Is America moving to the Left or Right?

[Josh/Devilman88]

America is moving right/left...

[Gabu]

Just the second I hear "Siege Heil" or "Worker's of the Wolrd Unite" coming from Washington, D.C., than I know we are moving to the extremes.

Unless we're hailing Siege40, it's "sieg heil", which, I believe, means "hail victory".

[The Duke]

The country is moving right socially, in part because of a rise in religiosity among younger people.  The young are more pro-life than previous generations, for example.  They are not as pro-gay marriage as it is often claimed.  Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward.  Race will be less important as interracial marriage gets more common.

Economically, the country is moving nowhere.  We have adopted a center right position that neither the Republicans (for reasons of ideology) or Democrats (for reasons of backbone) are willing to challenge.  Until someone challenges the order in a serious way, it will remain as is.

The one flaw I see on some people's approach top the question is their conception of right and left.  The liberals keep implying that anything that is left behind us is "right" and everything that is newly created is "left".  There was one poster who claimed that slavery is a conservative position, for example.  Defending slavery may be conservative in the sense that it is a defense of conserving a social institution, but it hardly connects to our current conception of right and left.  The right is defined by a value system of economic liberty based on classical ecnomics and social policy dominated by Christian religious ethics.  The left is defined by a value system based on social permissiveness and semi-socialist economics.  Todiscern who is winning,we should not look at history and see that we are different than we used to be and conclude that the left is always winning.  We should see which value system has advanced itself the greatest distance over time and which way the wind is blowing right now.

[minionofmidas]

The country is moving right socially, in part because of a rise in religiosity among younger people.  The young are more pro-life than previous generations, for example.  They are not as pro-gay marriage as it is often claimed.  Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward.  Race will be less important as interracial marriage gets more common.

Economically, the country is moving nowhere.  We have adopted a center right position that neither the Republicans (for reasons of ideology) or Democrats (for reasons of backbone) are willing to challenge.  Until someone challenges the order in a serious way, it will remain as is.

The one flaw I see on some people's approach top the question is their conception of right and left.  The liberals keep implying that anything that is left behind us is "right" and everything that is newly created is "left".  There was one poster who claimed that slavery is a conservative position, for example.  Defending slavery may be conservative in the sense that it is a defense of conserving a social institution, but it hardly connects to our current conception of right and left.  The right is defined by a value system of economic liberty based on classical ecnomics and social policy dominated by Christian religious ethics.  The left is defined by a value system based on social permissiveness and semi-socialist economics.  Todiscern who is winning,we should not look at history and see that we are different than we used to be and conclude that the left is always winning.  We should see which value system has advanced itself the greatest distance over time and which way the wind is blowing right now.

A very American viewpoint, btw.

[stry_cat]

There is no option in this poll for my answers.

Q: Which way would you prefer that it move? Which way is it moving?
A: More Liberty/More Authoritarian

[opebo]

Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward. 

Teenagers are in high school, a wonderful institution where the typical reaction to homosexuals is to beat them. 

[Alcon]

Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward. 

Teenagers are in high school, a wonderful institution where the typical reaction to homosexuals is to beat them. 

Always nice to see that generalizations are alive and well.

[opebo]

Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward. 

Teenagers are in high school, a wonderful institution where the typical reaction to homosexuals is to beat them. 

Always nice to see that generalizations are alive and well.

Well, I went to high school in the 1980's and that was my impression - I doubt it has gotten any better.

[Alcon]

Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward. 

Teenagers are in high school, a wonderful institution where the typical reaction to homosexuals is to beat them. 

Always nice to see that generalizations are alive and well.

Well, I went to high school in the 1980's and that was my impression - I doubt it has gotten any better.

Generalizing your high school to the entire of America isn't really unfair. Perhaps you live in a less tolerant area. It's obviously hard, although I do not know anyone gay at my high school, but I rarely hear of hate crimes.

[The Duke]

The country is moving right socially, in part because of a rise in religiosity among younger people.  The young are more pro-life than previous generations, for example.  They are not as pro-gay marriage as it is often claimed.  Only about 50% of those in their 20s support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward.  Race will be less important as interracial marriage gets more common.

Economically, the country is moving nowhere.  We have adopted a center right position that neither the Republicans (for reasons of ideology) or Democrats (for reasons of backbone) are willing to challenge.  Until someone challenges the order in a serious way, it will remain as is.

The one flaw I see on some people's approach top the question is their conception of right and left.  The liberals keep implying that anything that is left behind us is "right" and everything that is newly created is "left".  There was one poster who claimed that slavery is a conservative position, for example.  Defending slavery may be conservative in the sense that it is a defense of conserving a social institution, but it hardly connects to our current conception of right and left.  The right is defined by a value system of economic liberty based on classical ecnomics and social policy dominated by Christian religious ethics.  The left is defined by a value system based on social permissiveness and semi-socialist economics.  Todiscern who is winning,we should not look at history and see that we are different than we used to be and conclude that the left is always winning.  We should see which value system has advanced itself the greatest distance over time and which way the wind is blowing right now.

A very American viewpoint, btw.

Interesting, how so?

[minionofmidas]

The last paragraph, with its disregard of history (putting it negatively).

[A18]

What do you mean by that?

If any change is "liberal," you'd have to say the Reagan Revolution was a liberal movement, as well as the conservative movement in general.

[minionofmidas]

What do you mean by that?

If any change is "liberal," you'd have to say the Reagan Revolution was a liberal movement, as well as the conservative movement in general.

