The oddities of...

[Today we welcome back contributor SWR.  We thank him for his outstanding, well-written contribution.  As always, if you would like to contribute, please email us at peopleforpolity@gmail.com.]

It is common place for right-wing 'Christians' to talk about examining issues from a 'biblical perspective'.  That idea got me asking the question to myself 'what are the biblical perspectives on different social issues?’ 

One of the big issues for the 'Christian Right' (CR) are the issues of marriage, which they tend to define as existing between one man and one woman.  The CR tends to be quite passionate about that definition, but since we are going to use their own rhetoric, I wanted to try to determine the extent to which this 'one man, one woman' concept is actually supported by the Bible.  One would expect that given their passion about the subject, the Bible would be quite clear on this. 

The reality, though when one actually looks at the Bible, is quite the opposite. 

Jim Crow Jr. is in the House

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Link:

Notes 2 Ponder: Jim Crow Jr. is in the House

AND ALTHOUGH HE IS BOLDER THAN HIS FATHER, AMERICANS ACT AS IF THEY CANNOT SEE HIM

My grandfather worked for years in a racist environment.

He was called "nigger" to his face while at work and told the job he had was too good for him. He managed to buy a house in a neighborhood where, at the time, most of the properties on the block had exclusionary clauses; meaning in the deed of the house, it expressly said the property was not to be sold to "Blacks." 

My dad had no idea of what my grandfather went through until he himself started working at the same place in his early twenties.

Why austerity and not stimulus? Does it have to be either or?

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FRSFreeStates: Why Austerity and Not Stimulus?: Why does it have to be Either Or?

It’s hard to argue that the 2009 Recovery Act was a success if you look at the fact that today's unemployment rate and economic growth are both lower today than it was in late 2009.  The "Great Recession" officially ended, but we would be a hell of a lot worse off without the Recovery Act even though it wasn't a success.

But why wasn't the Recovery Act successful?

Rethinking the stimulus: Keynesian economics and why it wasn't implemented properly

[Today we feature guest blogger Steven Verner!  We thank him for his contribution and hope to hear more from him!  As always, if you would like to contrubute, email peopleforpolity@gmail.com.]

Much has been made of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” also known as the stimulus...its positives, its negatives, economic numbers that say it's working, and numbers that say it is not.

One thing is for certain; it is not living up to the hype.  

Confessions of a Right-Wing

[Today we welcome one of our friends from the other side of the fence, AlwaysRight.  I think both sides will find this post very entertaining.  As always, if you would like to submit a post to PfP, please email peopleforpolity@gmail.com.]

Don't hate me because I'm right….wing. 

I'm in one of the top tax brackets.

I own my own home.

I have a big T.V. and SUV.

I listen to Sirius Patriot Radio and prefer Fox News over MSNBC.

I have never wanted for anything or lived in poverty.

  

I'm a white male.

  

In other words, liberals hate me.

Rethinking the terms 'Liberal' and 'Conservative'

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Much too often people in the United States use the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ (dare I say) rather liberally as well as uncritically and without specifics. There seems to be a general (incorrect) assumption in this country that the term ‘liberal’ somehow is equivalent to left-wing, while the term ‘conservative’ is supposed to be the equivalent of right-wing. Also, the use of these two terms in a dialectical sense is quite problematic, because they actually refer to different types of things.

Liberalism refers to one or a collection of philosophies based upon the maintenance and expansion of individual liberty (freedom) in a number of dimensions; including political, social, and economic. Liberalism should thus be compared with other social, political, and economic philosophical traditions.

‘Conservative’ is a different type of term. Conservatism, as a label, is more appropriate when referring to a general outlook or approach to society. Conservatism thus signifies a desire to maintain the societal status quo (aka what one is ‘conserving’), whatever that may be in a given society. Conservatism thus sits at the center of a spectrum that has progressivism as the left-wing, and reactionism or ‘regressivism’ as the right-wing. Thus what is considered conservative and what is considered progressive is dependent upon a given society’s starting position. It therefore doesn’t represent an actual ideology. While conservatives can be slightly left or right leaning, overall they represent centrist or status quo positions. Conservatism can thus almost be used interchangeably with 'traditionalism.'

[VIDEO] Olbermann: The four Great Hypocrisies of the debt deal

Link:

Countdown 2.0: The four Great Hypocrisies of the debt deal

Keith Olbermann had a great “Special Commentary” on the hypocrisy of the new debt limit deal.  He opens up by stating that our government has given up the concept of right and wrong.

Gone from this deal are the "Four Freedoms" articulated by FDR; they have been superseded by the “Four Great Hypocrisies.”