I use the Gold Standard of conservatism: JLA, Bill, and I. That makes you a liberal.
Well, if that's the standard for defining a liberal, then of course you're correct. I pointed out to JLA during this discussion that I recognize that I'm left of him. I also pointed out that left of JLA does not equate to liberal by any objective standard. A simple way to have ended this would have been to acknowledge that and move on.
You want a war? You got it.
But no, you guys had to dig in and make a war out of it. I didn't want a war. Not even an apology. I had my say in my original response. Had JLA not made an issue of it, I would have had nothing further to say on the subject. But once it became an issue I did not think I had any choice but to 1) try to clarify the discrepancy and 2) insist on the simple recognition that JLA's gut feelings or your version of thoughtful consideration are not definitive of me.
The aversion to categorizing is Poet's issue, not mine. I agree with her regarding using those labels as insults, but not on the use of labels, itself. Thoughtful consideration of the issue would have elucidated that.
<<You and Steven, for example, have definite "leanings" and it isn't towards Republicans.
Think about that the next time you are tempted to throw rocks at JLA and I for our "partisan" stances. The only real difference may be that we call a spade a spade.
>>
Message 17834072
What started this was an article that said that most Independents were closet partisans. You asserted not that I am a liberal but that I favor the Democrats. It was JLA who expanded the argument to subsume "liberal" and "demolib pinhead." I think it's pretty clear from my postings that I dislike partisanship and all parties, including the Libertarians. I don't see how any thoughtful, respectful consideration could miss that.
I do not think of myself as conservative but as libertarian. Bill and JLA are classic conservatives. I do not fit that mold although we share some views and I don't identify with them any more than they identify with me. [You, IMO, have a libertarian streak, which, you may recall, I attempted to bring to your attention by providing you the link to that ideology instrument, not by insisting, over your objections, that you were libertarian. BTW, someone who opposed categorization would not have championed that instrument.] Conservatives and libertarians have, during my lifetime, shared the Republican Party, not the Democratic Party. "Left of center" has, thoughout my lifetime, implied both liberal and Democrat. I do not identify with liberals any more than I identify with JLA and Bill so I surely don't favor the Democrats. If I had any appetite for parties, which I don't, my natural home would be in the GOP. I don't see why that is so difficult to accept. |
