Your politics in a different time?

[Al B. Sure!]

a little attempt at greater understanding between the right and left...

If it wasn't 2003 and the world was as it is today, would your politics be different?

for example, the conditions of urban workers in the late 19th century would have made me a bit of a socialist. there was a considerable need for improvement; improvement which is not needed today so i am not a socialist in today's world.

similiarly, in 1931, New Deal-like policies would have been necessary but there is no need today for the full brunt of New Deal politics (and hence why most New Deal programs were shut down after WW2). But in the context of the times, I would have supported New Deal politics.

what about you?

[SlowwHand]

Kind of hard to believe in democracy in the Renaissance era.

[Japher]

My knowledge of history is limited.

But I know that my financial ideology would be different if say I lived in the 1940s... So, I could see my political stances detering based on the times. It should. Even the founders of the US Constitution knew that.

[Al B. Sure!]

sloww:

Kind of hard to believe in democracy in the Renaissance era.

Why? Democratic ideas had one of their origins in the Renaissance what with the re-discovering of Graeco-Latin philosophy and politics. The other origin of course is the democratic Germanic tribal system which became monarchial in most of europe except in Scandanivia where a council still elected a king who was still accountable to the council.

[Whaleboy]

A damn good question!

I'd be the same because mine is consistent with a more constant philosophy, and I'd be even less popular in the past than I am now, more popular in the future as we continue to head in my kinda direction .

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Interesting question. I think that at any time after 1900, my politics would look much the same as they do today: Internationalist, pro-Big Government, anti-Big Business, pro-union, etc.

But before 1900? Hmmm. As somebody who loves the history of the early American Republic, I've sometimes wondred about this. I think I probably would have been a Hamiltonian rather than a Jeffersonian (in spite of the fact that I greatly admire Jefferson, while I think Hamilton was a great American but a bit of a creep). Later, I probably would have been a Henry Clay-style Whig, and still later a Fremont-Lincoln Republican.

edit: Of course, it occurs to me that my people didn't get to the US until after 1900; so, really, before 1900 I guess I would have just been a "politics, shmolitics; just pick your damned beets and try not to get killed by the cossacks" Ukranian peasant.

[Az]

and I'd be even less popular in the past than I am now, more popular in the future as we continue to head in my kinda direction

Funny, and I thought that the world was developing and progressing.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I would briefly be Wat Tyler. Then I'd be dead.

[Al B. Sure!]

Rufus:

oddly, i'd probably be the opposite of you. In antebellum America, I'd definently be Jacksonian. In the later 19th century, i'd identify more with the populists/prohibitionists and be like William Jennings Bryan. The working conditions of the time also would probably make me lean even more leftist.

[MrFun]

Re: Your politics in a different time?

Originally posted by Albert Speer
a little attempt at greater understanding between the right and left...

If it wasn't 2003 and the world was as it is today, would your politics be different?

for example, the conditions of urban workers in the late 19th century would have made me a bit of a socialist. there was a considerable need for improvement; improvement which is not needed today so i am not a socialist in today's world.

similiarly, in 1931, New Deal-like policies would have been necessary but there is no need today for the full brunt of New Deal politics (and hence why most New Deal programs were shut down after WW2). But in the context of the times, I would have supported New Deal politics.

what about you?

I remember a class discussion awhile ago, in which the professor pointed out several different time periods of political realignments and transitions in the history of United States. I took note of them, but right now, I don't have it on hand.

[The Viceroy]

I wonder how many of us would have supported Adolf, had we lived in 1930's Germany ? Would you have stood up, and risked your life, and your families life ?? or would you have shared Hitlers vision of a mighty Germany ??

I personally don't think I would have stood up to him, and im not sure either if Id have agreed with him, after all Germany had suffered, he at least had a vision ??

Of course, none of us would have been aware of what lay in store ..

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by The Viceroy
I wonder how many of us would have supported Adolf, had we lived in 1930's Germany ? Would you have stood up, and risked your life, and your families life ?? or would you have shared Hitlers vision of a mighty Germany ??

I personally don't think I would have stood up to him, and im not sure either if Id have agreed with him, after all Germany had suffered, he at least had a vision ??

Of course, none of us would have been aware of what lay in store ..

Well, there are always choices. I was repulsed by Reagan's nationalist vision, and am repulsed by Bush's; there's no reason to think Hitler's would be more attractive.

Besides, three of my four most serious girlfriends -- including the one who became my wife -- have been Jewish; I doubt the fuhrer could have sold me free beer on a hot day, let alone his politics.

[Q Classic]

at any point in history, i would always favor technology, much as i do today; i'm a technologist, what can i say?

as for politics outside of the realm of science and technology, which i feel should be restrained as little as possible...

in the glory days when there were titans of industry, i'd definitely be on their side, when the move for technological progression was more and more centralization; now that the move for technological progression is more and more dispersion, i'm in favor of things that are more disseminated.

[Whaleboy]

Funny, and I thought that the world was developing and progressing.

Don't kid yourself. Elijahism is growing day by day. The utilitarian hordes are being overrun by enlightened, intellectual libertarianism. The benevolent tyranny of the pragmatists is, as we speak, being replaced by a tide of idealists, who have absolutely no idea what they are doing!