I would like for anyone reading this to think very hard about what your definitions of the following words and phrases are, and to leave a comment explaining your reasoning in as much detail as possible. Also, please compose your definitions in a text editor (Notepad, Textedit, etc.) BEFORE reading any comments responding to this post. This exercise will be much more interesting, I think, if the answers aren’t reactionary to something someone else wrote.
- Left wing
- Right wing
- Conservative
- Liberal
- Republican
- Democrat
- Libertarian
- Socialist
- Communist
- Populist
- Anarchist
- Moderate
- Centrist
UPDATE: I added “moderate” and “centrist” to the list, since I thought of them and no one had written definitions yet.
This is an outstanding idea after the comments on your previous post. I don’t have time right now at work but I’m going to try and get to this later. Very cool Rusty.
Left wing – This is what I consider a descriptive word for a fiscally very spend happy person with a strong issue with religion being in any part of anything other than a church, and in some cases has a problem with churches.
Right wing – This is what I consider a descriptive word for a more tight budgeted individual with a strong tie to a religious base of belief, many of their political views are driven from a faith based following.
Conservative – This to me is merely a fiscal term. A conservative is someone who believes that I should chose what I do with my money, and believes that it is “my†money.
Liberal – This to me is a fiscal term. It refers to an individual who believes that the government should definitely have first crack at the paycheck pie. There is never to high a tax bracket.
Republican – Merely a symbol. Doesn’t have a clear platform or description anymore, through the course of history to many changes. This is the name of a party. People who run under this party heading are called by this party name.
Democrat – Merely a symbol. Doesn’t have a clear platform or description anymore, through the course of history to many changes. This is the name of a party. People who run under this party heading are called by this party name.
Libertarian – This is a term describing a political party that has a clearly defined platform of individuality first; stopping short of anarchy by tempering the individuality with a strong sense of responsibility. There is no defined religious tie to this group.
Socialist – This is a term to describe people who believe in the strict redistribution of wealth. There can be no classes, no differentiation in the levels of people. This group also believes that the “government†is the solution to all problems and should be the first course of action for all answers.
Communist – This is a form of government that is by theory the most perfect form of government, and would lead to all people being able to accumulate all the wealth they as an individual would want and never need or want for anything. However it has never worked in a non theoretical environment because of human greed which always calls for a leader or an upper class.
Populist – This is the term for people who run a government strictly by popular opinion polls. They are always looking to please the majority by making decisions based solely on a popular opinion. A person can be a populist and another one of these terms.
Anarchist – People who believe in individuality with no responsibility. There is no rule of law and therefore no rules in society. A true person of this description would be able to justify any action by the end outcome, and could also be considered a Machiavellian.
Hopefully this is what you were looking for Rusty. This is going to be an interesting topic I look foward to reading other people’s definitions.
Jeffrey,
My bad on editing the post while you were writing your response. Thanks for your reply.
Here are the other two posted ASAP. Sorry I jumped on this topic to fast.
Moderate- This is a fiscal term. On one hand they believe that there should be limitations on the amount of money spent, however they also believe that the government in many cases knows better how to make those decisions. Once again though I believe this is only a fiscal term.
Centrist- Unfortunately I have a hard time defining this without referring to other terms. But here is a solid try. This type of person would at all costs attempt to be a mediator or compromiser of situations. They would never subscribe to the minority or majority side, always coming down with a compromise. This type of person or government (can be both) would also look to always avoid conflict.
No Problem. I enjoy this blog I hope to get mine going half as well. Rusty you run a good ship.
This is a first draft, so it should be taken with a serious grain of salt. I may try later on to re-write, correct, and go into more detail.
When I hear any of these terms in rhetoric, I take them to generally mean the “boogeyman,” which doesn’t exist in reality. I’ll do my best to set these terms in my own frame of mind. I wouldn’t recommend reading too much into what I say here, because I may be leaving some things out.
