Guest A Liberal - Har! Har! So that's what a liberal is...

Well, now it's out in the open, anyway. Ooooo...scary, scary!

Okay...let's look at the old definitions of socialist, etc...that were posted a while back by MAV...from the "conservative" viewpoint:

It went like this...

A communist is a socialist with a gun.

A socialist is a liberal that knows what he's doing.

A liberal is a useful dupe of the communist.

Hmmm...I get the drift, but I don't buy it. Actually all manner of people can be found among the ranks of communists, socialists, liberals, conservatives, or anyone else you care to name. I've known entirely nice and agreeable people from all those groups...except I don't think I've ever met an official "communist". I wasn't living in the right part of the world for that, I guess...I've met a lot of Cubans, but not a single one claimed to be a communist. Some of them are Presbyterians, however...

How about I try for a definition:

1. Communism is a system that pretends to follow the teachings of Marx, but deviates in a number of key areas. It centralizes all ownership and power in the bureaucracy of the state, while pretending that said bureaucracy represents the people, which it does not. It represents itself. In the positive sense, communism provides work, housing, education, health care, and basic needs to all the people who tow the line. In the negative sense, it imprisons or executes those who don't. It typically rules through a harsh and militaristic system, with a strong secret police to enforce it. Communism also elevates a political party to the status of a god...not a good idea!!! Like all systems, though, it's good in some ways and bad in others. I give it about a 4 out of 10 on the desirability scale...not too good. I give the present chaos in the former Yugoslavia, since the fall of communism there, a zero out of 10...just for comparison's sake.

Communism is created and maintained by ordinary human beings of every type imaginable, both liberal and conservative.

2. Socialism is a method of allocating certain (but NOT all or even close to all) sectors of society to public ownership and management...such as: large transportation networks and regulatory agencies, one or two large media outlets (out of many), a health care system, the postal system, the military, the police, the mint, the courts, the various levels of government, national parks and game preserves, some energy regulating agencies, and so on. This is done through taxation, and accomplished by government workers.

This in no way presents any threat to democracy, and it is the rule, not the exception, in most First World societies, such as Canada and western Europe, but to a considerably lesser degree in the USA, where socialism is more or less considered a dirty word.

Socialism and capitalism can and do thrive in partnership...each one accomplishing what the other is ill-equipped to accomplish. Socialists are not generally entrepreneurs, while capitalists are not generally public servants.

Socialism likewise is created and maintained by ordinary human beings of every type imaginable, liberal and conservative.

4. Capitalism - hell, you all know what that is, and it works fine, providing it is subject to certain regulations...such as labour laws, pollution laws, truth in advertising, and so on. We do not at present have international laws really capable of properly governing corporate capitalism, nor do we have the means to enforce such laws.

Also created and maintained by ordinary human beings of every type imaginable, liberal and conservative.

3. Liberalism - is an attitude. A philosophical attitude. So is conservatism. They both try to achieve social justice, but do it from a different perspective. One tries to open the door, the other tries to shore up the dike.

Some communists are liberals, by communist standards. The ones who aren't liberals are called hardliners. They are quite comparable to hardline conservatives in the USA, except they're on the other side of the fence, that's all. They believe in getting tough with the "enemy" and beefing up the military at all times, just as do their conservative counterparts in the USA or anywhere else. They are very much engaged in preparing for war against someone and have a fortress mentality.

Some socialists are also liberals, while some are not, by socialist standards.

Liberals are seen as flexible, rational and reasonable...from their own viewpoint.

They are seen as wishy-washy, fuzzy-thinking, and deluded by those who are not "liberals".

But one man's liberal may well be another man's conservative...

It's all a big wordgame. We are fighting over words, for heaven's sake!

If you actually got to know some genuine socialists, some liberals, some conservatives, and even some communists...you would find that most of them are downright likeable people, with high ideals, just as high as your own. Try it and see. The enemy you fear is not your enemy at all...he's just different from you...cos he grew up under different influences.

Want to see the real enemy? Look in the mirror the next time you're in a really hateful and rotten mood. As Pogo said "We have seen the enemy and he is us".

- LH