American Political Definitions....help! 984

Beth

The poster will be forgiven for not understanding 21st-century American politics, but can get a model of our political lexicon by consulting the writings of the British author, George Orwell.

First note that no one in today's Amerika claims to be a ``liberal.'' That word has become a pejorative. Left-wingers call themselves ``progressives'' but Christians and Patriots needn't be so worried about the Great Red Progressive Scare: Progressives are so outnumbered even in the Democrat party, that a Democrat government would be on the Right side of Center (in contrast to Republican government, which is on the Wrong side of Sanity).

Using a more liberal definition of ``liberal'' the following points should help you differentiate the two camps:

(*) Liberals think condoms should be freely available to adults. Conservatives think condoms are criminal (by preventing a sperm from reaching its goal they kill a human, right?) but that guns should be freely available to all.

(*) Liberals think the best candidate for judge is one with mainstream views, who will be satisfactory to almost all Senators. Conservatives think that if a candidate has the support of more than 60 Senators they've wasted the opportunity to pick someone with more extreme, anti-libertarian, views. In fact, in the latest sad twist of Republicans' idea of ``democracy'' they want to force the selection of judges by a 51-49 margin, even though this requires changing time-honored Senate rules.

(*) Liberals respect the traditional American ideal of privacy. Conservatives think police are enbreastled to searches without warrants, and that businesses should be able to sell any confidential data they have acquired.

(*) Liberals think man is a custodian for the Earth and lifes' habitats. Conservatives think it should be sold to the highest bidder. Liberals advocate renewable energy sources. Conservatives are happy to enrich Arab oil producers: Saudis are important business partners, and a strong Al-Qaeda is good for the Republican political agenda.

(*) Liberals are concerned about the world we leave our grandchildren. Many conservatives, including Reagan and Bush #43, believe we are approaching the biblical Apocalypse of Armageddon. The soldiers and children we sacrifice today will soon, presumably, be enjoying virgins in Paradise.

A traditional difference between ``liberal'' and ``conservative'' deals with fiscal policy: it is conservative to balance the budget, or even run a surplus in times of prosperity. Yet Reagan and Bush #43 have been profligate deficit spenders. This is partly because these top leaders, believing in Armageddon, weren't worried about saddling future generations with debt, but more importantly their advisers, who have no religious beliefs, view emasculation of government as a major part of their agenda. (I've seen reputable magazine articles giving evidence that making American voters hate their government is the major objective of many, otherwise incomprehensible, Republican policies.)

The mainstream thinkers in the Democrat Party are sometimes called ``Secular Humanists'' (which term is now also used as a pejorative). If it is a fair description of the Democrat Party I would describe the Republicans as the Party of ``Mean-spirited Liars.'' (Read some of Karl Rove's resume if the label seems extreme.) You've seen examples of lying in this thread, one poster slandering President L. B. Johnson and his wife with absurd charges for which no scrap of evidence will ever be offered. The last election was swung (sharply so, to judge by voter interviews) by a totally false smear campaign financed by right-wingers to impugn Kerry's heroic war record.

U.S. politics has done some dramatic about-faces. Recently there was a puzzle presented in the rec.puzzles newsgroup, based on the idea that Mississippi is the state that has most frequently had the most lop-sided vote in Presidential elections, but during the 50's it was lopsidedly Democrat and now it is lopsidedly Republican. Foreigners unfamiliar with the U.S. will make sense of this when they realize (1) Mississippi has the worst education system of any U.S. state, and (2) its switch to the Republican Party was a backlash against Democrat Party initiatives which gave Negroes the right to use restaurants, bathrooms, etc.

On the subject of fiscal prudence, the Clinton Administration pbutted a Budget in 1993 which ended years of Republican imprudence. Obviously, to balance the budget they had to cut popular spending programs and raise taxes slightly. The Budget pbutted the Lower House of Congress by a single vote: not one Republican Congressman voted for it. The Budget was tied in the Senate 50-50, again without a single Republican vote, and then-Vice President Al Gore exercised his consbreastutional tie-breaking privilege to pbutt the Budget. The Republican leadership went on TV and in their snide mean-spirited way told the public that the Democrats had to take full responsibility for the Budget. The federal budget went into surplus, the Dollar strengthened, and America enjoyed one of the most prosperous and high-employment periods in its history....

Oh, I'm explaining U.S. politics: Did I mention that the American voter has a short memory, and isn't very smart to begin with?

Hope this helps, James Dow Allen

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By the way, I am not a ``liberal'' crying `Wolf' once again. I hold what was once the moderate Republican position on many issues. I annoyed my left-wing friends by sympathizing with Richard Nixon and Oliver North, and I almost voted for George Bush #41 in 1988. But George Bush #43 is something else: It's as though we tried the experiment of visiting a saloon in West Texas, picked whoever was telling the funniest lewd jokes, and elected him President. It might not have worked out too badly, but this guy was surrounded by evil greedy fiends who, among other horrible ideas, thought it would be fun to start a war.