POG Politics Thread Version 3

The democrats would be a right wing party in most countries

Finally, someone with perspective.

you're so close to getting it

Grok disagrees:

Any truth to the statement "The democrats would be a right wing party in most countries"?

Partial truth, but overstated and often misleading. The statement "The Democrats would be a right-wing party in most countries" is a common rhetorical claim (especially in U.S. online discourse), but expert surveys, party comparisons, and policy analyses show the Democratic Party is generally center-left by international (especially European) standards—not right-wing.

Why the claim has some basis (the kernel of truth)Economic policy: U.S. Democrats support a mixed economy with private enterprise, relatively moderate regulation, no full nationalization of major industries, and acceptance of capitalism (with welfare expansions like Obamacare or proposed minimum wage hikes). In many European countries, mainstream center-left parties (e.g., German SPD, UK Labour under recent leadership, French Socialists) historically favored more expansive welfare states, higher taxes on the wealthy, stronger unions, or greater government ownership in key sectors. Democrats are often closer to European centrist liberals (e.g., Renew Europe group or Germany's FDP on some market issues) or moderate social democrats than to the more redistributionist left.

Healthcare and welfare: Democrats push for expanding public options (e.g., public option or Build Back Better elements) but have not enacted single-payer "Medicare for All" as a party. Many European countries treat universal healthcare as a baseline even for center-right governments.
Overall U.S. context: The U.S. lacks a major socialist or far-left party with national power. Both major U.S. parties operate within a classically liberal framework (individual rights, markets, democracy), so relative to a hypothetical global spectrum, Democrats sit right of many European or Latin American left parties.

Why it's mostly not accurate (the bigger picture)Social and cultural issues: On abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration (rhetoric and sanctuary policies), racial equity, gender identity, and criminal justice reform, mainstream Democrats are to the left of most European center-left parties. European social democrats often take more restrictive stances on immigration than recent Democratic platforms, and issues like trans rights or "defund the police" style rhetoric are more fringe or debated even on Europe's left.

Expert placements (Chapel Hill Expert Survey and similar): When European political scientists rate parties on a left-right scale (0 = extreme left, 10 = extreme right), U.S. Democrats consistently score in the center-left range—left of many European conservative/Christian democratic parties (e.g., Germany's CDU/CSU) but right of far-left or radical green parties, and often comparable to or slightly right of UK Labour or French Socialists in aggregate ideology. They are not placed as "right-wing."

Comparisons by country:UK: Democrats align more with Labour (center-left) than Conservatives. Reform UK or traditional Tories are further right.
Germany: Closer to SPD/Greens (center-left/progressive) than CDU (center-right). Some analyses map moderate Democrats near parts of CDU, but progressive wings nearer SPD.
France: Closer to Macron's centrists or moderate Socialists than to National Rally (far-right) or hard-left.
Nordics/Central Europe: Democrats resemble social democrats on welfare but are more market-friendly; on culture, often further left.
In Eastern Europe or Latin America, "left" and "right" often revolve around different cleavages (e.g., populism, corruption, religion), making direct mapping tricky—Democrats could look moderate or even conservative in some highly traditional or populist contexts.

Big-tent nature: The Democratic Party includes moderates (e.g., Manchin-style) and progressives (Sanders/AOC wing). The median Democrat is center-left, not right-wing. European multi-party systems split these views across more parties, so the U.S. "left" party looks like a coalition.

Bottom lineThe statement exaggerates for effect. In most Western European democracies, Democrats would map to center-left or centrist territory—similar to social democratic or liberal parties—not conservative/right-wing ones (which emphasize traditional values, stricter immigration, lower taxes, and skepticism of rapid cultural change). In some developing or more conservative countries, they might appear moderate-to-left. The U.S. two-party system compresses the spectrum, making domestic "left vs. right" feel extreme while the actual policy distance from global norms is narrower on economics and wider on culture.

Mark,

Nobody wants to read that bullshit in our forum. Write your own posts.

I aint reading ai slop from elons cp generator so im happy for you or im sorry that happened.

Because it actually answers your statement! I didn't feel like paraphrasing a great response.

Ok i got it bill maher is as left wing as its possible to get and anyone criticising him is a loony commie.

How did i do?

no, we’re talking about americans in america

whether he’d be right wing compared to some european country or vs the population of jupiter or whatever is irrelevant. that’s just lazy whataboutism to dodge the actual point

where it actually matters, in the US, Bill Maher is clearly on the left. the issue is the newer far left would rather label him a right wing fascist because... checks notes... he doesn't think biological men should compete against women in the olympics... than accept him as an ally

and that’s how you end up losing. the right is willing to absorb people in the middle, the left pushes them out and acts surprised when they don’t have a majority

you don’t win by purity testing your own side into a corner, especially when you need those voters to win elections, which is how you end up with someone like Donald Trump winning in the first place

grok is they one they had to reset cuz it was posting Nazi stuff, right?

Bill Maher is not a politician. We aren't forced to choose between him and Trump, so the "we gotta support him because Trump is worse!" argument doesn't make any sense here. They can both be bad.

I will not support anyone who supports the dehumanisation and ostracisation of trans people in efforts to remove them from public life. I will not support anyone who argues for the genocide of the Palestinian people. Sorry to be a lunatic leftwing anti-genocide pro lgbtq crazy person.

Good idea. Perhaps I can suggest reading the Wavelength thread?

this is exactly what i’m talking about

saying you don’t want biological men competing in women’s sports is not “dehumanisation” or “removing people from public life,” that’s a completely mainstream position, and the fact you’re inflating it into something that extreme just makes you look like a nutjob

same with the “genocide supporter” line, you just slap the most extreme label possible on anyone you disagree with and call it morality instead of actually engaging

people like maher aren’t being pushed out because they changed, they’re being pushed out by people like you who turn every disagreement into some deranged purity test and then act shocked when nobody takes you seriously

by your own logic someone could just as easily turn it around and say you’re misogynistic for dismissing concerns about women’s sports entirely, it’s the same lazy labeling you’re relying on

this isn’t principled, it’s just you acting like a cultist who needs total ideological alignment or you start screaming heretic, it’s closer to cultural revolution style purity spirals than anything resembling normal political discourse

You're right about purity tests and that's why I vote in coalition.

If you spend the election cycle like Hasan railing against Kamala, you get Trump. Filthy can't do it either, he'll always vote for Gloria de la Trabajo or whatever.

So I agree, we should consolidate behind our candidate.

I hate ****ing cops and I voted for Queen cop so it ain't me, babe.

Some tried to shoot Trump again

I'd say it's clear mark uses leftist much different than the rest of you. There's some common language way where people use Democrat liberal and left to mean very similar things.

Our Quarterly Lone Wolf

Shout out to this idiot who thought he could just walk over a banquet table and had to retreat.

Anyone see Filthy today?

Yes, he uses it the way Trump calculates percentages.

Incorrectly.

I am willing to provide an alibi.

I would probably fail even worse than this person did

Whew... (I kid, I kid 😀 )

The leak was, he gives a big speech and then gets whisked away. They got it backwards, he got whisked away and then gives the speech.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmans...