tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885340672616713863.post4004476152121943745..comments2023-09-25T04:08:57.897-04:00Comments on American Counterpoint: Are Today's Democrats The Party Of Moderation In America?Keith Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18115490864347645607noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885340672616713863.post-16939895886290140442016-01-13T11:39:44.137-05:002016-01-13T11:39:44.137-05:00Semantical issues inevitably creep into any discus...Semantical issues inevitably creep into any discussion of political principles. This problem gets worse whenever we attempt to project contemporary debates into the past. Both Debs and Thomas considered themselves "moderate" too within the context of a political environment in which the standard for "radical" was defined by Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin.<br />"Socialism" is, of course, another term that's subject to vague and changing definitions. One might define it in terms of working class living standards relative to a subsistence-level existence as Debs would have recognized it. We might also define socialism in terms of the percentage of economic output that government controls. By either of these definitions, we're already further down the road towards socialism than probably either Debs or Thomas would have dreamed of, yet Bernie Sanders wants to take it much further and do it soon.<br />I believe that Sanders is a decent man and that he honestly has no interest in political violence as the means to his end. So, by that standard, I suppose he's moderate, but by any other standard I have a hard time squeezing him down to fit the label. Mark Bachmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16864483782023806885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6885340672616713863.post-91899043782549149602016-01-12T16:41:40.457-05:002016-01-12T16:41:40.457-05:00Mark writes beautifully, and I agree with some of ...Mark writes beautifully, and I agree with some of his thoughts here. But his main dispute seems to be a mistaken one with my use of the term "moderate." By that term I mean supporting the free enterprise system and working for reforms that make it better, not overturning it. Let's leave Bernie aside for the moment, although the admiring article about him in this week's Bloomberg Businessweek might be seen as supporting my use of this label even for him. The most likely Democratic candidate is Hillary, and if she's not moderate in the sense I am describing, I can't imagine who is. The Democrats are not supporting a Gene McCarthy or George McGovern, much less a Norman Thomas or Eugene Debs. They have no plans to take over the factories like Truman did, and no need to revolutionize any social systems. Keith Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18115490864347645607noreply@blogger.com