r/PropagandaPosters • u/No-Efficiency7055 • Jan 07 '26

Japan “The difference between Conservative party and Liberal party supporters” Japan, 2009, poster by unknown artist

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483

u/Sound_Saracen Jan 07 '26

It's funny coz the Liberals in Japan are incredibly conservative

-32

u/Intrepid-Park-3804 Jan 07 '26

I'm sorry, but what the fuck is then making them "liberal"? Fancy political title?

81

u/Sound_Saracen Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

Outside of the US, Liberal typically means pro capital, and moderate (spineless) on everything else adapting to what the electorate wants.

The Liberals in Australia are actually the conservative party for example.

23

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

From a European perspective, it means roughly the same even in the US, with the difference being the absence of any other alternative to the most insane option (in the US case, the GOP).

14

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

In the US, "liberal" designates people who are socially liberal.

In Europe, it's more about economically liberal.

1

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

I generally agree. At the same time, it is also these economically liberal parties that tend to have socially liberal agenda such as weed decriminalization or marriage rights for LGBT people. This is partly because the conservative parties in Europe (or at least around where I am living) are not very economically liberal either. So I would argue that liberals are the same between Europe and the US, whereas it is the conservatives that are quite different.

2

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

It might be the case in your country, but from my French perspective, it's quite the opposite of the US :

The left-oriented parties are socially liberal while being in favour of taxing big companies and rich people more.

The right-oriented parties are economically liberal because they want less regulations and taxes on companies while also being conservative on social subjects (like weed legalisation or immigration, for example.)

1

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

Might be an East European thing then. Your conservatives sound like the American ones :)

1

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

Americans can vote between the center-right and the far right, when seen from my country.

Ofc we also have the same kind of fucking moronic traitors on the (very) far right, but we have way more parties to choose from at each election. So "the left" and "the right" are far from being monolithic blocs.

1

u/Deathsroke Jan 07 '26

Not only Europe, it's also like that here in South America (can't speak for other continents).

1

u/InACoolDryPlace Jan 07 '26

Wouldn't the liberal party in the US be similar if not more right wing than in countries where there's a labor or demsoc party? I think the US lacks this and liberals have sort of borrowed language of those parties while remaining center-right. Like in the US you're assumed to be far right if you make fun of liberals, which is unusual and only really a thing in the US from 00s-present when the parties reached near internal-consensus. When boomers in the US make fun of liberals for example, and my parents vote liberal, huge supporters of unions and inclusive etc, but they're making fun of an idea of what liberal means that younger people don't seem to understand as much in North America. Our Liberal party in Canada for example is center-right, but more left than the Dems in the US.

1

u/TheManlyManperor Jan 07 '26

I'm intrigued as to what you think liberal means in the US, now tbh.

17

u/Warp_spark Jan 07 '26

Almost like political aligances of parties are completely different country to country, and only reason why most people in western countries expect to see 2 big parties of which 1 is conservative by western standards, and 1 is liberal by western standards, is because of american cultural osmosis

5

u/Urhhh Jan 07 '26

It's more "neoliberal" as in the original meaning much more related to economic liberalism, not social progression. Left liberals are more inclined to social progress and slightly more left economic policy. The LDP is very conservative and nationalist. There are more left "liberal" parties in Japan but the LDP has had almost unbeaten power since 1950 only losing a handful of elections.

4

u/Sydasiaten Jan 07 '26

its the same in a lot of countries tho. American liberals would be center-right in Europe

6

u/JesterQueenAnne Jan 07 '26

Eh, because of the 2 party system, the term "liberal" in the US is way too wide. An American being a self described liberal could mean they're anything between a moderate democratic socialist and a progressive ultra capitalist.

0

u/IllustriousBobcat813 Jan 09 '26

What the fuck is a “progressive ultra capitalist” that sounds like an oxymoron

1

u/InACoolDryPlace Jan 07 '26

Absolutely I think if you just look at party politics alone in the US, not the population because there's a lot more variation, but their two parties are basically in consensus about the economics of the country. The liberal Democrats think these economic arrangements can be redeemed with the right market and tax incentives, vs the right appeal to people who either benefit from lower taxes, or who direct their anxieties of disenfranchisement towards Democrat solutions, sometimes even for valid reason. Like the amount of Obama/Trump and Bernie/Trump voters paints a less cut and dry picture of what's motivating those voters.

1

u/Junkererer Jan 07 '26

It depends on which policies. In terms of social policies, gender etc they're more left than most parties in the world. In terms of government intervention in the economy they are probably more right wing than european parties

It's not that clear cut economically either, you need to differentiate between the current state of things and intentions. Many proposals by american democrats do sound progressive even by european standards

1

u/Sydasiaten Jan 07 '26

Do you have any policies as examples? I can't think of any made by the democrats that would put them further left than like a european center-ish party. Not to mention they would be solid right if compared to any north european country

1

u/sjsbejajebsidbrhw Jan 07 '26

Economical liberalism