#social democracy

[probablyasocialecologist]

Adopting rightwing policies on issues such as immigration and the economy does not help centre-left parties win votes, according to new analysis of European electoral and polling data. Faced with a 20-year decline in their vote share, accompanied by rising support for the right, far right and sometimes the far left, social democratic parties across Europe have increasingly sought salvation by moving towards the political centre. However the analysis, published on Wednesday, shows that centre-left parties promising, for example, to be tough on immigration or unrelenting on public spending are both unlikely to attract potential voters on the right, and risk alienating existing progressive supporters.

[...]

One of the key lessons was that “trying to imitate rightwing positions is just not a successful strategy for the left”, he said. Two studies in particular, looking at so-called welfare chauvinism and fiscal policy, illustrated the point, the researchers said. Björn Bremer of the Central European University in Vienna said a survey in Spain, Italy, the UK and Germany and larger datasets from 12 EU countries showed that since the financial crisis of 2008, “fiscal orthodoxy” had been a vote loser for the centre left. “Social democratic parties that have backed austerity fail to win the support of voters worried about public debt, and lose the backing of those who oppose austerity,” Bremer said. “Centre-left parties that actually impose austerity lose votes.”

[...]

The data strongly suggests centre-left parties can build a coalition of voters who believe a strong welfare state, effective public services and real investment, for example in the green transition, are essential,” Bremer said. “But doing the opposite – offering a contradictory programme that promotes austerity but promises to protect public services and the welfare state, and hoping voters will swallow such fairytales – failed in the 2010s, and is likely to fail again.” Similarly, said Matthias Enggist of the University of Lausanne, analysis of data from eight European countries showed no evidence that welfare chauvinism – broadly, restricting immigrants’ access to welfare – was a successful strategy for the left.

[wiki-fight]

[itscoldinwonderland]

**For context "center-left" and "center right" can just be described as "left" and "right respectably. The "center " part just means it's closer to the center than a far-stance.

Bonus put in the tags how you self describe your politics and what you picked.

[suprememayobros2]

Does america just not have high rise residential areas?

This is just a block of council flats. They're everywhere in great Britain, especially in North England. There are entire council estates of the things. My uncle lives in one. What's so commie about them?

Your just brainwashed into hating social housing.

[racefortheironthrone]

Do you think that intersectionality hurts or advances activism; for example let's say a climate change organization calling for a ceasefire?

Both.

In its positive aspects, intersectionality is grounded in reciprocal solidarity. It is an ideological and philosophical position that we are all connected and "no man is an island, entire of itself...Any man's death diminishes me/Because I am involved in mankind."

It is also a very pragmatic understanding that there aren't enough of us to win on our own. In addition to the concrete analysis of political struggle that we all share common enemies and have overlapping interests, the fractured nature of human society and identities means that coalition-building isn't a choice, it's a necessity.

In its negative aspects, intersectionality results in this weird, toxic narrowing of social movements to a point where only the most oppressed people possible are allowed to be in charge and make decisions and speak for the movement, and everyone else is a guilt-ridden privileged outsider who needs to shut the fuck up and lower their hands and listen and not make it about them - but only after they donate their time and money.

This is pretty much the opposite of what intersectionality was originally meant to convey: the whole point is that everyone exists in different positions on the various axes of oppression, discrimination, etc. (and these positions can change pretty damn quickly), and thus depending on the issue, certain people might have more of a lived experience and need to be listened to and have greater needs and need to have their agenda items prioritized, and who those people are going to be is fluid and dynamic rather than fixed.

And this brings us back to my earlier thing about reciprocal solidarity. I completely reject the notion that I exist within social movements solely as an ally to other people, because in truth I participate in these movements in no small part because I need help from other people on a whole host of issues. However, I remain in coalition when it comes to other issues (especially those in which my personal constellation of intersectionality puts me in a position of relative privilege), both out of a humanistic understanding that their lives and needs are equally important and out of that pragmatic understanding that if I help them on their stuff, they'll return the favor when it comes to my stuff. And over time, the experience of being in coalition will expand people's mindsets on issues that don't directly affect them and get them to act in solidarity more consistently.

And that's what I think is so good about social democracy and similar movements that have a comprehensive political "line" or policy agenda, because if we sit down and engage in good faith in democratic coalition-building negotiations where everyone understands what they are getting and what they are giving and that everyone gets a say but not an exclusive one, then we short-circuit this kind of toxic, self-destructive behavior and can move on to doing the work that needs to be done.

[anarchistfrogposting]

Ok, this is probably quite a big question so Tell me if you want me to specify more. Currently, im a democratic socialist. Why do you consider anarchism to be a better functioning system then democratic socialism ? I don't want to pressure you to write An entire book or Something. Just a few reasons is fine.

