I might go even further and say that all philosophical, political or economic positions etc. are a reflection of personal preference, identity, personal interest or bias. Not that this is bad or undesirable but simply that we all relate to these processes based on personal experiences first and then try to find some way of legitimizing our own personal positions.
In some ways, these arguments people make on philosophical, economic or political levels can tell us as much about the individual as it can about the subject which is being argued.
That’s why it’s been my goal to assert that all forms of classification require criteria so that we don’t simply get into an argument about how these positions make us as advocates or condemners feel, but more so, how these ideas can be objectively identified. In that vein, I contend that while Mark Levin may be an arrogant, vitriolic ass on occasion, he is in no way a fascist. In much the same way that I think Obama may on occasion be called a communist or a fascist, I think it’s more accurate to call him a progressive socialist. So while he may echo some of the communist or fascist sentiment, more than anything, I think he represents the amorphous progressive statist, eager to offer political favors in exchange for votes and monetary support.
I think we will find less of this pandering from Levin. We have to make careful distinctions and we have to make sure the distinctions we’re making aren’t a byproduct of personal preference or identity but more of an objective appraisal of quantifiable and qualifiable factors and criteria.
And so they make war and get label angry, crazy militia at home. They use anger to handicap their fear.
yes. the democratic left is helping to save the poor and exploited while the republican-right is only worried about their profits and defending their country and property with the 2nd Amendment as their rallying cry.
right. the republican-right with Wall Street buddies are creating all this poverty. this is why unions are needed to stop them from exploiting the worker. the rich all what is status is about. they are high-rollers with their yachts.
the average American voter weighing this: compassion for the poor in the form of welfare, ie. social security, universal healthcare - or - fight 'em wars all other the war (heartless). really?
yes. left identifies with peace and compassion and the right identifies with war and exploitation.
or the reserve
left identifies with being concerned about domestic issues and redistribution of wealth and the right identifies with patriotic foreign concerns and survival of the fittest
the right is nuts. the right wing military nuts don’t see themselves as the warring aspect of this culture of brute force.
America is great and bring freedom to the world. I guess that means anybody that touches the u.s. empire is an enemy. it’s not about the u.s. traditional terrority. it is harm to u.s. bases everywhere, and all their interests everywhere.
that’s why there are those, like myself, that strongly identify with him or her self and want to be left alone, realize our own self, find it counter to give up on individual responsiblities, stop projecting individually onto others thinking they represent what we, as an individual indentifies with onto such politicans/radio people and let others/government control us; and know thinking and doing in direct action for one self is what happens in liberty.
1 - you said you are only interested in politics - not philosophy
2 - to assert classifications is logic. Aristotle begins with categories and gets into defining terms and eventually discusses the more general aspects of this with aprior, etc…
philosophy
The point of that video wasn’t his ‘assness’. It was his claim that those that agree with Ron P. are not following the constitution (though that’s all Ron P. talks about in a very expert manner), and Levin was saying that only conservatives are true constitutionalists.
Ah yes… everything is relative. Black can’t be white yet it can be white and War is peace. Murder is just a hobby. Stupidity is wisdom. What’s the meaning of meaning ? But don’t confuse politics whit philosophy and philosophy with politics. Don’t confuse confusion with politics and philosophy with philosophy.
The cat is dead! The cat is alive! It’s a quantum cat! Ah, intellectuals are so amazing!
We MUST stop OBAMA. He’s BLACK and he’s EVIL. On the other hand the neocons are saving Is real, Amerikkka and the whole world!!
Do you know what the constitution say ? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT SAYS ??
Levin is a Red State Fascist. Anybody can see this but people who have still some residue of Red State Fascism in themselves, probably as a consequence of what sort of place and culture they come from. Waterboarding is not torture and Ron Paul should support Israel. LOL. What a Fascist thing to say.
The first step to being pro-freedom is saying no to state war. Everything comes after that. A good stance on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completely meaningless when you are helping justify a murder of over one million people. You`re still a detestable Fascist.
You don`t call a Holocaust supporter who is good on food stamps a good guy.
I was born in Croatia, have dual citizenship, and live in New York. It’s kind of hard for me to think of waterboarding as torture when my Grandfather had nails shoved into his ears, was beaten with wooden paddles, tied to rocks, and thrown into the ocean. But hey if you want to call what my friends do to me every summer torture, then go ahead.
No my friend. Ending war is not the answer to all of our problems. War will be the last of your worries when the government dictates your pay, has complete control over money and interest rates, assigns your employment, limits how many children you can have, and throws you into prison when you speak out against them.
