"News Snipet" Wonders Who's a Right Winger in Politics
You will be addressing the following question:
In regard to United States politics, define "right-wing" and name at least two prominent right wing politicians and what makes them "right wing."
I can't think of one right wing politician, much less two.
The problem we have today is that our entire culture has been moving to the left for several generations; maybe since the founding of the nation. When the whole of society is trending leftward it just means that the left moves further to the left and the right moves closer to the center.
At this juncture, it seems that the left has almost reached critical mass, ie, virtual socialism. The right continues to move to the center. By comparison, today's so-called conservatives are on a par with the JFK liberals.
The net result of this societal leftward movement has been that many mainstream democrats (like Reagan) found or find themselves out in the cold because their party has left them, hence the term, "Reagan democrats."
The republican party has left the "right wingers" behind as well, but where else can they go? Some have found refuge in the libertarian party, but not without misgivings about their resulting irrelevance in elections.
I'm convinced politicos love this leftward phenomenon. Why? Because they are empowered by growing government and ever more dependent voters. Citizens independent of the government and government programs have no use for politicians bent on enlarging the already burgeoning bureaucracy, so it is in the politician's best interest to create as many dependent voters as possible to insure re-election (the ability to vote for one's own largesse is symtomatic of a society spiraling downward...Alexis de Tocqueville said, "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.").
Furthermore, the Federal Government is the nation's largest employer, which, in itself, is anti-thetical to "right wing" conservativism.
Some people think of President Bush as a conservative, but it's my opinion that he's conservative only by comparison to left wing extremists like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Tom Daschle et al. He's certainly not "right wing."
The President may be more conservative than some of his republican predecessors and it appears that we may even be undergoing a conservative trend in many ways. These are net positives for right leaning folks. But for the societal momentum to change directions toward the right over the long term, this conservative trend will need to become even more conservative and it will need to endure well beyond the current administration.
The course of our nation isn't up to the politicians as much as it is up to the citizens. We pretty much get what we want and maybe even deserve when it comes to our government. When we realize wrong people get into power and do some real damage, it takes a long time to right the wrong that has taken place. It's that momentum thing.
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