Decency, Trump and Obama.

[Dill]

(03-18-2017, 02:12 AM)JustWinBaby Wrote: In my defense, my economic views are neither "right" nor "left".  Any attempt by either party to hijack those views in their platform are not an indication of my endorsement.

Politics do not influence my economic philosophy.  I don't think I'm alone as a free market guy who questions what that means in a global economy.

But it is interesting that advocating lower debt and lower government spending has become a "conservative" view.

Perhaps "rightist" was not the right word, Justwin, or it includes too much. But from my memory of your various posts, I assumed you were a "classical liberal"--someone who supports free markets, minimal government, and prioritizes property rights. Pursuit of self interest is good and failure to recognize that a bad foundation for policy, etc. . . .

In the U.S. context, classical liberalism became "conservative" in the decades after the civil war, as the new or "progressive" version of liberalism appeared, which opposed oil, banking, and railroad monopolies, and endorsed government intervention in a range of issues from child labor to public schools to national parks to sanitation, and which led to expanding federal tax revenues. Post WWI, "liberals" in the courts began defending free speech and civil rights.

The 1932 election crystalized this opposition, so in the US context, the classical liberalism of Hoover is ever after "conservative" and FDR's Keynesian interventions and "big government" are "liberal." That is when the battle lines were settled, though each side has collected new issues since, like school vouchers for the former and gay rights for the latter. There are variants, though. "Paleoconservatives" want smaller government, but don't like free trade and tend to isolationism in foreign policy. Neocons accept some welfare/government programs as necessary for social stability, are conservative on social issues, but adopt an aggressive foreign policy as they see the US economy and political power as tied to global markets --and hence, global stability. I've never thought you fit either of those categories.

What confuses our European friends is that they see two versions of liberalism, each of which would be in the middle of the spectrum in most European countries, constantly described as "far right" or "far left."