@RandomDamage uh, these names mean nothing to me.
Can you give me some examples of policies or opinions the right held at the time that would be considered left wing by today's standards?

Like, what did they think about tradition? about family? church? immigration? climate?

@wolf480pl @RandomDamage I think this is more a commentary onhow US politics has warped over the years - a 1975 US conservative would be considered far left in the US today... But what the US considers far left, would still be conservative in most of the world.

Hell, I saw a Reddit post with someone (in North Carolina, IIRC) being called a socialist for wanting a public library in their town

@category @RandomDamage
I think treating it as a single linear axis won't take us far.

Depending on time and place, you can have a religious traditionalist who supports welfare and public healthcare,
or an anti-theical social reformist who thinks public health is a bit too communist.

@wolf480pl @category the thing is, political labels are squishy in ways that are difficult for those of us with a technical bent to comprehend

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2017/lessons-universal-coverage-unexpected-advocate-richard-nixon

https://thecorrespondent.com/4503/the-bizarre-tale-of-president-nixon-and-his-basic-income-bill/173117835-c34d6145

@RandomDamage @wolf480pl @category UBI is the liberal way to sedate popular malcontent while keeping the social hierarchy rigid. the other prong is drug liberalization, for the same purpose.

@benis @category @RandomDamage
how does UBI decrease social mobility? o.O

@wolf480pl @category @RandomDamage as I said, by way of sedation: you're less likely to revolt if you think you're being helped. the trick is giving enough to ensure survival but not enough to allow for investment.

@RandomDamage @wolf480pl Squishy is a good word for it. Thinking of others political stances becomes an exercise in translating n-dimensional matrices - and people think I'm rude for loading up Wolfram mid-debate

@category @wolf480pl the problem is that any sympathetic political label, or platform plank, will eventually be compromised by people who intend harm.

There's reasons why "what about the children?" is a catchphrase for insincere political opportunism.

@RandomDamage @category
what surprises me though, is that there are still people trying to use "please think of the children", and still people who fall for it.

@RandomDamage @category
in Poland, the right-wing ruling party gave people "500+", where the government gives you 500 PLN a month for every children you have.
The same party has plenty of right-wing opinions like being anti-abortion, anti-immigration, pro-church, etc.

Meanwhile the centrist parties were like "wtf there's no money for that, you're getting us all in debt".

Populism doesn't care about left vs right wing.