[rollei_list] Re: OT: Political Labels
- From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:24:10 -0700
Marc,
WTF do you insert those =20 at the end of every line?
Also what does "Oy vey" got to do with anything Russian?
That is a Yiddish expression, and Jews were intensely
persecuted by Russians. You would make NO points
with dedicated Bolsheviks.
BTW, we could have been schoolmates at Yale. I was
offered a scholarship ar the Sheffield School of Engineering
at Yale, but my family could not afford the living expenses
for me.
Jerry
Marc James Small wrote:
> At 03:20 PM 4/21/05 -0700, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>
> > I'm glad that you said this refers to Denmark and the=20
> >names of political parties because I have come to the=20
> >conclusion that descriptives like liberal, conservative,=20
> >socialist, etc, have lost any semblance of meaning for=20
> >political philosophy. I read commentaries stating something=20
> >as a "conservative" or "liberal" philosophy which is=20
> >completely the reverse of the way I would have classified=20
> >it. I think terms like these, at least in the USA, have=20
> >become more code words for being somehow loyal or disloyal.=20
>
> Right and Left, Liberal and Conservative, are tricky terms today. =20
>
> The Right now consists of a mixture of economic conservatives (tax cuts and
> no government), social conservatives (let's do it as we did forty years
> ago), philosophic conservatives (personal liberty is grand and whatever we
> have to change, do so slowly), and religious conservatives (let's do it the
> way our God, and take your choice, directed). =20
>
> The Left is now a mixture of economic liberals (redistribute that wealth
> and micromanage all of the factories!), social liberals (down the military!
> up the dispossed classes!), philosphic liberals (Krupotkin has much to
> ponder but then, what about Bakunin?), and the union movement (we don't
> care if it forces the company into bankruptcy: GIVE US MORE!). (I started
> to list that last as "religious liberals" as, frankly, the most obvious
> mark of a liberal religious person is a dedication to all claims, however
> absurd, by any labor union and, second, as adherence to labor tends, at
> least in the US, to be of a religious nature.)
>
> Thus, we really have eight groups contending for status and all are uneasy
> with their neighbors. The philosophic conservatives thought it was great
> that Michael Schiavo finally was allowed to do what he thought was
> necessary, while the economic conservatives did.t care, the social
> conservatives didn't have a position, and the religious conservatives rose
> up in horror. At the same time, the Left split as well, with the
> philosophic liberals adhering to the principle that whatever the government
> orders must, by definition, be correct, and thus the efforts to reinsert
> the feeding tube were proper. (Those who have never spoken at length with
> a dedicated Bolshevik have missed much but, by God, speaking with a
> dedicated Trotskyite is much more fascinating. The Third International had
> a table set up outside the Yale Commons while I was there, so I often
> frittered my lunch-hour away in pointless political dialogue with these
> dudes. What made it better was that I speak some Russian, so I was often
> able to correct their pronunciation and translations. Oy Vey!)
>
> At the same time, the philosophic conservatives strongly supported Michael
> Schiavo and dissented markedly from the attitude adopted by their occasinal
> allies. (There is a letter to this effect in today's ROANOKE TIMES, but
> Neal Boortz, a radio talk-show host, has probably been the strongest
> proponent of the position that the government has no business in this=
> matter.)
>
> It is more than a bit confused, but there are not really any doctrinaire
> "liberals" or doctrinaire "conservatives" today.
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx=20
> Cha robh b=E0s fir gun ghr=E0s fir!
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