I know, I do tend to write out some lengthy responses. Y’all’s questions are just way too good!

I also used to be a democratic socialist (the democratic socialism as a means to communism way) and a hardcore pacifist. I was largely inspired and radicalised by Jeremy Corbyn, and his election loss just radicalised me further. I am now neither a democratic socialist (obviously) nor a pacifist (and if folks want me to talk about why I’m against pacifism, let me know).

From a purely philosophical perspective, anarchism posits that democratic socialism is doomed to fail because you can’t obliterate hierarchies (and, by extension, class hierarchies) through a system which is inherently hierarchical. This is a logical product of the anarchist theory of history, which argues that hierarchical systems are self correcting systems of domination which exist to preserve themselves; that the only way to end hierarchies is to uproot and destroy them.

Democratic socialism aims to achieve socialism through representative democracy, which, it is posited by anarchists, is anti-democratic, since it can only, at best, support the will of large majorities. It is also susceptible (and currently controlled by) capitalist interests. Capitalist powers can and do use their financial and social capital to dominate media narratives and societal tendencies to their own end. Capitalists do not sit idly by whilst their interests are curtailed, particularly if you live in a financial centre like England or the United States. They shift public perspectives against those pushing change until political leaders are forced to toe the line of their formerly supportive constituents. Remember when people were celebrating AOC being elected to the House of Representatives, only for her to almost immediately start falling back to the imperialist line?

Politicians, furthermore, are forced to compromise their beliefs lest their ideas get completely blocked by opposition bodies, even with considerable party majorities. We see this time and time again with decidedly progressive policy reform getting watered down until they are almost unrecognisably different. (There’s a reason the trans community has such a lean toward the radical left.) As Kropotkin talks about in the Conquest of Bread, these politicians which are constantly blocked and curtailed are eventually forced to change their base positions until proper socialist reform is impossible. Quite literally right where the capitalists need them to be.

Liberal democracy exists by and for the capitalists. Democratic socialist reform is quite literally impossible within it.

[your-average-teenage-mess]

We NEED another Bernie Sanders to take over the narrative

[infamousbrad]

You Need to Stop Kidding Yourself about Why They Hate Democrats

Long ago, Chicago labor attorney Thomas Geoghegan spent months at time, over about a decade, studying the German economy for a good book that came out in 2010 called Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? And I've spent all morning trying to find a quote that apparently isn't in the book, it must have been from an interview during his book tour. Here's the relevant passage in the book, with my emphasis added.

At the SPD headquarters, I met people on the left, the best and brightest, who can at least think in this framework. They grasp what their job is: to protect the way of life of a largely high school-educated middle class. That way of life is what constitutes the crown jewels. The protection of the crown jewels is a fiduciary responsibility. I hate to say so, but Democrats and Kennedy School-types (with honorable exceptions)—certainly Democratic politicians—really do not think seriously about how, in a practical way, to raise the standard of living of the non- college grad population, who happen to be, well, 73 percent of the adult population.

During an interview about this passage (that I apparently can't find) I remember him being asked about this, and as best as I can reconstruct it, he said that the SPD campaign organizer who pointed this out to him also said that once the OPEC crisis and resulting global recession back in the 1970s was over, the US decided to try to monopolize all the college-educated, high-wage jobs in the world, and to push every future head-of-household in America to get at least a bachelor's degree.

And the German said to him that nobody anywhere else in the world thought we could get our college graduate rate as high as we now have. But at the same time, the German government and its private sector as well set out to try to monopolize all of the skilled labor jobs in the world, because those jobs can, if that's who's available, be done by people with a high school education and a little bit of manufacturing experience.

In the 1992 Democratic Party primary, Bill Clinton, spokesman for the Democratic Leadership Council (or as my side of the party called them, the "Democrats for the Leisure Class") were explicit that they were literally throwing away any interest in supporting a living wage or any other protections for people with a high school diploma or less. They unashamedly said there was no future there, the real future was in the college-educated outer-ring suburbs.

So, he said, yes, life in America for college-educated whites is wonderful compared to most of the world, but that left him with two questions for this American labor attorney:

Do you have any plan for ever making it possible for any young man without a college degree to ever be able to afford to have a family? And ...

If not? Why do they let you get away with that?

Yesterday, Geoghegan's question was answered. They aren't going to let us get away with that. Not any more. Even if Trump is lying about his tariffs bringing back the working-class jobs, even if he also has no plans for those jobs paying a living wage, he says he hates the global trade in manufacturing with companies in China and Mexico that don't even allow private-sector independent unions.

As could have been entirely safely predicted, hell, as Eric Hoffer predicted way the hell back in the late 40s when he wrote The True Believer about the foot-soldiers for the Bolsheviks in Russia, the Klan in America, and the Nazis in Germany, there is nothing more dangerous than telling lots of young men from the dominant ethnic group in your country that they will never be able to afford to have a family. And now the chickens have come home to roost.

