Conservative Group Accidentally Reveals Its Secret Donors. Some of Them Are Liberal Orgs.

TokenBoomer@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 457 points –
Conservative Group Accidentally Reveals Its Secret Donors. Some of Them Are Liberal Orgs.
thedailybeast.com
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Liberalism, at least in the neoliberalism form governing the Democratic Party, is an economically conservative ideology that favors money, business "opportunity" and order over everything else whenever they're in conflict.

That and it's common practice amongst people who can afford it to bet on both horses so they'll have bribed their way to influence no matter what.

I agree with this in general, but it doesn't apply to this situation from what I can tell.

The American Compass isn't something I'm familiar with before this article, but the article says they are trying to leverage right wing populism to traditional conservatism which I read as social conservatism.

As such, both the liberal groups the article highlights donate because the American Compass is anti-corporate.

The Hewlett Foundation did not reply, either, though the group has explained its donations online, stating that American Compass is “working to restore an economic orthodoxy that emphasizes the importance of family, community, and industry,” eschewing “growth for its own sake” in favor of “widely shared economic development that sustains vital social institutions.”

The other liberal group cites their pro-worker stance

In a statement for the Omidyar Network Foundation, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast, “We would encourage you to reach out to American Compass directly for comment on the pro-worker elements they were able to advocate for related to Project 2025.” The spokesperson did not reply to follow-ups seeking specific comment on American Compass’ affiliation with anti-democratic groups and ideologies that appear at odds with Omidyar’s historical support for inclusive global development.

Now, I think their pro-worker stance is short sighted and self serving at best and disingenuous at worst, but, for reasons I can't seem to glean, these organizations weren't able to see that clearly. Or they could, but it doesn't make sense with their other donations.

These foundations are the personal foundations for the seriously wealthy owners of the associated corporations.

They know exactly what they're supporting.

Just because you can find similarities between two parties doesnt make them the same.

This organization calling itself liberal is acting in the best interest of conservatives by donating to them. So that makes them conservative and not liberal no matter what they call themselves.

A liberal is not necessarily a leftist. I'd comfortably say the liberal Democrats are not at all leftist

Just because you can find similarities between two parties doesnt make them the same.

Never said that. I'm saying that they're much more similar than many people think, which is true.

So that makes them conservative and not liberal no matter what they call themselves.

That's part of what I'm saying: neoliberalism IS economically conservative, so the "conservative or liberal" is mostly only a question of degrees rather than two opposite poles when it comes to economical issues.

It makes PERFECT sense when it comes to social issues, though.

Sounds too similar to a both sides are the same argument

Because you're not paying attention to me specifically saying that they're NOT the same.

Some issues ≠ everything.

No, because you’re going through a lot of effort to draw similarities between the two that are unrelated to the context. Which is an article headline calling a group liberal because they donated to both liberal campaigns *and conservative campaigns. When in reality they aren’t liberal or conservative just because of who they donated to.

you’re going through a lot of effort

Because you're bending over backwards to dismiss my original simple statement as something it never was so that it's easier to dismiss as ridiculous falsehood. It's called a strawman and it's common amongst those who can't defend their claims honestly.

draw similarities between the two that are unrelated to the context.

The context is an article about specific neoliberal institutions being economically conservative and people being surprised about that. Pointing out that the same is true of neoliberalism in general is hardly unrelated.

When in reality they aren’t liberal or conservative just because of who they donated to.

And there you go again, pretending that there's no overlap 🤦

lib·er·al·ism /ˈlib(ə)rəˌliz(ə)m/ See definitions in: All Theology Politics noun 1. willingness to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; openness to new ideas. 2. a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.

If them donating to conservatives does not meet the definition above then they are literally not a liberal organization. I can’t explain it any simpler for you.

Except definition 2 (the one that's applicable here) gets the order wrong when it comes to neoliberalism: "free" enterprise is priority one, to which the others take a back seat almost every time.

An organisation betting on both sides is a textbook example of ideology taking a back seat to "free" enterprise and thus a very neoliberal thing to do.

You’re the only one bringing neoliberalism into the conversation. It has nothing to do with the discussion.

Except for the fact that most people think of the Democratic Party when they say liberal and, other than a few outliers, the governing philosophy of that corporation is neoliberalism.

Because liberals are one of the many groups that make up the Democratic Party. That doesn’t mean liberals = neoliberals.

And most importantly, it has nothing to do with the article.

I can show you better than the other guy is doing, I think.

"liberal" is a spectrum of identities that are named by the right - from hippy liberals to bleeding hearts to champagne liberals. They share a common umbrella of ideology, but their individual quirks and passions set them apart.

Neoliberals have their own definitions, but again are characterized by the people who dislike them, in this case it's generally people on the far left. They fall under the set of "liberal," but because their opposition is also their in-group, they are a more isolated identity. They are also, interestingly, given that reality, by far the largest liberal segment of the Democratic Party.

This is why the left primarily attacks neoliberalism - they're just going where the voters are, trying to change their minds.

"economically conservative" is not a real thing. There is economic orthodoxy, and there is not. Modern economics no longer has schools of thought as distinct, competing identities.

Who told you that nonsense? Like every other thing in existence, there's ABSOLUTELY different schools of thought when it comes to economics.

I don't know if you have no clue about economics, what most of the descriptive words you used mean or neither.

I'm guessing it's neither and for a bonus guess, I'm gonna say that you probably think crypto currency is going to save the world 🙄

My friend who is an economist, when I asked him about economic schools of thought

There are no longer schools of thought (e.g. "Austrian school economist"). Their debates have been settled. Now there is simply orthodoxy and fringe economics.

If you don't know things, maybe just ask questions.

Like many economists, your friend is full of shit.

It sounds like he's probably a Keynesian who thinks that it's the one true economics and as a result every other school of thought is illegitimate fringe economics.

Sounds like something a Keynesian or one of those Austrian School nutjobs would do.

As a side note, "Their debates have been settled. Now there is simply orthodoxy and fringe" absolutely takes the 2023 Dunning Kruger Award and would have regardless of which field you were talking about.

"this literal economist says my beliefs are fringe so clearly he's full of shit"

Lmao dude you can just be fringe it's ok

First of all, being a literal economist doesn't preclude him from being a literal idiot talking out his ass.

For example, Milton Friedman is a Nobel price winning economist and has been so wrong so many times that he's probably caused more deaths and economic destruction than most wars.

Ironically, dividing all schools of thought with regards of one of the most hotly debated subjects in the history of humanity into only orthodoxy and fringe is the kind of thing that would be the fringe of the fringe within RELIGION, let alone any academic subject.

Sorry communism isn't taken seriously by serious economists. I know that hurts.

Why would that hurt when I'm not a communist? Or even if I had been?

I don't know who you're trying to impress with your continuously failing powers of observation, but it's not working. If I was you, I'd stop while I was only a few miles behind.

This guy is a troll he spends all day calling anyone who questions corporate rule of the economy a communist. The world is black and white to this dude.