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[Helgoland]

So, what effect did the liberal crime squad have on the votes?

To be honest, I can't even remember which party is the right-wing and which one is left. All I remember is that blue is left, and red is right.

Actually, the democrats are right wing. Both parties are right wing, it's just the democrats are slightly more to the centre. The republicans are further right. It's a bit like comparing the modern British conservative party with its counterpart from the 70s, although the democrats are more prone to fits of leftism because of the large number of liberals and the like within their party. Interestingly, liberal in America means something quite different to liberal over here.

As I've said, both political parties are further right than almost any other nations', but they're only "right-wing" in the sense that socialism is centrist. By that scale, Sweden, often considered the most left-leaning country on earth, is center-right.

If we take Sweden as centre-left (because other countries did lean further left), liberalism à la the Liberal Democrat party of the UK as centre, the democrat party of the USA still falls into the right.

But that's because the USA as a whole are pretty centre-right. And since "left" or "right" only have a relative (defined by a comparison) and not an absolute meaning, calling the democrats "centre-right" is misleading at best: The democrats are centre-left in a centre-right country.

[Dutchling]

Random question:
Could president Johnson be reelected twice, considering his first time was actually Kennedy's term?

[Nadaka]

Random question:
Could president Johnson be reelected twice, considering his first time was actually Kennedy's term?

I seem to recall that depends on how long he serves the term of president after the president dies. 1 or 2 years he can still serve 2 full terms, 3 or 4 and he can serve only 1 more term. I don't have a reference for that though.

[SealyStar]

Random question:
Could president Johnson be reelected twice, considering his first time was actually Kennedy's term?

Yes... he took office in November of '63, which means that he served less than half of Kennedy's term, which means it didn't count as a term for him for reelection purposes.

[mainiac]

Johnson actually won the New Hampshire democratic primary in 68 before deciding against running and blowing the race wide open.  Robert Kennedy only took the plunge after Johnson left the race, meaning that he became the front runner despite not even winning most of the small number of states that held primaries back then (party leadership still decided for most states.)  This lead to a very, very ugly convention in 1968 after RFK got assassinated and lead to the primary process getting reformed.

[Jervill]

Johnson barely won the New Hampshire primary over anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy, Johnson had to quit running to try and keep the party together (it didn't work after RFK was assassinated, as you stated.)

[MetalSlimeHunt]

When considering American politics, the Republicans are center-right to far-right (with center sprinkles on top) and the Democrats are center to far-left. The descriptions of left and right are relative terms and are applied to the political situation of the entity they are within.

[SealyStar]

When considering American politics, the Republicans are center-right to far-right (with center sprinkles on top) and the Democrats are center to far-left. The descriptions of left and right are relative terms and are applied to the political situation of the entity they are within.

In American politics, Democrats range from far-left to center while Republicans range from center to far-right.
In the international scheme of things, Democrats range from center-left to middle-right while Republicans range from middle-right to far-right-wing.

[Heron TSG]

One can only be president for 10 years. Which means that if you take over for someone for 3 years and get re-elected, you're up to 7. You can't fit in another 4 years, so you can't run.

[misko27]

When considering American politics, the Republicans are center-right to far-right (with center sprinkles on top) and the Democrats are center to far-left. The descriptions of left and right are relative terms and are applied to the political situation of the entity they are within.

In American politics, Democrats range from far-left to center while Republicans range from center to far-right.
In the international scheme of things, Democrats range from center-left to middle-right while Republicans range from middle-right to far-right-wing.

That is assuming only the Europeans. If you include, say, the middle east, russia, china, india, africa, and factor it by population, no, it's not all the rightest.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Indeed. If we consider the mean standard of the entire world the USA is most definitely left-wing.

[SealyStar]

Indeed. If we consider the mean standard of the entire world the USA is most definitely left-wing.

You're right. I'm being ethnically/economically discriminatory by only factoring in the "first world". If we include SA, Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia, the US probably jumps to the top 10% of the world for progressivism/liberalism.

[Owlbread]

Indeed. If we consider the mean standard of the entire world the USA is most definitely left-wing.

You're right. I'm being ethnically/economically discriminatory by only factoring in the "first world". If we include SA, Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia, the US probably jumps to the top 10% of the world for progressivism/liberalism.

I think it's a bit erroneous to define right wing and left wing as "democratic" and "undemocratic", as you seem to be doing. Most of the countries in the Middle East besides the likes of Saudi Arabia or the UAE were originally, and to a certain extent are today, pretty left wing, thanks to all the Arab Nationalist/Socialist groups like the Ba'ath Party. Being right wing generally means that you either support a social hierarchy or social inequality, left wing meaning the opposite.

That said, liberalism ranks highly in the USA, but that in itself can be a bit of a centrist ideology. On one hand liberals tend to support social equality, but they sacrifice some of their options to achieve that equality (such as totalitarianism) in order to increase personal freedom and such.

If you compare the nations of Africa and their governments, you will likely find that left-wing parties have often done quite well, even if they end up being undemocratic corrupt bastards. If you look at Europe, Christian social democracy or social democracy in general is all the rage. In east Asia, generally liberal or left wing parties are doing well in Japan, China, Mongolia and Cambodia. South Korea and Taiwan both follow models of democracy which closely model the USA. The grey areas here are Myanmar and Thailand. Thailand is currently governed by a populist party (which can mean a lot, considering the Red Shirt fiasco) and Myanmar's government is currently quite conservative, although it is currently softening up.  If one looks at South America, one will again find socialism, democracy, left wing politics and liberalism flourishing in Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname (less so), French Guiana, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina (to an extent), Colombia, Peru, Chile, all except the Falkland Islands (from what I can see) because most of their politicians are entirely non partisan, so it's quite difficult to tell.

So even if you do look across the world at the political alignments of national governments, you will mostly see left wing politics, democracy and liberalism. On paper at least, because these countries often go off the deep end.That's not to say that right wing totalitarian countries don't exist - Saudi Arabia for example, but these are, thankfully, the minority.

[Darvi]

One can only be president for 10 years. Which means that if you take over for someone for 3 years and get re-elected, you're up to 7. You can't fit in another 4 years, so you can't run.

Run for president, get assassinated after your third year. Problem solved!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I think it's a bit erroneous to define right wing and left wing as "democratic" and "undemocratic", as you seem to be doing. Most of the countries in the Middle East besides the likes of Saudi Arabia or the UAE were originally, and to a certain extent are today, pretty left wing, thanks to all the Arab Nationalist/Socialist groups like the Ba'ath Party. Being right wing generally means that you either support a social hierarchy or social inequality, left wing meaning the opposite.

We're not. Social inequality is extremely high in the middle east, and I can't believe you'd even entertain the idea that Saudi Arabia is left wing. It's an absolute monarchy with strong belief in Islamisim in general and Wahhabi Islam in particular. They have ultra-powerful religious police and women can't drive or be outdoors if not accompanied by an appropriate man. It's one of the most socially hierarchical places in the world.

And besides all of that, democracy is a left wing trait. Democracy, as an ideal, seeks to undo the centralized power structures the world has lived with for most of history in favor of putting it in the hands of the general public.

That said, liberalism ranks highly in the USA, but that in itself is a centrist ideology.

Again, you are being Eurocentric in your analysis of this.