Re: Left, Right, Up, Down--Libertarian Ideas

[dmandl@panix.com (David Mandl)]

Tim May writes:

>Check out the "Nolan Chart," which is a fairly common classification
>in _two_ dimensions. Libertarians often use it to recruit members, by
>showing that the views of people they ask ("Do you favor legalizing
>drugs?" etc.) are often more similar to the libertarian position than
>to others.
>
>In fairness to my left-leaning friends (Dave Mandl as a good example),
>the questions in the Nolan Chart test are designed to make almost
>anyone appear to be a libertarian.

Yeah, I agree.  It always seemed like a tremendous kludge to me.

But anyway...In case my point was misunderstood, I should clarify.  I was
not trying to enforce conservative/liberal distinctions, which (like most
people on this list) I think are fairly meaningless.  The world is much
more complicated than that; though there are minor real differences,
supposed distinctions between "conservatives" and "liberals" are for the
most part an illusion--part of the "spectacle," to use Situationist jargon.
I responded the way I did to John Kreznar's post precisely because it
looked identical to standard Republican-style leftist-baiting, which I
unfortunately see too much of every day on the net.  John cleared this up
in personal email.  Apologies if I misunderstood or misconstrued what he
was saying.

   --Dave.

--
Dave Mandl
dmandl@panix.com