Centrism

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reject the right. reject the left.

enact your own sovereignty to the best of your ability.

support others and form community and effective organizations with those who do the same.

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Pensions protection act in 2006 encouraged the growth of employer sponsored savings accounts

Tax cuts and jobs act in 2017 simplified taxes and was welcomed by everyone in both parties

First step act in 2018 improved prison conditions

USMCA in 2018 was a functional version of NAFTA

All of these were pushed by Republicans and had demonstrably positive effects

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the left doesn't believe in the right of power.

You cannot implement something that is morally sound if it cannot handle the environmental pressures it is faced with, including the pressures of other powers and ideologies.

it's survival of the fittest out there. the most powerful ways of being include cooperation, inspiration, and unity, but aren't limited to them. likewise, the most powerful ways of being include sedition, deception, and coercion, but aren't limited to them. "but we shouldn't have to" is a losing mentality, and puts power in the hands of those you're appealing to.

There's no moral high ground to be had. But morality is based on something that is objectively true - the power which meets both the practical and emotional needs it's faced with wins.

in the mean time, the pendulum will swing. for the left, it's never left enough, for the right, it's never right enough, and for the true centrists, it's just the tide. it can fuck you up, it can be enjoyed, and it can be used for power. that's all.

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Wasn't an ad hominem either, and that certainly wasn't invented by social media.

What are you doing, fam? Is this satire itself? Please stop co-opting debate club culture, I paid for my right to use these words.

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what in your opinion do "left" and "right" mean

ObliviousEnlightenment

This is honestly the first time I have ever heard anything positive about USMCA. What exactly do you think it did better?

ObliviousEnlightenment

I can confirm it exists because I seem to be one when Im honest with people

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The sweet spot is for the current ruling class to obey a set of rules out of fear of the guillotine or incarceration.

Exercising the guillotine or incarceration excessively would just be starting over to build the necessary fear with a new ignorant crop of ruling class.

ObliviousEnlightenment

You sound like a chill guy for what its worth. Sorry your neighbors a dickhead

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Ah, this old canard in which radical leftism didn't do anything wrong, no revolutions lead to dictatorships and centrally planned economies were sabotaged by the capitalist illuminati. God forbid we critique leftist ideologies, anyone who does that is worse than a nazi.

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I like my politics boring if it gets the job done and keeps improving and iterating on a better system.

Absolutely.

Of course, I try to stay aware that my ability to wait patiently for a better world is, in itself, a privilege.

There's wisdom in carefully iterating forward.

But billionaires also need something to help them focus on cooperation toward a better world. They need to believe in some non-zero chance that the fate of some person they stepped on could randomly suddenly become their own fate.

I don't have answers for how that happens, but history says it's almost never been pleasant for anyone concerned.

I don't know if we can all do better. I hope so.

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Ah yess," we need to create classless society by eating all the rich, killing all the landlords and destroying capitalism around the world" is totally different from the far right which is also "do violence against people we don't like in order to get the society we want".

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Or how about you make laws that limit the influence any one person can have and remove money from politics so anyone can run and you don't have bribes called lobbying?

Oh not your power fantasy? Sorry. I guess countries where democracy works and socialism is blended with capitalism so people are happy all need to have bloody genocides happen to them as well. I can see how it is a very reasonable and non extreme take from a very educated person.

Mubelotix

Wtf? We know where morality comes from. It's about acting with others as you want them to act with you. Because as social animals, if we didn't have morals, our kind would just die. I like Kant's way to define something as moral or not: Ask yourself "What if everyone did this?" and if the result is bad, you will easily understand why it's in everyone's interest to collectively prevent it instead of trying to individually cheat

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It’s a well documented fact that authoritarians utilize leftist terminology as the keystone of their propaganda/branding strategy. The masses, sadly, will always accept charismatic, strongly-worded branding over genuine ideals. There is nothing “no true scottsman” about it.

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First day provided tons of evidence from the lord god being disrespected and completely shat on by trump to literal nazi salutes.
That have endless meme potential and can be spread around for completely free and low effort in order to swing public opinion.
I am sure returning to some obscure tibetian basket weaving forum with userbase of five and talking about genociding everyone not like you while the right media machine is working overtime is going to get the public to change their mind.

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By that logic, anti-monarchism is also fascist. After all, they tried to create a "better society" by eating all the kings, killing the landed gentry, and destroying feudalism. Must be fascist, right?

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I asked AI the following question. I thought it's response was worth sharing:

"What evidence is there for the merits of horseshoe theory?"

Let me analyze this carefully. The horseshoe theory suggests that the far-left and far-right of the political spectrum are more similar to each other than to the political center.

The main arguments made in favor of horseshoe theory include:

Both far-left and far-right movements have historically shown tendencies toward authoritarianism, with examples like Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany using similar tactics of state control, propaganda, and suppression of dissent.
Some similar rhetorical and organizational patterns appear in both far-left and far-right movements, such as: populist appeals, scapegoating of particular groups, calls for radical system change, and rejection of liberal democratic norms.
There are historical cases of individuals and groups moving between far-left and far-right positions, suggesting some underlying commonalities.

However, there are significant critiques of horseshoe theory:

It oversimplifies complex political ideologies and movements, forcing them into a rigid geometric metaphor that may not reflect reality.
Surface-level similarities in tactics or rhetoric don't necessarily indicate deeper ideological similarities. The fundamental goals and values often remain drastically different.
The theory can be used to dismiss radical critiques of existing systems by equating all forms of political extremism, regardless of their specific content.
Political scientists generally view it as an oversimplified model that doesn't adequately capture the multidimensional nature of political ideology.

Rather than a strict horseshoe pattern, many political scientists prefer more nuanced models that consider multiple axes of political belief and recognize that authoritarian tendencies can emerge across the political spectrum without necessarily indicating ideological similarity.

What are your thoughts on how political ideologies should be mapped or compared?

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Naturally a planned economy under-performs an evolutionary economy.

The first time. What about the planned economy that learns from the previous one's mistakes? Or the one after that?

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Or how about you make laws that limit the influence any one person can have and remove money from politics so anyone can run and you don’t have bribes called lobbying?

Do you see a path forward to this that doesn't somehow involve doing away with the current system that allows influence and money in politics? Don't you think the people who benefit from this arrangement will do everything in their power to keep us from reforming it?