What on earth does a leftist and rightist mean in English?

Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:25 am GMT
Yeah, liberal would be asociated almost exclusively with economy for both leftist (to stand against) and conservatives (to support up to some degree). Liberal also means in some languages open-minded, especially en sexual issues, but that's nothing to do with politics, it's just private life.

Most people just have no idea of the liberal tradition (Von Misses, Hayek and others) where it's not that easy to separate economy from politics. So I suppose we could use the term integral liberals for American libertarians like Thomas Sazz, Italian Radicals like Marco Panella or Spanish liberals like Mario Vargas Llosa or Antonio Eschohotado.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:24 am GMT
The word "leftist" definitely has a darker and more extreme subtext than "liberal". Leftist is usually used alongside "guerrilla", like in South American military coups or something.

I've never heard the word rightest ever used, so who knows.
Skippy   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:25 am GMT
I'd say that "leftist" is typically used as a pejorative for academia. In my experience, militants are usually associated with the term "left-wing" or "right-wing."

Though these don't necessarily have a militaristic connotation... One could refer to the left or right wing of any political party.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:28 am GMT
I've never heard the word leftist used for academia; maybe by Rush Limbaugh or the Religious Right or something. Leftist has a definite military connotation.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:29 am GMT
Left wing, lefty, pinko, etc are definitely softer words to get the idea across. Leftist is like, the Shining Path or something.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:51 am GMT
Yeah, I suppose you're right Skippy. Ultra conservatives use "leftist" to describe liberals of any kind, but unless you're that political persuasion it might sound weird.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:06 am GMT
What about those people in the middle?
Guest   Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:42 am GMT
Pigeons vs hawks
Geoff_One   Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:10 am GMT
OK - What can "Lefties of the world unite" also mean?

Incidently, in Australia, the Liberal Party is considered to be the main conservative party. The use of the word "Liberal" in this thread
is based on a US centric view of the English speaking world.
Amabo   Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:12 am GMT
Both "liberal" and "conservative" lost any substantive political meaning long ago.
Guest   Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:06 pm GMT
I agree, nowadays it's all pragmatism.
Travis   Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:24 pm GMT
>>The Libertarian Party are typically referred to as "minarchists" (like anarchists, but minimal government instead of no government). I think they're similar to Germany's FDP. They frequently agree with the Republican Party on economic issues (especially taxes) and with the Democrat Party on social issues (like abortion and the War in Iraq).<<

Well, the matter is that the underlying differences between anarchists and the likes of the Libertarians are far, far greater that such, as they actually concern extremely large differences in actual political philosophy and their vision to as to how society would work. There is far more to anarchism than the mere lack of a state, as anarchists are opposed to *all* authority and not merely just that of the state, which has a lot of further social implication when one thinks about it. Libertarians are more just like Republicans minus social conservatism, while most anarchists have far more in common with people like council communists and Left Communists (think the likes of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Anton Pannekoek, and so on).
Guest   Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:34 pm GMT
<I agree, nowadays it's all pragmatism.>>

You must be familiar with a government that I haven't seen in my twenty-seven years or you are using the word pragmatism incorrectly. I have yet to see practicality dominate in either bodies of Congress or the White House. I think the Judiciary is only slightly better.

1. character or conduct that emphasizes practicality.
2. a philosophical movement or system having various forms, but generally stressing practical consequences as constituting the essential criterion in determining meaning, truth, or value.
Guest   Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:04 pm GMT
I meant: "character or conduct that emphasizes practicality" in achieving and preserving the power. As opposed to having ideological concerns.
Travis   Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:29 pm GMT
But in the end, isn't political power and the maintenance thereof just an end unto itself, with ideology just serving as a pretext and rationalization in the first place?