Study finds college faculties Liberal.

Great line...simply a great line. I disagree a bit, as I view both parties as yesterday's Democrats. Now when they get on the "national health care" and some of their larger (and thankfully unsuccessful program high horses), I agree that they're philosophically Communists.

 

If you ever doubt that college campuses are dominated by liberals, I remember hearing this stat from Chief Justice Rehnquist when he gave a speech to the Federalist Society at my law school. There was all of about 15 members. He said that approximately 90% of all college professors voted for Michael Dukakis when he ran for President and approximately 95% of all law school professors voted for Dukakis.

This should be SHOCKING to anyone who remembers Michael Dukakis.

 

this is red's interpretation of the political spectrum:

a pretty poor understanding of the politcal spectrum on his part. however, he is generally right with what he is saying now, because the parties are not intellectually consistent. republicans are not for small government. they are for huge government. 157 calls democrats communists. there is some truth in that, but it isnt like the republicans arent terrible in most of the same ways. both parties are for way too much government manipulation of the people.

for instance, republicans will claim to be for freedom until some religious issue is involved, or some red-state issue like farm subsidies. both parties are terrible.

and fascism is not really extreme right, that is an oversimplification, and not even really correct. and libertarianism surely isnt moderate.

here are some other facts (opinions):

pretty much everyone who calls themself a "progressive" is a feelgood idiot pretending to be thoughtful.

fascism and socialism are not so different. you get the tyranny of the collective or the tyranny of one guy. and in practice, the power vacuum that supposed rule by the collective creates will lead to crippling control. communism is not really communal. the people are still rigidly controlled. the smart way to look at politics is either the 2 axis graph with economic and social controls as the axes (is that the plural of axis? i dunno), or if you insist on a simple continuum, fascism and communism together on one side, and anarchy on the other.

leaders that want socialism are mostly liars, what they really want is power. and even the ones who are philosophically pure (che guevara) end up screwing everyone in the end (castro's cuba).

the most beneficial system is hypercapitalism with a democracy of minimal power providing security. but since leaders want power so badly, governments tend to grow, while people sit on their hands and allow governments to control us. leaders claim they need power to help people, and we eat that right up, and pay them to control us.

 

The distinction is unerringly a philosophical one. I pointed out the differences in earlier threads, but it is usually impossible to put people in one or the other categories. I think we agree on that, but I'm thinking philosophically.

 

I think a national health care system is a communist ideal. I think our welfare, Medicaid, and Social Security are communist ideals. That isn't to say that they are bad (I have taken advantage of the Medicaid/LAChip system when I was financially unable to support my wife and son), but the fact remains the same. I have really never heard Republicans promote any of these systems, but that of course doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

I assume you are talking about things like the Alabama judge who wanted to display the Ten Commandments. I think he should be free to do that if he pleases as long as no religious discrimination takes place inside his courtroom. I think you feel the same way on that.

Your problem is that you don't care about the welfare of other people. If you had any compassion at all you'd feel differently about social programs, I'm sure. Anyone who is ready to abolish Medicaid, Social Security, and welfare can't be a compassionate person.

 

Just ham and eggs for me. Buttered toast please.

 

bacon?

 

Agriculture schools such as LSU & Texas A&M have far fewer liberals than other universities. And although we still have our fair share of them, I think they are less radical and closer to the center than liberals at other universities.
I was suprised by how conservative LSU is. Every business professor I've had has seemed to maintain republican philosophies.

 

According to one of my Poli Sci professors, the scale of left to right wing is not a straight line. Rather, it is a bowed arch. At the top is the center, with republicans just to the right & democrats just to the left. Socialism would be at the bottom/end of the arch on the left, and communism on the bottom/end of the arch at the right. Thus, the two are actually pretty close to each other.
If you look at the 2 systems, they do have quite a few similarities - just different ways of going about it.