At 06:22 AM Thursday 5/24/2007, Alberto Monteiro wrote: >Dan Minette wrote: > > > > I think from Ronn's posts that he is a centralist slightly to the > > right of center,
If it helps any I am not a member of any political party (Republican, Democrat, or any so-called "third" party), and never have been a member of any party even though I have been invited by them to become a "card-carrying" member. I have also supported and voted for candidates who were running as Republicans, as Democrats, and as members of some other party, many times in the same election. >and I see myself as centralist to the left of > > center. (...) Okay. Now we just have to pin down where "the center" is. And whether the measurements are wrt a fixed scale or one in which "the center" is defined by (in some sense) taking the average of the population at any given time. And if the latter, which population? those old enough to vote? those who have voted in 90% (or some other figure: allowing for the fact that things like illness, last-minute travel (too late and perhaps too sudden to arrange for an absentee ballot, moving after the deadline to register at the new address, etc., may occasionally happen which can prevent even the most conscientious voter from reaching 100%) of elections (local, state, Federal, primary, runoff, general, . . . ) since they turned 18? those who voted in the last Presidential election? some other criterion? And is a "centralist" who is a life-long resident of Provo, UT the same as a "centralist" who lives in Berkeley, CA? >How simple Life must be over there... Over where? Nowhere in the US I have ever lived meets that description . . . > I have not a single idea >of how to describe myself. I can see all two (three, sometimes) >sides of an idea as equally valid, and I usually jump between >sides depending on the opinion of the others (tending to be >contrarian in most cases). > >If you see my voting history, you might think I am a maniac. In Alabama until at least the 1970s winning the Democratic primary for governor or many other offices was for all practical purposes being elected. In other places it may be the Republican candidate who is a shoo-in. >I voted for leftist extremists, right extremists, and all >people in the middle. I voted for honest-but-incompetent people, >and people I knew were thieves. I've chosen the lesser evil, Many of us are tired of voting for the lesser evil and wish that just occasionally we could vote for a good . . . >but sometimes the greater evil (no, I didn't vote for Cthulhu). To hear some people talk voting for him/her/it in 2004 would have been choosing the lesser evil (compared to the candidate who was [re-]elected) . . . >Maybe that old saying is true: I have a real part and an imaginary >part. > >Alberto + i Monteiro I doubt that quaternions or even octonions provide sufficient degrees of freedom to describe peoples' political positions precisely. Even limiting ourselves to US politics only. -- Ronn! :) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
