PeterS

You weren't much of a liberal were you. So when conservatives were equating Obama to Hitler and denigrating anyone and everyone who didn't think like them did you flee once again? Liberalism, as with conservatism are philosophies not simply words. You are a liberal because of how you think just as you are a conservative for the same reason. And for the record--Fascism is a right-wing ideology and Marxism is a left wing ideology. The proper comparison would be for a liberal to call a conservative Hitleresque and for a conservative to call a liberal Stalinesque. And for the record--I've never said someone isn't smart enough to know what what best for themselves--except of course, maybe conservatives...

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

I have to admit another way Trump is making America great again, he's made Democrats discover Russia is a global threat. Funny how they didn't notice that the last eight years.

peter11937 Loc: NYS

That's what happens when the nations leader leads from behind. In the Army that was known as cowardice.

JW

I was a George McGovern supporter. You don't get more Liberal than that.

By the time Obama came along I had finally figured out that the labels are really irrelevant. The only thing that really matters is who controls the process. There is a lot I don't buy into on the Conservative side of things and I will, if I live long enough, switch again if Trump turns out to be a real Republican. For now, Trump is exactly what I want to see in the White House and his administration is exactly what I want to see controlling the processes. The Left of today is a curse on America and the Right is our only hope of avoiding Europe's fate.

I'm afraid I have to correct your political awareness. Fascism is a Leftist philosophy. Mussolini, the father of fascism was a devoted socialist... as was Hitler. Both hated capitalism and both spouted their hatred profusely. The only similarity to some capitalist countries is the nationalist mindset but that isn't an economic criterion and has nothing to do with Right or Left governance. There are Left and Right nationalist countries. Currently, Russia is a good example of a Leftist nationalist state.

I'm not aware of any Conservatives likening Obama to Hitler. I heard him likened to Stalin and the antichrist but not Hitler. Personally, I saw him as a petty Hugo Chavez wannabe.

If you had every been involved in the Democrat political machine, you would have heard a lot of things you won't hear on the street.

PeterS

I was a die hard Reagan supporter. You don't get more conservative than that. Again, both liberalism and conservatism are political philosophies. They aren't governed by random rhetoric. If you left because you didn't like what you heard you were never a liberal to begin with.


Labels aren't irrelevant, rhetoric is. And what part of being European fate are we suppose to avoid? And don't worry, so long a republicans will cheer for Trump he belongs completely and totally to them.



And Hitler sent socialists, communists, and liberal intellectuals to the gas chamber. Both the left and right have warts. Denying them doesn't make them go away. As for Russia--they are an oligopoly headed by an authoritarian strongman. If they were left wing they would be embracing totalitarianism, not authoritarianism surrounded by wealthy businessmen. That's a conservatives purview much like the admiration for another strongman who surrounded himself by the wealthy businessmen--Hitler.



http://theweek.com/articles/568774/why-republicans-are-obsessed-comparing-obama-hitler
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/13/7_conservatives_who_have_compared_obama_to_hitler/
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/why-do-the-super-rich-keep-comparing-obama-to-hitler/283404/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/13/politics/randy-weber-obama-hitler/index.html

There were 1.84 million hits on this search. Might I suggest that you are listening too much to liberals and not enough to conservatives like yourself.


Gosh, how nefarious those evil democrats must be.

PeterS

According to your president we were right not to worry about them...

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

You haven't increasingly desperate habit of putting words in other people's mouths.

Trump didn't say not to worry about Russia.

He said don't worry who uncovered the truth about Democrats' corruption by finding their emails.

That's a big difference.

PeterS

Well, he acts like we have nothing to worry about. Is that better?

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

No, he doesn't act that way.

It just seems that way to you because the only threat you see is to Democrats keeping their corruption secret during elections.

If ISIS was accused of accurately reporting the truth, Democrats would see them as a threat.

JW

Nothing nefarious about them. They were completely open about it. As per Bill Clinton in speech at Buffalo, NY "You people don't know the right way to spend your money so the government must do it."

http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Russianpoliticalsystem.html#Conclusion

Read the section on political parties. Other than Putin's United Russia party, the other prominent parties are the Communists and the nationalists. The invasion of Georgia, Ukraine, and the Crimea were all ostensibly to bring ethnic Russians back into the Russian nation. The current threat to the Baltic states is precisely because of the ethnic Russian populations moved there during the Soviet era. That is nationalism. Secondarily, nationalism is a necessary condition for solidifying and defining an emerging nation. Russia is still a Leftist society. It qualifies as an emerging nation since the Soviet Union collapsed.

From his own mouth:

JW

The way I have defined myself politically, here and elsewhere, I am a JFK Democrat and have always been so. Today, I guess that makes me a Conservative.

Where I stand politically at any given time depends on where our two parties are going. I couldn't take Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan so I threw my vote away on John Anderson. I hope I won't ever do that again but I would have if Trump had gone third party. I can't think of a Democrat I could support since '96. I can't think of a Republican I have ever supported with any enthusiasm.

PeterS

As with everything there is context:"We could give it all back to you and hope you spend it right... But ... if you don't spend it right, here's what's going to happen. In 2013 -- that's just 14 years away -- taxes people pay on their payroll for Social Security will no longer cover the monthly checks... I want every parent here to look at the young people here, and ask yourself, 'Do you really want to run the risk of squandering this surplus?' " Bill Clinton, Buffalo NY.

Now here is what happened--instead of using the surplus to pay down debt or otherwise securing our safety nets we cut taxes, increased our debt, and are in a position where we have probably screwed ourselves, our children, and our future. In short, we squandered the surplus.

As I said, ideology is a philosophical position--it's how we believe--Bill was acting as president and he wanted to secure our future. You cherry picked his words to suit what you wanted him to have said. Myself, I agree with Bill because people are greedy by nature and instead of spending the surplus to pay down debt or secure their future they squandered it and created even more debt to the point, with the next tax cut--which is surely coming thanks to that clown you helped elect--it is likely to blow us away...



Russia may be a leftist society but the government is very much RW authoritarian. And understand, anything that relies on a single strong man is authoritarian. I know you say you don't like labels but they allow us to understand what's going on. From a ideological perspective, anything that is authoritarian is right wing. Conversely, anything that is totalitarian is left wing. Because of your dislike of labels you called something both left and right wing at the same time.

Mussolini, as was Hitler, was an authoritarian strongman and he bolstered his strength through a system of corporatism. Fascists chased down socialists, communists, and leftists and usually killed them, or if they were being kind, ran them out of the country. You want to call that left wing? Sorry but that is straight out of the RW play book of the day.

This from your link: "This is very negative. It's a clear signal that the regime will be authoritarian and autocratic, and control everything. It's all about keeping power. The tsar was constrained by the aristocracy. The party bureaucracy controlled the general secretary. Today the president controls parliament, the senate, regions, the bureaucracy and the security services, as well as oil and gas."

Russia today is a authoritarian regime surrounded by wealthy businessmen or an oligopoly. It all centers around Putin though and the more we stifle the oligopoly with sanctions the more Putin is threatened and why he worked so hard to get Trump in, as he was the only hope of getting Obama's sanctions removed.

PeterS

Kennedy a conservative?

“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”

You really have some very strange ideas...

Loki Loc: Georgia

I might point out that the Crimea has been part of Russia for hundreds of years, and was unilaterally "given" to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev, who was, himself, a Ukrainian. The population of Ukraine is overwhelmingly Russian and supported being returned to Russian control.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

It is quite grey and sticky over there, isn't it?

We're fortunate to be here, and not there.