At 22:33 2-3-01 -0500, John Giorgis wrote:
> >Europe is not socialist; we only look like that because we're not as
> >right-winged as the US. Then there is the difference in the definition of
> >socialist: by American standards, anything on the left of the Democrats is
> >labeled socialist, while in Europe only the far left is called socialist.
>
>Apparently Europeans don't have a word for "communist." Unless, of
>course, that is reserved for the realy, truly, far, far, (honest now!)
>mega, jumbo far left.
Actually, European politics does make a distinction between communists and
socialists. The far left itself even makes further distinctions, like
Marxists, Leninists, Trotskiists and Maoists (and probably a few other
-ists). From our side of the ocean, the US doesn't seem to know those
distinctions but simply labels everything left of the Democrats
"socialists" or "communists".
>O.k. This has bothered me for a while, Jeroen. What exactly is it that
>you have labeled the "universal political middle?"
I never labeled anything the *universal* political middle. The distinctions
I make between left, middle and right are based on European politics (which
obviously differ from American politics). By "political middle" I mean
parties whose opinions are so moderate they can't really be considered
either specifically left-winged or right-winged.
Jeroen
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