"The Far Left"? WTF?

[Dragonfli]

305. You think Putin is leftist? LOL! Man, with confusion like that I can see how any Dem not corporate

(That like regulated Capitalism, the New Deal, the Great Society, Civil Rights eg) might be considered far left. It is simply that many here have no idea what terms like right wing and left wing mean.

I will try not to take it personally, but for future reference the very basics (without getting into too many subtleties in the middle)

The farthest point left is Communism (workers control the means of production etc) - the farthest point right is Fascism, (The State and Corporations are basically co-rulers and fully dedicated to unfettered Capitalism, with the workers as simply tools to provide profit and productivity for both, this often includes but does not require strong arm rule by an all powerful figure like say Mussolini).

The actual middle of these is open for debate, but In this country the best example would be the policies of FDR, which actually was a balance between the then emerging American Communists and the very real American fascists. He pretty much saved Capitalism and was far from far left, but in order to save Capitalism he had to compromise using ideas from the Communists, (the only ones used being actually just Socialism lite) and creating strong checks and regulations to keep Capitalism from imploding (which it always does when left unfettered).

If you see people supporting things like welfare, progressive taxation, regulation, single payer, SS and the like they are not far left, those positions are actually centrist in the objective sense and merely center left in the political history of the US specifically.

Perhaps in the future you will not confuse Putin and his followers with any part of the left, or FDR Democrats (as an example) with far leftists, those guys would be the ones pushing for the workers to control the means of production and abandoning Capitalism altogether.

If they simply want to re regulate the financial industry (keeping Capitalism alive) for example, or expand the social safety net, the are just slightly left of center in reality as was FDR. It may be hard to see because the countries politicians have moved so far right that many could validly be called fascists, but that is not the fault of the center left like FDR Democrats such as myself so cut us some slack OK?