http://www.bloggernews.net/14092 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Sun, 27 May 2012 23:48:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.bloggernews.net/14092#comment-1243 peterbroady Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:43:20 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/14092#comment-1243 I am really glad to see that you understand what you mean when you talk about being a 'conservative'; that is, you appreciate what this word basically means as a political philosophy and not as a piece of rhetoric. Many people see me as anti-conservative, but that is not true in the strict sense, basically the sense you use it. I read many conservative and libertarian economists, philosophers, etc. and think their work is often brilliant and useful, even if I might hold different positions. But the words and actions of many conservative politicians and pundits are disturbing to me, and I tend to share more commonalities and intuitions with the so-called 'liberals', although that is not by any means constant. Of course, in political rhetoric these words have no clear meaning. A lot of people just seem to use 'liberal' or 'conservative' to mean whatever they don't like or fear. It's the same for the abortion debate...any kind of nuanced, thoughtful discussion is almost impossible...you are either 'pro-choice' or 'pro-life', nevermind that everyone on earth is both...you have to choose. Nonsense. If I have to give myself a label, I call myself a discussant. What's a discussant, you ask? Well, let's talk about that... I am really glad to see that you understand what you mean when you talk about being a ‘conservative’; that is, you appreciate what this word basically means as a political philosophy and not as a piece of rhetoric. Many people see me as anti-conservative, but that is not true in the strict sense, basically the sense you use it. I read many conservative and libertarian economists, philosophers, etc. and think their work is often brilliant and useful, even if I might hold different positions. But the words and actions of many conservative politicians and pundits are disturbing to me, and I tend to share more commonalities and intuitions with the so-called ‘liberals’, although that is not by any means constant. Of course, in political rhetoric these words have no clear meaning. A lot of people just seem to use ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ to mean whatever they don’t like or fear. It’s the same for the abortion debate…any kind of nuanced, thoughtful discussion is almost impossible…you are either ‘pro-choice’ or ‘pro-life’, nevermind that everyone on earth is both…you have to choose. Nonsense. If I have to give myself a label, I call myself a discussant. What’s a discussant, you ask? Well, let’s talk about that…

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