For the last time, I don’t like or support Mark Levin, but the neocons are looking like Misesians to me right now. And no one has been able to show me how he’s a fascist. They just continue to throw out that word as if it means enemy of Ron Paul.
Waterboarding is torture and had your friends ever waterboarded you, you would know as much.
In any case the US uses a variety of torture techniques. Stress positions, sleep deprivation, electrocution etc.
Also just because one was born in Croatia does not mean one can not be a Red State Fascist.
No, actually murdering hundreds of thousands of people is way worse than dictating my pay. When the state starts to dictate my pay I am stil going to hate it more for murdering people.
And in any case, Levin is not combating the arrival of these things, by being a shill for the establishment and speaking up for murder he is by proxy helping to bring them about.
Fascism is defined by expansionist militarism, chauvinism and corporatism. Levin stands for all three. He stands for aggressive war, for demonisation of foreigners who dare resist, and for the military-industrial complex.
Levin is a fraud earning corporate sponsorship by chaneling real popular discontent into support for the establishment and attacking real non-establishment populists. He lies as soon as he opens his mouth.
Just ask yourself, in a paralel world where Leving was a CIA operation… what would he do any differently?
Being born in Croatia and living in the most liberal part of the world does. Why is fascism delegated to “red states?”
Way to exaggerate your position and completely ignore mine. I was talking about freedom, I assume that’s something you’re interested in. Either way, Obama will have us in Pakistan by 2011.
That definition is (a) entirely your own, (b) too broad to be meaningful, and (c) not historically correct. I’ve explained why already.
Your content for Americans is typical ignorant bullshit.
Who said it is? If the Red State Fascism is delegated to the red states it is only because the Blue states are more receptive of the Blue State Fascism.
I`m not interested in freedom at the expense of murder of innocent people. I am also not naive enough to think a state that will kill hundreds of thousands of people abroad is compatible with liberty domestically.
To the cheers of Levin and the rest of the neocons.
Sure. Ask for an explanation of what makes Levin a fascist and then call it bullshit when you don`t like it.
That’s not American policy. That’s torture. And again, I don’t support water boarding, I just oppose loose language.
I agree. But the destroyer of civilization and freedom comes from within, through inflation, deficits, and nationalization. Ask people from the former USSR about which was worse, communism, or their war in Afghanistan.
Okay? What’s your point. Like I said 5 times now, the neocons don’t support the nationalization of banks, healthcare, private industry, regulation of wages, population growth, insane environmental policies (which are responsible for the death of millions, more than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan combined), and homeland security pulling over people with Ron Paul bumper stickers. They’re the lesser of two evils–relatively better. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Abu Graib was US policy. And torture remains US policy. People are to this day being tortured at Bagram air base and through the renditions programme.
All of which are greatly sped up by war.
Ask the people of Afganistan, what they hated more. Deficits or the occupation?
Nonsense. Of course they support that.
But they support the Empire, torture, the national-security state, the Patriot act, the dismisal of habeas corpus, the militarisation of the police force, the escalation of the drug war, federal centralism, handouts to Lockeed-Martin, government secrecy, dictatorship of the executive, the TSA, the no-fly lists and they will ultimately give the democrats all which they want in order to get these things from the democrats.
No they are not. In the struggle between liberty and power they are wholly on the side of power. They have not struck one blow for liberty.
If the neocons dont support nationalisation of healthcare it is only because they dont care about healthcare one way or the other. They have no stake in fighting the nationalisation other than to score points with the populace and therefore gain leverage to be able to get the democrats to concede on the stuff the democrats use to score points on, but do not at the end of the day care one way or the other.
I didn’t think I would have to define fascism on mises.org, it’s like none of you have ever read the road to serfdom. Fascism is a form of socialism where the individual is placed below society, where he is merely a component of a much larger machine which needs to be directed into action. This manifests itself through severe regulation of commerce and markets, direction of quasi-private industry, and monetary/banking disturbances.
“The main plank in the national socialist program is to abolish the liberalistic concept of the individual” –Adolf Hitler
Your definition of Fascism, on the other hand, includes every major power in the western world (France, Germany, England, US, Russia, Japan, China, ect.)
Indeed. So you agree that war is not a necessary or sufficient condition.
Evidence. Not wild accusations.
Okay, real simple. Who’s more dangerous, Obama or Bush? What would you prefer, Obama’s communism plus the warfare state, or a warfare and minimal welfare state?
What the fuck does that mean, and what does it have to do with our conversation? Do you think I’m a neocon? How many times do i have to spell it out for you?