Left -vs- Right

[hollodero]

(07-08-2015, 09:10 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Virtually all of those things would be supported by a large percentage of Democratic politicians.  Right here on this board you will find plenty of people who support government paid elections, universal healthcare and strict gun control.  We already have a safety net for everyone.  We have unions and a minimum wage.

What do you mean by a flatter tax pyramid?

Who controls your state run tv?  Who decides what is covered and how its covered?  

Which industries does your government supply and or own?

I don't think these things are supported largely. But it probably does not depend so much on the issues, but on how far you go when dealing with these issues. The democrats do not go very far. They might talk about "left" stuff; but the answers they come up with, are, let's say, quite centrist.

How much is your minimum wage? Is the safety net really for everyone? How much are financial transactions taxed and supervised? Etc. etc. - The degree to which these things are enforced defines, if anything can, the left from the center here.

As for your questions: 
a) I said a flatter income pyramid - which means for example looking at the huge amounts of payments/bonuses for top managers and all this stuff, being against ceilings with taxation or other stuff to make the rich leave their money in the country. 
b) The state does, obviously. Of course by electing an own chairman. There are some control mechanisms so journalistic integrity can somehow be preserved, wchich actually works to a certain degree. Information is more balanced as if you watch, let's say, Fox TV. Or whatever left equivalent to Fox there might be. Not having to be enslaved by ratings - and watching films without ad breaks - is not a bad thing; even though it less and less works that way.
c) It gets less these days, globalization caught up. In earlier times, in my country there was the oil company, a big steelwork and some othe industries, the railroads. They were not highly profitable and wrote their red numbers, but helped bringing some stability and balance in economical harder times. The state still holds some shares here or there, especially on the energy sector. What still is in the hand of the state are health insurance, pension system and these things... as much as water supply, garbage disposal and so on. And we deeply want it to stay that way.

[*michaelsean*]

The Democrats support the things mentioned to varying degrees of course, but the reason it ends up centrist to your point of view is because we also have a conservative (sort of) side.  In the end it's the people who reject being as far left as Austria or other European countries.

I still want to visit though. Your country looks absolutey beautiful not to mention yiur cities. Our oldest structures are only a couple hundred years old. Plus I want to see if anyone can make sauerbraten as good as mine. I"m a complete failure at making spaetzle though.