On Thu, 11 Nov 2004, Collins Richey wrote: > On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 12:29:50 +0100, Roger Oberholtzer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > On Thu, 2004-11-11 at 10:41, James McDonald wrote: > > > What does it mean to be "left wing" or "right wing" has anyone got a non > > > satirical explanation. > > > > Sort of (*): > > > > left-wing = liberal = Democrat/Labour = progressive = 'for the worker' > > > > right-ring = conservative = Republican/Tory = reactionary = 'for the > > rich guy' > > > > (*) As you can see, this is a very sloppy way to describe things. But I > > think this is a 'classical' grouping of these terms. Life is not so > > neat. > > > > > > > > I keep hearing these terms and because I am non-political have no idea > > > what they mean? > > > > I suspect many non non-political folk are in the same situation. > > > > It's a little deeper than that. The terms "for the worker" and "for > the rich guy" are purely stereotypes. The essential difference is > this. > > The leftist believes that government should play a big role in our > lives - providing benefits and controlling many aspects of our life > using any funds that can be ripped off from the rest of us (high > taxes). There is a strong preponderence of leftist thinking in large > metropolitan areas and in the universities where the proponents > believe that they know better than the rest of us by virtue of their > great intellect. Many of these same leftists believe in the communist > dictum that religion is the opiate of the people and that it should be > suppressed wherever you find it. Many of these same leftists believe > that patriotism is a relic of the past and that government should be > controled by international consortiums (e.g. the UN). > > The conservative believes that government should be restricted to the > roles designed in the constitution (small government), that the > individual is responsible for his own life, and that we know better > how to spend our money than the government does (low taxes). There is > a strong preponderence of conservative thinking in rural and suburban > areas. Many of the most religious people are conservatives, and some > of these also have the belief that they know better than the rest of > us. Most conservatives are patriots for there country and have no > desire to see their country under the control of international > consortiums. > > Needless to say, there are many gradations of thought in between these > two poles. In the US, at least, there has been a gradual shift over > the past decades toward conservative thinking and, at the same time, a > growth in the more radical fringes of the left and the right.
Collins forget the footnote where he should have stated that he, himself, is a conservative, and hence his few of anyone who is not a conservative is heavily biased, and not quite accurate. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lonni J Friedman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Linux Step-by-step & TyGeMo http://netllama.ipfox.com _______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub/Pause/Etc -> http://mail.linux-sxs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/general
