Political Identity Crisis

quote:

---

I can recognize that going the whole hog into socialism (state ownership of all industry) would be very damaging to the most creative economic forces.

---

Not that it seems to do any good, but before the thread goes off into another nonsense discussion, I should mention that socialism does not mean state ownership of all industry. In fact, the goal of the more traditional socialists, the anarchists and the communists, would like to do away with the state altogether.

---

"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

quote:

---

I've been having trouble lately with pinning down my political identity.

---

Go to the library and do a whole lot of reading.-

quote:

---

When it comes to economics, I tend to drift back and forth between socialist and libertarian.

---

Yep. Since both socialism and libertarianism are actually social and political theories (and at least socialism is a catch-all word for a wide variety of political and social theories), it appears that you really do need to do a whole lot of reading.-

quote:

---

Have any of you gone through a period where you struggled with this?

---

Yep. Not so much in terms of labels -- I have been pretty comfortable calling myself an anarchist/communist/socialist since high school -- as much as it was in figuring out exactly what it that I believed, what I accepted, and, especially, trying to figure out how much of my beliefs were mutually inconsisten.-

quote:

---

If so, how did you ultimately arrive at a point of clarity?

---

Well, it never actually ends -- I would hope that you never reach a point where you are absolutely certain of your beliefs and your stances on issues. But there did come a point of clarity, where things finally began to make a lot of sense. That came after...a whole lot of reading.

---

"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

Heh. I'm sure that you have a point that you're trying to make, but I bet it's off topic for this thread.At any rate, I hope that you have been well, iano. Unfortunately, I haven't been reading the threads on which you have been active.Added by edit:On the other hand, it appears that this thread is being derailed into another "Socialism: good or bad, and does anyone even know what the word means?" thread.This message has been edited by Chiroptera, 26-Jan-2006 01:55 AM

---

"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

I guess this would be my favorite quote:

---

"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

So, Madfish, have we helped you with your political identity crisis yet?

---

"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt