Why I Lean Right of Centre

[Expat]

First they create a stupid senseless war against some ghosts, in order to increase the defense budget, and enrich themselves. Then this war, that was supposed to be good for the economy creates the biggest crises they have seen.
This does not sound good at all, except for those enriching themselves now, from the right, or the left. They are not on any track to ever achieve a budget surplus...This is a spiral, where the costs of servicing the debt cannot be overcome with an increase in the GDP. Scarry!

[Icebound]

Icebound:

Actually, the last 60 years has seen the greatest growth of the middle class,

Really?

Well, it is the NEXT 60 years that I worry about...

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/1 ... 43-eng.htm

For instance, median net worth fell by roughly $7,500 (in 2005 dollars) in the lowest 10% over the 1984-to-2005 period, while increasing by between $237,000 and $659,000 (depending on the sample considered) in the highest 10%. Hence, wealth inequality rose as not all segments of the Canadian population enjoyed wealth increases.

Eastern Europe is not a great example of a "rising" middle class. Arguably, Russia is even worse than the Americas for concentrating all wealth at the top.

http://www.worldbank.org/html/prddr/tra ... pgs4-5.htm

22 large business groups control about 40% of industrial output, more than all other private owners put together.

etc..
..

[bmc]

I have been right of center all of my adult life. But, unlike most right wingers, I don't blindly accept everything done by a right wing government to be smart. GWB was a disaster. He single handly took a healthy balance sheet went drinking, handing the next government a huge deficit. My understanding of conservatism is to not grow government. That's all we saw with 8 years of Bush. as for accountability, a nice report yesterday outlined that $8.7 billion of $9.0 billion of Iraq reconstruction money has been unaccounted for. They just don't know where it is.

To me, acting conservatively is more important than hanging a political party name on your head. The last administration, too me, was anything but conservative. They were trigger happy, undemocratic, intimidating assholes. Not conservatives. Spend, spend spend. And true to any political cloth, they were masters at lying.

The good republicans are gone and the party is left with idiots like Palen and Steele. When the head of the Republican Party publicly blames Obama for starting and running the Afghan war, the party is serious trouble. Another disturbing element to the evolution of the right wing is the departure of intelligence and the outright embracing of ignorance and stupidity.

I look forward to a restoration of a proper effective right wing party in the USA. And the trailer park party, or whatever it's called, is embarrassing.

[. ._]

I wanna be a lefty like this guy!

TAX THE RICH!!!!!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1056796123

But then again, what the hell does he know?

-istp

[Icebound]

Take heart Conservatives .... here is a look at why so many of our irrational left-wing socialist types react so wildly, mixed with a sickening level of the sanctimonious.

The Old Fogducker


http://article.nationalreview.com/43867 ... nis-prager


July 27, 2010 12:00 A.M.
Why the Left Hates Conservatives
Liberals don’t just hate conservatism as an ideology; they hate conservatives as individuals.

Wow.... what an insightful headline...

Awww... but conservatism gives liberals so much ammunition ..... lies, outrageous claims, insulting commentators...... its a natural response to slap back at schoolyard bullies...

Is it possible that the media doesn't hate liberals as much because there are fewer insulting liberal idiots than there are insulting conservative idiots????

Of course, conservatives don't hate anyone.... the increase in death threats against Obama means nothing.

And conservative media would not do anything to promote "hate". Just a little provocation to their followers now and then will get the dirty work done for them...

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=orkNODJnF ... re=related

So a little perspective is perhaps helpful here: There are indeed black racist hate groups (the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors is another). However, they are dwarfed both in size and in sheer numbers by white racist hate groups. Check the SPLC's compendium of hate groups and you'll see what I mean: they outnumber anti-white racists by about 99 to 1.

Oddly enough, we never get any reporting about these hate groups from Fox News -- except when they want to attack the Department of Homeland Security's bulletin warning about the rising likelihood of violent terrorism from right-wing extremists. Then, they're all too eager to simply whitewash away the very existence of white supremacists and far-right terrorists.

http://www.naacp.org/blog/entry/naacp-r ... th-threat/





...

[11Fan]

Wow, I've never seem someone sum up their philosophy of life in so few posts.

Thanks very much for that insight.

[Icebound]

I trust you'll get back to me on your description of the Left Wing.

11Fan

My perception of left wing is not likely to match yours.

For example, animal rights are not high on my list of priorities. PETA is not on my list of supported charites.
I support the right to private gun ownership, but I want to live in a civilized society where it is not necessary to exercise it.

This was much, MUCH longer, but in a few words:

My left wing would make policy based on fact and/or the "best available information", rather than ideology.

My left wing believes that what is good for the individual in the short term, is not necessarily good for society in the long term... and that for better or worse, we are living in and with, the GLOBAL society.... and thus have to help improve civilization everywhere.

My left wing believes this maxim with which courts are very familiar:
"Great Cases, like Hard Cases, make bad law" ...

