this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Left and right are very useful construct... as a spectrum... on multiple axis.
It just seems completely meaningless, because so much here is tainted by the US perspective. And neither do they have a spectrum (with just two parties), nor multiple axis (again, two parties can't represent nuanced opinion on different topics). In fact they don't even have left and right, just right-wing and more far-right.
It is like trying to equate which Greek god your tribal deity fits into
Left and right are literally left and right... there is no up and down.. there is no forward or backward... there is no x y and z, just literal directions of one single line.
As a concept, it is even more useless across international lines, so I'm not sure why you suggest that it is due to a single country. "Just right-wing and more far-right"... yes, very "spectrum… on multiple axis"... ... ... An atypical example of just what I criticize, and I have no doubt they will do a flip and be the "left" when it also suits recognizing US Democrats as such.
All you've given me the impression of is that for the US parties, you prioritize the similarity of their international policies, and that you are critical of them and likely identify under the "left" deity. That is, it implies more about your beliefs to refer to them as "just right-wing and more far-right" by how you try to fit them into the "left-right" pantheon than saying "X is right-wing and Y is more far-right" tells me about those parties.
Try to apply that to parties of a different nation and you'll end up with very different impressions, compared to a much more consistent notion when you attempt to distinguish between the parties that try to follow their political goals within the structure of their constitution and design of their governments and those that don’t mind breaking it to achieve their goals (at least when comparing governments of the same type).
The whole terminology of left and right, it's ego, manifested, a way to say "I'm right, you are wrong" without saying it for something that never easily reduces down to such terseness, and the reason people choose one or the other is more a reflection of vulnerabilities employed by certain types of parties.