For the record; I'm a social liberal. But a fiscal conservative.
My problem with so-called conservatives in the US is that they long ago lost the ability to discern the difference between a national conservative fiscal and economic policy and the abdication of economic and fiscal policy to corporate interests.
There hasn't been a truly fiscal conservative policy in the US since before Reagan was elected. Nor, since then ecomic policy that wasn't abdicated to the short term needs of international corporations who have demonstrated little ability to look into the long term economic health of the nation as a whole.
Social conservatism was adopted as the lead flag by the political elite of the right to obscure the reality that they had abandoned fiscal and economic conservatism to rely on the belief that "The markets will work their magic".
And as much as evidence has demonstrated that this belief is not wholly supported by results .... it is still a notion to which most cling.

RUFFHAUS 8 wrote:

geojanes wrote: I don't see anything so bad in this thread, surely no "contempt."

Well, that just goes to show that in addition to our political disagreements we all see different things in the words we use to debate. I asked that we all try to find respect for one another, and to suggest that we’ve all been doing so is to ignore the facts.

[snip]

Mentioning Steve and Tez in the same sentence is insulting to Steve. Tez was an immature basket case, . . . he took his anger from these threads onto the Diplomacy boards where he waged his grudges from the political forum. That’s pathetic.

So is this irony, or is it hypocrisy?

Doctor Fate wrote:4. I'm not saying I'll never be back. I have fought the minor urge to post new topics here. I just don't see the point. Maybe that will change over time.

I hope it does change. We don't often agree, but you're typically thoughtful in your posts and your input adds to the depth of the discussion.

Ray Jay wrote:I'm sure there will be quibbles here and there, but overall, I think this is an excellent and fair description. By the way, Danivon hates being called liberal and prefers socialist. He must be off the grid if he hasn't commented.

well, last night I was out at my local gaming club (Canvas Eagles, bagged myself a Sopwith), but I did see the list. Sass gets a pass because he knowingly put it in quotes (presumably to indicate that this is the USian meaning) and he knows full well that I'd not be a Liberal. I've been a bit quite lately because I've been dealing with the local elections and then recovering from them. I came second to a Liberal, but I beat the Conservative, which was the first time they've been behind us in the area for as long as people can remember. Yay me!

I think the claim that the right wingers are somehow swamped is bizarre. There have been threads in which three of four of them have riffed to each other about something with fewer people contradicting them.