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Old 11-11-2002, 07:48 PM   #24
elSicomoro
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 12,486
Quote:
Originally posted by slang
I read your sarcasm loud and clear. If you dont think Klinton isnt left wing maybe I should ask what your definition for left wing is.
Actually, there was very little sarcasm there.

And you didn't quite ask, but I'll explain anyway.

The best way I can describe a left-winger in the US is like this: To me, it's one that doesn't think big government is so bad, thinks everyone in this country deserves a Canada-style insurance system, doesn't think raising taxes is necessarily such a big deal (depending on the circumstances), thinks that affirmative action rocks and should be extended to gays, and abhors the death penalty. This obviously doesn't cover everything, but should give you my general idea of the concept.

Had you said "Bill Clinton is a left-winger" between 1992-1994, I might have agreed with you on that labeling. (Now his wife I will agree with you on...she seems pretty left-wing.)

When the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, Clinton did this dance to the right, where, IMO he became a rather strong centrist. I believe it is the very thing that saved him from becoming a one-term chump. The Democratic party moved that way as well.

By the nature of the Democratic party and the ideals it apparently espouses, I would say that those in the party are left-leaning. You may have a few true left-wingers out there (Wellstone RIP; Nancy Pelosi looks to be one as well, though I know little about her). However, as a whole, when I look at the results of the elections we had last week, I see an incredibly centrist group of congressmen and women, who may lean to one side more than the other...but all in all, I don't see much difference among them.

Why do you see the Democratic Party as "the enemy"...or as I might call it, "the man?"
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