From the 20th century, we have the ideological war against USSR to thank for that. It started all the way back with Wilson. After WWII, the threat of nuclear annihilation was a powerful tool for nationalism. (I’d learn only recently that a first strike was far more likely to come from US than USSR, and we had some dangerous war hawks in power.)
Before that, after reconstruction came redemption and corporate interests took over both parties.
Before that, roads, schools, bridges, libraries and such were socialism giving the working man benefits to which they didn’t contribute (we just contributed all the labor). Yes, they called it socialism even back in the 19th century.
Do observe that adherence to neoliberalism in the EU (which is essentially corporatism with extra steps) is driving the rise of far right movements even over there. And when the tech-bros and white Christian nationalists over here are done bleeding the US dry like its private equity, they’ll be headed over there with their vast wealth to do the same thing.
The 1917 russian revolution kicked it off. The fear of a workers revolution happening in the US started a campaign of labelling everything socialist and communist as anti-american.
even before then . . . the US has one of the bloodiest labor histories in the world. So to hide that, even in the 19th century US capitalists started claiming that socialism and unions were unamerican, and the work of subversive radicals, especially Germans and Jews.
We don’t have a large, cohesive, left party. There are people who are certainly left in the USA, but we have no real representation out of a handful of congress people.
Somewhat, yes. Whatever votes they get, they mostly take over from SPD and Greens, though. All three of those parties moved to the right significantly, so even if there is a majority for the three of them together some day and if (the bigger one) SPD and Greens enter into a coalition with Die Linke, my impression is that it won’t be that different from the SPD/Greens coalition at the turn of the century or the SPD/Greens/Liberals coalition in the past election cycle: center-left at best, but far from substantial improvements to our economy, social security system or imperialist foreign policy. :(
I don’t think you have a left in the US. You have far right and center right. In Germany it’s like you had only AfD and CDU and that’s it.
I mean it’s still obvious which choice is better but none of them is left.
Americans think universal healthcare is leftist.
it takes power from private companies and puts it into the hands of the government, which sounds pretty leftist to me.
What is state capitalism, Alex.
American 2 party system is so fucked that anything left of rabid, far right fascism is considered far left
From the 20th century, we have the ideological war against USSR to thank for that. It started all the way back with Wilson. After WWII, the threat of nuclear annihilation was a powerful tool for nationalism. (I’d learn only recently that a first strike was far more likely to come from US than USSR, and we had some dangerous war hawks in power.)
Before that, after reconstruction came redemption and corporate interests took over both parties.
Before that, roads, schools, bridges, libraries and such were socialism giving the working man benefits to which they didn’t contribute (we just contributed all the labor). Yes, they called it socialism even back in the 19th century.
Do observe that adherence to neoliberalism in the EU (which is essentially corporatism with extra steps) is driving the rise of far right movements even over there. And when the tech-bros and white Christian nationalists over here are done bleeding the US dry like its private equity, they’ll be headed over there with their vast wealth to do the same thing.
You can go back further than that.
The 1917 russian revolution kicked it off. The fear of a workers revolution happening in the US started a campaign of labelling everything socialist and communist as anti-american.
even before then . . . the US has one of the bloodiest labor histories in the world. So to hide that, even in the 19th century US capitalists started claiming that socialism and unions were unamerican, and the work of subversive radicals, especially Germans and Jews.
We don’t have a large, cohesive, left party. There are people who are certainly left in the USA, but we have no real representation out of a handful of congress people.
Isn’t Die Linke gaining ground on the polls though?
Somewhat, yes. Whatever votes they get, they mostly take over from SPD and Greens, though. All three of those parties moved to the right significantly, so even if there is a majority for the three of them together some day and if (the bigger one) SPD and Greens enter into a coalition with Die Linke, my impression is that it won’t be that different from the SPD/Greens coalition at the turn of the century or the SPD/Greens/Liberals coalition in the past election cycle: center-left at best, but far from substantial improvements to our economy, social security system or imperialist foreign policy. :(