I would never, ever move to the Right. The Left is the dreamers of a better world, even those most far out, for everyone. The Right wants a regimented world where only those with power and privilege get to enjoy a good life. It is basically a return to the feudal system of the 15th to 19th century Europe. No thanks.

Really? I’m curious as to what planks in the platform of the California Democratic party, for example, you find to be as egregious on the left as what we’ve just heard the fascist Texas Republican party agree to.
[cadem.org]

@Barnie2years Marx and Lenin were dreamers of a better world. Look how that turned out.

@p-nullifidian There are so many planks, it will take me a while to respond.

@BD66 they were trying to improve Russia. There is no system that would not wind up with a dictator at some point. Same with most South American countries. It’s not socialism at fault (working pretty well in most Scandinavian countries), it’s the populations inability to to keep dictators out of the government. We came very close to having our own, totally Right Wing dictator and are not out of the woods yet.

@Barnie2years How many times do you have to try and fail? How many millions of people have to die before you try a different approach? The common theme is any form of collectivism leads to disaster. Here's a photo of North Korea and South Korea. Which approach would you try? Collectivism in North Korea or free-market capitalism in South Korea?

@Barnie2years I tend to agree with @BD66 in that extremes can enter into either party, thereby marginalizing the majority of the nation who are, by and large, moderate.

Open primaries, weighted voting, judges appointed not elected (and subject to impeachment), voting districts drawn by a bipartisan commission (never gerrymandered), have the effect of moderating the political landscape. Having read and reread the California Democratic Party platform, I find it much more centrist than leftist. It is not, IMHO, a polar opposite of the Republican Party platform in Texas.

@BD66 again, North Korea has far less to do with socialism than an inbred despot, son of a despot, holding his country hostage out of fear of losing his power.

@Barnie2years Fair enough. I don’t think we’ve actually seen a true communist state… at least according to Marxist ideology. Communism, in its political expression, has always resulted in despotism, whether it be Lenin or Stalin or Mao or Castro or the Kim dynasty. Communism only seems to work on tiny rural communes!

@BD66 It isn't a choice between places like North and South Korea. There are many different ways in which to practice capitalism. I tend to favor those of Northern European countries, that reign in many of the worst exploitative characteristics of capitalism.

@snytiger6 If we would stop spending $800,000,000,000 per year on "defense" we would have a lot more money for those Northern European social spending programs.