That comes from listening to talk radio.  Anyone who doesn't tell his listeners to climb up a clock tower and start to gun down liberals and fags  is a moderate.

Coulter's a main stream commentator in the US and she called for Iraq to be colonised and the population forcibly converted to Christianity.

The issue in the US isn't how right wing you can be before people stop calling you a moderate.  It's how far to the right you can go without people calling you an extremist.  Seemingly that distance is infinite.

All due respect, Mr. Analytical, but you're off the mark here.

Coulter is in no way a "mainstream" commentator. People drag her on the news for the shock value, nothing more. I know tons of conservatives (remember, I live in the Deep South) who loathe Coulter.

Anyone who advised people to start gunning down liberals, etc., would be publicly castigated. Their career would be freakin' OVER here.

Quote from: James J SkachI had a friend who once called me a conservative libertarian.  I'm not even sure what he meant, but I always liked that term.

That's likely pretty close to where I'm at.  My score on all those online political tests is always all over the map.

I can't really tell judging just from the discourse in the US. However, I suspect that I'm very far left, and getting farther as I get older in terms of my ideal political values. That is, the values I'd like to see if I had my druthers. Very far left socially, getting farther left economically.

Logically, though, I've always seen the dangers of imposing a serious leftward shift in economic values. Our economic system in the states, I suspect, couldn't take it. It would mean restructuring the whole thing, and it wouldn't go well at all. If everyone suddenly got on on board and drunk the Thanatos02 kool-aid, it'd probably take over a century of careful reworking. It's not going to happen, so I personally advocate a shift from a focus in armaments into restructuring and funding the political and social systems in the states and forcing the bloated arms manufacterers to streamline.

So, still pretty lefty. But let's have an eye towards budget and a healthy economy. I'm not an economist, I just know where my priorities are.

Quote from: mattormegCoulter is in no way a "mainstream" commentator. People drag her on the news for the shock value, nothing more.

Quite true.  Ann Coulter is an entertainer, and I use that term broadly.  Coulter is to news and world events what a slasher-flick is to cinema.  She is a performance artist (again, I use the term broadly) who throws chunks of raw meat at her audience.

!i!

(P.S. May I say that I'm pleased to see the bulk of respondents checking in around the moderate/centrist part of the given spectrum?  Screw "left" or "right".)

Had to go with "Centrist" myself, although i'm more apt to call myself "Politically Agnostic".  I don't believe we can ever know the full depth of the current political system, and how many corporations, organizations, and miscreants control it.

Quote from: mattormegAll due respect, Mr. Analytical, but you're off the mark here.

Coulter is in no way a "mainstream" commentator. People drag her on the news for the shock value, nothing more. I know tons of conservatives (remember, I live in the Deep South) who loathe Coulter.

While I see your point, I'm afraid that the label 'mainstream' will stick to Coulter for as long as she continues to have successful books and paid speaking engagements and appears farily regularly on network TV.

So, Michael Moore is mainstream?
What about Al Sharpton?

I am registered Libertarian. My core beleifs are pretty much in line with that. I end up voting democrat alot however do to not wanting republicans in office.

Ranma, I'm hoping that name isn't from the manga I think it's from...






And for the record, smear campaigning sucks. Never ever EVER advertise what/who you oppose. EVER. It's like "still no elves" as opposed to "ancient Roman cyberpunk." Which'd you rather buy?[/tangent]

Quote from: beejazzRanma, I'm hoping that name isn't from the manga I think it's from...

I'm not sure which one you think it is. I try to stay away from cold water.

Oh God...


Fucking transgender shapeshifters!

Im an FDR-style liberal.

Which I consider moderate.

Chuck

Quote from: mattormegYeah, you're right. It is a damn good curse word. JimBobOz needs to loan us a few more good Aussie invectives.

Over here, we commonly use "American" as an insult.

No, I'm not joking. There are certain things which pop up from time to time, which we identify as American. If someone speaks in favour of voluntary voting, of widespread unregulated firearms possession, of a larger military, of a popularly-elected head of state, etc, we say, "what, American? Fuck that." Mass-produced, loud, annoying, glossy, superficial, low-quality but pretty and colourful - these are things which we identify as "American."

As to politics, in classical terms I'd be a rightist. At minimum you need to describe political viewpoints a liberal-conservative (unregulated vs regulated, new vs old), line for social stuff, and for economic stuff.

A social liberal will be racially tolerant or welcoming, keen on freedoms of individuals, etc. A social conservative will be more focused on the superiority of their own culture, see the group as more important than the individual, etc.

An economic liberal will believe in just letting the economy alone, with no subsidies or tariffs, less tax, no or a low minimum wage, etc. An economic conservative will be in favour of regulation of these things.

Economic and social liberalism and conservatism are not correlated. It's entirely possible to, say, believe that it's good to have lots of different cultures in your country, and there should be gay marriage, but at the same time believe in high tariffs to protect domestic industry, and regulations to govern pollution, etc; social liberal, economic conservative. Likewise, it's possible to be against sex outside marriage, to believe in assimilation of minorities, to agree with regulations governing when and where people can smoke and drink, etc, yet also believe that companies will do the right thing if you just leave them alone, let the market decide; social conservative, economic liberal.

Socially, I am centrist - I am against the death penalty, in favour of high migration but with assimilation, think that personal freedoms must be balanced against the good of society (eg, no private ownership of automatic weapons, and drunk drivers should have their vehicles confiscated), etc - socially I believe in a mix of things, some conservative, some liberal. Economically I am thoroughly conservative, believing that countries ought to strive to be self-reliant - not self-sufficient, but self-reliant. I am a capitalist in the Adam Smith sense - companies should make things for a profit, and reinvest that profit in their company, growing it; this is dinstinct from capitalism in the modern sense, which is "make lots of cash today, fuck tomorrow." So this makes me economically conservative.

I'd never considered Australian as an insult - now I might have to reconsider and use it as a pejorative to mean prejudiced and ill informed about America.

What's more shocking to me is that for two guys who disagree as much as we do, to find how many things we agree on.