Howdy

[dsanthony]

Hello all. I'm a new member. My name is David and I live in Las Vegas. I'm 41, a veteran of the Air Force and have a MA in English Lit. I've also done graduate work in Comparative Religion and History.

I work as a Sales Rep for a printing company here in town. My degree is in Creative Writing and I'm an author of poetry and short fiction.

Used to be a radical Dem, not anymore. If I were to describe myself, I'd say that I am a conservative socialist.

[Alonzo]

Interesting combination. My guess is that means support for social programs for those who need them, while seeing taxation as a required means to do that. At the same time conservative on foreign policy and social issues. Is that right?

[dsanthony]

Interesting combination. My guess is that means support for social programs for those who need them, while seeing taxation as a required means to do that. At the same time conservative on foreign policy and social issues. Is that right?


Well, to be less wonkish and more philosophical...

Marx said that socialism was the outcome of an evolutionary process. The European and American working class reached a level of achievement and awareness that peaked in the Scandanvian economic and social models of the 70s and 80s. With international competition, these isolated experiments will not be long-lasting, until a pan-European consensus is reached.

The Dems abandoned the working class in the 60s and 70s, choosing a radical cultural agenda over an economic agenda. While the working class is largely christian and "redneck" (according to Moore, Streisand, and co.) and therefore opposed the radical agenda of the intellectual left (secularizing society, gay rights, etc)--the left can project their idealized visions of the black, gay and other "victim" groups and convince themselves they are working on behalf of others.

Socilalism, if and when it comes, will come from the NASCAR Dad branch of the Repub party. The loony left cares nothing for the working class.