Are you a moderate or a radical?

[bryant69]

Just a question - do you see yourself as a Moderate or a radical or somewhere in between. Just respond with your gut feeling.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[hobbit709]

1. "What kind of system do you have here?"

"Is it an anarchy"
"Oh, no; it's nothing as well organized at that"

[WoodrowFan]

2. I thought we were an autonomous collective. (NT)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Why Don't You Define Your Terms?

eom

[bryant69]

4. Because my curiousity is more about perception of those terms

Than the terms themselves.

Bryant

[omega minimo]

23. Bullshit. This does NOTHING to clarify the perception of those terms

This is a wankfest.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Hey, my family nickname is "comrade". That's what my

family calls me. So, do you think, maybe, I'm a moderate? Check this out, I belong to the A.C.L.U. AND the N.R.A. Go figure!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. "Moderation in principle is always a vice." Tom Paine

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." Tom Paine

[bryant69]

8. That's an interesting statement

I would agree that supporting principles because they are moderate is a mugs game. Doing anything to get approval or to be one of the herd is stupid (although understandable and I suspect we all do it from time to time).

On the other hand you take a list of positions from radical conservative to radical liberal and some of those positions are going to be in the middle - i.e. they are going to be moderate positions. Like say some versions of Fair Trade might be seen as a solid compromise between isolationism and unregulated free trade - i.e. they are the moderate position - but you can think that Fair Trade is a good idea, not because it is moderate, but because it's a good idea.

Bryant

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Being for the 8 hour workday was once "radical".

So, was being against slavery, women's suffrage, public education, Social Security, Civil Rights for blacks, etc, etc, etc.

The "moderates" on all those issues fought tooth and nail against the "dangerous", "untenable", "unworkable", radical ideas that are now considered "moderate".

Hell, what could be considered more "radical" in 1776 than declaring independence from the strongest military power in the world? A position held by a minority of the citizens of this country and much decried by the "moderates" who sat on the sidelenes and finally started proclaiming their "patriotism" after Yorktown.

[bryant69]

14. So you would advocate radicalism simply because it is radical?

Certainly one could make a list of bad ideas that were radical as well - like Stalin's ideas, for example.

Bryant

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. As an Anarchist, I choose to make my own decisions.

Here's another thought by another "radical" with which I fully concur:

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

What, I believe, both Tom's are saying is that beliefs are our's. That, in the final analysis, we are each responsible for what it is that we find moral and right. Then, it is up to us to live up to those principles or "compromise" them.

I give you as an example, the recent votes on torture and habeus corpus. Some politicians took a "moderate" position and spoke of an "acceptable compromise" and voted for the bill. I find it hard to believe that those prisoners being tortured found the "compromise" by the "moderates" acceptable. Neither do I.

Stalin, and a whole slew of other "leaders" were able to impose themselves and their murderous policies only because the populace were willing to sacrifice the "radicals" who opposed them. Hitler went after the "dangerous radicals" before he went after the Jews, and most "moderate" Germans cheered him on. It was a small step to go after the Jews by labeling them "Jewish Bolshevists".

In the end, in my opinion, it is up to each of us what we will tolerate and which principles we will live by.

[bryant69]

22. I would agree with that

up to a point. Everybody should make up their own mind about the best approach or the best solution or the best principles on which to base action.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[omega minimo]

24. Actually, TyL showed the need for clarification & the mutability of those terms

and you intentionally missed the point with a :evilfrown:'s Advocate response.

And retreat back to the ambivalence you started with:

"Everybody should make up their own mind about the best approach or the best solution or the best principles on which to base action."

That must be why you see no need to define the terms-- it's a free for all anyway, what the hell!!

[bryant69]

25. I apologize if I've offended you

I am a moderate, myself, in most definitions of the term, so naturally I am going to disagree with some of you.

Bryant

[omega minimo]

26. No offense taken, it's the wishywashyness that's annoying

"in most definitions of the term" which you don't define and either assume everyone thinks the same about or don't really care

or you know the terms and the poll are ambiguous and enjoy watching people twist in the wind

or understanding what TierrayLibertad said is just too much work...........................................

ambivalence is so much more cozy :boring:

[bryant69]

30. I understand what he said I just don't entirely agree with it

Or I'm not sure how those words can be used.

As for the ambiguity of the poll it was formed in my head in response to an article by Ben Shapiro, Kid Republican, who wrote an article saying that the Bush Republicans were the center of the country (or even a little center left). I commented that that was more of a function of where Ben Shapiro is, rather than an accurate statement about President Bush's position (on any reasonable scale, President Bush has governed like a far right extremist).

Bryant

[William769]

7. Other.

I am a moderate radical.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Can I be a moderate radical?

I want to overthrow the government...

...and replace it with a government.

[marmar]

10. I consider myself a progressive alternativist....

Always looking for a better solution.

[The2ndWheel]

12. Radical when it comes to the environment

Which I suppose would lead to being radical in all other aspects as well, at my gut level at least. I'm talking Kirkpatrick Sale type environmentalism. Human scale communities and all that.

[Jed Dilligan]

13. Pure 100% linen

It's like asking: are you a certified public accountant, or a shithead?

[Sammy Pepys]

15. I'm pretty moderate

Not that I split down the middle per se, but I think compromise is an inevitable part of politics and that you're going to have to temper yourself in some areas at certain points in time to progress in others.

[peekaloo]

16. I'm a madical. n/t

[Selatius]

17. If my views make me appear to be a libertarian socialist or anarchist to others, then...

am I a radical?

If believing in a radically democratic society where the people control the resources and the people determine the course of history instead of a select few monopoly capitalists, then I would proudly wear the badge of "radical."

It is not radical ideas with which I have a problem. It is intolerance with which I have a problem.

[Fleshdancer]

18. I was considered a moderate in 2000....

six years later I would probably be labeled as a radical. My political beliefs haven't changed though. I had no idea the country could get this crazy in such a short amount of time.

[mmonk]

20. Define moderate, radical, and the intent.

[StellaBlue]

21. I consider myself a libertarian socialist... with an anarchist soul...

???

[hexola]

27. Depends on who Im talking too! (nt) hehe...

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

28. Radically moderate? Moderately radical?

I like pizza.

[texasleo]

29. I am a moderate