While the Game’s portrayal of Social Democracy is very good and rather good in it’s Portrayal of Authoriatarian Socialism , the Portrayal of Libertarian-Leftism is very inaccurate.
Lib-Lefts mostly DON’T want State enterprise, and prefer Worker-Cooperatives because they see the State as a Tool of the Capitalists/bourgeosie and mistrust it. In the Current Western Society they only Support the State Enterprise and Regulations by Social Democrats because they still like them better than Private Enterprise. I would suggest implementing an Option to actually overcome Capitalism instead of just providing Welfare and redistributing the Wealth around. Of course you would need to shift the Overton Window around to the Left first. Make it like one of the Static Blue indicators, and let it portray the Socialization (either trough Worker-Ownership directly or trough Government Ownership) vs. Private Owenership of the Means of Production.
The bottom Left Political Spectrum is the only one that really fails to get portrayed fairly. As an Instance, in Democracy 3 it was possible to BAN Unions to please the Capitalist Side but it’s counterpart for pleasing socialists only was to subsidize Unions instead of making Union Membership Mandatory or whatever which is fairly weak in comparison.
I wouldn’t say, that you have a bias but it’s certain the possibilites the Game gives the Player are firmly enframed in the Capitalist Free Market Model. While the Game is called ‘Democracy’ not ‘Free Market Capitalism’.
I hope you will take my Proposals into consideration. Have a Good day.
I haven’t read politically enough to add enormously to your thoughts, but I do agree. The lib-left utopia of Democracy 3 leaves you in a somewhat unsatisfyingly awkward, inglorious position, where political freedoms and economic equality are at an all time high, and nothing really comes of it besides Brain Drain and Corporate Exodus. The game gives you no celebratory light at the end of the tunnel, it’s just a fair world with high GDP and no fanfare.
Considering how much more a nation’s citizenship have been capable of throughout history as their freedoms and means have been better met by their rulers, I’d have hoped there was at least one green bubble to pop up after stabilising a wealthy state with utopian working conditions, expansive academic provision, widespread automation, and no regressive tax.
I want to make a Star Trek society, and y’all know this is how you do it.
I would suggest to read/watch (her books are a bit complicated to understand) a bit about Rosa luxemburg if you are sympathizing with libertarian Socialism and want to know more. She is basically lib-left queen of the 20th Century lol.
Altough that wasn’t exactly my point, i just pleaded for more Game options that aren’t ‘state run stuff’ but more like ‘worker run stuff’, i agree wholeheartedly with the left-utopian Endgame Statement of yours. There should be an indication for forming a kind of utopia which states ‘it can’t get a lot better than this!’ for the different sectors of the political Spectrum represented in the game.
I’ve definitely seen mods around for Democracy 3 for community housing, mutualist companies, and other socialist stuff, but as you say, the game’s balance isn’t really built with a vacuum for those things to fill.
I can’t help but feel the last game didn’t quantify a widespread ultra-high quality of life as something that would mean anything, besides the scorn of corporate overlords, and that felt disappointingly cynical.
There should be an indication for forming a kind of utopia which states ‘it can’t get a lot better than this!’ for the different sectors of the political Spectrum represented in the game.
Radical Centrism utopia:
Max out technology, automation, education, health, GDP and enact all futuristic/democratic policies to max level.
Center of Overton Window must be very close to center of political compass.
All voter groups should have green bar of happiness - so >75% happiness or whatever threshold is.
Maybe you could explain something that I don’t quite understand about your point of worker-cooperatives… Why wouldn’t capitalists be able to exist in a world with worker-cooperatives? In the current system is it not possible to share ownership among the workers of a company? A quick search of worker cooperatives in Google search bar and I find “worker cooperatives near me,” and an article about the increase of worker-cooperatives
Quoting from the article, “Many businesses in the U.S. were founded as worker cooperatives. But a growing portion–as many as 40%–of co-ops in the U.S. are born out of traditional workplaces like A Child’s Place, whose owners decide to sell the business to their employees.” It just seems that it is a choice of how to structure a company and some see that it works better; a preference.
Worker-cooperatives already exist, so I don’t understand how this cannot be a part of private enterprise? A worker-cooperative vs. a publicly traded company vs. a privately-owned, top-down, is only a difference of company structure. On the one hand you say that libertarian-left distrust the state, but then say they vote to dismantle private enterprise through the arm of the state. And you also say a libertarian leftist would support mandatory state unions? This would make them incredibly authoritarian, considering it would be impossible for someone with capital to decide to build a facility and decide to run its finances, etc. and then make a contract with a worker to be paid a wage for his labor. You say mandatory state unions are a weak policy but that would be an authoritarian policy.
If anything the libertarian left just seems to have a difference of opinion of how they think the society should be run, but if they are less authoritarian, this would mean they would have to be for voluntarily implementing this vision, not by the state or by force. Otherwise they would be in the authoritarian corner with Stalin and Lenin.
So long story short, I disagree with your assessment that the libertarian left are treated unfairly in the compass, and maybe you ought to rethink whether you’re in that corner of the compass. That, or libertarian leftism makes no sense (which I think it can).
I wouldn’t equate mandatory unionism with leninism or stalinism. I think the views of liberty here are different.
On the one hand liberty is viewed as something entirely voluntary, on the other hand liberty is viewed as greater protection for the individual by aligning with the whole. If mandatory unionism is considered as a path to greater individual liberty due to higher bargaining power, then maybe lib lefts don’t consider it authoritarian, since it is not construed as taking away any freedoms but adding more. Or a net increase in freedoms.
Is it more free to choose to be exploited or to have no choice in having your bargaining power increased as a defence against exploitation?
If I was in a job, and I was automatically enrolled in a Union, I would probably not bat an eyelid.
Anyways, I think it’s a moot point, because Cliff’s idea behind the Dem series is to create a game where he’s comfortable. Because he knows more about liberal capitalist democracy, as he lives in one than other kinds of democracy. He gravitates towards topics that he’s familiar with so that he can do them justice, as far as I have seen, so it probably won’t be anytime soon that he institutes soviet/direct/socialist/anarcho-capitalist/minarchist/totalitarian democracy.
The game is idealist, because it’s meant to show you how far your ideas would go in a functioning liberal capitalist democracy. And what all would be possible. Maybe he’s also holding back some extra content for DLCs?
That being said, I fully support more lib left policies being added to the game. You should write to cliff or create a post with a comprehensive list of lib left policies here. @Hikaru