Where would Sinn Fein fall in American politics?

26 comments

1. Pretty far to the left.

2. Nowhere because Irish nationalism isn’t a thing here. But they would be on the left of most parties and definitely the two main ones

3. [deleted]

4. They wouldn’t. Economically they’re to the left of the major American parties, but Irish nationalism is so integral to what makes Sinn Fein what it is. American nationalism is very different, and usually associated with the political right.

   We don’t have this mix of leftism and nationalism anywhere.

5. [removed]

6. I don’t think Irish repubicanism makes any sense at all in the US political context lol

7. Well, looking at the wiki page, it looks like they are socially, culturally, and economically pretty liberal (in US terms).

   * increased access to affordable housing
   * increasing taxes on the rich
   * abolishing taxes for the poor
   * expanding welfare programs
   * increasing worker protections
   * support same-sex marriage
   * introduction of living wage
   * support national heathcare initiatives
   * cap pay for consultants

   So I’d say they’d align most closely with the democrats based on the listed positions on wikipedia.

8. It would be a far left fringe group according to American politics. Sinn Fein would be considered too socialist for most Americans to be comfortable with.

9. “Go on home British soldiers, go on home, have you got no fucking homes of your own? For 800 years, we’ve fought you without fear, and we’ll fight you for 800 more. Well if you stay, british soldiers ,if you stay, You’ll never ever beat the I R A, for the 14 men in Derry are the last that you will bury, so take a tip, and leave us while you may.”

10. It wouldn’t

    Most of their most pressing and fundamental platform issues simply aren’t relevant here.

11. It wouldn’t mix if there was a Sinn Fein conterpart here it would be an entirely new concept in America. I think Historically they could maybe be in a bag with the early American Whigs but the cultural and social environment is soo different that’s comparing apples oranges.

12. As terrorists

13. In the Venn diagram of American politics Sinn Fein and like parties would be in a separate circle somewhere to the left of the Democrats.

14. isn’t the whole point of Sinn Fein that they’re irish republicans? I don’t think that really fits into the frame of US politics lol

15. who?

16. We don’t have a leftist party in the US and we have two fair nationalistic parties.

    But they really don’t compare to either party here, or even to any of the bigger independent parties.

17. It would fall through the cracks.

18. Minus the Irish republicanism and nationalism (which would be irrelevant here) they’re much further to the left of the Democratic Party so neither them nor the republicans

19. About as left as the DSA, which ranges from rather left-wing social democrats who think they’re socialists to people who unironically praise Maoism. The illiberal left is like that.

20. It wouldn’t. Most of Sinn Fein’s stated political positions would be on the left to far-left of the Democratic party, although there are some that definitely aren’t (e.g. 12.5% corporate tax). But then they’ve got the sort of nationalism one might more associate here with red baseball caps. They’re also the unrepentant (former?) political arm of a terrorist movement, which would (hopefully!) not fly in the US (the only analogy I can think of offhand is if people were running for Congress based on their support for militia groups and January 6th—to the extent this is happening, it’s certainly not on the left side of the political spectrum!).

    Sinn Fein is also virtually untested in governance. They haven’t yet entered government in the republic, and in Northern Ireland they’ve been in rather weird mandatory coalitions. I don’t think anyone has a sense of how their political views might change as a consequence of actually running the government, which isn’t something you can say about the Democratic or Republican parties at the national and state levels, so they can really be gauged only by their platform.

    ETA: The other two major Irish political parties also don’t fit easily into the US political spectrum. One could be described as center-left but socially more right (Fianna Fail), while the other as center-right but socially more left (Fine Gael).

    (also minor spelling and word fixes)

21. It wouldn’t, Sinn Fein is both nationalist and left wing which is something basically unheard of in the US. If it existed here it would be a whole new category.

22. Id say mostly on the left. But I know many leftists wouldn’t be happy bout it lol

23. Who tf is that?

24. They’re authoritarian left.

25. You can bet that all the mainstream European parties, *especially* those left-of-center in Europe, would fall on the far left end of the spectrum in the U.S.

    A lot of people here seem to be getting hung up on nationalism. Nationalism in Ireland is different from nationalism in the United States. Irish nationalism is wrapped up in independence and self-determination. From the UK, which was relatively recent (Republic of Ireland) and ongoing (Northern Ireland). We already settled that nearly a quarter millennium ago. On the other hand, American nationalism is more like [chauvinism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvinism). Sinn Fein are not Irish chauvinists.

    So, with their economic and social policies, they would be far, far left here.

26. Something like Puerto Ricos Independence party as an Irish Party id assume