[lsbskins1]

Quote by: rmnunez But we don't have any successful examples of these lefty's who can balance that economy and social net. It is a balancing game which for lefties invariably involves simply gutting the military and pouring the savings into whatever social programs. Its attractive until you try and apply it to a major superpower with economic interests to protect around the world. Offer me some examples of leftie leaders curbing excessively growing social programs, if you can. In the US, which led the way on this, charitable assistance became benefits and are now entitlements, which are far more extensive, costly and of easier eligibility than they were originally -the same is true in every country which emulated the early US example. The "lefty worldview" is a combination of Marxism with a bunch of derived socialist and generally anti-establishment ideologies as espoused by such notable lefties as Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao, as well as whatever lesser notables are prefered (Castro, Guevara, Chavez or whatever other 'revolutionaries'). "Lefty" is a generic term, it applies to a variety of more or less socialistic perspectives and brings together a plurality with very different priorities, but a common socialist premise. Though there are a variety of different shades of leftism, each with its own merits, none of them is solid enough to represent a viable alternative, which is why they tend to group together for strength. Some are more concerned with the environment, gender, labor, ethnic or some other issue, but they see their 'struggle' better furthered casting their lot together against the 'establishment' which each reads into the root of their 'cause'. Often lefties feel they are unfairly grouped in some collectively dismissed bunch and want to expound on the particularly meritorious aspects of their ideology. Unfortunately they can't seem to limit themselves to the specific differences they have with the more generic leftism and instead tend to echo the same arguments other lefties make (which is why I lump them together). The rest of us are those not subscribing to as socialistic a perspective, a group lefties generically term "conservatives". The relevant difference here is that we balance the economy and social programs a bit closer to the center than the lefties would like.

But, if I were to say "righties" expouse nothing more than variations and watered down versions of the theories of Hitler, Attilla The Hun and Vlad Dracul you would have a heart attack and accuse me of distorting your views. You offer no real examples supporting your points. You claim EU countries are on the verge of collaspe, but cite no supporting evidence. You imply that were it not for the US and NATO, all these countries would have had to carry defense budgets that would have kept them from doing the things they have done socially, but offer no direct evidence that this is true. You are all rhetoric and no substance. Crunch some actual numbers or post some links that do that job for you. Otherwise, this is nothing more than unsupported opinion that is more than likely based in slavish devotion to "righty" dogma.