At 01:35 PM 9/15/2004 -0700 David Brin wrote:
>Yes, John. I consider the present gang to be as bad
>as communists. Because they have the exact same
>agenda. A very deeply human agenda, far older than
>such superficial rationalizations as "communism" or
>"Islam".
O.k., you have now compared Republicans to communists, Nazis (in another
post), and Islamic fundamentalists. My question for you is *this* - do
you consider yourself "balanced" when it comes to Nazis, communists, and
Islamic fundamentalists? Or do you consider yourself fundamentally
opposed to them, standing in rejection of them, and generally unwilling to
give them any benefit of the doubt due this opposition and rejection?
>And yes, as Dan M points out, this results in my
>having to use a metaphor I hate -- the Left-Right
>political axis forced on us by the French and clung to
>avidly by small minds who never once rise to the
>challenge of explaining it.
>
>Using it in just ONE careful way, I see "balance" as
>encouraging a lively interaction between cooperation
>and competition as driving principles. You could call
>this a "the left hand" (taking on grand projects using
>coordinated social resources) and a "right hand"
>(empowering individuals to engage in lively-creative
>competition resulting in greater common good.)
If this is the case - then I would recommend that you restrict your use of
the self-description of "balance" to this context , and avoid stating that
you are "balanced" between Democrats and Republicans, when you plainly are
not. I think a more accurate descriptor might be to say that you view the
Democrats (particularly the Clintonite "New Democrats"/DLC) as having
achieved a reasonably good balance between right-handed and left-handed
thinking.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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