No, that's got nothing to do with what I was referring to do. Nothing whatsoever.

[A18]

So why don't you just post what you're talking about instead of making us guess?

[minionofmidas]

So why don't you just post what you're talking about instead of making us guess?

Your brain can take a little exercise. Just follow John's argument from "defending slavery" to the end.

[WMS]

Difficult to say. The left in the 1960's used the courts to short-circuit the popular process and impose its ideas, both economic and social. As we have seen since then, there has been a strong counterreaction to that, so far with the economics being turned back quite a bit, and the social stuff in flux, but, judging by future trends among youngsters, likely to move back some as well - note that I consider the gay marriage numbers to be an exception to the trend, and numbers on items like abortion and popular culture to be the trend itself. YMMV, but quite frankly the left's actions in the 1960's seem to have had as their main impact really pissing off the right and sending the country rightward since then. You reap what you sow...

[John Dibble]

Back from vacation.

Anywho, I don't think we can really say. I would hope a libertarian direction, at least among the youth. On the scale of left to right, it really depends on the issue. On some we move left, on others right. Gun control, I think we're moving right - the Assault Weapons Ban was left to expire, for instance. Gay marriage I think is moving left, at least a larger portion of the young are for it than before(and I doubt they will just up and change their minds, I've also seen a number of older individuals who were originally against it change their minds). We'll really have to see how things go - big events will change the course we're on now.

[Platypus]

Our generation in Oz is pretty different from the Americans, it seems. We're easily the most nationalistic generation ever, but also the least racist. We're very anti-war, but also very 'pragmatic' in foreign policy (that might seem a contradiction, but considering Australia's position, it really isn't-PM if you want an explaination). We are economically, compared with most previous generations, very right wing, but socially, the most 'libertarian' generation in yonks. Of course, when I say very right wing, that's by Australian standards-the American 'very right wing' is still, pretty much, abhorrent to Australians, as seen with the response to Howard's IR changes.

We're very capitalist but also very humanitarian; slaves to marketers but also the first generation in Australian history, really, to have a deep interest in the world outside Australia and the UK.

We can't stand the ALP or the Liberals, but we vote ALP anyway-until we get a mortgage, and then we vote Liberal, until we can actually afford our mortgage, and then we vote Green. That's if we vote at all-despite being one of the more interested generations in politics, compared to other generations at the same age-we are very much against the existing political heirachy.

[MODU]

Right/Left.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Left/Left

Well I hope we move economically right/socially left. That would work better...

[TheresNoMoney]

I can't imagine that an industrialized nation like American could move any further to the right.

[Frodo]

Left/Right

The country is moving right socially, in part because of a rise in religiosity among younger people.  The young are more pro-life than previous generations, for example.  They are not as pro-gay marriage as it is often claimed.  Only about 50% of those in their twenties support gay marriage, which hardly makes it inevitable, and the number is actually lower among those in the teens, which refutes the suggestion that there is a consistent and inexorable trend leftward.  Race will be less important as interracial marriage gets more common.

Economically, the country is moving nowhere.  We have adopted a center right position that neither the Republicans (for reasons of ideology) or Democrats (for reasons of backbone) are willing to challenge.  Until someone challenges the order in a serious way, it will remain as is.

The one flaw I see on some people's approach to the question is their conception of 'right' and 'left'.  The liberals keep implying that anything that is left behind us is "right" and everything that is newly created is "left".  There was one poster who claimed that slavery is a conservative position, for example.  Defending slavery may be conservative in the sense that it is a defense of conserving a social institution, but it hardly connects to our current conception of right and left.  The right is defined by a value system of economic liberty based on classical ecnomics and social policy dominated by Christian religious ethics.  The left is defined by a value system based on social permissiveness and semi-socialist economics.  To discern who is winning,we should not look at history and see that we are different than we used to be and conclude that the left is always winning.  We should see which value system has advanced itself the greatest distance over time and which way the wind is blowing right now.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Based on personal experience both in high school as well as in college, I would agree with that analysis -the first paragraph especially.  I would add also that our generation (everyone born from 1981 to 2000) is by no means the carbon-copy of the Baby-Boomers, and even if the draft is reinstated, those protesting the loudest will likely be our Baby Boomer parents.  It should hardly go unnoticed that that the vast majority of those who have participated in antiwar demonstrations have been the leftovers from the Vietnam War era.  I see more gray hair at those rallies than young people -and speaking as someone who once participated in them, I would know.   One should not expect that we will initiate another Woodstock, or a sexual revolution with 'back-to-nature' fashions coming back into vogue.  We are more like the parents of those Baby Boomers than the Baby Boomers themselves -minus the racism. 

[MODU]

I can't imagine that an industrialized nation like American could move any further to the right.

There is nothing wrong with being Conservative.  The only reason why Liberalization still exists is because people constantly want more, and are not content with what they have. 

[Beet]

I can't imagine that an industrialized nation like American could move any further to the right.

There is nothing wrong with being Conservative.  The only reason why Liberalization still exists is because people constantly want more, and are not content with what they have. 

If people were content with what they had, we would all just stop working and sit around drinking iced tea until we starved to death. Life is about pursuit.

[MODU]

I can't imagine that an industrialized nation like American could move any further to the right.

There is nothing wrong with being Conservative.  The only reason why Liberalization still exists is because people constantly want more, and are not content with what they have. 

If people were content with what they had, we would all just stop working and sit around drinking iced tea until we starved to death. Life is about pursuit.

hahaha . . . I wasn't referring to employment.  I was referring to society.  I guess I should have made that more clear.