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callanrocks t1_j6lsdua wrote

You'd think the Liberals couldn't be any scummier but they always find a way.

Edit: Bunch of Americans in here who don't understand that the leaders of the Liberal-National Coalition are the LIBERAL PARTY.

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Ehgadsman t1_j6m2bgg wrote

To clarify further for idiot Americans (like me 😁)

Wikipedia: "The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party."

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Christopher135MPS t1_j6mdcd3 wrote

Centre-right?

Fuck me I wish they were centre right. Fuckers have got antivaxxer and climate denier members in parliament. There’s nothing centre about the liberals or nationals.

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WouldBangAnF35 t1_j6mqlfo wrote

They started center right, hit solidly right in the mid-2000's and then followed the GOP into far right crazy territory after 2016.

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UnicornLock t1_j6mdhnr wrote

Liberalism is right-wing ideology. It is so in the US too. The US doesn't have a real left.

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dissentrix t1_j6mmx1x wrote

That's not exactly true - liberalism is basically focused around promoting individual liberties (as the name indicates). In and of itself, it's not really "left-wing" or "right-wing" (in the same way that authoritarianism is usually not considered "naturally" left-wing or right-wing, although there is admittedly debate on that, since some would argue infringing upon the rights of people to determine their own governance is inherently anti-leftist) - but depending on what aspect of society it is actually defending, liberalism can be left-wing or right-wing.

Specifically, economic liberalism is generally right-wing, since it implies deregulation and less government intervention (and thus, weaker public services and disadvantages for the disenfranchised). However, cultural liberalism (and in the US, this would be called "social" liberalism, which confusingly enough tends to be a different thing in the rest of the world) is more associated with left-wing ideas, as it usually opposes conservative social structures.

The US' Democratic Party is (not entirely, but mostly) liberal from both a social, as well as an economic, point of view. In practice, this means that they're generally more to the left compared to the ultra-conservative social positions of the GOP, but they remain right-wing in terms of how they want to organize society, especially economically speaking.

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EnemyBattleCrab t1_j6mh7ub wrote

Liberalism is neither left or right (left / right being oversimplified description of complicated ideas)

You can be liberal wanting small government and free market but conservative with your views on gender and sexuality.

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UnicornLock t1_j6mpn7b wrote

It's not complicated, just easily misapplied. In the rest of the world, left/right is about economic policy. Notice how "The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party" doesn't actually explain why they'd be the scum party. That's just more US bias.

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Torino1O t1_j6n5w87 wrote

As an American I ask Australia for a right wing nutter exchange program, because yours will always vote Liberal and ours will never vote liberal.

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9Wind t1_j6m1shl wrote

Its like reddit thinks nothing outside of America exists and American politics is the only thing that exists so its the same thing everywhere.

Telling an American their political opinion would be seen as conservative or far right in another country will make them short circuit too.

It would be fun to do if it wasn't every thread.

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Currywurst_Is_Life t1_j6maqli wrote

I'm an American living in Germany, and I can make other Americans' heads explode when I try to tell them that Obama and Biden (who the right-wing nutjobs always scream about being "socialists" and "communists") would fit pretty well in the center-right over here (aligning pretty much with Merkel).

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nagrom7 t1_j6miytv wrote

Just take universal healthcare for example. In the US it's a contentious issue that's only really being pushed by the "fringe" democrats, and ignored by the rest of the party as well as the Republicans. Meanwhile in places like Australia and most of Europe it's so mainstream that as much as the right doesn't like it, they don't dare to overtly touch it because it would be political suicide.

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9Wind t1_j6mcdzx wrote

You ever see the another American see the difference in how other countries treat identity and cause a culture shock that can seen on a richter scale?

I can imagine an American showing his "23 and me" results saying he is proud to be 90% German and Germans looking in horror thinking he is some kind of race purist because other cultures care about cultural knowledge and language skills to call yourself something instead of genetics.

You see this talked about a lot on indigenous and Mexico subs with American expats, but I wonder if European countries have the same problem.

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quippers t1_j6lvvc2 wrote

Tell me you didn't read the article without telling me you didn't read the article.

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callanrocks t1_j6lx7pa wrote

Not only did I read the article, I can guarantee I know more about the situation than you given I've got a front row seat to the whole fucking mess since it started.

But tell me again that don't know shit about Australian politics without telling me you don't know shit about Australian politics.

THE COALITION IS THE LIBERAL-NATIONAL COALITION, THE MAJORITY OF WHICH ARE MEMBERS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. THE WORD DOES NOT MEAN THE SAME THING IN AUSTRALIA.

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Thebuicon t1_j6mehae wrote

That was great. Here in America our motto is “Shoot, shoot, ready. Aim.”

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SpeedFreak02 t1_j6lxash wrote

Tell me you're not Australian without telling me you're not Australian.

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JayTheDirty t1_j6lxmc8 wrote

Liberal and Conservative mean the opposite thing in Australia mate.

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callanrocks t1_j6m0ehp wrote

No they don't what the fuck. Our Liberal Party are the Conservatives, though they're more comparable to the UK Conservatives than they are anything in the US.

At least for now, we're trending towards American insanity unfortunately.

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JayTheDirty t1_j6m0gvw wrote

That’s what I said.

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armpitchoochoo t1_j6m0z26 wrote

You did word it in a confusing way. Liberal means the opposite in Australia but conservative still means conservative. The Liberal party is conservative in Australia would have been wording that worked better I think

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bool_idiot_is_true t1_j6m9lby wrote

Liberalism is an economic philosophy that generally supports free trade and all that bullshit. These days the term is rare outside of politics and academia but it's still used in the US.

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