[cayomuchacha]

sadly it seems a vocal plurality of americans will simply always prioritize their material security over the lives of others.

you know, until harris actually makes concrete acceptable progressions wrt Palestine, until that happens KAMALA HARRIS CAN CHOKE, because, well ONE SHOULDN’T THINK that a military expansionist apartheid regime and genocidal rogue state such as israel deserves ANY right to “self defense” in a clear obfuscation of israel’s violative, menacing, authoritarian, expansionist and so clearly the antithesis of a self defensive position in the region.

I really, really don’t think any well meaning Democrat should so calmly accept such unacceptably condoning rhetoric of a pariah state committing genocide. We must demand from and hold accountable our leaders to the ideals from which we draw our collective power as a democracy.

:3 no respect for treaties with genocidal states! in breaking decency and humanity they thereby break the treaties! Which necessarily invoke propriety and good faith relations. please dont act like you liberals actually believe in treaty law now when you keep so quiet over broken treaties with Cuba, Hawai`i, Native Sovereign Nations, and beyond.

fuck you uncaring americans who only wish to elect a democrat so you can tune out from political engagement. many of us aren’t granted that luxury

[sordidamok]

They've been saying they're going to impeach Biden for months and they can't even name a crime.

[fourthoverfifth]

Key highlights:

-Inflation, surprise surprise, is far and away the number one issue.

-Americans are terminally xenophobic (but this is nothing new sadly)

-Culture war brainrot is depressingly effective against swing voters...but only when rightoids can successfully tie it to economic issues. Without inflation, their attempts to scapegoat underprivileged groups will fall flat.

-Dems are emphatically *not* perceived as too far right by the electorate (contrary to the assumptions of leftists)

-Israel/Palestine is a low-priority issue for most people. The idea that Dems intentionally sank their campaign by spurning pro-ceasefire voices is just not true. Single/top issue pro-ceasefire voters did not wield enough power to deny Harris the presidency (even among progressive young folks in swing states!) As depressing as it is...most Americans genuinely do not care about atrocities committed by the US or its strategic allies abroad.

-One spot of hope: most people did *not* think that Dems were too liberal/progressive either. There's room for left populists to make their case to the electorate, but it has to be done carefully. Social democracy and democratic socialism have a chance - we just need to play our cards right. (I recommend starting with housing reform! There's no better way to fight inflation than to bring down the cost of housing.)

-If inflation sank the Democrats in 2024, then once Trump's tariffs cause it to soar again...all those swing voters will snap back against the GOP with a vengeance in the midterms. Doubly so now that the Dem base is becoming increasingly college-educated - a voter base with relatively high mid-term turnout, as seen in 2018 and 2022.

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Boycotting the election doesn't work because you'd be indistinguishable from all the other non-voters out there. After all, in most presidential elections in the US, between one third and one half of eligible voters don't even vote! But remember, our leaders are still democratically elected representatives of the people!

Voting third-party doesn't work either. Everyone knows third parties and independents can't win. They don't have the funds or the media support necessary to launch a successful nationwide campaign. But remember, this is a free and open democracy, and anyone can be elected if they work hard enough!

If you live in a swing state, you have to vote for Biden if you don't want Trump in office. As we all know, swing states are what cost Hillary the election despite her getting 3 million more votes than Trump. But remember, we're a democracy, and every vote counts!

If you really want to make a difference, then you need to make your voices heard and help push the Democratic Party left. Even though Democratic politicians actively ignore left-wing voices and sabotage progressive candidates and fail to pass progressive legislation even in states where they have an overwhelming majority, there's still a chance we can work within the system! Nevada was a fluke! We just gotta wait for the old guard to die off and then we'll get real leftists in the party for sure!

[froggychaos5116]

Hi 👋, My name is Mohammad, and I’m reaching out in a moment of desperate need. I’m a father of three young children living in Gaza, and we are caught in the midst of a catastrophic war. Our home is no longer a safe haven, and the future here seems increasingly uncertain. 💔

I’ve launched a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $40,000 to relocate my family to a safer place where my children can grow up in peace and have a chance at a brighter future.

Unfortunately, my previous fundraising efforts were abruptly halted when my account was terminated without explanation. However, I remain determined to keep fighting for my family’s safety and well-being. 🫶

If you could take a moment to read our story, consider donating, or simply share our campaign with others, it would make an incredible difference. Every act of kindness, no matter how small, brings us one step closer to safety and a new beginning. 🙏

Thank you for your time, compassion, and support. ❤️‍🩹

https://gofund.me/fd1faea2 🔗

y’all please help my man Mohammad or at least spread his story 🇵🇸

[suprememayobros2]

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO