How, then, do you explain the relative positions of ETers and Kossacks on the Political Compass? Colman ventured an explanation in this thread:
Because the poll measures attitudes to problems rather than solutions? dKos seems to our right on solutions - take the freedom/fairness of contracts. The conventional wisdom is that Europe's "lack of freedom" hurts the poor. So you can both believe the poor need help and be against laws that restrict employer's "freedom". They want broadly the same outcomes as us, they just don't admit our solutions as possible answers because the debate in the US is so cast in terms of freedom being paramount.
But, I was going to instead raise a similar question in a different way.
Izzy is largely to the left of me and certainly quite far to the left of Jerome.
Mayhaps there is some overgeneralising going on.
ManfromMiddletown iznogood the dangerous extremist that I am believing it's inappropriate to give the voices of Wall Street the stage all to their own.
Having been so succesful in Latin America the boys from Chicago want to bring the game home. What do you suppose a collapse of the US dollar equal to what happened with the Argentine peso in 1999 would look like?
And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
All these defenses of Pelosi's leadership over there are looking more and more ironic given the stance on the war of her hand-picked Intel guy, too. But like I said before, it's all party hackery. And if it doesn't transcend that, it will end up being, simply, a big mydd.com. Organizational tool for the party, yes, but independent, credible media vehicle for the left? Not a chance.
Something tells me this isn't exactly the goal, however. Nil aon leigheas ar an ngra ach posadh
Apparently my critque of Robert Rubin's Neo-liberal economic policies was not alone. Rubin was grilled by the freshman representatives.
I was sort of suprised when I got an "explanatory" email that had been written by a Pelosi staffer.
These last two days have been hell for me, because I thought that my country was consigned to be a willing victim of neo-liberal policies.
The majority of the people in my country don't want more of these failed policies, but when we speak. Even at "progessive websites" we get shouted down. But now the elected representatives of the people shouted back. Follow the link, the quote from the meeting are priceless.
I'm a happy man, Jerome.
The silent majority will no linger be silenced. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
I'm tired, and I'm not sure I want to deal with the nitpicking and the stress that I feel that comes with being the person to do that.
I'm fairly certain that if I post the diary I want I will be shown the door. I've always tried to keep a comfortable distance between my bloglife, and my real life. I'm not sure I want one to bleed into the other. I'm honestly concerned what the implications for my real life are if my blog life bleeds through.
And honestly I have other things I should really be working on. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
So post it and test your hypothesis. You'll always be welcome here ;-) Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
If youre worried about real life then there are always other ways. My email address is always a handy repository for information that needs scrubbing of information. (in fact theres at least one person whose website details lead entirely back to me to cover their traces from their employers, and I do have to turn down the occasional tv or radio appearence on their behalf) I know that I am not the only person on this board who would be willing to post things up here on your behalf, if you wish to get things out here. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
that was a response to an ealier comment.
and it's not about ET, it's about Daily Kos. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Hiwever the same applies there, If you want stuff posting and don't think fancy the comeback, I'm equally willing Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
The solutions side of the equation is far more important than the ability to admit common perspective on the nature of the problem. And on the solutions part of the equation, there are incredible ideological blinders on the other side of the Atlantic, even among folks who will describe themselves, as this test demonstrates, as "left" on economics.
Not all folks, mind you, but many, perhaps most, on kos even, will use the word "socialism" very derisively. This is telling for me. Or the thought that government is part of the problem, and certainly not to be relied upon as part of the solution. The ideological depth of Reagan's conservatism reaches quite deep, even into the lefter roots of the American tree.
I will add that it is easy to maintain one's own ideological blinders from the confort of one's own relative affluence, which I think it is safe to say we can ascribe to the median American, especially relative to a world where such solutions have been and/or are far more pressing. When do you get an American democrat up in arms? When the interests of the middle class are seen as threatened.
This is why the most popular economic analyses in America revolve around housing values, why the delocalization debate revolves around professional jobs primarily, and why folks start worrying about foreign adventurism when the fiscal impact becomes more and more acute, and really not before. Nil aon leigheas ar an ngra ach posadh
When do you get an American democrat up in arms? When the interests of the middle class are seen as threatened.
In most of Europe, there is some of this going on, but most of the social welfare apparatus is designed to promote, or be an expression of, cross-class solidarity, and most political movements from social democrats leftward take very seriously the fact that this is the lynchpin of not just their own political power, but also the common and cohesive good. In the US, this is not at all the case, neither for the country at large nor for the Demoratic party in particular. Nil aon leigheas ar an ngra ach posadh
Uk excepted of course, though in my shorthand, England really isn't part of Europe.
