But this graphing of the ideological positions held by US presidential aspirants explains the problem -- they ARE pretty much the same in ideological terms:
This from Political Compass.Please keep in mind that The Political Compass is a universal tool, reflecting the full spectrum of political thought, and applicable to all democracies. US politics are generally fought within a more confined space. While in mainstream America, Clinton, for example, may be seen as left leaning, in the overall political landscape, she is a moderate conservative. Someone like Kucinich, while seen by his severest opponents as an extreme left winger, would qualify as a typical social democrat in a European context.This all confirms my own graphing last year, which compared the positions of the US and Canadian political parties.
Via Apostropher.
3 comments:
I took that test thingamajig a while back and I was somewhere off in the weeds to the far left.
Good to have you back, DPU.
Thanks T. Haven't gone anywhere though, just slowing down the pace of posting...
From Naomi Klein's new book The Shock Doctrine:
"In the attempt to relate the history of the ideological crusade that has culminated in the radical privatization of war and disaster, one problem recurs: the ideology is a shape-shifter, forever changing its name and switching identities. [Milton] Friedman called himself a "liberal", but his US followers, who associated liberals with high taxes and hippies, tended to identify as "conservatives". [...] In most of the world, their orthodoxy is known as "neoliberalism," but is often called "free trade" or simply "globalization". Only since the mid-nineties has the intellectual movement, led by the right wing think tanks with which Friedman had long associations - Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute- called itself "neoconservative", a worldview that has harnessed the full force of the US military machine in the service of a corporate agenda."
I think it is in this respect that many people say that "liberal" and "conservative" mean the same thing. For example, one of the reasons that Hillary Clinton is distrusted is because she has proven herself to be loyal to corporations, just as George W. Bush. Democrat and Republican - both have the same flaw.
Maybe this should be our collective focus- not on Democrats vs. Republicans, but Corporatists vs. The Rest of Us
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