Political Memes

Look, what matters here is that everyone is included equally under oppressive capitalist movements which aim to drain of us of our lifeblood and monetize our very cells.

Neoliberal doesn't actually mean " The newest Brand of liberal" NeoLibralist regimes historically have also been exceedingly anti-queer. The term was coined in the 80's to describe a burgeoning different brand of liberal government that focused on cutting spending by privatizing swaths of the government. Think Thatcher, Regan and the modern Republican party... See also the early Nazis who historically privatized huge amounts of government to pad the wallets of their supporters but the label was applied retroactively.

If they are getting rid of government services and outsourcing them to a private company that's "Neoliberal politics". You are right that they are effective as an empty soda can at stopping facism but that's because they are usually better positioned to assume power, give up on democracy and go fascist but they aren't the group you're calling out here.

Really the bar for what "liberal" means is a system with a basic set of rights of the person that cannot be infringed upon by the government, universal rights of the person to own stuff (though not all stuff) and a dedication to some kind of democratic system. Basically it's become democracy's basic format and practically everyone in government who isn't a fascist is some variation of liberal or at least playing by Libralism's rules. It's not a statement on socially progressive or socially conservative rhetoric. You're probably better off specifying " Social Progressives" if you want to be accurate to whom you're talking about.

It's kind of the same rules as "NeoClassisism" which isn't constantly updated to mean the newest thing. That term got coined to specifically refer to an art style that is now 300 years old. Neo these days practically never refers to anything cutting edge.

so... why didn't the left stop fascism? I hear a lot of talk about killing people, but it's been three months and nothing has happened.

Are we all just yappers?

You can bitch all you want, but the right won, and they won exactly what they wanted. So bitching about it on the left isn't going to make us anymore likely to win, is it?

'Free market,' market-oriented reform capitalism; think Reagan, Bill Clinton, any moderate or conservative before the trump era.

It has been the sole economic theory in power in the US since the 1970s, with more or less a sliding scale between more neoliberal (republicans before 2016) and less neoliberal/more classical liberal (Biden's and Harris's campaign messaging, not Biden's actual actions).

The reason it sounds confusing, especially in memes, is because you think dems and republicans have different economic theories behind their actions, when in actual legislative reality they're just more or less neoliberal, and the minute differences get overblown in campaign rhetoric.

White Karens who drive around with awareness ribbons on their prius and chastise you for calling black people black instead of "African American" and really think that someone needs to do something about the current social crisis as long as it doesn't upset anyone or anything and as long as everything stays exactly the same, and as long as nobody messes with their investments. They secretly cannot stand people different than themselves and want to retire on a golf course.

It mostly means a dedication to deregulation and free markets. More specifically, private-public partnerships. That is the difference between them and Libertarians or Anarcho-Capitalists, since Neoliberals see that the government needs to provide things like courts, military, police, etc. but want to insert private companies to provide government services (e.g. in WW2, soldiers cleaned and laundered the military's uniforms internally, now a private company will do the laundry for a military base at a 50% markup).

As all political ideology, in its original formulation, Neoliberalism was a deviation from liberalism, in the Vienna Circle, by its rejection of "political liberalism". It didn't believe in formal freedom, democracy, equality, etc. Real freedom is the freedom to buy and sell on an unregulated market, real democracy is the ability to vote with your wallet, and real equality is the lack of regulations protecting one group from another. This is why neoliberals of the 1920s and 30s were pro-fascist, since the fascists were so dedicated to privatization and repressing socialists and communists. Thus preserving the freedom of the market, even if later neoliberals want to walk that back.

basically the meme among the left is that everybody who "dragged their feet" is a "liberal" or "neoliberal"

the left tends to have a problem where they leech off of existing parties and groups, but then immediately throw them under the bus when convenient for their party. This is just an extension of that.

The modern vernacular for liberal is, weird... To say the least, but in short, basically the average democrat is "a liberal" the average voting democrat specifically.

Historically, a liberal is someone who believes in government, and the institutions it provides, the fact that you should respect it, lest you ruin it. And the fact that you can achieve the best outcomes, for all people when everybody is represented. Liberals traditionally don't have an issue with competing, or opposing viewpoints, they have issues with people who don't respect institutions, or don't want them to exist at all. A "Liberal democrat" may be fine with the republican voter, but have a problem with the way the republican base is campaigning, and running the country. Or even specific demographics of the republican voter, like MAGA for example.

Joe Biden is a good example of this, and if you look at his term, he was very, and i mean very successful, had some of the most effective legislative work in a long time. Was popular across the aisle to a significant degree (not MAGA obviously) and respected those that were.

The problem with the modern day left, is that they have outgroup problem. They want everybody who isn't "left" and exactly in sync with their ideology to get fucked, basically. This extends further, since the left doesn't respect the government, or it's institutions, but i've yet to see any good whitepapers talking about a more effective form of government, it's all just performative yapping about why "government bad and leftism good"

I'm not going to dive into the specifics of leftism here, because frankly, not relevant, it's pretty similar to liberalism, minus the government stuff, and some slight differences, but the modern left doesn't in any way shape or form adhere to that.

And before anybody yaps at me, calls me a slur or whatever, i just want to say, i'm not doing a both sides meme, i think the republican party is far, far worse. I think the democratic party is far more suited to running the country effectively, as evidenced by historical terms in office (the left would VEHEMENTLY disagree with me on this one, but the facts back me up here) The problem i think is specifically with the far left, the online far left in particular.

as you may have gleaned, i would consider myself a liberal, specifically a "governmental classical western liberal" if you want to get into the weeds of it, i think the lack of respect for government institution, and the role it plays in society has ruined our country. And there is simply no way back into a respectable position, without reinstating that within the public, i don't care how it's done, it needs to happen. I'm very sure most scholars on this topic would agree with me when i say that this is the most important thing to fix right now.

As a liberal should, i'm not picky about political views or ideology, as long as you respect the one thing keeping this country from grinding to a complete halt and being nothing more than a thought in the wind 20 years down the line. Unfortunately i don't think the right even posses enough brain power or will to comprehend this, and i don't think the far left is physically capable of comprehending this fact fully. (they are more than willing to mentally comprehend it, but they get mad the second anybody crosses them, and calls them wrong, so they never actually give it any serious thought)

Anyway, inb4 people yell at me all angry like.

I do wonder what the makeup of 100 people would have to look like to be perfectly (or as perfect as possible) representative of all demographics, every way we chop them up. Race, nationality, gender identity, sexuality, permanent disfigurement, financial class, whatever.

Needs some awareness ribbons too.

"I'm a centrist"

Actually republican but doesn't want to admit it

Yeah you’ll get one board member, maybe, if they feel like it. The steps needed even just to reform capitalism to eliminate gender inequality are considered way too radical by neoliberals.

They sure love to pitch men against women and vice versa deliberately to silence worker rights movements and they're doing it in more ways than most people are willing to admit. Ask them to close the gender pay gap and a neoliberal will tell you about their women quota and how they placed a woman in a "leading" position (she has no power and didn't get a raise) and how progressive they are already. Ask them for a raise and a neoliberal will tell you how women have it worse than you. You're right in a way of course. It's a convenient diversion for them and nothing more.

They're free-marketeers, if it is useful as branding, they'll do it. If it is not, they are fine with everyone in control being white men.

I feel that way about people using liberal as well.