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I've read various surveys on this subject (whether the majority of Americans are right-wing) and most state that, based on polling, this is so. What do you think? I recall seeing David Brooks on PBS claim that this is the case.
It SEEMS that way to me, given that no socialists or liberal Democrats or any leftists for that matter have been elected to the presidency that I can think of (maybe Roosevelt could be considered liberal...or maybe it was just Eleanor, based on some things I have read recently. Carter seems to have been more conservative than I thought at the time).
The question itself is a bit tricky.
If the question is, are Americans in some sense essentially right wing, then the clear answer is no. Americans are no more innately prone to be right wing (or left wing) than anyone else. However, U.S. political culture is extremely right wing, and much more so than it used to be.
I am 44. I am old enough to remember when many ideas now considered "mainstream" were understood, correctly, to be right-wing ideas. In fact, U.S. political culture now skews so far right, many ideas that originated on the far right are even denounced as far left!
The ACA (aka "Obamacare') is probably the best known example. The basic blueprint for what became Obamacare first appeared in a paper written by Stuart M. Butler, domestic policy chief for the ultra-right Heritage Foundation. It was entitled "Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans," and was published in October of 1989.
So, basically, a plan that originated on the far-right in 1989 is now considered "socialist" by today's right-wingers! That is how far to the right U.S. political culture has shifted.
I'm not a fan of the Religious Right, but does being against gay marriage and abortion equate it with the KKK?
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Originally Posted by Kirdik
Because the Klan is an embodiment of far right ideologies in the US.
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Originally Posted by Kirdik
That's true. The Nazi are considered right-wing yet they were socialist labor party.
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Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
They were a far right military dictatorship who called themselves nationalist socialist party who considered communism the biggest threat to the world. They were all over the place. It cracks me up when people try to associate them with todays right or left. They were both, and neither.
That Political Science 101 course that you took years ago got it wrong. Nazism is more correctly defined as left wing fascism, not right. The Nazis and their modern descendants believe in a big, all powerful government, and are national socialists. Both of these concepts are absolute anathema to modern American Conservatism.
The question may arise as to why Germany and the USSR were such bitter enemies in WW2. Both were left wing dictatorships, rather like two huge criminal gangs battling for supremecy, each claiming that their brand of tyranny was the superior one.
This message board tends to more conservative than what the actual numbers in this country tell us. If one was to talk politics on a message board geared toward generation-X and younger, like the MMA web-sight I often browse, one would get the impression that people in this country are more liberal. In all reality there are considerably more left leaning people in the united States than right leaning, but those that lean left tend to be less involved in politics; therefore, they don't actively vote as consistently. Also, what is considered the left in the United states would be considered the center in most other developed nations. As you can see on this message board, many of the members on here would consider a centrist like Barack Obama, as being extremely liberal, and a conservative like Chris Christy as being a centrist.
We are right compared to wester Europe Canada and Australian. Hardly the world.
OK
name a developed nation that's more conservative than the United States. We are to the right of most the world. Exceptions exist only in undeveloped nations throughout the middle east, Africa, and a few south east in Asia.
The Founding Fathers knew that America would have to change with the times. The right-wing, however, tend to treat the Constitution as a sacred document that can't evolve. Woodrow Wilson explained it perfectly, back when presidents were allowed to speak more intelligently:
"Society is a living organism and must obey the laws of life, not of mechanics; it must develop."
Wilson in his "Constitutional Government in the United States," rejects our Declaration of Independence
No doubt a great deal of nonsense has been talked about the inalienable rights of the individual, and a great deal that was mere vague sentiment and pleasing speculation has been put forward as fundamental principle.
He's no different then 0bama, in that they look at our rights and freedoms as privileges that the temporary holders of public office can dictate to us as they see fit. In other words, tyranny, in the name of the people.
