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Samizdata quote of the day

· Slogans & Quotations

Personally, I’d be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.

– Instapundit showing why it is wrong to call him right wing

October 4th, 2004 |

9 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Shawn
    October 4, 2004 at 11:42 pm

    On the contrary it proves why it is exactly correwct to call him right wing.

    Helpful point: Right wing does not mean conservative.

    Another: Conservative does not mean homophobic.

    Last one: The only thing between the Right and the Left is indecision.

  • Perry de Havilland
    October 5, 2004 at 2:19 am

    The only thing between Right and Left is the taxpayer they want to both rob for different stated reasons… those same quixotic folks who fondly imagine they are being given a real choice between significantly different implementations of the state’s might.

    In so far as ‘Right’ means anything very much, it does indeed generally mean some variety of conservative, though I do think the terms are increasingly meaningless as most ‘right’ parties are as regulatory as mainstream left parties in much of the developed world.

  • Michael Jennings
    October 5, 2004 at 12:03 pm

    And don’t call me either right wing or a conservative. I despise conservatives and I think the whole left/right thing is completely irrelevant. (This is made worse by being an Australian, as Australian conservativism pretty much completely lacks the support for free markets that is present as a strong strain in American conservatism, at least. Australian conservatism sometimes does include support for “business”, but this tends to be big business protection and cronyism rather than anything to do with supporting free markets or less regulation).

    You can call me a “Whig” if you like though. Fine people the Whigs. A shame that (in political terms at least) they died out.

  • triticale
    October 5, 2004 at 1:54 pm

    But should we call you “right whig” or “left whig”?

  • Shawn
    October 5, 2004 at 7:14 pm

    “In so far as ‘Right’ means anything very much, it does indeed generally mean some variety of conservative,”

    Rubbish. Libertarianism is a right wing political ideology.

    “The only thing between Right and Left is the taxpayer they want to both rob for different stated reasons… ”

    Unless you support the amusing comedy known as “voluntary taxation” the issue of the taxpayer being “robbed” is just as true for libertarians/minarchists. A minarchist state still needs taxes to function.

    Pretending to stand above the fray in some mythical “Third Way” land is great for libertarians, Blair’s New Labour and Chestertonian Distributists as far as a good morally superior look goes, buts its bollocks. Claiming to be neither left nor right is fashion statement, not an accurate statement of political philosphy.

  • Julian Morrison
    October 5, 2004 at 8:49 pm

    Somebody please put Shawn in a narrow alley so that, being only able to conceive of “left” and “right” and unable to go forward, he’s terminally wedged and dies of starvation.

  • left dick
    October 5, 2004 at 10:11 pm

    I’m neither right or left wing, but my dick does lean to the left.

  • Winzeler
    October 5, 2004 at 11:36 pm

    Shawn, I suggest you check out Politopia.com. I don’t much like their quiz, but the introduction might be of some use to you.

  • Gil
    October 8, 2004 at 7:50 am

    Why shouldn’t the assault weapons come out of the closet?

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