No, these were middle class Germans. Fellow workers. We were at lunch. They were conservative.
But, they were getting confused by the use of the English word, liberal. They thought they were liberal. Lost in translation.
When I questioned the details, we sorted it out and had a big laugh, more beer, and more laugh....beer, etc.
yep, they THINK they are liberal (and they are classic liberals in the sense of the enlightenment and the rejection of the monarchies)
modern liberals are in fact reactionary counter-liberals pushing for a return to the authoritarianism of the past. yeah, it gets confusing as fuck.
in america, to defend what IS (our constitutional and ironically "liberal" form of republic) is conservatism, while to reject the precepts of the enlightenment and pursue a return to authoritarianism is the perplexingly named "liberalism" despite being directly counter to the precepts of the "liberalism" of the enlightenment.
abandonconflict's argument that the french revolutionary national council was separated into the right side of the hall,with the monarchists the church and the aristocracy arguing for "more of the same" in the new post revolution government, with the monarchy preserved, the church still powerful, and the aristocracy still in charge but under a psuedo-parlimentary system like england.
the "left" side of the hall was the radical revolutionary fronts, demanding a complete demolishing of the french system, and a rebuilding in a new and exciting form (to be decided after the government was demolished) the "left" won, granting the world it's first sample of real "anarcho-_________" governance. the passions of the mob ran riot, Robespierre ushered in Le Grand Terror, and Madame Guillotine lopped of the heads of aristocrats, children, and political rivals alike.
not until the rise of the bolsheviks would the world see the horror of the mob when their "leaders" tell them it's their duty to pillage, and it came full circle with the madness of fascism which is to this day STILL a "Left Wing" ideology.
with the establishment of a "liberal" social norm, defending liberalism became a conservative ("Right Wing") principle, and the left remained firmly entrenched where it always has been, in the hands of the demagogue and the unruly mob, which is to say, "The Left Wing".
