@unk-p I have also never viewed Carter, though from the perspective of someone from another country, as an advocate of a politically radical position. I have always seen him more as a deeply committed humanist and held him in the highest regard for his dedication to humanity, human rights, and the well-being of others.
@joy I was so hungry tonight, and went to the kitchen, just to eat something, anything. There was a single fortune cookie on the counter.
I promised myself that no matter what the message said inside of it, that I would completely accept it. That I would take it to heart, for reals. No backsies.
November will be a time for gratitude and reflection
NOVEMBER!
Re: the rape of a dem house candidate, I believe every word Bernadette Green-Placentia said is true. She behaved as many women would have done who were assaulted alone while in the middle of a public campaign. She was embarrassed and traumatized, in addition to having had a concussion from being knocked out by her assailant.
She's running against a Republican incumbent, and I doubt she can win, being on a shoe-string budget as she is. But I just sent a healthy donation to her campaign and hope others do the same. I am rooting for Bernadette. I know in my heart she is telling the truth. And I am also sending healing to her for this trauma, and success going forward.
I pray that women reach out to her with support.
I also would hope that more states, including my own, would consider a politically motivated assault as a hate crime.
@deetoo @bluebelle @Jude
@jeanne-mayell and isn’t it also true that in Western democracies shaped by capitalism, there is a fear of expropriation and loss of democracy if the far left wins? This fear isn’t entirely unfounded. The far-left party just won the regional elections in Berlin, and they already want to solve the housing crisis in Berlin by expropriating homeowners, which they’re legally only permitted to do to a limited extent. Look at the political "pendulum" in communist and autocratic states like Russia. There, the pendulum permanently swung to the far left following the "democratic elections" there. In a Western democracy shaped by capitalism, the collective consciousness can only swing between the center, the moderate right, and the moderate left since other political positions aren't compatible with a capitalist democracy for long. And If the collective conciousness does like the concept of ownership much, it might be more safe to swing between the right and the center.
Joy, I love that you care enough to ask this question and see what we experience here. And No, I don't feel that is true, although the MAGA people try to use that unlikely possibility to scare people. Also since we do not have any far-left leaders in the US federal or state government or far left candidates who have even the remotest chance of power, it's an unrealistic fear.
Social democrats, like AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Mandami are not far left. They are simply advocating for public services, affordable postal service, free public education, free or affordable higher education, rent control, more affordable housing, national health insurance, and a livable minimum wage.
We have had nearly all of these in the U.S. in the 1960's - 1980's, including wide spread rent control in cities like NYC and Boston. Hillary Clinton, who is a moderate democrat, worked hard to give us National Health Insurance when she was First Lady, and that would have only brought us on par with nearly every other industrial society.
I do not think there is much chance of a swing all the way to communism, and I no longer know what "the middle" is since the far right has moved the scale so far right.
However, now that owning a home is out of reach for most young people, I expect when the pendulum swings back there will be widespread affordable housing as well as rent control, and some kind of affordable health care.
@jeanne-mayell Thank you so much for your wonderful response and fascinating perspective! I really enjoy our exchange. As a German living abroad, I naturally view these topics through a different historical and geographical lens. This is why my perspective is somewhat different.
In the U.S., Bernie Sanders is considered very left-wing, but by German and European standards, he is actually a very moderate social democrat. His policies, such as universal healthcare and free college education, are standard in Germany and are supported by all conservative parties there. Jimmy Carter is even closer to the political center. Both operate fully within a capitalist framework, just with a stronger social safety net.
When Germans talk about the potential dangers of the "far left," Americans and Germans have completely different historical memories. Germany was divided, and millions of our citizens lived under a true communist regime in East Germany (the GDR). In our history, far left position is communism and that has meant a one-party dictatorship, state control of the economy, and the abolition of private enterprise. Highly respected figures like Sanders and Carter are nowhere near that kind of politics. In fact, people with such integrity and social responsibility as Sanders and Carter are highly valued at the core of the political center from a German perspective.
This is also why the American political debate looks different from the outside than it does from the inside. From Germany's perspective, left positions that seem progressive in the U.S. are quite mainstream and are the political center. Therefore, it seems to me as though the political pendulum in the U.S. primarily swings between the center and the right.
However, your answer describes another definitive U.S. reality: the right wing has shifted the political landscape so significantly that what used to be considered right and conservative is now the new center. While this realization is profound, the pendulum idea nevertheless carries a silver lining. The sad fact that basic necessities have become completely unsustainable for young people in the US will naturally force the pendulum to swing back and will probably redefine the US political center once more. However, as you know, the pendulum can only swing as long as a true democracy remains intact—and that is truly what I am praying for, both in the US and in Europe.
PS: If you're interested in how this looks in practice, I'll share a quick example, but please feel free to skip it if it's too detailed! The far-left German party that just won the regional elections in Berlin with 25.7% of the vote is openly anti-capitalist and criticizes the existing economic order in Germany. They don't have a moderate social democrat position that operates fully within a capitalist framework. Instead, they really demand the expropriation of large corporate housing associations to strictly limit the market. In fact, this very agenda was what won them 25.7% of the Berlin voters' support. From an outside perspective, this kind of political party seems beyond what would be imaginable or possible in the U.S. landscape today.
However, your answer describes another definitive U.S. reality: the right wing has shifted the political landscape so significantly that what used to be considered right and conservative is now the new center.
Up until the mid to late 90's I considered myself a centrist. Then at some point the word "liberal" started being used as a perjorative. I think it started with Raygun, and went on from there.
One example burned into my brain was during the 1998 gubernatorial race in Florida. That election pitted Jeb Bush against Buddy Mackay ( MacKay was the incumbent governor, and former Lt. Governor, having taken over for Lawton Chiles just a few weeks before Chiles' death.) Chiles and MacKay were highly respected, moderate Democrats. Both were decent, honorable men with a care for the people. But neither would be considered liberal even now.
Bush slammed the airwaves with ads that featured a sneering voice saying, "Buddy, you're a liberal " (I can still hear that voice and the sneer in the word "liberal".)
Bush won. I said to myself and to others, "If that's what a liberal is, then I guess I'm a liberal. "
"If that's what a liberal is, then I guess I'm a liberal. "
And I guess at this point, I'm a social democrat.
@ana Thank you so much for sharing this memory. I can literally hear the mockery in that campaign voice you described from 1998, and it is truly sad to know how much the political climate has hardened since then.
Your perspective shows so clearly that behind these harsh political labels, liberal was originally about something beautiful: caring for the vulnerable, standing up for decency, and striving for a fairer world.
Looking at the toughness of politics right now (in the US as well as in Germany), your memory is a powerful reminder not to let that spirit get lost. The world truly needs people who see beyond the labels and just care about being good, honest human beings.
I am so grateful for your memory of this meaningful piece of history. Let's keep believing in decency—and yeah, if this is what it means to be a liberal, I am a liberal, too.