Notes From the Cave

Political Self-Analysis

George Bush's favorite word these days is "liberal." He seems to be unable to complete a sentence that includes either "my opponent" or "Kerry" without also including the word "liberal."

However, Bush is not the only one who uses labels. We all do. But, do we really understand what we are saying when we use these labels? And more importantly, are we really clear on what label applies to us?

I came across a most interesting website that has a very short political quiz to analyze your political philosopy. It seems from testing with those I know, as well as from the multitude of testimonials from legitimate sources cited on the website, that this quiz accurately sets forth your political philosophy.

I strongly urge you to click here to take the test.

And, just for purposes of full disclosure, I came out as would be expected - "left-liberal."

The Contradictions in American Politics

I just finished reading a very interesting article in the most recent issue of The Atlantic, entitled The Chieftains and the Church, by Ted Halstead. The premise of the article is that both the Republican and Democratic parties are so bound up in promoting their ideologies that they are unable to produce a coherent set of policies for the benefit of the country at large.

He first goes after the Republican Party, calling it the "party of the church," not in a religious sense, but rather in the sense of a group that promotes a set of accepted beliefs as if they were realities, regardless of the facts. Consequently, when you step back and look at our country from a non-biased perspective, you will see that the economic, domestic and foreign policies put into place by the Republicans dramatically contradict their stated policy objectives.