Political misfit

Two web-sites that I follow are Lew Rockwell and Common Dreams.

The first is conservative. Its pro-market, limited government ideas appeal to me. The writers on this site are consistent, for instance, since war involves big government, they are generally non-interventionist, and oppose the war in Iraq. This is unlike many other conservative websites, where the war in Iraq is a good thing. The main problem is that the conservatism is tied to Christianity, and that too, of a type that I find repellent; and the limited government ideas are tied to the Confederacy. Now, Lincoln did change the relationship between the states and the Federal government in a fundamental way, and that is worth thinking about, whether that change should be undone. But since the Confederacy was also a defense of slavery, it would be good to free these ideas about States Rights from that historical association.

The Common Dreams site is a liberal site. ( I don't like the word progressive, because it doesn't mean anything, e.g, aren't there progressive diseases?). The main charm of liberals is that they are tolerant of a much wider range of folks than are conservatives. Their main problem is that they tend to think reality is very malleable, so that good intentions are all that count, the means (fiscal) are merely an annoying detail.

So, I find myself in sympathy with both, in part, and that means I belong to neither group.