Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 06:54 AM 9/17/04 +0200, Nathan Wajsman wrote: >Actually, I do not find the Economist unbiased. I love the magazine--its >writing style, its thoroughness, the total absence of lifestyle and >celebrity articles--but it does have a political orientation towards the >right. They endorsed Bush back in 2000 and I am almost certain they will >do so again this year. I shall continue to subscribe despite that. THE ECONOMIST was founded as and has remained a Liberal paper. Their editorial policy is to accept limited government control of social matters, little government regulation of business and industry, and open trade borders. To call this a "right" agenda is to mistake what it means to be a "right" thinker: we advocate no government control of social matters, no government regulation of business and industry, and absolutely open trade borders. This journal is closer to a left-centrist position than are most and I can accept this: I do read the Washington POST regularly, as I have come to understand their lingo over the past forty years: when the Post describes someone as a "dangerous Right-Wing lunatic", I read this as "damn! another bloody moderate". I recognize that the most "right-wing" part of the British political spectrum, post Thatcherem, is what the rest of us would describe as "more than faintly tinged with pink". There is a very old joke circulated among rank-and-file Republicans in the US about the failure of the Grand Old Party to define a difference in the American political scene: "The Democrat Party, whenever an issue arises, answers by stating smugly that 'we will buy it for you' and the best response the Republicans can make is that, 'we'll get a better deal'." The Tories in the UK have fallen into the same trap after their self-immolation over the EU which led to Lady Thatcher's returning her seals to Her Majesty. In other words, there really are no right-wingers in the UK and I doubt that there are such anywhere in Europe. We came to this continent to avoid that daily grind of having to justify our existence to the Government: over here, we delight in the abilities of folks to be different and to nt need government intervention to enjoy this freedom. (And, yes, a half-century back, the Federal Government DID have to intervene to ensure that racial and reliigious origin was not an issue in the supply of government services -- but note that, today, almost all of any remaining corrective actions are handled at a State level, and do not require the intervention of a Federal bureaucracy. Me? I am a rational anarchist who advocates the elimination of all government and allowing the citizens to handle things on their own. But, then, I have more faith in the common sensee of the average citizen than does the government and the advocates of Big Government. Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!