House Republicans Take Action to Fix the Deficit

[werepossum]

Amused am I to see both Harvey and ol'possum so effectively trolled by such a transparent parody.

Unfortunately, that's about the only amusement to be found in comptr6. Improve your game or give it up.

LOL I do suspect that, but I try to accept people (even anonymous virtual people) at their word. And I know real life people who are equally adamantly right. (Here in Tennessee I'm almost a flaming liberal.)

The funny thing is the werepossum here is one of the only righties I'll defend. I disagree with most things he posts as I am firmly on the left and he is clearly on the right. But he's also one of the most reasonible posters in P&N on any side. Even when I disagree with him he's willing to be reasonible and open. So it's funny to see people on the far right attack him.

Though I think that there is a much smaller population of the far left in this country than there is the far right. I think the Fox News culture has made most of the right in this country into the FAR right, and the Republican party has over the last 15 years or so drifted further and further right. So as a result dissent is less tolerated on the right because people who are only center right appear to them as leftists.

I think the far Left is a minority of the left and not a very vocal one. I think that's because those on the left don't tend to be pushed further left by leftist media. I seriously couldn't tell you if NPR was slight left biased, heavy left bias, or no bias at all because I've never once listened to them. Partly because I would never listen to biased radio, partly because it's radio and who listens to radio anymore?

Closest I've come to watching biased media is Daily Show and Colbert Report. But while they do have a left bias, they're very willing to take shots at the base that watches them. And both shows give a huge amount of respect to their guests from both sides of the fence. I can't sit through anything on Fox News because their pundits are downright rude to their guests who they don't agree with and do their best to cut them off and talk over them.

Thank you, I appreciate your respect.

I think FoxNews and the rise of national talk radio have galvanized the right by showing us that a LOT of people have the same views. Before, Hollywood and to a lesser extent the mainstream media clearly did not share or respect those views, so people on the right tended to be quieter about them, thinking we were in the minority. Also, the right was pretty happy with the country, whereas the left was not. As the country became more leftist, the left became happier and less activist, whereas the right became less happy and more activist, coinciding with the rise of FoxNews and talk radio.

You are right though in that this new-found sense of being the majority has pushed the right into a more socially far right group, but to a great extent this is due to society's move to the left. Forty years ago, very little of the country would have even contemplated gay marriage, or taking prayer and G-d completely out of schools, or actual soft-core pornography on HBO, or teachers openly living with lovers, or politicians surviving being caught in an affair and surviving with political careers intact. Those things are commonplace today, which demands action from the right to restore "our country". The unfortunate contradiction is that this cannot fit with the right's preference for small government. Today government is the only way to prevent gay marriage or gay teachers or porn on cable, because a majority of society tolerates these things. Thus the contradiction; one cannot have a small, restrained government that is also powerful enough to decide whom one can marry, how one can behave off the clock, what one can watch or read. At some point this HAS to fracture the right. Even the Tea Parties, ostensibly born of rage against government's growth, tend to be more cohesive around social issues. When the right fractures, our political landscape will reorder itself on a scale not seen since the mantle of civil rights passed from Republicans to Democrats and conservatism from Democrats to Republicans. I think that day might be soon, perhaps as early as 2016/2017.

 

[jonks]

The funny thing is the werepossum here is one of the only righties I'll defend. I disagree with most things he posts as I am firmly on the left and he is clearly on the right. But he's also one of the most reasonable posters in P&N on any side. Even when I disagree with him he's willing to be reasonible and open.

concur, for the record

 

[jackschmittusa]

matt0611

"What does the government do that is not (at least in argument) for the benefit of the general welfare? Can you give some examples?"

I think the National Parks and support for the arts are nice things, but do not promote the general welfare i.e. not health, wealth, or security related.

Unless you want to argue that it is a bribe with an expected tangible return, foreign aid does not promote the general welfare.

Space exploration, while having produced significant collateral scientific and technological benefits, does not meet the criteria.

I might argue that several national holidays do not promote the general welfare.

I'm sure there is a long list if I put my mind to it.

 

[werepossum]

concur, for the record

Aw, you guys are going to make me blush.