I’m just curious about this. Who here considers themselves farther to the right or more conservative than George W. Bush? It would be helpful if you identified the issues on which you find Bush too liberal or left.
It depends on which way he is facing. If he is facing North, then I am to the left of Bush. If he is facing South, however… 
I remember being to the right of Bush on immigration, but to the left of Buchanan. I’m certainly to the right of him with regards to rights for illegal aliens. I think I’m more fiscally conservative than Bush. I also remember a certain president saying he wouldn’t use our armed forces for nation building exercises, which is what we seem to be doing now. It looks like I’m to the right of him about that, too. He also stated he wants to amend the Constitution to limit personal freedoms. I’m to the right of him when it comes to what he wants to do, but I’m to the left of him regarding why he wants to do it.
I’m sure there are other things, but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
The problems with “left” and “right” and other attempts to pigeonhole a person’s politics is that it “flattens” and makes “linear” a wide set of possible political beliefs which in reality do not lie in a linear continuum:
a) First, I’m an anarchist. Am I halfway between the red communist Mao Tse-Tung and the fascist totalitarian Benito Mussolini, or am I to the left of Mao or to the right of Mussolini or what? Clearly we have to consider authoritarianism and control versus civil liberties and whatnot separately from our consideration of economic-centered politics. When it comes to personal liberties versus state control, Mao and Mussolini are blood brothers. I would put George Bush II somewhat to the mild side of Mao and Mussolini, but not by a whole lot, and myself at the opposite pole, but with both Mao and Mussolini over there you can decide for yourself whether to call that direction “left” or “right” or “up” or “down” or whatever.
b) Now switch your focus to economic issues. I believe in the complete eradication of the money system by supplanting it with general reciprocity powered by the free market of reputation alone. Again we can use Chairman Mao and Il Duce, but this time more people would really regard them as polar opposites. Mao would dispense with private ownership and have the state, on behalf of The People, redistribute resources and plan the economy and so forth. Benito would dispense with labor unions and the right to choose where and whether to work, would eradicate all government interference in the affairs of business, and would have the corporations appoint administrators to run government, pass and enforce laws, and so on. I would put George Bush a significant 90+% of the way towards the fascist and away from the communist, but where in there do you fit me?
You don’t. Mussolini is the embodiment of one economic system (unalloyed capitalism), Mao a proponent and representative of a different and older economic system (redistributivism, updated and modernized and scaled to a large scale, and incorporating currency), and my views represent yet a third and yet different economic system (general reciprocity, again modernized and scaled, not utilizing quantitative currency). I am equidistant from Mao and Mussolini and don’t have much in common with George either. If I’m to the right of Bush, economically, I’m to the right of Mussolini as well; similarly, if I’m to the left of Bush, I’m to the left of Mao, too.
c) Then we can throw in any other factor that, on closer examination, doesn’t really coincide directly with either economic politics or authority politics, such as oh, I dunno, environmentalist protectionism versus resource utilization/exploitation, or expending collective resources on major projects like space exploration versus minimalist attention to societal necessities, or whether or not Opal should be hello’ed or hallowed, or whatever…
I tried figuring the odds against Roland Deschain showing up in this thread. My poor calculator started spitting sparks. :eek:
The odds of RD showing up in any thread = 1/number of RD’s swing club visits. . . 
The odds of RD showing up in any thread = 1/number of RD’s swing club visits. . .
I used to be a neo-conservative. (Think Rush Limbaugh during the early 1990’s.) But now I consider myself to be a “conservative libertarian.” In other words, I am conservative when it comes to personal decision and lifestyle choices, but fairly libertarian when it comes to laws and national policy.
Like the other respondents so far, I’m right of Bush on some issues, left of Kerry on others, and between them on some more. The whole concept of planting someone on a line and inferring their entire political ideology from that position is ridiculous.
The two-dimensional representation that the Libertarians use is much more accurate, but it’s still a gross oversimplification.
