Left-Right Divide on Gun Control:The Left asks,“Does it feel good?” The Right asks,“Does it do good?

Assuming that there are good and bad people on both the right and the left and that everyone is horrified by mass shootings, how is one to explain the great divide between the Right and the Left on the gun issue as it relates to mass murders, such as the one recently committed at Umpqua Community College? Why does the Left focus on more gun-control laws, and why doesn’t the Right? One reason the Right doesn’t focus on gun-control laws is quintessentially American. Many Americans believe that it is their right — and even their duty — to own guns for self-protection. Unique among major democratic and industrialized nations, Americans have traditionally believed in relying on the state as little as possible.


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The Differences Between Left and Right: Part I

Most Americans hold either liberal or conservative positions on most matters. In many instances, however, they would be hard pressed to explain their position or the position they oppose.
But if you can’t explain both sides, how do you know you’re right? At the very least, you need to understand both the liberal and conservative positions in order to effectively understand your own.
I grew up in a liberal world — New York, Jewish and Ivy League graduate school. I was an 8-year-old when President Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson. I knew nothing about politics and had little interest in the subject. But I well recall knowing — knowing, not merely believing — that Democrats were “for the little guy” and Republicans were “for the rich guys.”


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Differences Between Left and Right: Part II

The difference between Right and Left addressed in this column concerns a fundamentally different method that each utilizes in order to improve society.


Conservatives believe that the way to a better world is almost always through moral improvement of the individual — by each person doing battle with his own moral defects. It is true that in particularly violent and evil societies such as fascist, communist and Islamist tyrannies the individual must be preoccupied with battling outside forces. Almost everywhere else, however, and certainly in a free and decent country such as America, the greatest battle of the individual must be with inner forces — that is, with his or her flawed character and moral defects. (See Left-Right Difference Part 1 concerning their differing perceptions of human nature.)


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'Does It Do Good?' vs. 'Does It Feel Good?' Left-Right Differences: Part III

A fundamental difference between the left and right concerns how each assesses public policies. The right asks, "Does it do good?" The left asks a different question.


One example is the minimum wage. In 1987, The New York Times editorialized against any minimum wage. The title of the editorial said it all -- "The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00."


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The Left Rejects Painful Truths: Left-Right Differences, Part IV

Here's a difference between Left and Right that is rarely noted despite the fact that it is at least as important as any other and even explains many of the other differences.



At the core of left-wing thought is a rejection of painful realities, the rejection of what the French call les faits de la vie: the facts of life. Conservatives, on the other hand, are all too aware of these painful realities of life and base many of their positions on them.


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King v. Burwell: The Right(s) response

President Obama has created a precarious situation for millions of Americans. The result of this situation is a Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell, which intertwines the Obama administration’s overreach, access to health care and politics. If the court rules in favor of a plain reading of the Affordable Care Act, more than 6 million enrolled through the Obamacare exchanges are at risk of losing health insurance coverage and access to care. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell recently said the Obama Administration has no backup plan if more than 6 million Americans lose their subsidy in the aftermath of the ruling, “…We have no plans that would, undo the massive damage to our health care system…”

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Racism Right and Left: One Man’s Opinion

Because I am in New York for a short visit and, as the world well knows, the city of my birth is in a period of racial turmoil, I am going to say something I have been thinking about for a long time.  And because I am one of the relative few to have spent long periods of his life on both the left and the right and because I was a civil rights worker in the sixties. I think — though it is purely personal and based only on  observation — I have earned the right to an opinion.  So here goes.

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The Left’s Love Affair With the 4-letter N Word

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” - Aldous Huxley

 

I like quotes.  Quotes are wisdom for those with short attention spans.  They are disregarded by many as irrelevant platitudes or obsolete; however, they are knowledge, often hard-earned and considered by their authors to be important enough to be passed on.  I’ve chosen the above quote for today, not only because it is always relevant, but because we bear witness to a time where the political left of this country is trying to realize Aldous’ dystopic “Brave New World” (which I’m reasonably sure he meant as a warning, not a blueprint).

 

To this end, the left has slandered any group that has opposed their fundamental (Socialist) transformation of America, and they love one name more than any other: Nazi (the 4-letter N word).  But how accurate is this?  What traits do the political left and right really share with this infamous party of villains?

 

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Our State of Police

America does not have a police state. Yet. East Germany had a police state. Syria has a police state. In police states, the government is afraid of the people. Our government is not all that afraid of us. Despite the liberal paranoia about militias and assault rifles, the training drills and TV shows where survivalists overrun the country, the people in charge don't wake up every morning worrying about a revolution. If they did, then two people in your neighborhood would be informing on you weekly.

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Conservatives: Not Completely Delusional

Ezra Klein makes the argument in writing that I have heard many progressives and moderates make in conversation: That Republican politicians have continuously moved to the right over the past 20 or so years, and Democrats have expanded their range of promoted policies to the right to occupy the policy space abandoned by the increasingly extreme Republicans. As Klein put it: “President Obama’s record makes him look like a moderate Republicans from the late-90s.” Andrew Sullivan supports this view, and has called Ross Douthat “delusional” for not agreeing with him. You might disagree with Douthat on a given issue, or even on most issues, but when you start calling somebody that level-headed “delusional,” you might want to slow down and consider your own premises for a minute.

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