Talk:Left-wing politics

Dispute

How do you go about disputing this article and it's validity. This article and the one on the "right" are not neutral, and should either be edited correctly, or removed entirely. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.196.33.229 (talk) 21:35, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

The distinction of egalitarian should be made

Left wing politics favor equality of outcome policies such as socialism and communism and not equality of opportunity policies such as free market capitalism and meritocracy, with the exception of the center-left, which is "center" due to that right wing aspect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.240.255.227 (talk) 21:41, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

This is what people on the Right say people on the Left favor. But either they are wrong in calling people who favor the kind of mixed economy the richest countries in the world have had for the past seventy years Leftist, or they are wrong in saying Leftists favor equality of outcome. Rick Norwood (talk) 22:25, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Policies that left and right support may vary according to pragmatic concerns. TFD (talk) 17:07, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

History speaks louder than anything else when it comes to the Left. You have to look at the results, not just the professed "good intentions". TodKarlson (talk) 02:53, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

I agree, and if you consider, for example, the US Democratic party to be on the Left, then the success is evident. If, on the other hand, you limit the Left to governments such as Stalin's and Mao's, the failure is evident. One of the problems with the use of "the Left" today is that, at least in the West, the mainstrem media use it as a synonym for the US Democratic party and the right-wing media use that usage to conflate the Democrats with Stalin and Mao. This is why this article needs to be crystal clear about the two ways the word is used. Rick Norwood (talk) 17:18, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

"comedy group"

I removed the redirect that said "For the comedy group, see Liberal Democrats." Someone's awfully funny. ~~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.146.3.141 (talk) 05:01, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

On That Ol' Bullshit

Yo, who the fuck put this ol' Barry Clark nonsense in this bitch? That's some old bullshit, y'all know this is some slanted-ass bullshit orchestrated by those lame-ass conservative hos. Ain't no one tryin' to hear Barry Clark. I was like 'bro, the fuck is you?' when I heard dude's name. Dude is a nobody, ain't got shit goin'. I mean, real talk. Y'all on here like this is some professional or some shit. Naw, y'all need to address this immediately. Makin' leftists look bad and shit. No one tryin' to hear this old conservative nonsense. Yeah, we know y'all got good-ass computers... fuck y'all gotta rub it in our faces? Fuck out of here. Remove the ol' Clark bullshit, the fuck is he? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.238.91.147 (talk • contribs) 07:18, 25 November 2011

It's good to see someone contributing to the article who writes interesting prose. Maybe the old lady from the movie Airplane could translate for us? Rick Norwood (talk) 13:27, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Falconclaw5000 edit

Since the first words in the first sentence are "In politics", we hardly need to add that government is involved. And the Barry Clark quote is discussed above.

By the way, if you think "nobody" opposes equality, you haven't met any of my relatives. :)

Rick Norwood (talk) 19:43, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Really? I don't see it being discussed. Your Airplane! joke is funny, but not a discussion. For the record, I'll copy and paste my opposition to the quote here: "Why is Barry Clark significant, and why should Wikipedia sponsor a paragraph from a leftist saying why leftism is such a fantastic thing? The right wing politics article has no such monologue" Falconclaw5000 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:56, 14 December 2011 (UTC).

It is a quote from a standard textbook. It does not say leftism is a fantastic thing and I can find no evidence that the writer is a leftist. Even if he is, the book is written in a neutral tone. TFD (talk) 20:57, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

It's an argument for leftism. Just because he says "according to leftists..." before each sentence doesn't make it neutral. Anyhow, fine, I'll leave it alone. I'd like to quote William F. Buckley in the right wing article, but he's obviously a right winger, so I'll leave that alone too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Falconclaw5000 (talk • contribs) 04:47, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

I think a William F. Buckley quote would be entirely appropriate in the article on right-wing politics. Rick Norwood (talk) 14:33, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Okay, thank you! Falconclaw5000 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:24, 16 December 2011 (UTC).

Sorry, I misspoke. The Buckley quote is appropriate to the article Conservatism in the United States. While the use of left-wing to mean support for labour is international, the use of right-wing to mean anti-big-government is, as far as I can tell, unique to the US, and even there changes depending on which side is in power. When Bush was President, it was the Democrats who were anti-big-government. Rick Norwood (talk) 14:04, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

This isn't even true, the Democrats were only anti-Bush. They still favored Big Government in terms of welfare, entitlements, etc. They only opposed it, and by "they" I mean the very liberal wing of the Democratic Party which those such as Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid didn't belong to, they only opposed Big Government in the area of civil liberties. Nonetheless, you're not even letting me make that distinction in the Right Wing article, insisting on making it as Marxist and leftist as possible (I wasn't the one who raised the "did Karl Marx write this article" objection, by the way, although that was my initial reaction to the article), in contradiction of the relevant objections raised by such esteemed academics such as Thomas Sowell. Falconclaw5000 (talk) 19:11, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Have you forgotten the famous ad in favor of the Democratic party where children in the future find their lives mortgaged to Republican Big Government. However, neither your opinion nor mine really matters. Find a reliable academic source for your assertions. Rick Norwood (talk) 21:37, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Does the Left always favor government action.

I reverted a recent edit that claims the Left wants to create equality through government action. Many on the left oppose the government, and those who do see a role for the government usually call not for true equality but for less extreme inequality. Rick Norwood (talk) 23:15, 26 January 2012 (UTC)