Declan McCullagh wrote:
Jamie, I may have missed the fab 50s but I suspect you spent a little too much time in the psychadelic 60s. In 1997, a leftist can best be defined as a big government fetishist. :)
A "big government fetishist" is cute, but it seems fairly non-specific. Are moral majority types leftists? Are the supporters of the Department of Commerce leftists? Are supporters of a bloated defense department leftists? Can't get enough of that CIA funding leftists? IMF supporters are leftists? FED lovers are leftists? Groups that lobby for higher crop supports are leftists? S&L bail out supporters are leftists? Supporters of GATT are leftists? Are supporters of more NIH funding leftists? (how about the PhRMA support for this?) Supporters of aggressive new government programs to define (and enforce) new Intellectual Property rights are leftists? I think the term "leftists" must mean something more than "a big government fetishist." Frankly, I know of few persons who are consistently advocates of big government, but I know lots of groups, many certainly not leftists, who have their favorite government programs. Maybe, however, you think all these folks are leftists? Jamie -- James Packard Love Consumer Project on Technology P.O. Box 19367 | Washington, DC 20036 voice 202.387.8030 | fax 202.234.5176 love@cptech.org | http://www.cptech.org