To think that people can be pigeonholed into nice, neat little categories of "left" and "right" is indeed quite silly. People are generally more complex than that. Certainly, there are many who tend to espouse a certain set of views that can be classified as "liberal" or "conservative" ... but even that can only go so far. The whole "liberal vs. conservative", "left vs. right" thing assumes that everyone can be defined politically based upon such a spectrum. Of course, such an assumption is ridiculous and falls apart quite easily once you move beyond sound bites and pre-packaged ideology.
For instance .... how would one categorize the political philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Some would say he was a "liberal". Many conservatives today "claim" to embrace his "judge a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin" message now that he's dead .... but called him a "communist" and everything else but a child of God when he was alive. Did they have a legitimate "change of heart" ... or is this newfound embrace of Dr. King just "spin"? Or does "spin" only come from the Left?
An even better example! How would one categorize the political philosophy of Malcolm X? Here was a man who was as anti-welfare, pick yourself up by your bootstraps, pro-marriage, pro-gun, etc. as anybody ... but somehow I don't think you'd see him hanging out with at a function with Bill Bennett and Rush Limbaugh if he were alive today. In fact, the "conservatives" of his day hated him even more than they hated Dr. King .... even though he agreed with a large portion of their positions.
My point in all this is only to say that reducing people's thinking on various issues to a simplistic "left" or "right" label quite easily becomes problematic. Eventually, it tends to bog down into childish "is not", "is to", "is not", "is to" arguments ... instead of intelligent debate.
Just my 2 cents ...
OAW
For instance .... how would one categorize the political philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Some would say he was a "liberal". Many conservatives today "claim" to embrace his "judge a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin" message now that he's dead .... but called him a "communist" and everything else but a child of God when he was alive. Did they have a legitimate "change of heart" ... or is this newfound embrace of Dr. King just "spin"? Or does "spin" only come from the Left?
An even better example! How would one categorize the political philosophy of Malcolm X? Here was a man who was as anti-welfare, pick yourself up by your bootstraps, pro-marriage, pro-gun, etc. as anybody ... but somehow I don't think you'd see him hanging out with at a function with Bill Bennett and Rush Limbaugh if he were alive today. In fact, the "conservatives" of his day hated him even more than they hated Dr. King .... even though he agreed with a large portion of their positions.
My point in all this is only to say that reducing people's thinking on various issues to a simplistic "left" or "right" label quite easily becomes problematic. Eventually, it tends to bog down into childish "is not", "is to", "is not", "is to" arguments ... instead of intelligent debate.
Just my 2 cents ...
OAW