Please God, Let The Primaries Be Over In A Week
Dave Price
I really hope both nominations are wrapped up next Tuesday. I'm sick of hearing the candidates pander to RedState and DailyKos, and can't wait for the general election so they can start pandering to us moderates instead.
"Moderate," is seems to me, is a liberal that needs everyone to believe they're open minded.
Well, not you.
Nah. A Moderate is someone who hews to the political center in many cases. The "problem" is that the center always shifts Leftward, so that a centrist of 1908 is very different from a centrist of 2008. That's actually OK by me, because it pulls the entire spectrum along - consider that you, an arch-Righty of 2008, would've been a crazy fire-eating Radical in 1908.
Fire-eating? That's awesome!
So i'm a moderate: I can't get behind most Democratic economic proposals, but I can't get behind either Republican tax cuts or views on social issues.
being moderate doesn't mean taking no hard positions on any single issues. It means leaning left in some areas, right in others. As Mark points out the definition is ever-changing, but currently it seems to mean those who lean free-market but are also laissez-faire on social issues.
Economically conservative and socially liberal = "I'd love to help you, but get a job"
- out of control government spending financed by debt
- out of control government spending fueled by taxes
So I consider libertarians the true moderates.
Financing of government spending should be done with an appropriate mix of taxes and debt with a goal toward keeping a stable debt-to-GDP ratio.
I don't think that's what it means at all. You can be free-trade oriented and still believe in the power of well-run government aid organizations. And even if you weren't, there's nothing in an economically conservative viewpoint that prohibits you from donating to a non-governmental charitable organization. Also, how about "I'd love to help you, let's find you a job."?
I am passionately opposed to some of the Religious Right’s objectives in the Republican party. And I am passionately opposed to the socialist objectives of some of the Democrats.
Does that make me a moderate? In a way, maybe. I can see myself as a “moderating influence” between extreme positions.
And I consider myself a “financial conservative”. I believe in lower taxes, reduced government spending, and smaller government. Basically, I think the government creates more problems than it solves when it tried to meddle in wealth creation and redistribution.
Now, I also feel the same way with social issues. I think the government creates more problems than it solves when it tries to meddle in changing or enforcing social mores.
Does that make me a “social conservative”?
That's the funniest contradiction in those silly labels -- statist interventionists in economics are called "liberals," statist interventionists in social issues are called "conservatives."
And the Liberal party in Australia is what the Brits would call the Conservative party.
Yes.
And thank you for not using a capital “L”!
I consider myself to be a Christian, conservative, capitalist, with a dash or two of objectivism, a "liberal" dose of libertarianism, and a couple sprinkles of anarchism (just to always be on the ready). I try to filter the latter five through the first, and note it's the only one capitalized.
I took that "Political Compass" test a few years ago, and on the grid it put me as 4.5 Economic Left/Right (midway between center and far Right), and -1.08 Authoritarian/Libertarian (on the Libertarian side but closer to the middle). On the International Chart, there was NO ONE representing me. Even though they were middle-Right like me, they were middle-Authoritarian (Bush, Blair, Howard); the closest wrt to Auth/Lib was actually Chretien (wow!), but he was just left of center.
Hmmm....I am a party unto my own: Cccola! Since I believe in the "individual," I'm all for it!!!
Although my main candidate is now out of the race, and I didn't even get to vote for him, I think it has been a good primary so far. IMO, primaries are for who we really want, and the general is for who we actually get. Two vastly different things...
By believing in some limits on the procedure but not supporting either absolute bans or absolute "choice."
How can you be moderate on the 2nd Amendment?
By believing it's important but that it has limits.
How can you be moderate on the 1st Amendment?
By believing it's important but that it has limits.
How can you be moderate about acting against terrorism?
By beliving that it's important but that it has limits.
How can you be a moderate on the definition of marriage?
By believing there are more important issues and that the state doesn't define it anyway.
Anything else?
By believing that a fertilized egg is indeed a FORM of human life, but not of the same magnitude as a breathing baby that was already born.
By not believing that a canon, nuclear bomb, air fuel explosive, or guided missile meets the definition of 'arms' that individuals can own.
Some people believe SPAM is free speech, as is yelling fire in a theater
By demanding a decent test for what is terrorism, vs vandalism vs murder vs the right of the people to peacefully assemble and plan for the democratic overthrow of their government.
Well, I have to agree with you there. But I guess the 'civil union' thing is the alternative.
I'll let you decide whether this is scary or not, cardeblu, but that makes you far and away the closest I've seen to my score (4.3, -0.5).
sorry, humor is very tough for me filtered through blog comments. but i meant "let's find you a job" in the sense of me speaking to another individual, not necessarily government action.
but i believe the government can help in ways that aren't about "assigning" work. they can help fund college, vocational programs, and retraining programs for people who have lost their jobs. i think some might make a credible case that if a government's policy is one of very lightly restricted free trade, and a result of that policy was extensive offshoring of, say, manufacturing jobs, then the government has some responsibility to its citizenry to help them defray the costs of helping them become qualified for jobs that are still here.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.