I’m not sure if this is what Daniel is getting at or not, so I’ll speak only for myself, but it seems to me that the labels that are thrown around in political discussions are often worse than useless. For example, the word “conservative” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone who uses the word. Ditto for the word “liberal.” But, the problem is deeper than that. Even if two people can agree on precisely what they mean by these terms, most people aren’t going to fit EITHER definition. It makes far more sense to me to do what Daniel is doing here. Rather than defining himself with a quick label, he has written a brief description of his values. Those couple of hundred words are FAR more descriptive than any label could ever be.

It seems that a good preface to a discussion on political perspective is an understanding of where the participants are coming from .. what their core values and beliefs are, and “I’m a conservative” isn’t sufficient. In the months leading up to the recent election I was involved in a lengthy e-mail discussion with a group of friends from my undergrad years. There were times that a couple of us asked others to define what they meant by certain words (because it was clear that they weren’t using the same definition we were). Though they were slightly offended that we seemed to be accusing them of something, we simply felt that it was important that we understood what people meant when they said things (to avoid misunderstandings). I think that this is what Daniel is attempting to do.

–

As a side note directed at nobody in particular, I find the discussion going on lately about whether the country is center-right or center-left to be silly. While it’s clear that most people are NOT at the extremes of the political spectrum (are there really only two extremes?), I don’t believe that the terms of center-right and center-left are well defined.

I’m not sure if this is what Daniel is getting at or not, so I’ll speak only for myself, but it seems to me that the labels that are thrown around in political discussions are often worse than useless. For example, the word “conservative” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone who uses the word. Ditto for the word “liberal.” But, the problem is deeper than that. Even if two people can agree on precisely what they mean by these terms, most people aren’t going to fit EITHER definition. It makes far more sense to me to do what Daniel is doing here. Rather than defining himself with a quick label, he has written a brief description of his values. Those couple of hundred words are FAR more descriptive than any label could ever be.

It seems that a good preface to a discussion on political perspective is an understanding of where the participants are coming from .. what their core values and beliefs are, and “I’m a conservative” isn’t sufficient. In the months leading up to the recent election I was involved in a lengthy e-mail discussion with a group of friends from my undergrad years. There were times that a couple of us asked others to define what they meant by certain words (because it was clear that they weren’t using the same definition we were). Though they were slightly offended that we seemed to be accusing them of something, we simply felt that it was important that we understood what people meant when they said things (to avoid misunderstandings). I think that this is what Daniel is attempting to do.

–

As a side note directed at nobody in particular, I find the discussion going on lately about whether the country is center-right or center-left to be silly. While it’s clear that most people are NOT at the extremes of the political spectrum (are there really only two extremes?), I don’t believe that the terms of center-right and center-left are well defined.

Currently there is a widening gap between his political perspective and mine. I am interested in the directions we are diverging from and towards.

-=T=-

Currently there is a widening gap between his political perspective and mine. I am interested in the directions we are diverging from and towards.

-=T=-