half-husk of democracy that has all their stuff!

  • Walt J. Rimmer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    I used to consider myself a centrist. But in my not-all-too-extensive lifetime, I’ve seen some of my views go from being considered centrist to being considered leftist to being considered radical leftist without changing. At some point, I just decided to say fuck it, you want to label me a leftist nutjob, I’ll roll with it.

    Center is relative. And in the US, there’s been a documented and deliberate effort from conservatives to push the country’s political ideology further and further to the right for the past a little over fifty years, it started right after Nixon lost to Kennedy but really kicked into high gear during Nixon’s first successful presidential campaign. So being a centrist used to be a reasonable position to hold. But it shifted. It moved. It was moved to the point where being a centrist means holding the expert and the kook in equal regard. If you really want to be a centrist between ideologies, between pure socialism and pure capitalism, between authoritarian and libertarian, between all the different political, social, economic and other ideologies, we don’t have that. We’re so far conservative economically, politically, and in most other ways that our “left-wing” party is right-of-center.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Why was Roosevelt’s Workers Bill of Rights too radical and reasonable to oppose? I’ll even go further, what was “so far left”, that it was ever reasonable to oppose it and be a centrist?

      to wit: an “economic bill of rights” to guarantee these specific rights:

      Employment (right to work[notes 1])
      An adequate income for food, shelter, and recreation
      Farmers' rights to a fair income
      Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
      Decent housing
      Adequate medical care
      Social security
      Education