Vilification is over the top

[Boris Godunov]

I don't base any of my opinions on whether or not people consider them moderate or extreme--that would certainly be spineless. I choose what I believe to be right, and those beliefs fall wherever they may along the spectrum. So it's a nice mix of far-left, middle-of-the-road and conservative beliefs. Skewed more to the left, it seems, though.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by GePap
Marx chose to believe man's identity comes from his eocnomic activity-I think that is wrong and I have some evidence for it (and surely you have some evidence for it)- at a certain point, one must chose a meaning to measure by, but meaning is subjectively created-and thus the porblem starts.

Acutally, Marx noted that what a man thought of himself did not have to coincide with his position in society. Subjective and objectively reality can, and often are, very different. It's a bit more complicated than that, and certainly vulgar Marxism has been reduced to wha you laid out, and many less capable Marxists (which would be the majority, sadly) have even believed that.Marx's actual views are quite abit more rich, dynamic, and thorough than most people believe. He is, however, a hell of a lot more difficult to understand than other notble German philosophers, so he is frequently misunderstood.

[Ned]

Che, I think today's party began not with Goldwater, but with MacArthur, Eisenhower and Kennedy. While Goldwater said that "Extremism in the defense of Liberty was no vice!" and, "Why not Victory?" when debating Johnson about Vietnam, it was MacArtur who first said that there was no substitute for Victory. Eisenhower said that our military must be so strong that no one would ever think of attacking us.

Kennedy actually was more to the right than Nixon/Eisenhower. He ran his campaign centered on military strength and the aggressive defense of liberty. Kennedy also cut taxes.

When Reagan took office, his policies were almost identical to Kennedy's.

Bush has carried on the legacy of Kennedy and Reagan: military strength, aggessive defense of liberty and a domestic policy based on cutting taxes.

[GePap]

Well, maybe being a Romantic at one point and then seemingly giving up on romansticism does that-though we won;t be able to be a fisherman by day and a baker by night, or whatever the exact quote is.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ned
Che, I think . . .

Those are interesting arguments, Ned. I think I might even agree with you. I was, however, writing about ideological "fatherhood," and without a doubt, AuH₂O is the father of modern conservatism.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by GePap
Well, maybe being a Romantic at one point and then seemingly giving up on romansticism does that-though we won;t be able to be a fisherman by day and a baker by night, or whatever the exact quote is.

Fisherman by day, philospher by night, roughly translated.

[Ned]

Maybe Goldwater simply articulated it better. But it began much earlier, probably back to the campaign of '48 where Dewey almost won after the fall of China.

[chequita guevara]

Does anyone read Dewey?

[GePap]

Arguing for a strong military is not what the modern conservative movement is build around- it is a repudiation of various government programs as well, like medicare and so forth.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Does anyone read Dewey?

I find his decimal system exquisite.

[GePap]

I hate Dewey, LoC system is so much better.

[chequita guevara]

*chegitz plants his flag atop MrFun

Victory!

[Ned]

Originally posted by GePap
Arguing for a strong military is not what the modern conservative movement is build around- it is a repudiation of various government programs as well, like medicare and so forth.

GePap, Republicans well before Goldwater were skeptical of government beauracracies substituting for private businesses. It is part of our belief in free enterprise and competition.

Still, what we seek to do is improve these programs by as much privatization as possible.

The parties also divide heavily on military spending and foreign policy. The divide began during the campaign of '48, although Kennedy was an exception to the rule.

[Ned]

Finally, let me add, that the Republican Party is pro-business and pro-(private sector) jobs. It was almost laughable to hear Al Sharpton's solution for unemployment - hire 5 million new government workers.

[GePap]

Truman was the one who created a department of Defense and oversaw the creation of the large standing army, and Eisenhower was the one warning of the military-industrial complex.

Calling dems. weak on defense was a canard by reps. that came during Nixon's term and after Lyndon Johnson.