logo
welcome
Guardian

Guardian

The US right keeps accusing Democrats of ‘communism’. What does that even mean? | Jan-Werner Müller

Guardian
Summary
Nutrition label

66% Informative

The one time in recent history that the US clearly resembled the Soviet Union empty shelves and long lines outside shops was under Trump .

Much of day-to-day life in the US is horrendously bureaucratic: filling out “paperwork”, spending hours on hold, being at the mercy of individuals who might be reasonable when they have a good day .

The White House is confronting predatory capitalists using red tape to extract money from powerless customers.

Meanwhile, just as with the upside-down reasoning about monopolies, distinguished defenders of the little guy such as Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina have twisted themselves into justifying junk fees. True, daily indignities and frustrations in dealing with private-sector bureaucrats are trivial compared with the horrors of 20th-century totalitarianism. But it’s not trivial to want to make life just a little fairer by reducing the power of private actors to behave like dictators. - Jan-Werner Müller is a professor of politics at Princeton University and a Guardian US columnist.

VR Score

63

Informative language

57

Neutral language

26

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

70

Offensive language

likely offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

detected

Time-value

short-lived

Affiliate links

no affiliate links