On the left?

[Nocturnes]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a recent immigrant from a western parliamentary democracy. We elect a parliament via proportional representation. We have low taxes, socialised healthcare and education, a full welfare state, and the most free economy in the world (along with two other countries - neither of them the US).

I moved here as my wife is from here and wants to finish her university degree here.

Anyway, my point. I hear a lot of people in the media (and elsewhere) harping on about the Dems being a liberal/left party. Where I come from we would call them centre-right. What are your thoughts on this?

Also. Why do so many people seem opposed to socialised health here? When it can be shown to be cheaper and much more effective?

Thanks in advance

[rogerashton]

1. Politics in the USA

runs the gamut from far, far right to far right.

And let's face it: the root of this is racism and the racial caste system.

[billybob537]

2. Huge corporations

own our television and our Poor adled president.

[jukes]

3. hi, Nocturnes!

welcome to DU!

come november, your country might get hit w/ a wave of emegres. the democratic party is the lesser of two dire evils, i'm afraid.

[bukk]

4. RE: "On the left?"

Hi, Nocturnes,

Welcome to the U.S.

When you see people opposed to "socialized health care," what you are seeing is the fruit of a 3-plus decade campaign to demonize government by oligarchists on the right, along with residual attitudes from the Cold War.

Others will likely pick nits with this list, but in general I think that progressives/liberals see government's role thus:

- provide protection and defense (military, police)
- create and enforce laws (judiciary)
- create and support public infrastructure (roads and bridges, utility infrastructure, etc.)
- provide education (mostly primary education, but also secondary education)
- protect individual rights as defined in the U.S. Constitution
- other stuff that I can't think of on only one cup of coffee

As far as I can tell, the right sees government's role thus:

- transfer capital from citizens to corporations
- limit individual rights -- legislatively at a minimum, but by re-writing the Constitution if necessary
- wither and vanish, leaving control in the hands of wealthy oligarchists and corporations

That last is a little facetious, but then Grover Norquist, leading conservative oligarchist, has stated publicly that he wants to shrink government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

The right has done a very good job in the U.S. of transforming the notion of government in the minds of many citizens from a body that protects, supports, and educates its citizens to a body that steals money from its citizens. This has happened through a conscious campaign of misinformation promulgated through right wing think tanks and media (Scaiffe, Murdoch, et. al.), and through distortion of public discourse from an open discussion of issues based on critical thinking and evidence into a shouting match built on innuendo, misrepresentation, and outright lying.

This campaign has been largely successful, I believe, because it preys on people's fears. For many people, those fears go back to the Cold War. By tying progressive ideas (socialized medicine, et. al.) to communism/socialism, the oligarchists on the right get ordinary people to vote against their own best interest -- out of fear.

There's a lot more going on, of course. I have simplified and glossed over any number of elements that are also at work: religious fundamentalism, the increasing of primacy of "morality" over ethics, and more.

[devlin radiset]

5. ummm..if your home country has 'low taxes'...

and socialized health care and education, what level of health care and education are you able to provide with low taxes? What are you considering 'low'?

[jukes]

7. i'm assuming

the poster meant low taxes for the lower & middle classes; suspect that wealthy individuals & corporations carry the bulk of the tax burden, unlike our wealthy elitist scum.

[Nocturnes]

8. There is a tax-free threshold

Which means that the first $10,000 (from memory) is untaxed. The highest rate is lower than here. There is a nationwide sales tax on all goods and services.

Money is saved by having a much smaller military budget as a percentage of GDP. Tariffs and subsidies are non-existent. Corporations do carry a large share of the tax burden, the wealthy carry more of it as a percentage.

[Bombtrack]

6. What's the big secret. You can't tell us where you're from?

It must be a pretty small country if you think someone's going to figure out who you are from just giving the country.

[Nocturnes]

9. It is small

And has something of a history of being 'unhelpful'. Such as a ban on nuclear powered and/or armed ships visiting ports there.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

11. Lemme guess. Capital city renowned for being windy?

largest city is a rainy port at the opposite end of the island that the capital is on?
Prime Minister female?

[Nocturnes]

12. Nicely done

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

10. Don't we know it

I am VERY liberal so I would probably actually be considered leftist in other countries, but our mainstream Dems ARE quite moderate compared to much of the lefties in the rest of the world.

We're trying to do something about it!!!