this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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I was talking to a Polish friend about Polish politics. He said in Poland, like in the US, they had both conservative and liberal parties - but that the topics for debate were different. In Poland, the conservatives agreed with the liberals on things like healthcare funding, supporting higher education, and funding transit projects. All these things were non-issues in Polish politics.
"Well," says I, "Then I'm confused. If the conservatives and liberals agree on all those things, then what makes them different? What makes the conservatives, conservative?"
"Ah, you see," he says, "They're racist. That's the whole thing - they're just racist."
I'm convinced the reason the US doesn't have universal anything is because "but then the blacks would get it."
I watched a documentary about USA and there was a lady who said she didnβt want universal healthcare because she shouldnβt want to pay other peopleβs healthcare. As a European citizen I couldnβt understand the logic, are everyone in the USA so individual citizens that they only care about themselves, not anyone else?
Someone pointed out that with the current system of healthcare insurance, you are literally paying for other people's healthcare.
Not even just that. Our taxes still end up paying for health care at rates comparable to countries with universal health care. So they're double paying for other people's health care.
I have had that conversation with Americans on social media. I tried explaining to them paying a private insurance company does actually pay for other peoples healthcare, and that it is not banking money for your own care. They couldn't grasp the idea, and couldn't understand how a single system ( that is government funded ) ends up providing cheaper insurance because there is no profit and everyone pays into it.
Lack of critical thinking for many Americans.
That's honestly it. Right wing Americans don't want other people to get access to things. They think rights are a pie. If 'they' get a slice, I'll end up with less of it. Rather it's actually a bakery... You pay into it and you just get pie.
That's an interesting analogy I've never heard before. Thanks for sharing
No they want to grow the pie, but just for themselves.
They want the whole pie to themselves.
The idea of sharing is the problem. Conservatism is an "All for me" mentality.
Happy pi day btw
Historically, yes. But in 2026, if you think that you better hide it. Even in MAGA crowds, although there it can be less well hidden.
In eastern Europe there isn't really centuries of troubled race relations to look back at, so you might just hear "all blacks out".
Europe has had troubled relations with Muslim neighbors for centuries. See Siege of Vienna and Ottoman colonization of the Balkan.
Also lots of conflict with European neighbors.
Many racists in Europe donβt consider all Europeans to be the same race. Slavs are looked down on and discriminated against in Western Europe. Southern and Northern Europeans also have animosities going on.
Racism and xenophobia is different in Europe than the US.
And don't even get started on the Roma.
It is different. The US was basically apartheid until 1965, with a significant part of it's population disenfranchised. Race is woven into all kinds of social situations in a way that even I as a Canadian can lose track of. In Europe it's just kind of one issue among many, as far as I can tell. That can come out as less racism, or as more.
Now it's hidden as consumer choice or something.
Or actually everyone else is discriminating against whites somehow, or vague "cultural identity" which is definitely about being white, but they have the one brown person as their spokesperson so they can deny it. Dog whistles will probably be everywhere, but if one in specific is pointed out it was "a mistake".
There's a few tricks, and enough racists kicking around they get used a lot. But yeah, you'll never see the actual thing come out completely in any public forum, or even causally with other white people who might not be in the club.
Always has been
That is, to some extent how you break down left/right politics in the UK too, though our right wing parties will gladly accept black people in order to try and convince voters that they're not racist.
"Healthcare funding, supporting higher education, and funding transit projects [unless you're a foreigner]"
That's fundamentally the same everywhere, much the same in Australia but to an extent only part of the story
Gets fuzzier around womens, LBQTI rights, lot of religious shit baggery there, as there is in Poland, Hungary etc
They don't want universal healthcare in the US because brown skinned people might use it.
I wouldn't say racist. I'd say it's recognizing the huge problems that come with uncontrolled mass migration from countries with low education levels and diamterically different cultures and values.
You are talking about a country where Microsoft replaced (poorly) a black by a white in an ad because racism.
That's racist.
I don't know, seems to fit the definition nicely.
Not at all actuallly.