> and in the west the left is firmly the "establishment"
When I think of the left i think of socialists and anarchists, the establishment you mean are liberals, meaning pro-market/privatization/etc. It always amazes me how the right was able to sell themselves as anti-establishment with the average politically uneducated person. The right also pushes the surveillance state forward, the most substantial surveillance legislation in US history, the Patriot act was bipartisan for instance.
You're being intentionally obtuse, shifting the goal posts.
It doesn't matter what you claim to think the left is, the left absolutely is the establishment. And if you think there's no authoritarian wing of the left you're either blind or lying. Leftist states are absolutely authoritarian, from the UK jailing people for social media posts to China to extreme examples like NK, Cuba and Venezuela.
> right also pushes the surveillance state forward
There's been recent news pieces here about stuff like age verification that is firmly coming from the left.
Both sides can be authoritarian or not. Libertarianism is a thing. And in many places in the world, Eastern Europe for example, anti-authoritarianism definitely has a "right-wing" lean due to a (hated) history of communism.
Linux definitely attracts those who don't like large corporations like Apple or Microsoft, but other than that there's a wide variety of beliefs (or even a lack of beliefs).
> There's been recent news pieces here about stuff like age verification that is firmly coming from the left.
California and New York are blue states that implement age verification, but Texas, Alabama and Utah for example also implemented similar laws, it IS bipartisan.
Its a pretty staggering how the right was able to brand themselves this way, the most ideologically authoritarian belief system and people think its 'muh freedom' they fight for. The most ironic thing to me is that in reality they are all just corrupt liberals paid for by the same oligarchy, the atrophied political discourse in the west exists solidly within the very narrow overton window of liberalism.
> NK, Cuba and Venezuela
Its like you think the democratic party or the UK Labor party is ideologically aligned with China, North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela? and your type gets upset that I call you politically illiterate. You will be very confused to learn the left hates Obama or Clinton as much as you do, just for very different reasons you will never understand. All that nonsense just makes you just a loyal soldier for fascists.
> Leftist states are absolutely authoritarian, from the UK jailing people for social media posts to China to extreme examples like NK, Cuba and Venezuela.
So what is the issue you are having with the sentence you quoted? You clearly identified them all as "leftist states". If "Leftist states are absolutely authoritarian", are right-wing states not?
Also I think its an insult to China to compare them in any way to the UK, yet another thing you will never understand.
When I think of the left i think of socialists and anarchists, the establishment you mean are liberals, meaning pro-market/privatization/etc. It always amazes me how the right was able to sell themselves as anti-establishment with the average politically uneducated person. The right also pushes the surveillance state forward, the most substantial surveillance legislation in US history, the Patriot act was bipartisan for instance.