RE: Right and left liberal and conservative

From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed May 14 2003 - 11:51:58 MDT

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    John K Clark wrote:

    > This right-left liberal- conservative thing has always confused me,
    conservatives are
    > supposed to be in favor of Low taxes and preventing women from having
    abortions but what
    > does one have to do with the other? It's the same with wanting rigid anti
    drug laws and
    > school vouchers too, I just don't see why it has to be a package deal.
    Liberals have a '
    > similar problem, if you want fewer restrictions on pornography you must be
    a liberal and
    > want more welfare too; If you want tougher environmental laws you are
    supposed to want less
    > spent on the military also. Why, what's the relationship? It's as if
    somebody at random
    > labeled half of all social problems "liberal" and the other half
    "conservative".

    This is why the libertarian party exists. People like you and me see
    incongruencies and inconsistencies in the platforms of the two major
    parties. Other third parties exist also for this reason, though I don't know
    their platforms well enough to comment on them.

    I personally defected from the GOP to join the LP because while I am a
    fiscal conservative who favors lower taxes, school vouchers and smaller
    federal government, I also oppose the war on drugs, support the pro-choice
    position on abortion, and in general favor "liberal" social policies. So am
    I a liberal or a conservative? The answer is neither or both. Both camps
    would consider me a heretic. I imagine the same would be true for a large
    number of people here.

    Harvey mentioned in another thread that it's a shame that we sometimes still
    get into left/right polarized debates. I think it happens because we still
    live in a left/right polarized world.

    -gts



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