Left wing - A coalition of broad and disparate interests brought together by such things as a desire for social justice, community-based decision-making processes, and federal level enforcement of human rights as defined by Constitutional Law. This is occasionally accompanied by a push for an expansion of said rights.
Right wing - A coalition of broad and disparate interests brought together by such things as a desire for indoctrination of “traditional” values at the federal level, and the protection of business interests against economic interests.
Conservative - A philosophy geared toward setting boundaries.
Liberal - A philosophy geared toward erasing boundaries.
Republican - A partisan who subscribes to the Republican party coalition. At an individual level, is unlikely to agree with everything listed in the Republican Platform.
Democrat - Same as above, but Democrat.
Libertarian - Big “L” Libertarian is someone who subscribes to the Libertarian party, and agrees with the over-assessment of Thomas Jefferson’s idea about the size of government. I won’t repeat the quote here. Little “l” libertarian is someone who believes that the government should conduct its business in a transparent fashion.
Socialist - With a very strong emphasis on community (group, not centralized) decision-making, the Socialist believes that everything within the community should be owned by no one, but owned by everyone equally. “Equality” under the Socialist mindset is mostly applied to equality in the “ownership” and use of material goods.
Communist - A philosophy of governance with a strong emphasis on centralized decision making and planning. Politics is removed from all areas of life as is possible.
Populist - A form of rhetoric meant to rile up a whole population in the speaker’s favor and against some form of boogeyman.
Anarchist - A philosophy of governance (or, non-governance, as may be the case) that emphasizes no rulers or leaders.
Both of these are hard to define. They, especially “Moderate,” would likely describe most of the population. This is why talking heads like to call each other anything other than “Moderate;” it’s to make themselves sound more like they are “Moderates,” even though they are just as extreme as their fellow talking heads.
Moderate - A philosophy that emphasizes openness in government, efficiency of government services, inefficient (careful) deliberation in the political process, and a strong fourth estate.
Centrist - An adherent to “Third Way” politics, which emphasizes the restoration of things like social order and fiscal responsibility. This would be the closest I can think of to a national model of Logan and Moloch’s Growth Coalition, although it is less spatially based.
Incestuousbisexualzoophilenecrophilia -
The act of having sex with a dead animal that is related to you regardless of its sex.
* Left wing - a term used when a pundit/talking head wishes to generally defame anyone to the left of say, Ronald Reagan.
* Right wing - See above, but insert “right” for “left” and “Bill Clinton” for “Ronald Reagan.”
* Conservative - Generally professes to believe in small, spend-thrifty government.
* Liberal - The Dirtiest Dirty word of all for certain elements . . but I think that JFK defined liberal best.
* Republican - Currently, a member of a party on the conservative side of politics, with a side of religion thrown in. The ones we see right now are usually some shade of crazy or corrupt. Some of them are scary, and I think some of them are scared. Poor, normal Republicans. I hope you get your party back one day. I know you’re out there!
* Democrat - A person without a party at the mo, as the majority of our “leaders” are sucking wind. See JFK above.
* Libertarian - Someone with an over-developed faith/belief in market forces.
* Socialist - French.
* Communist - Stalin.
* Populist - Theodore Roosevelt. I think.
* Anarchist - Sacco and Vanzetti. I kid. I knew lots of people who thought they were anarchists, and then realized that like, lights are good, man.
* Moderate - A person who generally takes the middle ground, and in my mind someone who listens and thinks things through, rather than just having a “gut instinct” or something. Gut instincts always seem to breed extremism.
* Centrist - Much like above, but self proclaimed centrists on TV always seem to have an agenda, and they’re not really in middle on issues, just on a few where being vague seems advantageous.
Republican - Pussy whipped. Now that they have complete control they have chose to do nothing with it.
Democrats - *crickets*
The rest I will give examples
Left Wing - Barbara Boxer
Right Wing - Tom Delay
Conservative - Ronald Reagan
Liberal - David Boniol
Libertarian - Maybe Eric Malone????
