this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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It's like... most of the developed world outside of North America & Australia. Japan and SK's "left" ruling parties might both seem fascist in comparison to the US Democrats, and the UK's may be about on par if not worse, but the same can not be said about most of first-world Europe, or even Australia and Canada really. Even in many less developed countries – like Argentina, Syria, Palestine, and much of Africa – you'll generally find that the "left" parties are actually left, socialist or syndicalist or some other anti-capitalist, and not liberal. But I'd say developed countries are a lot more relevant to comparisons with American politics than ones which are not developed.
China, India, Saudi Arabia? Russia?
Ah yes, the pinnacle of developed democracies. China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. You managed to pick some of the most corrupt authoritarian countries I could think of. A one-party "democratic dictatorship", a theocratic absolute monarchy, and a regular dictatorship.
The only somewhat relevant comparison might be India but it's still not part of the developed world and it's known for its fascist corruption, comparing its politics to developed countries' doesn't exactly work. Even then, their only left-wing party is the Communist Party of India (obviously more leftist than the Democrats) – the AAP leans left I suppose, so they're comparable to Democrats maybe, but AFAIK they're far more "leftist" in their policies and anti-crony-capitalism than American Democrats even though they consider themselves centrists.
I also somehow doubt that the CCP is more right-wing than the American Democrats. Somehow. Either way, when it comes to states without competing parties it becomes kind of hard to have a "left" party and a "right" party. This also applies when the non-ruling party has its politicians jailed, killed, or otherwise purged whenever they challenge the ruling party. So basically all of them except India...
No shit, Sherlock, that was the whole point
No shit Sherlock, that was the whole point
When people say "Democrats are actually right wing compared to most other countries in the world", they mentally exclude almost every country except European ones. So what they really mean is "compared to Europe".
No, just compared to the developed world and the democratic world. There are developed countries outside of Europe, you know like Australia, Canada, NZ. There are very few developed countries it doesn't apply to – like previously mentioned Japan and SK and some in Europe. A majority of democratic countries also have left-wing parties – ones far more left than the democrats – like, again, many in South America (Chile, Argentina, etc.) and even India as you mentioned. Even most democratic Middle Eastern & African countries have at least one leftist party that is undeniably more left than the Democrats, as well as ones which aren't fully democratic but still have competing parties or factions (like Jordan, Syria, and Palestine).
Authoritarian/fascist countries are irrelevant to the conversation, I'm not sure why you thought to bring something like Saudia Arabia or Russia in.
Europe with extra steps lol
Most countries don't have a first past the post voting system, so there's a profusion of parties. A fairer comparison would be powerful coalitions (which is arguably what the Democratic party is anyway, a coalition).