On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Robert Munn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The first two of those positions are fringe positions, not liberal ones. > Legalizing drugs is borderline fringe, although partial legalization of some > drugs (e.g. marijuana) enjoys fairly broad support.
That was my point, Robert. They are fringe positions and I was arguing against defining the middle in terms of the fringes. I believe those are the exact words I used in fact. As for them being "liberal" or not, all I can say is that I don't know of anyone who self identifies as conservative advocating for those sorts of positions whereas I do amongst those that would self identify as liberal. The fringes on the "conservative" or right side might include things like a flat tax, the removal of the separation of church and state and withdrawal from the UN. Principles like a progressive tax structure, universal education and healthcare are things concepts that have broad support by the populace. The difficulty though is that the devil is in the details. How much should various tax brackets pay? How should different types of income be treated? Can government play a worthwhile role in healthcare or will it make the system worse? What lines should be drawn between the funding of public and private schools and federal/local control? The debates going on now at the national level are mostly on issues that people broadly agree are important and worthwhile. We disagree on the details (sometimes vehemently). But neither Obama nor McCain is taking a truly fringe position on anything of note as far as I can tell. And that's why I find it to be a profound disservice when someone accuses Obama of being a far-left socialist or saying that McCain has joined the ranks of the nut-job fundies. Its just not true when you look at the issues that seem to honestly define the fringes and the broad rough center of American political discourse. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:277881 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
