Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

moreobviousthings t1_itgdygr wrote

Reply to comment by AbigailFlippinfloppn in Why doesn't the state build housing? by AbigailFlippinfloppn

republicans tend to be conservative, which is the opposite of liberal. Democrats are liberal and tend to be progressive, which is also opposite to conservative. Socialism and communism are more about government organization than concepts like liberal, conservative, and progressive.

7

do_not_engage t1_itgu3hk wrote

This is how average people use these words, but this is not correct. Those words have definitions that are much more complex.

Conservative is not the opposite of Liberal, for example. American politics will tell you they are - they are not. Conservatives and Liberals agree on many many political things, and are only divisive on a few specific political actions.

6

AbigailFlippinfloppn OP t1_itgtees wrote

Liberal literally just means "believes in capitalism"

2

big_whistler t1_itgu4ix wrote

Youre using this term deliberately ignoring the context of American politics

6

AbigailFlippinfloppn OP t1_itgugfk wrote

Because in American politics terms seem to be deliberately misused to obfuscate the class based nature of our problems 🤔

Also this is how the terms are used among basically all American Marxists and socialists, American mainstream politics aren't politics they're a circus

5

moreobviousthings t1_itguu4o wrote

Can you cite a source for that? Capitalism is strictly an economic construct, while liberalism is more broad and not specific to economics.

1

lazydictionary t1_ithejtu wrote

If you didn't believe in capitalism you would probably be considered a socialist or maybe an anarchist.

Just read the intro on Wikipedia.

>However, they generally support private property, market economies...Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies and other trade barriers, instead promoting free trade and marketization.

Classical liberalism

Social liberalism [mainstream Democrats], which are usually defined as center-left or center, which is definitely capitalist

4