Now that I have offered my definition or outline of what it means to be Left and Right, it is time to look at specific issues and see where the Left, Right, and Center come down on the questions.
Two point that stands out from the comments are worth noting. First, part of the difference between Conservatives and Progressives is the strain of Utopianism that (at the moment) infects the Left more than the Right. Utopianism leads to the belief that people are perfectible and that the proper system will create the proper population of more perfect people. This has been misused by deadly idealists for a very long time to justify the mass murder of innocents and "counter-revolutionaries"; it is worth recognizing and expunging Utopianism from any political philosophy. The second point is that Conservatives tend to have a better sense of humor (just compare the performance of President(s) Bush and Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent's Dinner); this may be more an artifact of the Conservatives holding most of the reins of power while the Left feels marginalized and helpless, but has been a fairly consistent finding for me ever since the days when I engaged in discussion with the Young Socialist Alliance during my college days. (A more humorless bunch of young Trotskyite idealists would have been hard to find.)
Last week Roger Simon presented a list of his positions as a " Political Hybrid" and I think that is an excellent starting place.
Woman's right to choose:
Left: No restrictions on abortion.
Center: Generally support "choice" but see the need for reasonable restrictions on access to abortion, including third trimester abortion (ie, after viability) and parental notification.
Right: Severe restrictions including no exemption for rape, incest, or for the mother's health.
Gay marriage -
Left: Support
Center: Uncertain, worried about unintended societal consequences, but open to being convinced, while seeing the necessity of taking into account the views of those who oppose it.
Right: Opposed.
Stem cell research -
Left: Support all stem cell research.
Center: Support Stem cell research but worry about slippery slopes when using fetal stem cells and willing to accept limits on government funding of fetal stem cell research.
Right: Oppose fetal stem cell research.
Death penalty -
Left: Oppose.
Center: Support for particularly egregious offenses (terrorists, Jeffrey Dahmer) but doubtful that it is fair or can work; willing to oppose if can be assured that life without parole means life.
Right: Favor.
National health insurance -
Left: Favor.
Center: It doesn't work anywhere it has been tried; how about an honest discussion of the cost of health care and what kinds of health care the government (ie, you and I) should pay for.
Right: Opposed.
Global warming -
Left: Fully believe that man's activity is causing Global warming and willing to do anything to stop the increase in greenhouse gases.
Center: Agnostic about how much of a contribution man is making to the natural warming cycle; not willing to shut down our economy to stop the increase in US greenhouse gases; looking for ways to decrease dependence on fossil fuels.
Right: Global warming is scare tactics from the Left with minimal evidence to support it.
Energy -
Left: Conservation, alternative fuels; no increased petroleum output tolerated.
Center: Increase conservation and alternative fuels; increase extraction in areas where we can control the process and do not have to worry about aiding our enemies.
Right: Drill in ANWAR.
General economics and taxation -
Left: Tax the wealthy.
Center: I'll quote Roger Simon: "I'm with Chairman Deng Tsiao Peng on this ("I don't care whether a cat is black or white, only if catches mice."). Show me what works and I'm with you. The ideological arguments are way too 19th Century on this one."
Right: Lower taxes.
Immigration -
Left: Open borders.
Center: We need a fence and a way for illegals who are good "citizens" to become real citizens without penalizing those who have tried to do things the right way.
Right: Arrest them, send them home, build a fence.
War on Terror -
Left: It is a Police problem.
Center: Fight them aggressively, preferably there so we don't have to fight them here; and stop being so cozy and tolerant with the Saudis.
Right: Stop being so diffident and get aggressive with the Pakistanis, Iraqis, et al.
To Roger's list, I would add a couple of important issues. First, I would pose the Iraq theater of the War on Terror as a separate category of its own.
Iraq War-
Left: Pull the troops out now; it is a failure and is creating more terrorists.
Center: It is a mess but we cannot allow ourselves to lose so see it through.
Right: We are winning; don't get faint hearted now and blow it.
Affirmative Action-
Left: Support based on race.
Center: Support based on a history of deprivation or privation of various sorts and not on race.
Right: Could we at least try to make this a meritocracy based on the individual.
NSA Wiretapping without Warrants:
Left: It is never acceptable to wiretap without a warrant and it is against the law.
Center: The law is murky, the technology arcane and not well described in the MSM, and we absolutely need to monitor electronic communications form and to terrorists.
Right: Let's extend the program to Drug traffickers and political dissidents.
Support for Israel-
Left: Opposition to Israel borders on (and often crosses into) overt anti-Semitism.
Center: Israel is supported as a reliable ally and functioning Democracy.
Right: Strong support for Israel.
Finally, George W. Bush-
Left: A dangerous quasi-fascist; Impeach him.
Center: A poor communicator who has tried to do great things, possibly biting off more than he can chew, but worthy of continuing support.
Right: Too liberal on immigration and too diffident on Islam; but for now, he's the only President we have.
This is by no means an exhaustive list and new issues are likely to arise on a regular basis, but it seems clear enough that many positions that are Centrist are considered Far Right by the doyens of the MSM (and many of those who see the New York Times as a Moderate newspaper.) For example, the Times will always oppose any restrictions on abortion or any efforts to limit affirmative action. These are extreme positions but they are couched as centrist and moderate and those who seek to impose some limitations are routinely derided as Far Right ideologues.
There is also more overlap between Right and Left than is often apparent. For example, many on the Conservative, business oriented Right, want Open Borders to maintain a supply of cheap labor, while many on the Left want Open Borders out of a desire to do away with the concept of the Nation-state. There are also many on the Right (where traditional anti-Semitism has long flourished) who oppose aiding the state of Israel while almost all on the Left oppose Israel (some harshly, some more softly, as in wishing for more pressure on Israel, opposition to the wall/fence of separation.) In the same vein, many on the Left and Right are tired of the war in Iraq and want to abandon the Iraqis; some out of a barely concealed wish for the US to lose another war and learn a lesson and some out of ill conceived isolationism.
On most issues I tend to agree with the Centrist positions. However, there is one more point that needs to be considered in this entire discussion (and this is likely to generate some interesting responses.) A key difference between ideological positions and pragmatic positions is that when something doesn't work, the pragmatist is willing to change the policy or system and try something new; the ideologue wants to try harder, and if necessary, change the people, when things don't work as advertised. I will leave it to you to decide whether Left or Right is more ideological these days.
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