Question for Conservatives... What is the difference between left and "far-left"?

[fishmonger]

Originally Posted by Noahma

neocon my rear!

Hillarycare AKA socialized healthcare is no conservative idea. Giving every child born in the US 5000.00 is not a conservative view. sorry to say, she is a wolf in sheep skin.

Margaret Thatcher didn't dismantle the NHS in the UK...

[TnHilltopper]

Well I don't consider neoconservatives to be conservative either. Their attachment to domestic liberal social alignment is one of the reasons they broke from traditional conservatism.

Here is what some of the most prominent neoconservatives who have been raving about their new poster child, Hillary have to say:

The front-running Hillary is the darling of the neocons these days, partly because of her spat with Obama over what Fred Barnes calls the "would-you-meet-with-despots" question. Our future commander in chief answered "firmly and coolly," says the man who coined the phrase "big government conservatism." "She excels," raves National Review editor Rich Lowry, who says Clinton "has done more than any other Democrat to show she's ready to be president." Neocon bellwether David Brooks' paean to Hillary, the Warrior Goddess, heralds her as "the perfect combination of experience and change." Even Charles Krauthammer, the neocons' resident Cato (the Elder), hailed "the grizzled veteran" Hillary in her alleged victory over "the clueless rookie" Obama in the talk-with-tyrants spat.

[Noahma]

I think someone got the description of a neo-conservative wrong. Unless I am reading this wrong. Neo-conservatives are liberals that had a change of view, subscribing to conservative ideals.

in which socialized health care, and redistribution of wealth are not a view of.


American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This ne·o·con·ser·va·tism also ne·o-con·ser·va·tism (nē'ō-kən-sûr'və-tĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. An intellectual and political movement in favor of political, economic, and social conservatism that arose in opposition to the perceived liberalism of the 1960s: "The neo-conservatism of the 1980s is a replay of the New Conservatism of the 1950s, which was itself a replay of the New Era philosophy of the 1920s" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.)

ne'o·con·ser'va·tive adj. & n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

[TnHilltopper]

From Websters:


neoconservative
One entry found for neoconservative.
Main Entry: neo·con·ser·va·tive
Pronunciation: "nE-O-k&n-'s&r-v&-tiv
Function: noun
1 : a former liberal espousing political conservatism
2 : a conservative who advocates the assertive promotion of democracy and U.S. national interest in international affairs including through military means
- neo·con·ser·va·tism /-v&-"ti-z&m/ noun
- neoconservative adjective

However, I don't know if you are one of the eye rollers when someone mentions wikpedia, but you may want to view that page as it has a good primer on the history and people associated with the neoconservative movement.

It has been my experience that not even self proclaimed neoconservatives and those who are not will agree on its exact definition.

I disagree with American Heritage notation of, "social-conservative" as this is the one issue that most greatly divides traditional conservatives with the neoconservatives.

[Noahma]

I will have a look at the wiki page

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

It is unlikely that the US has registered or has a serious communist party.

Socialist and socialism are not imo synonymous. I don't consider liberals, or progressives either far left, or left, but they are left of moderates.

Moderates probably make up the bulk of the Democratic electorate, and moderates probably dominant the Republican party.

However, in recent years, these present years, not only have we begun to categorize folks too quickly, but wrongly, and we are creating major rifts within our society that are damaging.

The political system needs an overhaul, but it doesn't help to perpetuate divisions within our country. Fundamentally, I believe people want to live their lives meaningfully, pay a fair price at the market, and see that they and their children have a future and a present!

If we continue to name-call, use slurs and make innuendos about "the other" it will bite us badly in the end--and the end can be tomorrow or years from today--but it will catch up with us all.

Did ya catch the smiley teethed icon?

[jdiddy]

If you listen to Bill O'Reilly or read right wing blogs, the "far left" is anyone who disagrees with them, or any democrat who isn't Joe Lieberman.

There is no meaning beyond that, it's a waste of time to try and gleam any other insight from such childish thought.

[ontheroad]

Guess it was too subtle for me, Laura.

I'll try to be less serious next time.

Originally Posted by LauraC

Did ya catch the smiley teethed icon?

[ontheroad]

I like the way you phrased this; it sounds right on. Couldn't acknowledge that with a rep point, however, as I seem to have run out of fuel.

Originally Posted by jdiddy

If you listen to Bill O'Reilly or read right wing blogs, the "far left" is anyone who disagrees with them, or any democrat who isn't Joe Lieberman.

There is no meaning beyond that, it's a waste of time to try and gleam any other insight from such childish thought.

[lilypad]

That's not true! They like Zell Miller too.