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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (4009)	2/5/2001 12:34:13 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

Well, I am not sure many people "think" about social justice in any systematic way either. I am only interested in the underlying point of view that affects one's propensity to identify with the Left or Right. Of course, the point is that it revolves around a determination of the proper role of government overall, and the question of what constitutes a social problem that ought to be addressed by government. For the most part, the Right has an interest in maintaining the "safety net", improving services to the neediest, and trying to promote economic stability and growth. After that, it tends to leave things alone. The Left is more ambitious, trying to reduce the effects of fortune and questioning the principle of merit as exclusionary. What do you think affirmative action is about, except attacking the idea of merit for the sake of equalizing chances at advancement? I have had plenty of arguments with people on these boards who believe we ought to have government cap peoples' salaries, or defending confiscatory estate taxation, or other nostrums meant to take advantages away from the successful and their offspring. I am just trying to summarize the points of view. As I said, many people tend towards a center, moderating the pure form of the ideology with practical and ethical considerations. And you are right, many people mainly go about their jobs within a narrow framework of responsibility. I am sure that most people are pretty responsible to professional standards. On the other hand, if one has a point of view, the effect comes out where a greater degree of discretion is involved, and is often a matter of drawing a line. For example, a liberal should be somewhat more hostile to big business, and therefore more prone to push for the filing of anti- trust suits. A conservative ought to be more reluctant to file such a suit, although willing enough if the case seems clear cut. Liberal judges ought to be more interested in the rights of the accused, and more willing to exclude evidence, and conservative judges ought to be more sympathetic to be more interested in substantive justice, and less willing to exclude, given discretion. This is a by- and- large sort of observation, and may admit of exceptions, of course.......