I’m just curious for the new or existing people? Lemmy.ml has taken a hard turn to the right since the reddit exodus. There’s been a lot of pro-imperialist propaganda being posted on world news, and a lot less diversity of opinion. It feels more neoliberal and neo-con to me.
Does anyone want to share what their political leanings are?
I’ll start; I’m anti-imperialist pro-state regulated capitalism. I believe we should have usage based taxes (toll roads, carbon tax) and luxury taxes, and I disagree with wealth taxes for people with less than $250 million. The state should spend more money on consumer protection in all industries (environment, health, finance, etc.) I believe in multipolarity vs. US hegemony.
Some of my friends think I’m an idealist but I’d argue that’s the point. I vote for whatever would allow us to get to the Star Trek: TNG version of earth. A Post Scarcity society where humans want to better themselves and their communities through each individuals pursuit of their interests unrestricted by any “system”. To get there, I care about improving the lives of the entirety of humanity equally while doing away with the disparity inequality we see. It is undoubtedly true capitalism did raise the average QOL of many many people of the entire world, however, others it put into modern slavery.
I like this idea, but I disagree with the last sentence. The improvement in the average quality of life does not come from the capitalist system, but from technological and scientific progress.
But was that also spurred at least in part often times for the pursuit of profit? I don’t disagree, you have a good point!
Consider how quickly USSR developed after the revolution. It went from an agrarian society to being the first in space while doing most of the work in WW2. USSR accomplished a century’s worth of capitalist development in a few decades.
Sure but the USSR was effectively a product of capitalism. The development of a working class, Marx’s labor theory of value, Lenin’s ideas about the state, and even modern science are all possible because of capitalism. I don’t think Marx or Lenin would dispute that. That of course doesn’t mean capitalism is inherently a better system than socialism.
Capitalism set the stage for socialism and USSR. However, USSR itself was not capitalist, and the development that happened in USSR was not happening under capitalist relations. The point I was replying to was that the profit motive spurs innovation, and USSR clearly demonstrates that you can have plenty of innovation and rapid development without a profit motive.