Socialist - Karl Marx
Communist - Stalin
Populist - Bill Clinton
Anarchist - Sid Vicious
Moderate - Russell Tanton
Centrist - Fairy Tale Character
Left wing - “The church belongs in the church, and the government belongs to the people. All the people.”
Right wing - “The church belongs in the government, and the government belongs in your bedroom. All the bedrooms.”
Conservative - “Less is more.”
Liberal - “More is more.”
Republican - “Government should be shaped like a pyramid.”
Democrat - “Government should be shaped like an umbrella.”
Libertarian - “At the end of the day, I’m gonna take my money and my women and my guns and my drugs/alcohol and my bibles, and I’m going to seal the perimeter of my property and if you come anywhere near what’s mine, I will destroy you because that’s what it means to be free! Death before taxes!!”
Socialist - “C’mon, no one deserves to be that fucking rich.”
Communist - “C’mon, you don’t really think millions of people can make a rational decision together, do you?”
Populist - “Whatever the largest group of voters wants, I will promise to deliver. Sort of.”
Anarchist - “Just because I’m only 15 doesn’t mean I don’t know how stuff really works, okay?”
Moderate - “Ideals? What ideals?”
Centrist - “Ahhh … the sweet, sweet bell curve.”
I think it is very interesting to see how individual people’s opinions color their definitions. Just an observation.
Since we’re defining things, what do you mean, “Interesting” ?
Yeah, why is that interesting? Seems pretty much a given to me. Banal, even.
By interesting I mean arousing or holding the attention of;
Heh, arousing.
Since I broke the rules and gave examples I will give an example of interesting.
Two days ago I had a log that did a triple wraparound. That is interesting! Oddly my turd had more substance than most politicians.
I’m calling bullshit on the triple-wrap-around story. If it were true, you would have taken a picture of it.
…and put it on ratemypoo.com.
Didn’t have my camera sorry.
Hmm. I started doing this in Wavepad instead of notepad, but figured it wouldn’t post well in the comments section.
Left Wing: A person who generally agrees with left of center party platforms, such as the Democrats, Greens, or Socialists.
Right Wing: A person who generally agrees with right of center party platforms, such as the Republicans, Dixiecrats, or Libertarians
Conservative: A person who tends to be pro-business, anti-liberty, and spends a lot of time thinking about how wonderful the 1950’s were. Tends to think in the short term.
Liberal: A person who tends to be pro-humanitarian and pro-environment above all other issues. Tends to think in the long term.
Republican: A conservative Right-Winger who lives to conform. Likes to be told what to do by authority but not by his or her peers.
Democrat: One of a hodge-podge of liberal interests, brought together for the sole purpose of defeating evil Republicans.
Libertarian: A paranoid, self-centered person who hasn’t figured out that the world holds 6 billion people other than himself/herself who are just as important.
Socialist: The kind of person referred to as, “…but he means well.” Is like Paul Wolfowitz: has great ideas that never quite work out as planned.
Communist: A Socialist that doesn’t actually mean well.
Populist: A person who has never been a member of a minority.
Anarchist: 2 types - A Libertarian who has lost his wits OR A Socialist who has forgotton the reason why.
Moderate: Roommates with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and a Black, Jewish, gay Republican. Seriously, though, I believe they exist. But they’ve been PR’d out of existence by the GOP. Now called “Liberals”.
Centrist: A Republican in denial. Stakes positions not based on personal values, but based on where the middle is between Republicans and Democrats. Shifts position along with prevailing political winds.
OOh - there’s a ratemypoo.com? I’ll have to check it out. I have a few good shots on my Treo to contribute.
Baby Evil - triple wraparound doesn’t suggest substance to me - it suggest waaay too much fiber.
Tony - I vote for your definitions. Rusty, are we voting?
[...] A few months ago, I asked y’all to provide definitions for a list of political words and phrases, and the answers were all over the place, as I expected them to be. To give you a juxtaposition, here are definitions some of you provided for liberal: [...]