Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
I would place myself higher on the liberal axis and slightly to the left of the left/right axis. However I don't think that contradicts what I said. My objection is the idea left = liberal when you rightly point out that it doesn't. At least not automatically.
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Corbyn is left and libertarian. He supports worker's rights, environmental protection, devolution of power to communities, workers on company boards, equal opportunities for all etc . You can't get much more libertarian than that.
Since when was trade protectionism a left wing characteristic? Protectionism is an authoritarian/populist trait adopted by certain kinds of both the left and the right, e.g. Nazi Germany, Trump's America now and Soviet Russia.
Trump providing money to create jobs? If he does, that will be a flash in the pan, pure tokenism as a sop to the run down regions that voted for him. If he finds funds for sustained investment in US infrastructure all well and good, but his main weapon to attempt to increase jobs for Americans is protectionism. One thing for sure, he and his ilk won't be releasing their trillions to the tax man. None of that will be available to support government schemes, rebuilding programmes etc. It's all safely stored in off-shore tax havens. You can't get more right-wing than that. Such people are only liberal when it comes to reducing regulation that stops them exploiting the rest of us.