# What's too "Loony Left" for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503 "2022-08-11T18:54:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/1 "2022-08-11T18:54:50Z")
If you generally identify with the liberal or left side of the political spectrum, what is too radical, or quixotic, or nutty, or downright totalitarian for you to support? What’s just too “Brave New World” for your tastes? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/2 "2022-08-11T19:19:05Z")
Tankie-ism, of the Roger Waters variety. Not sure if I really count for this thread, since I’m more a centrist than leftist. But when you support brutal fascist regimes in the name of “opposing Western fascism” - sorry, that ain’t funny. And when it’s sincere support rather than trollery, it’s downright scary. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/3 "2022-08-11T19:33:54Z")
When some talk about raising the tax rate for the millionaires/billionaires to 90%, that worries me because many of them contribute considerable money to worthy causes, which may stop happening. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/4 "2022-08-11T19:37:05Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > many of them contribute considerable money to worthy causes And get absolutely nothing in ~~tax~~ return. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/5 "2022-08-11T19:50:38Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > When some talk about raising the tax rate for the millionaires/billionaires to 90%, Right, because the marginal tax rate of 91% of the 1950s was one of the key causes for the extreme depression and unemployment of that decade. > **[PolitiFact - Income tax rates were 90 percent under Eisenhower, Sanders says](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/nov/15/bernie-sanders/income-tax-rates-were-90-percent-under-eisenhower-/)** > > U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wouldn’t reveal just how high he’d raise income taxes on the rich during the Iowa presi ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/6 "2022-08-11T19:59:15Z")
Mandatory atheism comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/7 "2022-08-11T20:04:55Z")
anything messing with food or how people eat… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/8 "2022-08-11T20:05:03Z")
I wouldn’t call it “loony,” because it comes from a place of real frustration with real issues, but any plan that requires the literal dismantling of an entire system (capitalism, justice, etc.) _purely_ on a practical level alone. It strikes as so theoretical that I’m skeptical over whether it’s worth discussing. (Especially so for those for whom such dismantling is the only way to get to their goal.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/9 "2022-08-11T20:52:23Z")
That 91% was the marginal rate on income over, IIRC, $200,000. Think more like $2,000,000 today. This had several useful effects. First off, it encouraged charitable giving. If you gave $100 to charity, it cost you only $9 and cost the government $91. Second, it discouraged companies from giving exorbitant salaries to their executives, since the excess mainly went to the government. And thirdly, it eventually paid off a large part of the war-time debt. And lo, did the country prosper. That said, I would like to see a marginal rate of more like 70%, just to pull a number out of the hat. As far as too loony left for me, well abolishing the police would be that for me. But I would certainly like to see some reforms in policing. Same two comments for prisons. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/10 "2022-08-11T21:02:54Z")
[Cynthia “the FBI killed MLK” McKinney.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/11 "2022-08-11T21:28:54Z")
Universal Basic Income is too looney left for me. At least right now. UBI works for Megacity 1, and if we ever get to the point where unemployment is so high because everything has been automated I’ll certainly rethink my position on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/12 "2022-08-11T22:41:04Z")
I’d like to know where all that money is supposed to come from. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/13 "2022-08-11T22:59:22Z")
The idea that animals should not be domesticated, and human should not make use of any wild animal product either. Nor should humans befriend animals in any way. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/14 "2022-08-11T23:01:27Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > As far as too loony left for me, well abolishing the police would be that for me. But I would certainly like to see some reforms in policing. Same two comments for prisons. I agree. Fire the bad police. Get rid of the police unions whose only purpose seems to be protecting bad cops. Make it the mission of police forces across the country to protect and serve. But getting rid of them altogether? That’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/15 "2022-08-11T23:07:33Z")
When I find something, you’ll be the first to know! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/16 "2022-08-11T23:17:35Z")
I’m not sure that the looniness and the leftiness are meaningfully correlated. That is, I can imagine ways in which almost any extreme left-wing proposal could be given a workable non-loony interpretation/implementation. And ways in which almost any centrist/moderate one could manifest as very stupid and loony. I guess if I had to identify a fairly straightforward example, it would be absolutely uncompromising opposition to any use of nuclear power for energy generation. There are certainly some serious problems with nuclear power technology from a security and sustainability point of view, natch. But any “leftist” trying to argue that the problems of nuclear are currently more serious than the problems of fossil fuel use, or that nuclear should be barred from consideration under any circumstances whatever, is being Loony, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/17 "2022-08-11T23:19:20Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > That 91% was the marginal rate on income over, IIRC, $200,000. Think more like $2,000,000 today. This had several useful effects. First off, it encouraged charitable giving. If you gave $100 to charity, it cost you only $9 and cost the government $91. Second, it discouraged companies from giving exorbitant salaries to their executives, since the excess mainly went to the government. And thirdly, it eventually paid off a large part of the war-time debt. And lo, did the country prosper. I agree that the high marginal rate was not harmful overall and, like you say, actually beneficial, but I’m not so sure about its positive effect on limiting executive salary, _if_ it started the ball rolling regarding stock options. The salary _cap_ may have had more to do with that, but at any rate replacing the executive compensation package largely with stock options was a negative effect on the economy, as executives focused on short term stock gains to the detriment of both the company and the economy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/18 "2022-08-11T23:28:36Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m not sure that the looniness and the leftiness are meaningfully correlated. Right, some things are loony, and some things are left, and some things might even be loony _because_ they are too left, but using the phrase “loony left” implies that the left tends to be loony. Similarly with the phrase “illiberal left”. More than other types of so-called “loony” lefties, this is the type of left that I like least, because as a liberal I want everyone treated as individuals rather than just as a shorthand for their ethnic groupings. However, to categorize that as “illiberal left”, rather than individual people from the left who are illiberal, would give fuel to people who think that the left as a whole is not liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/19 "2022-08-12T00:15:36Z")
I see some folks on the left argue that protest shouldn’t involve property damage or cause widespread disruption, that seems pretty ridiculous to me. What’s the point of protesting if you’re going to make it easy for the rich and powerful to ignore you? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503/20 "2022-08-12T00:21:10Z")
You think not intentionally doing property damage is loony? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-too-loony-left-for-you/969503.md?page=2)