First episode of the spankin’ new YPAB podcast. The show will appear in the iTunes store pretty soon (for free, of course), but if you want to go ahead and subscribe via the RSS feed, go right ahead. This week we’re blabbing about the tea parties, the economy, the president, Fox News, and America’s Red vs. Blue team mentality. Enjoy.
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Just listened to this - thumbs up, I’ll be subscribing
FamilyWarFunding said this on
Apr 28 09 at
10:12 pm
Not to be nit-picky, but the left-right spectrum really has nothing to do with how large the government is, per se, or how much it taxes…it has to do with how coercive/authoritarian (right), or permissive/libertarian/anarchistic (left) it is. This can be measured in different ways. That said, a government that taxes very little can still be unambiguously authoritarian, and therefore right-wing (the former USSR being a classic example), and a relatively permissive government can still tax a lot (Sweden probably being a good example). As far as the extension of executive power and the erosion of check, balances and civil liberties is concerned, Bush was by far the most right-wing american president in recent history. Economics is another matter altogether, and really warrants a “second axis”, as it were, of measurement… Remember, Hitler was the head of the National SOCIALIST Party, and implemented a good deal of social welfare policy, actually…
MassStrike said this on
May 04 09 at
11:44 pm
Which is why Hitler was as much of a Left-winger as Mao or Stalin.
“it has to do with how coercive/authoritarian (right), or permissive/libertarian/anarchistic (left) ”
I think you need to check your spectrum. Where I come from, it’s more coercive/authoritarian (left) vs. permissive/libertarian/anarchistic (right). Seriously, this threw me for a loop!
The Taxman said this on
May 05 09 at
8:27 am
That’s the accepted left-right dichotomy, authoritarian vs. anarchistic. You could also put social-ownership rights vs. private-ownership rights on a left-right spectrum, but at the very least this would require a seperate axis.Hitler was center-left economically, but far right socially. Mao and Stalin were fairly far right socially as well…
MassStrike said this on
May 05 09 at
10:25 am
