Usenet: Some thoughts on philosophy and major US political parties

On 07/05/2010 12:03 PM, Mark Sebree wrote:

I was thinking recently about the way what the US political parties tend to try to present themselves as being opposite of one another on many issues, as well as the adjectives that they are often attached to themselves.

If Democrat is the opposite of Republican:

Democrats are often viewed as being liberal and progressives.

Liberal is defined as (by Dictionary.com)

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression
6. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant
7. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

Progressive is defined as: 1. favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, esp. in political matters
1. making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods, etc.
2. characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.
3. going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.

These are seen or should be seen by most people as being positive traits.

Opposed to the Democrats are the Republicans, who are generally viewed as being conservative. Conservative is defined as:

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2.  Traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness

However, since they supposedly the opposite of Democrats, that means that they are also the opposite of being progressive. Which means that they are regressive.

Regressive is defined as:
1. regressing or tending to regress; retrogressive.
2. obtained from or characterized by backward reasoning.
3. Tending to return or revert.
4. Characterized by regression or a tendency to regress.

So, rather than moving forward like the Democrats, Republicans want to move backwards, and return to the days of bigotry, discrimination, and oppression of women, blacks, latinos, homosexuals, non-Christians, and just about everyone else that does not kowtow to their dictates.

In summary, given that the major US political parties like to be seen as opposites, their "labels" become very telling.

Democrats are liberal and progressive. Republicans are conservative and regressive.

Which groups would you rather be associated with? Those that move forward and try to better the world, or those that try to move backward to a less developed and less free world?

--Mark Sebree

Regressive, counter-revolutionary and reactionary are all words that describe conservative political ideas.


Republican tax ideas are, in fact, regressive. Flat taxes and fair taxes are regressive. The only taxes the GOP complains about are the progressive ones: Income Tax and the Estate Tax.


The Republican philosophy is, indeed, regressive.  Their political tactics are reactionary: attacking every piece of Democratic legislation coming out of the House and Senate.

source:

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From: Mark Sebree <sebree@infionline.net>
Newsgroups: alt.abortion,alt.politics
Subject: Some thoughts on philosophy and major US political parties

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