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Old 03-30-2005, 03:08 PM   #19 (permalink)
Willravel
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ARTelevision
willravel, I understand the difficulty in drawing clear semantic distinctions. There are many references in political science that represent attempts to delineate the distinctions between political positions. Self-description makes sense, I think.

In general, I see man as the most selfish, brutal, and competitive animal on earth and not an in-any-way-perfectable being. I see repression as the key component of civilization, therefore I favor certain systems of social control over many alternatives. In general, I affirm Apollonian principles as opposed to Dionysian ones - I'm interested in order as opposed to anarchic tendencies.

These are some of my general philosophical principles. I'm satisfied with broadly describing my own systems of thought in pragmatic ways and I understand that is not the same thing as describing the thoughts of others who may be in opposition to these principles. I have no interest in being argumentative about this.

Rather than descend into spirals of semantics, I'd rather that liberals, libertarians, populists, etc. describe their own assumptions - as they are not my own.
It sounds as if your specific political beliefs as are alien to republicans as they are to libertarians or democrats. As a matter of fact, it would be a waste of time to try and fit your beliefs into one of the parties in American politics. I'm afraid the 'critical reason' party has yet to form. It would seem that the ideals of freedom and liberty actually come into conflict with your beliefs of 'repression as the key component of civilization'. If you are a believer that civilization is the right direction for society, then authoritarian society based entirely in reasoning and logic would best fit your political stance. I guess we could call you an Apollonian Authoritarian. That would be at almost the polar opposite side of libertarian, so I can understand why you would not choose to support liberal candidates.

So, to clairfy your point for myself, you are dispelased with the republicans not because of their authoritarian leanings, but because of they're moving away from reason. Is this what you mean?
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