Moderate Dems: Why don't you consider yourselves to be on the Left?

[KamaAina]

Is it:

* a perceived lack of fiscal responsibility?

* a perceived weakness in terms of national security?

(Bush* is far worse on either of these than any leftie could ever be)

Or, perhaps:

* a "flamefest"-type issue like choice, guns, or drugs?

* reluctance to be identified with "commies" or "pinkos"? (I, for one, am no such thing; I am a left-libertarian, down by Gandhi on the Political Compass)

Anything I "left" out?

"In your heart, you know we're right, uh, LEFT!" :-)

[Demobrat]

1. I don't consider myself to be a leftist

because I'm not an anti-capitalist. I just think capitalism needs to take place within a framework of laws designed to keep corporations honest. To me the Repuke mantra of less government interference means more opportunity for business people to lie, cheat and steal. But I don't think all business people are dishonest or that big business is bad .

[KamaAina]

5. I'm not against fair profit. Trouble comes from "profit at any cost".

Look at the food supply. Is it possible to produce meat that's safe at a profit? Of course it is. They did so for decades. BUT -- the Repukes let the regulations slide, and so the meat industry went for that tiny margin of extra profit, at the cost of E. coli O157:H7, and very possibly BSE/nCJD (mad cow).

Or, take the pharmaceutical industry -- please! Any attempt to rein in their windfall profits is met with their lobbyists whining, "But we won't develop any more new drugs unless our stock can trade at 50 times earnings!"

In the KamaAina Administration, more corporate responsibility would equal less regulation. Trouble is, under Bush*, they're getting a free ride.

[Demobrat]

6. In a Demobrat administration

there would be more regulation, not less. Corporations have shown that they can't be trusted unless they're watched every minute. I worked for one that Enroned, and have seen the devastation close up. If I were pres, all the crooks would be in jail, not happily spending their money on some island.

[ulysses]

9. but what you list here

wouldn't make you "not a leftist", at least in my book. :shrug:

[LiberalLibra]

2. I'm DEFINITELY left of the political MIDDLE but my main reason....

.....for being right of the ultra left (no flames meant here) is very simply. I want someone who can appeal to the "left" as well as those previously known as "Reagan Democrats", someone that can DEFINITELY win and thereby kick those neo con pigs all the way back to Crawford.

[comradebillyboy]

3. i am a raging moderate, but in today's political idiom

i am a leftie. i still like guns and a balanced budget, but i love freedom and fairness more than i love labels.

[FDRLincoln]

4. capitalism

I agree with the comment above: because I think capitalism is the best economic system, PROVIDED there are strong environmental protections, worker safety protections, strong access to education for all segments of society, and provision for the weakest members of society who can fall through the cracks of the inadequate charity system. Some form of national health insurance also seems necessary given that the private sector has failed to solve this problem.

I believe that government should only do those things that the private sector has shown it cannot or will not do.

I think too many on the left believe that the government can do everything.

I think too many on the right believe that the private sector can do everything.

Both are wrong.

I'm also strongly in favor of having a strong military, which makes me a bit to the right of many DUers I think.

30 years ago I would have been a moderate Republican. But that breed is dead. The GOP has moved too far to the right. So I'm a moderate Democrat.

[TheUnionDemocrat]

7. National security.

"Anti-war" stances will get us HAMMERED in 2004.

[chadm]

21. That's a good way to get hammered

by Ralph Nader.

[TheUnionDemocrat]

22. Who cares about Ralph Nader?

He's a kook and his party is irrelevant.

[LSdemocrat]

8. I like free trade, a balanced budget

I, for one, consider free trade to be a good thing. I consider the WTO and IMF to be basically good ideas, that need a slight philisophical shift.

I also believe that capitalism basically works with basic regulation of course.

[KG]

10. Moderate Dems: the wrong kind of right?

:)

[Dob Bole]

11. re:hammered

I don't know if we should have gone into Iraq in the first place, but I'll agree that one needs to appeal to moderates in order to not get hammered in the election. The Dems are losing the "Solid South," a traditional Democratic base to Repugs, and there's nowhere else for Dems to draw the necessary votes from, unless we annex Mexico. Oh wait, we already did. Nope, Dems still need the South.

[MaverickX]

12. Because the terms..

Left and right, liberal and conservative are all relative.

[Iraqi_guy]

13. Free Trade and Capitalism

nuff said.

[Ellen Forradalom]

14. I'm a liberal

because I think individual initiative and free enterprise are acceptable, but require solid ground rules and a robust infrastructure to make them free, fair and healthy;

because I'm more interested in results than ideology;

because I'm more of a political evolutionary than revolutionary.

[FDRLincoln]

15. on free trade

On free trade, I think it is a good idea in theory but in practice it needs to be taken more slowly to avoid the destruction of the manufacturing base and middle-class jobs.

