this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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Memes

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[–] FunderPants@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (13 children)

I know that conflating Liberals and Conservatives is practically lemmys official pass time, but I have to point out they are not the same.

[–] sensiblepuffin@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Liberals and conservatives are more similar than liberals and progressives.

[–] FunderPants@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 month ago (4 children)

No, I have a lot of experience in liberal organizations and they are not, despite the memes, closer to conservatism than progressivism. It honestly makes me feel like most people on lemmy have never really worked with liberal groups.

The major differences between a liberal and a social democrat or progressive comes down largely to deciding when a market has failed and when to use government intervention, both Liberals and progressives are fine with intervention, only the threshold changea. We want the same things, mostly, but disagree on how to get them.

Conservatives, philosophical Conservatives anyway, won't typically even consider such a thing, and often do not even want the same things as Liberals or progressives.

This both sides same stuff just hurts progressive causes, because it sours mushy people with little to no real philosophy on voting for liberal parties. Those people flip flop back to Conservatives when they get angry and we lose the progress we've made, as is about to happen in Canada.

[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 month ago

The major differences between a liberal and a social democrat or progressive comes down largely to deciding when a market has failed and when to use government intervention,

Okay sounds like you're just describing different labels for liberalism.

Compare these people to a communist who thinks we should literally nationalize and worker-self-manage the relevant sectors of economy and you'll see what people are trying to tell you about how liberals and conservatives are basically the same.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago

No, I have a lot of experience in liberal organizations and they are not, despite the memes, closer to conservatism than progressivism.

Perhaps if you redefine progressivism.

The major differences between a liberal and a social democrat or progressive comes down largely to deciding when a market has failed and when to use government intervention, both Liberals and progressives are fine with intervention, only the threshold changea. We want the same things, mostly, but disagree on how to get them.

Yep, you redefined it.

Conservatives, philosophical Conservatives anyway, won't typically even consider such a thing, and often do not even want the same things as Liberals or progressives.

Conservatives often do, and the distance between genuine progressivism and liberalism is shorter than liberalism and conservativism.

This both sides same stuff just hurts progressive causes, because it sours mushy people with little to no real philosophy on voting for liberal parties. Those people flip flop back to Conservatives when they get angry and we lose the progress we've made, as is about to happen in Canada.

Electoralism will not save you.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

rofl! The difference vetween a progressive and liberal is NOT just when they decide to intervene in corporations...

American liberals want to means test EVERYTHING that could concievably go to a poor person. A progressive realizes the red tape is fucking stupid and expensive in its own right. Remember the COVID funds? Sucked up by megacorporations more than small businesses like it was supposed to be for? Notice how American liberals didn't go after those corporations or really care that the money instantly dried up for smaller fries?

Yea, American liberals are ABSOLUTELY closer to American conservatives in practicality. It doesn't matter how many polite words they use if the end result is FUNCTIONALLY THE SAME. No, conservatives wouldn't have given any money to poor people, but as already said, liberals didn't care that corporations with lawyers that could push all the red tape got the money, not small businessesthat actually neededrhe help.

They BOTH serve to drain the government of public funds. You've just fallen for the pleasantries they put on the same negative slant of actions. No, liberals are not fascists themselves, but they're always, always dumb enough to make things suck enough that fascists sound nice to fools.

[–] sensiblepuffin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think the fact that you've spent a lot of time in liberal organizations is why you think that way about where it falls on the continuum between progressivism and conservatism.

Interesting that you characterize my statement as "both sides"ing. I would say the thrust of my statement is not "both sides" but "one side". America does not have a progressive party, only conservative and conservative-lite. Given the choice, of course I'll choose the latter, not least because the former is so far off the deep end it may never recover as a party. That does not mean I think that both parties are the same.

Visually:

--------Progressivism ------------------------ Center ------ Liberalism --------------------------- Conservatism.

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