Socialists in Congress

[Venkman]

Cali will love this...

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...Q0OGY3YmU5YzQ=

[il Padrino Ute]

Nice find, Venkman.

I'm curious to know how far to the left these socialists need to be for the idiots who put them in office to finally recognize their mistake?

[BlueHair]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Nice find, Venkman.

I'm curious to know how far to the left these socialists need to be for the idiots who put them in office to finally recognize their mistake?

I'm no fan of socialists, but unfortunately sometimes they are needed to balance out the fascist right wingers.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by BlueHair

I'm no fan of socialists, but unfortunately sometimes they are needed to balance out the fascist right wingers.

I agree with this.

I just prefer fascists because they make no pretense about what they are about. Socialists want us to think they care. Fascists don't care what we think.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by BlueHair

I'm no fan of socialists, but unfortunately sometimes they are needed to balance out the fascist right wingers.

Curious...who would you say consider to be a fascist right-winger in the congress?

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Venkman

Cali will love this...

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...Q0OGY3YmU5YzQ=

Wow- so the conclusion being that if a person is an avowed socialist, then other who cast votes on non-socialistic legislation in the same manner as the avowed socialist must also be socialists?

Yeah, nice find. I remember when the National Review was relevant.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Wow- so the conclusion being that if a person is an avowed socialist, then other who cast votes on non-socialistic legislation in the same manner as the avowed socialist must also be socialists?

Yeah, nice find. I remember when the National Review was relevant.

People vote for and against legislation for a variety of reasons, but however an imperfect measuring stick it might be, it avoids the inevitable tangential debate that happens when some numbskull accuses everyone in the room of not knowing what the definition of socialism really is.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Tex

People vote for and against legislation for a variety of reasons, but however an imperfect measuring stick it might be, it avoids the inevitable tangential debate that happens when some numbskull accuses everyone in the room of not knowing what the definition of socialism really is.

An "imperfect measuring stick?" No, Glenn, it is no measuring stick at all.

Unless the subject of the legislation being voted on involves socialism (hint: it doesn't), then whether or not people vote similarly on that legislation says absolutely nothing about whether or not they are all socialists any more than it says whether or not they all like the color blue because blue is the favorite color of one of the Democrats who tends to vote with his party.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

An "imperfect measuring stick?" No, Glenn, it is no measuring stick at all.

Unless the subject of the legislation being voted on involves socialism (hint: it doesn't), then whether or not people vote similarly on that legislation says absolutely nothing about whether or not they are all socialists any more than it says whether or not they all like the color blue because blue is the favorite color of one of the Democrats who tends to vote with his party.

Actually a voting record is a fairly decent way to determine a congressman's ideology, and is used by all sorts of organizations both Left and Right for that purpose. It's imperfect, but better than any other measuring stick out there. Your "color blue" example is absurdly reductionist.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Tex

Actually a voting record is a fairly decent way to determine a congressman's ideology, and is used by all sorts of organizations both Left and Right for that purpose. It's imperfect, but better than any other measuring stick out there. Your "color blue" example is absurdly reductionist.

No, Glenn. While it may be helpful to determine ideology, that doesn't mean it is helpful to determine whether or not someone is a socialist, anymore than it helps to determine whether or not people in Congress are anarchists. The legislation brought forward in Congress and subjected to a full vote of the Congress stays by and large within certain ideological boundaries (which, to save your brain the pain of trying to figure it out, do not extend to socialism or anarchy). This is because a full vote of Congress only occurs after the bill has been vetted by a committee and recommended for a full vote and then given a place on the docket by the presiding officer. You don't get socialist bills in the Congress, any more than you get a bill promoting anarchy (you would know this, if you knew the definition of socialism, but I digress). Even if a particular bill had an element of socialism embedded in it (and a small handful have), that bill would be such an exception to the rule that determining whether or not all members in Congress were socialists by their aggregate voting pattern is silly. You may as well be measuring attitudes towards the color blue.