Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), Andrew Sullivan has benefited from a few days off.
Last week Sullivan turned his blog over to his assistant and some friends while he took some time to himself. On April 8 he posted this title, "Right, Left, Britain and America."
Sullivan has been toying lately with labels such as conservative and liberal and libertarian. He has just about reached a conclusion with which most can agree:
Bush Republicans are big-state and internationalist. Does that make them left? Libertarians are secular and small-state. Where does that leave them? I'd be mainly "left" on this count, along with many British Tories, except for big-state politics. "Harder to locate than they were" is an understatement. It may help to abandon these labels for a while, especially across countries, until they actually mean something again.
Internationalism aside, it seems lately, too that labels are dysfunctional these days. Are there really leftists who do not advocate personal responsibility? Are there really rightists who are willing to step over the bodies of ill people lining sidewalks? Where is the fiscal accountability of borrow and spend any sounder than tax and spend?
Good for Sullivan. Now, if he could just learn to stop trying to influence the Democratic Party's nomination process.
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment
The courage of your conviction virtually demands your name, if we don't know you.