I supported NAFTA, for example, because I think closer economic integration between Mexico, the US, and Canada will benefit all three nations in the long run.

I opposed China's entry into the WTO, on the other hand, and oppose MFN trade with China (and India) at this point. Their wage base is just too low for us to be competitive. Doing it so quickly after NAFTA was a big mistake. We are still digesting NAFTA. Free trade with China is about 30 years too soon.

God forbid we ever get into a major war that lasts longer than six months....we no longer have a strong manufacturing economy. You can't fight a war serving lattes.

[sandnsea]

16. Extremism is unbending and unproductive

Far left politics (or far right) often seems willing to roll right over the majority to uphold whatever narrow issue being pushed. Being so extreme, like extreme left environmentalists, often allows the whole issue to be ignored. And, they sometimes get so bogged down in their own rhetoric that they miss the issue that the majority would support and miss the progress that could be made. Now people think protecting old growth forests is all about an owl, which was fine at the time; but the old growth issue never got redirected and we're losing these forests because of a narrow issue that overtook the bigger picture. The rainforests is pretty much the same, a narrow issue that would get alot more attention if people knew how little old growth actually exists worldwide.

[zoidberg]

17. I don't trust government to solve all problems

Corporations might be bad, but they do go out of business. When government is bad, it just keeps growing. Look at all the waste throughout government (not just at the Pentagon) and tell me that's much better than corporate abuse. I'm in favor of helping people down on their luck, so I tend to be on the left side of moderate, but I don't think a government program is the answer to everything.

[quinnox]

18. I thought I was left

and I am compared to most in the real world. But here at DU, I found out what extreme left really means! lol For instance, I'm not a defender of Castro, I don't believe Bush was the mastermind behind 9-11, I'm not for gay marriage, I think capitalism is the best system. I also don't hate America, I love it!

[PretzelWarrior]

19. I don't believe we should be a nanny state and there is such a thing

as taking care of too much for the American citizens. I feel people should be able to own guns (but I feel there should be MUCH more tracking and checks for handguns).

I really do fall toward the center on many issues. I am a moderate. I would have voted for McCain if he made it through.

I really think the vast majority of America falls toward the center on most issues. (Bell curve--duh) and the loudest are those on the edges of extremism on both ends and they are hijacking and lowering national debate on substantive issues.

[KamaAina]

20. Define "nanny state"

One in which Fran Drescher is President? :-) (hey, at least she ain't Bush*!)

One in which weeks-old babies aren't allowed to die of malnutrition because the family ended up on the street after the husband lost his job? This actually happened, in Atlanta, and it even made it onto the CBS Evening News. Hey, Bush*: _!_

[ieoeja]

23. I'm more Liberal than Progressive

I am pro-gun, but it isn't a big issue for me.

I believe MADD has gone mad which puts me in opposition to both the far Left and far Right.

I don't believe in banning cigarette smoking in bars, though I would support a compromise in the form of limited "smoking licenses" for bars that wished to permit smoking.

I don't want to legalize psychedelic drugs, though I might favor de-criminalizing them. I find that I can't make up my mind on marijuana (no pun intended).

When someone said "anybody who makes over $100,000 a year either inherited it, married it, or stole it," I got really ticked as I neither inherited or married it, and I have knowingly slowed my career progression rather than betray personal ethics ... though it did not keep me from reaching the 100k plateau (this year, finally). I accomplished this because, despite all my other flaws, I do a much better job than any coworker I have ever had, and I think that DOES give me the right to make and possess more than those coworkers. (Conversely, I believe that means I have the duty to provide more in the form of higher taxes.)

I believe that Free(ish)-Trade is both Liberal AND Progressive while Protectionism is quite Conservative. I do believe in putting our own working poor ahead of those in other countries, but not 100% ahead. I don't want to trash NAFTA, WTO, etc. I believe that poorer countries cannot support the same environmental and labor laws as wealthier countries, but that they should have to move forward as their countries catch up.

I have absolutely no idea where someone gets the idea that Liberal and Pacifist are synonyms. They are not. FDR was the most Liberal President since Lincoln, and he was certainly no pacifist having done everything in his power to goad Japan into attacking us so he could fight a war he felt it was necessary for us to fight.

[jiacinto]

24. I consider myself part of the left

But here is a list of issues where I probably depart from some people here:

The Death Penalty--I support it
Supporting the Military--I support the troops and don't view them, as a small minority of people here, as "baby killers".
Drug Legalization--I am against it
Israel/Palestine--I support Israel and don't feel the same sympathy for the Palestinians that I see among other posters.
The Middle Class--I probably have more sympathy for middle class people who don't seem to benefit from the taxes they pay to the government.

I guess that those are the major areas.