The political party platforms for the Republicans and Democrats aren’t even internally consistent. Why should my position on abortion be in any way linked with my position on foreign aid, or my position on gays in the military be influenced by my opinion on tort reform?
I might be to the right of Bush when it comes to fiscal responsibility. If one thinks there shouldn’t be tax cuts when there’s deficit spending, would that be considered to the right of Bush?
Bush (like Nixon) is not a well-liked man, but like Nixon is not a right-winger. Pat Buchanan who seems to be a guest on every possible political show is a right-winger.
He started a foreign war. Not a right-wing thing to do.
He wants to amend the Constitution. Same.
He has increased the deficit. Ditto.
Just because you do not like a person does not make him right-wing.
Agreed. Do you think you are to his right, though? Assuming you find the right/left spectrum a useful tool.
I would hope that everyone would agree to that.
Gfactor, I also think one would have to take into account the national context in asking for responses. What would be considered right or left wing, to the extent, as others have said, that it is useful as a linear tool, does vary by country.
Others may have a different view, but in Canada, in my opinion, using that linear measure there is very little likelihood that he would not be judged as right wing. And fairly far into the right wing at that.
Have you considered asking the question with reference to the political compass? I’ve found the threads started by **Sentient Meat ** this being the current one to be a fascinating read.
Well, I am to the right of Bush on education issues - President Bush pushed for the “No Child Left Behind” Act, while I would prefer the federal government shut down the Dept. of Education, and leave everything there to the states & local governments. I am also to the right of Bush of healthcare issues - President Bush has pushed for expanded government programs, like that senior prescription drug thing, while I would prefer Medicare & Medicaid be shut down.
Same thing on immigration as well - while I think the US can absorb a million or two immigrants a year, I find it stupid that we are bringing in so many unskilled workers, when there are plently of Indian doctors & programers, Chinese enginneers, Russian physicists, and so on that would be happy to move here.
I am also to the right of the President on guncontrol as well - I would be very happy if the 1934 Firearms control act was found unconstitutional or replealed.
On foreign policy & abortion, my views match up quite closely with the President’s; I would probably be to the left of him on certain social issues, though due to my quirks each issue there would have to be specified.
I’m certainly to the right of Bush. I don’t like his big-spending ways, his notion that government is the solution to our problems. Hell, sometimes I think Bill Clinton was to the right of Bush. I too would abolish the Dept. of Education and about a half dozen other nanny-state agencies. I’d cut domestic spending across the board, and embark on a plan to continue cutting services and lowering regulations until the budget was balanced. I’d also legalize pot, decriminalize the use of other drugs, tell the FCC to back off the broadcast industries a bit (there are so many non-broadcast options now that it’s silly to censor broadcast with an iron fist), and I’d gear homeland security more towards exploiting the strength of a free country rather than curtailing those freedoms. So instead of the insane security checkpoints (which a determined terrorist can get around anyway), I’d offer tax breaks for classes in self defense, spotting terrorists, emergency preparedness, etc. Get the citizenry involved. If it’s a free country, we should be partly responsible for defending it. In WWII there were civilian defense corps doing things like sub spotting on the coast. We need to get away from this notion that the civilians are helpless bystanders and only agents of the government can defend us.
I thought about that. If that helps anyone, I would welcome answers that use the polictal compass metaphor.
I would say I am a fairly doctrinaire Libertarian, and so yes, I am ‘right’ of Mister Bush most of the time.
I try not to see it as left or right. But, for me, the less the government has a say in my life, the better. The less taxes, especially taxing me for things that I don’t agree with, the better. The less laws dictating what I can or cannot do, the better. The more freedom I have to dictate my own life, the more freedom I have to spend my money where I choose to spend it, the better.
So, if you are going to call it “left” or “right”, and by the way, those terms have flipped-flopped in the last 30 years or so in the terms of what most of what each party stands for, I would have to say that I am VERY right of Bush.