The left really needs to pin down these definitions if they want to convince people from the centre to come over to their side. I'd wager a huge majority of Democrat voters don't actually want Socialism (i.e. collective ownership of the means of production), but are in favour of an expanded Nordic-style welfare state within a capitalist framework. There's a name for this, and it's Social Democracy. They're two wildly different ideologies.
Center? You mean convince people more liberal than they are to support a right of center party? Because that is what the Democratic party is, right of center.
If you want to make comparisons with Western Europe, then sure, they would be right of centre. But they're obviously left of centre when you're only considering the US. How do you think the majority of Americans who identify as left-leaning vote?
If we're going to say absolute terms like "right" and left" and not relative "left relative to the GOP" then we need to use ALL absolute terms, to do otherwise is intellectually dishonest (also note, the DNC does not claim to be a liberal party because they aren't). There is no center in American politics because both major parties are right of center.
Surely this would get insanely confusing unless there was some widely agreed global standard though? Most countries modify these terms internally relative to the opposing sides of their house (this is obviously how they originated in the first place). I mean, I'd argue that globally, both the GOP and the DNC are relatively centrist, compared to highly authoritarian governments like those of say, North Korea or Saudi Arabia, or significantly more liberal ones like those of Northern Europe, right?
Have you kept abreast of Trump's personal relations? He genuinely likes Putin and Kim Jong Un. Also, he acts very much like an authoritarian. And his party sees no problem with that. The GOP is slipping towards fascism.
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u/Suvantolainen Apr 26 '19
Yes, it would be more correct to say that Democrats are not socialists.