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Elon Musk is a nice chap
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james_s:

--- Quote from: tom66 on December 20, 2022, 07:42:26 pm ---Calling California, the richest state in the Union and one of immense private venture capital and the home of many billionaires, an "anti capitalist" state... If that's not delusional I don't know what is.  :-DD

--- End quote ---

If you were more familiar with California politics you might not think so. It's a nutty place, full of paradoxes like that. California is easily the most far left state in the US, and yet at the same time there is that immense venture capital and the billionaires you mention. The thing is, there are multiple separate groups of people, not everyone in the state is on the same page.
SiliconWizard:
And anyway, it's not the 19th or early 20th century anymore. The link between the political left and large corporations/billionaires, apart from a very few exceptions, is now almost the norm.
And "anti-capitalist", except inside the head of a small minority of truly communist people, is also largely a political construction these days that is being abused, and in some cases even financed by the "big capital". Calling this a paradox looks like an edulcorated way of putting it, but that's just me.
tom66:

--- Quote from: james_s on December 20, 2022, 09:20:13 pm ---If you were more familiar with California politics you might not think so. It's a nutty place, full of paradoxes like that. California is easily the most far left state in the US, and yet at the same time there is that immense venture capital and the billionaires you mention. The thing is, there are multiple separate groups of people, not everyone in the state is on the same page.

--- End quote ---

Sure, but again, a state cannot be far left if it supports and embraces capitalism.  Which California very obviously does - to the great success of many living within.  It is absolutely bonkers to call the state far left, or even to associate this with its politicians (at least the ones in control, like the state's senators -- I'm not talking about some fringe party that has one or two seats here or there in some town council).

It is possible to be pro-capitalist and be centrist or perhaps centre-left on certain things, like gay rights for instance, but to be "far left" is to be "socialist".  That is literally incompatible with capitalism, as capitalism is the ownership of the means of production by private individuals (typically, but not exclusively, the wealthiest), whereas socialism is ownership of said means of production by the workers.  California has very few worker owned co-ops, outside of the odd random grocery store run by hippies.

This is I guess the paradox of American politics.  What you guys consider to be far left is something even European centre-right or right-wing parties support, and nobody outside of the US considers even mildly a left wing policy.
aeberbach:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on December 20, 2022, 02:28:07 pm ---That's exactly what the left do: work themselves up into a tower of outrage over dumb stuff because it violates their woke rules. They also loved Elon, until he bought Twitter.

--- End quote ---

Nup. Weird nerds, particularly libertarian weird nerds, loved Elon. People who consider him to be a lucky and clever fool were and are pretty evenly spread, politically speaking.
vk6zgo:

--- Quote from: james_s on December 20, 2022, 09:20:13 pm ---
--- Quote from: tom66 on December 20, 2022, 07:42:26 pm ---Calling California, the richest state in the Union and one of immense private venture capital and the home of many billionaires, an "anti capitalist" state... If that's not delusional I don't know what is.  :-DD

--- End quote ---

If you were more familiar with California politics you might not think so. It's a nutty place, full of paradoxes like that. California is easily the most far left state in the US, and yet at the same time there is that immense venture capital and the billionaires you mention. The thing is, there are multiple separate groups of people, not everyone in the state is on the same page.

--- End quote ---
"Far left" in the USA is "centrist" in everyone else's language.
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