Which way do you lean in politics?

Question

Kaneki05 · Accepted Answer

Ah it's good to see socialists are more than liberals. We've come so far! The site is still plagued by conservatives but oh wells it's the one site they got in which they don't get banned for saying blatant racism.

Lionman95 · Accepted Answer

Centrist I like progressive and conservatist ideas to be in balance. Both are in some way necessary but shouldn´t be taken as an extreme.

nightdrot · Answer

Voted "Conservative."

However, I always, when I see this kind of question, have to put an asterisk over it. My conservatism is not what Americans typically call conservative. Because what Americans call conservative is, historically speaking, not conservatism but is, rather, classical liberalism.

My conservatism, which for convenience I will call classical or Tory conservatism, traces its intellectual pedigree through Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas - and probably most importantly - the 18th century British statesman and political philosopher, Edmund Burke, and also the British Prime Minsiters Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Salisbury.

In an American context, it shows up in the thinking of Alexander Hamilton and then - almost by historical accident, the American Whig Party, and the former Whig turned Republican, Abraham Lincoln. (It is a great historical "what if" as to what the GOP would have looked like had Lincoln lived and the radical Republicans not gained the ascendancy.)

Classical conservatives believe, unlike American conservatives and liberals, that the purpose of government is to answer Aristotle's first questions of politics, "How ought we to live? What kind of a people do we wish to be?"

To which classical conservatives respond that the purpose of government is to nurture civic virtue. To reinforce those habits and customs, legitimized by historical usage over time, that make a harmonious and stable social order possible.

Classical conservatives believe in the free market as a tool, rather than an end in itself. They recognize that it is a powerful wealth creator, efficient to some degree, and a guard against an overweening state. However, they believe, as Burke said, "The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please. We ought see what it will please them to do before we risk congratulations."

Consequently, classical conservatives support an ameliorative welfare state. (The welfare state was invented by two conservatives - Disraeli and Bismarck.) The purpose such a welfare state being to reconcile the public to the dynamics of a free market economy by alleviating the negative impact of old age, illness and temporary unemployment.

In this they differ from American liberals who see the welfare state as a lever to engineer social transformation. That is, to restructure society according to some abstract a priori vision. Classical conservatives argue that such a vision is ultimately going to be oversimple and will lead to adverse and unintended consequences.

Tories believe that political philosophy should take as it starting point not human reason, but human nature. That political rights are developed through historical usage, and are not abstract pre-existing. Which is to say that they don't deny that such abstract rights exist. Merely that they are of no practical benefit or use in civil society and law. As Burke put it, "Their abstract perfection is their practical defect."

In all this, then, classical conservatives tend to see less difference between American conservatives and liberals than they see between themselves. Albeit that classical conservatives are more likely to align with their American counterparts insofar as American liberals tend to be more deeply hostile to custom and tradition.

asphaltrhymes · Answer

Yeah I'm a socialist. Which is funny because I like a lot of things over time and chop and change a lot. I still like Sarah Palin, but I like President Obama and Biden. I like Chris Christie running for Republican nominee, but I also welcome a second term President Biden.
So, I'm a socialist, and I'm not even American, and I guess here in my country I have swing vote over the years. I'm socialistic, swinging voter ☮️✌🏻😋✌🏻😋✌🏻☮️ who loves the peace symbol and all things that are groovy ☮️✌🏻😅

Naydyonov · Answer

As I've grown older, I've become more conservative. At this point, I suspect I'd be considered to be a conservative at the minimum, but quite likely far-right. This may well be true as I consistently notice myself being more conservative than the people around me, many of whom are centrist or conservative.

normalice · Answer

Liberal. I used to be conservative until I learned to accept that I'm not at the center of the universe.

strateguy632 · Answer

i "am leaning" away from politicians both ides are ugly sometimes even awful but i pick based on lesser evil each time.

Dargil · Answer

Libertarian Conservative. Do with and to your plumbing what you want but don't make me pay for it and don't groom my kids.

exitseven · Answer

I used to be a moderate but the democrats have gotten so crazy I had to choose a side. and now I am a conservative.

7vices · Answer

What do I pick if I consider myself a far right centrist conservatist anarchist?

InsecureLivesMatter · Answer

Conservative-ish. But 10Groups called me Centrist.

AngryCarl2 · Answer

I'm Centre Left Socialist. I don't lean. It's the political parties that lean to appease the voters.

XXblack88 · Answer

Conservative. I'm not sure what anarchist is?

nolabels · Answer

I'm for personal responsibility.

Spade_01 · Answer

Shariah supremacy 🗿🏴

Iron_Man · Answer

I’m republican

gothbxtch · Answer

liberal/anarchist/socialist.

Juxtapose · Answer

I am a classical liberal.

Unknown29 · Answer

Far-right conservative.

LiamJHayden · Answer

Very libertarian.

CuriousMufuxka · Answer

As far away from it as possible.

msc545 · Answer

I lean back - that stuff splatters.

Which way do you lean in politics?

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