@JBA - that sounds like a pretty good description.

@Draugnar - that is definitely true. I dislike that Bush lied and misled Americans, however I very much like that he undermined the UN with Iraq. They need more of it.

I don't think that the Congress would have authorized an invasion of a sovereign nation for human rights violations. They were misled/lied to/given incorrect information (pick your own term) and that is the only way the authorization occurred. MAYBE as part of a UN mission, but not the way it went down.

@jbalcorn I am very aware of what Socialism is, I think if you don't believe that Obamas personal convictions are not Socialist then you don't know what Socialism is.

A liberal is a right winger here. For ages I had no idea what the American media was on about!

I am a commited socialist, therefore I hate communism. (That should confuse somebody)

@KaptinKool

Obama is not socialist. He is right of centre.

@Alfonze - Are you from Australia?

Sometimes they do (hence my calling them the Useless Nations), but there are times when a cooler, measured approach works better. Take Cuba... We aren't hurting their economy with our policies about Cuban products and some would argue the fact that they are verboten means the higher price improves their economy (funny that...). I think the US is just so ingrained to do certain things that no President or sitting Congress dares try anything different, even when Europe and/or the UN are clearly willing to try a different tact. The rest of the world accepts Cuban goods, why shouldn't we?

@jimgov +1 - Spot on, dude! And we would have accomplished the mission in Afghanistan while working the details out with the UN for a true joint task force with limited involvement and guaranteed percentages across several UN nations.

minarchist, extremely liberal in both social and economic questions.

In the context of:

USA - slightly left of center
Europe - slightly right of center
Internationally - fairly leftist

I am a liberalist. Liberal democracy, etc. Free trade, etc. Fair and open elections, free press, free religion, and welfare programs affording for the poor, unemployed, and sick. Government should provide optional public school, healthcare, post, etc. Foreign policy should be ethical and respectful, focused primary on maintaining peace and minimizing intolerance/injustice. I am a big supporter of the UN, and any supranational organizations. Oh yeah and unions and subsidies do way more harm than good. Much much much more moderation is needed there. When unions cause a company to collapse and the economy to get worse just because workers want a pay raise... that's idiotic. Not saying unions shouldn't exist, they should just be much more responsible. And subsidies are unfair and cause starvation, etc.

Let me put it this way. If the US stopped farm subsidies, we would have significant economic/agricultural problems to be sure, but starvation would taper off in places like India and Africa. They have the capacity to be net exporters of food, but don't due to subsidies. Result: starvation and aid which intensifies the issue.

So that's it in a nutshell. On ethical, moral or social issues I think the government should be evenhanded and unbiased, fair and just. It should respond to the evolving moral standards of its people. So that covers gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, etc.

If you want to see real Socialism in action, not the stuff that people are accusing Obama of, take a look at Greece. Hopefully, some of our Greek friends are on this site and can explain what the heck is going on over there.

The idea of socialism only really started with Pierre Leroux in the 19th Century.

hellalt is greek.

yeah their budget is screwed by the looks of it. but i suppose they'll learn their lesson if now no one buys greek bonds. i dunno. i'm not against socialism as a principle though. i'm against bad, or unreasonable, implementation of it.

there is no political theory in Greece. Yeah we are supposed to be living under a socialist party now while the last governing party was a conservative right one.
But these are just labels. In reality there is only one practice.
Get as much as you can and let the rest die.

This is how it's being reported in the UK.
Hellalt/ anyone else - how's it being portrayed where you are?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2010/02/no_more_euro_deja_vu.html

jimgov, it doesn't make logical sense to distinguish between Greek and 'Obamian' socialism. The principles in each are the same, it is simply the scale that they can garner support for (being cynical)/argue for (less so) that differentiates them.

Anyone who rejects Obama as a socialist would reject any degree of socialism whatsoever, so saying "look over there, they are more socialist" cannot wash.

Something like that.
Outside Greece people may have the idea that we are actually trying to solve our problems.
Well what Greek politicians are trying is to kid Europe to give them more money so that can build a 3rd villa and a 4th pool.
This will never change as voting has nothing to do with political beliefs.
If you and your family are not organized in a party then your chances of getting a respectable job are minimal.
Actually even if you are chances are you will need two masters just to get a 700euros job.
This is why I have stopped voting many years ago.
And this is why I hate where I live.

I am a Libertarian Conservative, and a Minarchist (very limited government)

Greece does sound like it sucks. Maybe you should move to the land of opportunity. Or to any real Western European Nation.

:( Come to Britain, where its always cold and we go to war on a whim :S

Yeah I could move to Holland to sell fried potatoes to tall blond babes...

I'm a Republican Communist :P

Or you could sell tall blonde babes to the fried potato-head tourists (i.e. be a pimp).

Your twisted mind makes me sick...

I'm a right-leaning centrist. In american terms it is basically a moderate democrat (though I really hate to be associated with that party because of Pelosi and the other nut-jobs that run it).

@draugnar - i will admit that that was quite clever

Thanks KK.

Any day that I manage to make hellalt sick is a good day!

I am a socialist, mainly. I believe that although defense is a primary concern for any governing body, that that same governing bodys' dual primary responsibility is to use its' resources to lift its' people up. In health care, in education and in wages/benefits. When the common citizen is strong so too, is the nation. A super-power that fails to reinvest in its' own people does not remain a super-power for long. I should also say that i am a domestic liberal and a foreign policy hawk. Something of a dichotomy, i know. We should only go to war when ABSOLUTELY neccessary and then we go to ABSOLUTELY destroy, not rebuild. As far as the United Nations is concerned; it serves the purpose it was created for as a cooling off point for nations before they go to war. Not perfect.....but it works. So when individual nations run roughshod over the UN they undermine its' purpose and actually decrease its' effectiveness.