This message board tends to more conservative than what the actual numbers in this country tell us. If one was to talk politics on a message board geared toward generation-X and younger, like the MMA web-sight I often browse, one would get the impression that people in this country are more liberal. In all reality there are considerably more left leaning people in the united States than right leaning, but those that lean left tend to be less involved in politics; therefore, they don't actively vote as consistently. Also, what is considered the left in the United states would be considered the center in most other developed nations. As you can see on this message board, many of the members on here would consider a centrist like Barack Obama, as being extremely liberal, and a conservative like Chris Christy as being a centrist.
And yet, year after year the polls show the vast majority of Americans identify themselves as conservative, and the vast minority identify as liberals.
Forty-three percent (43%) of Likely U.S. Voters consider themselves conservative when it comes to issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Nearly as many (40%) say they are fiscal moderates, but just 13% call themselves fiscally liberal. (To see survey question wording, click here.
And yet, year after year the polls show the vast majority of Americans identify themselves as conservative, and the vast minority identify as liberals.
Forty-three percent (43%) of Likely U.S. Voters consider themselves conservative when it comes to issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Nearly as many (40%) say they are fiscal moderates, but just 13% call themselves fiscally liberal. (To see survey question wording, click here.
and here...
Those surveys are a Joke, as they're done on land line phones. Also, the word liberal has been so vulgarized in this country, that people won't identify with the term. The truth is that the majority of Americans are unable to self identify their actual political leanings. When asked, people tend to not self identify as being liberal, but political compass tests have shown that considerably more Americans are left leaning than right. This is mainly due to social issues, and not fiscal issues. If the Republican party would just drop the silly religious rhetoric and social conservatism, they would stop losing elections.
name a developed nation that's more conservative than the United States. We are to the right of most the world. Exceptions exist only in undeveloped nations throughout the middle east, Africa, and a few south east in Asia.
Saudi Arabia is pretty well developed, as is Iran. I wouldn't call either of them a bastion of liberalism, though. China can't really be called an undeveloped nation anymore, and their society makes America look like the Utopia that liberals dream of. Japan is definitely a developed nation, and is a bit more liberal than they used to be, but still not nearly as liberal as the United States.
Hmmm, you said to name one, and I named 4. Shall I keep going or are you willing to accept that the United States is far from being the most conservative nation in the developed world?
To the OP, the majority of the United States is moderate or centrist, by definition. It doesn't really matter what the rest of the world is doing with their political structure, as the rest of the world isn't the United States. The UK and Australia can be as liberal as they want, Saudi Arabia can be as conservative as they want, and it still doesn't really make a bit of difference. Just a thought, but rather than trying to make the United States more like the rest of the world, why not focus on the fact that the United States is - whether liberal or conservative - a much better place to live than anywhere else?
name a developed nation that's more conservative than the United States. We are to the right of most the world. Exceptions exist only in undeveloped nations throughout the middle east, Africa, and a few south east in Asia.
Posts like that demonstrate how out of touch with reality some left-wingers are.
Apparently hatred for the Tea Party does something to the human brain.
And yet, year after year the polls show the vast majority of Americans identify themselves as conservative, and the vast minority identify as liberals.
Forty-three percent (43%) of Likely U.S. Voters consider themselves conservative when it comes to issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Nearly as many (40%) say they are fiscal moderates, but just 13% call themselves fiscally liberal. (To see survey question wording, click here.
and here...
That's because most people don't know what the modern "conservative" party - now gutted by the Tea Party stands for... I've lost track of the number of people I've run into who vote against their own interests by voting Republican because they have no clue what the party has become.
Additionally, "conservative" sounds like the "proper" thing to be, whereas "liberal" is typically used as an insult. If the survey was phrased that way, the results are completely worthless. It reminds me of countless other surveys, where the vast majority of people claim to be: above average drivers, smarter than most people, harder working than most people, etc. Everyone is above average, just as everyone wants to be "conservative" vs. being an "icky liberal."
If the survey actually asked policy based questions regarding government, business, and social issues and then ranked the results on a progressive / conservative scale, it would be worth something, but it didn't, making it useless.
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