Okay, so through all the arguing about what the midterm elections meant, and through (admittedly second-hand) reports on what deeply conservative groups are saying, there are folks advancing the argument that the Republican sweeps mean that the nation generally agrees with the principles and ideals of the Republican party.
If this is true, does that mean that the nation as a whole supports conservative ideals? If there were a national anti-sodomy law put forth tomorrow, what would the general tenor be? Or, to be more realistic, an anti-flag burning bill or federal support for school prayer or any one of a number of related issues? Will we be drilling in ANWR soon? Heck, forget the social issues: what about Social Security (which IS a “social” issue, I guess rimshot) or whatever? Hey, does it make a difference if we DO concentrate on social vs. financial vs. military issues?
Basically, if you took every single major political issue and chalked up how the nation generally feels on each one, where would it be leaning, and could it at all be labeled solely “Democrat,” “Republican,” “liberal,” or “conservative”? If I’m asking the wrong question, feel free to add your own.
In addition to liberal and conservative, there are also authoritarian and libertarian political leanings. Many people, even if they do not call themselves libertarian, are liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues. They are libertarian leaning. And many people, even if they do not call themselves authoritarian, favor government control of both the social order and the economy. They are authoritarian leaning.
You could basically nutshell them all with these declarations:[ul][li]Liberal — Keep your hands off my zipper[/li][li]Conservative — Keep your hands off my wallet[/li][li]Libertarian — Keep your hands to yourself[/li]Authoritarian — I need your hands[/ul]Keep in mind, though, that the terms “liberal” and “conservative” themselves swapped places sometime around the Wilson administration, mostly due to effects from the 1912 election and the formation of the Progressive Party. It looked like during the Clinton era that they might change back, but that appears to be on hold.
I was somewhere once where they used a 2d plot to give you an idea of your political leanings. Not sure where it was though, but the idea is that, as Libertarian said, a simple left-wing/right-wing line is an oversimplifiaction.
I actually think that in the raw meaning of the words, the Democratic party is conservative right now and the Republican party is liberal.
The democrats are essentially trying to preserve a welfare state built up over the past fifty years. They don’t have many or any new ideas, they don’t have any new direction. Their goals have pretty much been accomplished. They’re on the political and cultural defensive.
By contrast, the Republicans have a lot of new ideas. They’ve been on the political offensive for a while now and are gaining momentum. THey have ideas, an agenda, and are trying to effect change. School vouchers, social security privatization, etc., are all aggressive, “progressive” ideas, in that they’re trying to progress society forward by solving old problems in new ways.
I know several black people who would fit right in with the most conservative christians on issues of school prayer, homosexuality, and can’t stand asian immigrants for some reason. Though they wouldn’t dream of voting Republican I’d have a hard time classifying them as liberal. In 1996 I was very socially liberal supporting abortion, the rights of homosexuals, and the legalization of drugs yet I still voted Republican knowing full well that wasn’t something they supported.
Sometimes people just vote for a party because it seems the best course of action at the time. Doesn’t make 'em liberal or conservative.
According to the Political Compass I am a leftist libertarian (minus four on both scales), despite thinking that capital punishment may be appropriate in some cases. According to the Libertarian Party I’m a left liberal tending toward authoritarian. The critical questions seem to be conscription and public radio. Go figure.
I’m a libertarian leftist according to the Political Compass(a little leftist, a lot libertarian), and a left liberal according to the Libertarian Party. shrug All I know is when I’m old enough to vote, I’m registering Independent.
That poll, like most other internet polls, is horribly biased. Polls like that are designed to get the mainstream to think they are more closely allied with the positions the poll authors have.
Coincidently, I just came by this link not even an hour ago: Are We Soaking the Rich? (I bookmarked it because I thought it might come in useful but I didn’t realize how quickly!)
Gore Vidal once remarked that the political spectrum in the U.S. offers a wide variety of choices: from conservative to reactionary.
I don’t think that is quite right, though. Actual conservatives would be scandalized to have their names spoken in the same company with the collection of greed-crazed maniacs who run this country. Probably the last real conservative of any stature in the U.S. was Dwight Eisenhower. Since his time, the Republican party shifted first toward the reactionary end, and now it is just straight out Fascist. In the meantime, keeping pace, the Democrats shifted first to the conservative side, then to the reactionary end. Now we have a full range of choices, from reactionary to Fascist.
It seems to be the case that all empires become decadent and drunk on their own power, at least their ruling classes. They become further inured to their subjects, as their power feeds an ever greater need for more power. The American empire differs from past empires in one very important respect. Whereas past empires thought of themselves as having a mission in “civilizing” the world, for the U.S. empire it is all just about pure, naked greed and conquest. To statistical insignificance, the political mainstream is 100% behind the conquest of the world, and any thought of the human cost is simply beyond the pale. Our institutions are dedicated to producing people who think the right thoughts, and who don’t think the wrong thoughts.
We have developed a method of mind-control that far surpasses anything ever dreamed of by Stalin of the Medieval Church. Whereas the Church at least had to listen to heresies, and Stalin would kill you for speaking the wrong thing, in the U.S., if you are properly “educated,” it is not even possible to think the wrong thoughts. The degree of uniformity with which the ruling class in the U.S. acts is really quite amazing. The most obvious example recently is regarding Iraq. While there is some debate within the mainstream about the best way to crush Iraq under our boot, there is 100% unanimity on the need to “disarm Saddam,” i.e. take over Iraq. This kind of unanimity is something that the Soviet Union never achieved, and it is achieved on issue after issue in the U.S. intellectual class.
jshore we are getting off-topic, but that link does absolutely nothing to change my opinion, if that was your intention. It specifically states that the top 1% of taxpayers pay 36% of federal income taxes and 23% of all the nation’s federal taxes. I don’t like paying the lion’s share to build section-8 housing projects and provide welfare so that perfectly able-bodied individuals can sit at home and milk the system. I give substantially more weight to this issue than I do most other issues, which I might also agree with, such as abolishing the drug war.
Hence, my assertion that I’m probably further to the right than the tests alluded.
Do you mind paying single mothers with 2 children $500 a month? Or do you mind subsidizing housing so that the poor can afford housing?
The thing about this is that it is such a minimal thing, that you wouldn’t even notice it. This contrasts quite strongly with the absolutely massive investment in waste production through the Pentagon system, which apparently does not bother you so much. Therefore, your opposition to welfare spending can only be interpreted as a mean-spirited desire to hurt the poor.
And, btw, when you account for all taxes, the tax rate is pretty much flat. This is not even accounting for the fact that the rich have become rich by robbing the poor.
