You're forgetting that all US citizens are given those tax exemptions for dependents, not just the poor, so by your logic everyone is rewarded and incentivized in the same way for producing the population crisis which was foretold by overpopulation alarmists in the 1970s and didn't happen then and in my view likely won't happen now either. What lowers birth rates is education and wealth, actually. Or on the other end of things, resource constraints.

Personally I don't see the constituency of the left as some sort of permanently disadvantaged underclass. In the US the left has become much more elitist and so the wealthy and powerful are also their constituency (in fact, disproportionately and dysfunctionally so). Besides, there will always be people down on their luck or working their way up, without anyone having to either put them there or keep them there.

To me liberalism is far more aligned with the human condition: that is, life is universally difficult and we need to help each other through it. On the other hand, conservatism's ethos is more that of the rugged individualist who cannot acknowledge the role of good fortune but insists their success is entirely due to their personal pluck and persistence (and, of course, the favor of god in exchange for their fealty to him -- or some proxy such as their adherence to tradition). Conservatism also treats everything like a zero-sum game; we can't help the disadvantaged without diminishing those who are accomplished.

I'm speaking of American-branded liberalism and conservatism; it's a little different in other countries.

Well stated. Thank you.

It's hard enough to say one is a democratic socialist. As soon as one hears the word "socialist" it is assumed that the person is a Nazi - because no one wants to research and know what it really is.

@poetdi56

I've noticed the right wing media deliberate peddling this dishonest conflation. There was nothing Socialist about the Nazis.

@Ellatynemouth They hear the word "Socialist" and say (this has actually been said to me) well, they were the "National Socialist Party" without researching what "socialism" means - or meant!

@poetdi56

In a strange way, it's a direct echo, but a converse echo of the Nazis' original use of the word, which was used to deliberately trick a working class, disillusioned with capitalism into believing they were their allies.

@NotAndrew

I think Bernie Sanders is a Democratic Socialist, like Jeremy Corbyn. It's distinct from Socialism in that it doesn't want a workers revolution or to overthrow the ruling class. It's all for the status quo but less barbaric than neoliberalism.

How so, @tnorman1236?

@poetdi56 I think more poor people, instead of feeling like they can make it, feel like it's hopeless, and that they'll never make it. And I think our societal Calvinism is only entrenched in the Establishment.

@tnorman1236 Yes, I see that. I also see poor people vote against their own interests. I read an interesting article a few years back that says that in the US, this behavior dates back to the civil war, when poor whites were "promised" a seat at the table, giving them a leg up on the soon-to-be-freed slaves.

@poetdi56 Yes, that's true. There are a lot of poor people who vote against their own interests, but now I think it's more because they've been fed on a steady diet of right-wing propaganda, that provides simple answers that appeal to their sense of injustice. For example: If you don't have a job, it's because those dirty Mexicans are taking it!