taylorengineer said:
I guess it depends on how you define "center."
We have butchered the meaning of several words in our American culture. "Conservative" is one of those words.
My definitions:
1.A conservative is one who is fiscally laissez-faire and socially libertarian.
2. A liberal is an economic Keynesian who argues the government should be actively interventionist in social affairs, too.
That is your personal set of definitions. Unfortunately, the political warfare in our country does not play by the rules, the definitions you have laid out.
The cultural/social side of your definitions do not define reality for either side. The "conservatives" are NOT Libertarian. In the just ended campaign the Conservatives campaigned on managing people "bedroom lives". The "liberals" are not activedly interventgionist in social affairs. The liberals are supporting "marry whom you wish", in some cases they are supporting "use the drug of your choice".
It is conservatives who support the idea of communities "buying" the arrival of industry by building factories with bond issues guaranteed by the public, and sometimes paid by the public. Conservatives are giving away financial resourced with sales tax holidays and all kinds of income tax deductions for big honkin' SUVs.
In the real world of politics, virtually none of the political groups actually look like "the picture you have put on your WANTED POSTER" to identify the political battles going on.
Now, let's talk about this Herman Cain that you say is not radically conservative. After his days at the pizza company and his days at the restaurant association, what was he doing to earn a few bucks to live on? I don't know if it was a few months or a few years, but there seems to be credible reports that he want across the country holding "pep rallies"... and suddenly: Lo-and-behold... in the 2010 election cycle we had this "grass roots movement" <choke, gag, barf> when the Tea Party led the drive to elect to congress the most rabidly conservative class of new congressmen in a number of years. You and I can't prove it or disprovie it, but scuttle-butt on the street is that the Koch Brothers funded the organization that paid Herman Cain to give speeches and pep-rallies that resulted in so-called "spontaneous" outbreaks of local tea party chapters.
Now, Herman is within his rights and privileges to do all of the above... if he did... but in the face of all this to call him something less than strongly or radically conservative seems to miss the mark just a little bit.
As he does his daily broadcast, we will all learn together whether he is a little bit liberal, a little bit conservative or a whole bunch conservative.
I agree with you that our society needs a better education in economics. But that will raise just one more big hollering-fest. Who gets to decide what theory of economics will be taught?