....and that careful scrutiny and application of policy is required, rather than knee-jerk response to a singular spectacular case.


My left wing is probably not left wing at all, just trying to be practical.... but the right is putting itself SO far out there these days, that it is very easy to fall "left" of them on just about anything.

The "left-wing-media" is not left wing at all.... it just happens to be so far away from the right extreme that they cannot see it anymore.


...

[11Fan]

Thanks Icebound. Respectfully, I think that if we searched, we could find some common ground, somewhere in the middle.

.....but the right is putting itself SO far out there these days, that it is very easy to fall "left" of them on just about anything.

The "left-wing-media" is not left wing at all.... it just happens to be so far away from the right extreme that they cannot see it anymore.

I also believe that we could reverse the Left and Right in the above comments and it would be applicable as well, depending on your point of view of course.

That said, I suspect that the "fringe" elements on both the Right and the Left get under our collective skins, although, I would also suggest that they don't represent the larger population.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my request.

Regards,
11Fan

[. ._]

MY middle is between the Preamble and the Appendix.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/wo ... manifesto/

-istp

[11Fan]

MY middle is between the Preamble and the Appendix.

And I suppose that if one red between the lines, they would have a little more insight to your philosophy.

[. ._]

Hey man, don't make me call the pun police.



-istp

[11Fan]

Of course, one would want to be abrested.

[Dash-Ate]

WAR WAR WAR lets go OVER there to GET THEM. THEM is anyone with brown skin...I don;t care lets just GET EM!!

A U.S. audit has found that the Pentagon cannot account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraq reconstruction money.


Wake up people! Democrat or Republican or Tea Party; Obama or Palin or Bush; liberal or conservative or centrist; red or blue; elephant or donkey; Clinton or Reagan; etc., etc., yada, yada, yada. Let’s keep the general public mired in political opposition and bipartisan conflict, and distract them from deeper issues.

The U.S. government bombs the country and then uses U.S. contractors to rebuild it. These U.S. contractors (i.e., Bechtel; Halliburton) are usually connected to the government (i.e., heavy campaign contributors; stock owned by government officials). The money used to fund these contractors comes from the U.S. tax payer, who usually does not see a dime of it. The contractors squander the money without having to account for it. It’s an age-old ploy to use tax money to benefit a rich, elite group of businesses and their owners.

Bombing the country is usually a last resort if the country wants to remain sovereign and not hand over its resources to the U.S. Iraq is just one of a number of countries this has happened to. The U.S. approaches an "under-developed" country rich in natural resources and offers to lend the country money to build infrastructure.

Here's the catch: the country must use U.S. contractors (i.e., Bechtel; Halliburton) during the build. Because the borrowing country usually cannot afford to repay the money loaned to it for such a build, the U.S., as part of the loan agreement, seizes control of the collateral (i.e., the country's natural resources). The U.S. media assists this effort by painting the country's president as a dictator who must be removed (and replaced by a U.S. puppet official).

Thank goodness for the U.S. the Sadam was engaged in genocide so that the U.S. could "justify" its actions. If Iraq was not rich in oil, the U.S. would not have removed him and would have never put military troops there. Think of all of the genocide occurring in African countries that the U.S. ignores. Why? Because those countries have no natural resources for the U.S. to squander.

Why do the U.S and its media resources paint Hugo Chavez as a tyrant? So that it can justify a possible military action against Venezuela to seize its oil. This is because Chavez is smart enough to refuse (as every sovereign nation has a right to do) the U.S.'s offer of "assistance" and loans to "build infrastructure" and seek control of Venezuela's oil.

Regarding the unaccounted-for billions lost in the rebuild of Iraq, the U.S. congress will likely hold hearings and an investigation of such waste (the old dog and pony show) so that the government can appear to be concerned. But, mark my words, the money is gone and congress will not do a damned thing about it.

But hey, who cares??!! American Idol lost Simon Cowell and another Mel Gibson rant was released by the media. Just bury your head in the sand and watch another episode of “Entertainment Tonight.” I hear Apple has released the 4th generation Iphone. Hurry! Better go and get in line right now to buy one!

Go ahead; label me as a conspiracy theorist. However, before you do so, conduct your own investigation into some of my statements.

[The Old Fogducker]

Yup Dash ... sure wish I was young enough to go and touch off a few rounds myself instead of having to send the sons of some poor poverty-stricken family to do it on my behalf to protect the value of my shares in General Dynamics, Exxon-Mobil, and Raytheon.

The "kids" in the army these days get to play with such nice toys, like the 50 cal sniper rifle that does such a great job on any target, but especially when they get to go wild on anyone with brown skin including babies, pre-schoolers, young school children, adolescents, young adults, mature adults, pregnant women, breadwinners, the middle-aged, the elderly .... (especially grandmothers in the street with their grandchildren) ... thats a "Grand Slam" ..... your information is simply not true Dash.

Where you get this stuff must be a multi-paged story in itself.

Dash, you never fail to entertain ... I'll give you that much.

The Old Fogducker