I was reading a piece that criticized Scots nationalism as a cancer of state intervention on the virtous capitalism of the British isles. I really question whether Scotland isn't more of Europe than Britain in this. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
That's the image I have. Pity more Scots don't share that sentiment. Nil aon leigheas ar an ngra ach posadh
The SNP is on track to be the larget group in the Scottish parliament, and SNP leader Alex Salmonds has promised to hold a referendum on Scottish independence if elected.
London's response is uncertain. The election will come but two days after the 300 anniversary of the Act of Union.
While for the UK of nearly 60 millions North Sea oil is roughly equivalent to consumption, for an independent Scotland of 5 million North Sea oil is a significant source of export earnings. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Bah, North Sea Oil and Gas has peaked. England guzzled it all and now Scotland gets the post-peak tail end of it.
If the British government knew those oil fields were in Scottish water, yet still assigned contracts and sent the profits to London doesn't that suggest that the Scot might be owed something.
I think that that McCrone report confirms Scottish paranoia that the English are out to take their land and money, and in the coming elections I think that the SNP stands a very strong chance of winning a majority in the Scottish Parliament.
And if they win, Salmond will call for an indepenedence referendum. And I think that this serves to confirm that the negative comments of the American consul in Edinburgh resulted from the fear that a SNP led government might try to nationalize the oil fields or at the least review contracts.
Salmond has been making trips to Norway, and as we know Statoil is a state owned company.
This should be fun. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Seems to me I recall something of a claim Denmark still has on either the Orkneys, the Shetlands, or both, a claim they have tried to settle even as recently as around '14-'18 or so.
Wonder what sort of spanner that'd put in the works. Nil aon leigheas ar an ngra ach posadh
Rockall is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic, in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United Kingdom. It is probably better known as one of the Sea Areas named in the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The United Kingdom's title to Rockall is accepted by its neighbours. In 1997, the UK abandoned any claim to an extended EEZ around and beyond it. The remaining issue is that the status of the continental shelf rights of surrounding ocean floor is disputed with the United Kingdom by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark (for the Faroe Islands), and Iceland. These are the exclusive rights to exploit any resources on or under the ocean floor (oil, natural gas, etc.) and should not be confused with the EEZ, as continental shelf rights do not carry any privileges with regard to fisheries.
The actual money was never paid so the heir foreclosed.
...England really isn't part of Europe.
That's the way it looks today, eh? But historically indefensible, and a tragedy - mutually weakening - both for the UK real-left (or what's left of it) and the European real-left (ditto). Our sensibilities, aspirations and history are so close, so intertwined -and at a level far deeper than Blair's current Thatcher-derived imperial protraction poodlism, "they" (UK) are part and parcel of - and need - "us" as much as "we" need - and are part and parcel of - "them".
For example, going back to before the Blairites' despicable bags-and-baggage takeover of the Labour Party complete with its ideals, history and traditions - the great Jarrow March, anyone?
Now compare with Italy's still-iconic painting of the advance of the "Fourth Estate" by Pelizza da Volpedo (1901) - we imagined it, they did it!
.. and at this point, who can possibly deny we all belong to the same ... historical flow/ideal entity/cultural-historical-civilizational whatsit???
....
(Re Jarrow and how the heck an Italian can feel so strongly about "their" great March: I lived for a while in the UK's North-East, have great memories and still have close friends there in the "former" mining district.... so have deep enough ties for great respect and deep sentiment) "Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami
Seriously, I think that in terms of the three classes, American politics is built upon a coalition of the middle and upper classes, while Europe has the middle in coalition with the working class.
Remember too that American democracy proceded American industrialization. In countries where that is true the party system often breaks on cleavages other than class. Which has been the case with the US. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
We also have to remember that a majority of Americans identify as "middle class" -- even families making less than $25,000 a year will usually say "middle class" if asked because no one wants to be "low class." That leads to people supporting policies that really only help wealthier people (e.g. estate tax reductions) that have absolutely no bearing on them because it's portrayed as something that hurts "middle class families".
As an aside, the funny thing about the word "socialism" is that in almost every western nation, the "center" parties (or parties that have had to rule from the center) co-opted many socialistic policies. Now, many of these policies are just the way things are -- we just don't always call them 'socialism' --- and almost no one will touch them regardless of party. Look what happened when the republicans tried to "privatize" social security. :)
