I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this blog before or not, but in case I haven’t, I thought I’d recommend “Trifles from Anderson.” The stuff I’ve read has all been good. It’s left-leaning, I suppose (though it all depends on your perspective – the point of view seems similar to mine which I regard as center, perhaps center-right, only appearing to be leftish because the power in the country has been so concentrated with the hard right.) Anyway, check it out.
I truly enjoy your blog Doug!
You are NOT center-right in my opinion!
I would classify you as center-left…
Mike Sylvester
Fort Wayne Libertarian
Doug,
I’ll agree with Mike Sylvester for once. :)
In my view, I’d characterize your blog as center-left. But this isn’t anything to be ashamed of. The entire essence of leftness is a critical stance toward accumulations of power.
As societies become more stratified — and consequently as power and its tokens (like wealth) — become concentrated, the overall bent of politics in a country turns to the right, as we’ve seen in the U.S., but also in the legendary stuffiness of Victorian England or the militarism of Bismarck’s Prussia/Germany.
As the political dialogue among the powerful moves to the right, it’s hard for people whose minds haven’t really changed about much to escape reclassification to the left. That is, if you remain independent and don’t take marching orders, you’ll find yourself characterized as “left” (to some degree) even though you didn’t change — everybody else did!
As the writer of Trifles from Anderson, I thank you for your compliments. I never quite considered myself as a leftist but it seems that world has gone the opposite direction from me.
Regardless your actual political orientation, I have found your content to be superb. I have linked your site to my new Great Lakes Small Business blog. I have done so because your brilliant eye for relevant news is one which can easily be regarded by budding entrepreneurs as authoritative and helpful in understanding the legislation and goings-on that will likely have implications to their endeavors. Keep up the good work.
On a more aptly suited note (to this post anyway), I will say that I agree with your assertation that you are a centrist. You demonstrate common sense, fiscal restraint and a strong distaste for heavy-handed regulation on both personal and commerce-oriented matters.
Thanks for the kind words. I suppose you can’t really talk political orientation without discussing what the rest of the country has been doing. Once upon a time, I think I would’ve been regarded as center-right, and I don’t think I’ve changed all that much. But, at the end of the day, labels are probably irrelevant, and you just believe what you believe regardless of where that places you among the population at large.
Doug,
I’ve been struggling to come up with a pithy way of encapsulating the principle you’re talking about. It seems like everybody claims that labels aren’t important, but a lot of folks who mouth this don’t live up to it — so I wonder what captures the essence better.
I’ve been considering this one:
Integrity over Identity
Generally speaking, I’m personally hostile to identity politics, specifically the Christian Identity movement, but also to a lot of the excesses of academic feminism that we saw in the 1990s[*]. At the same time, I strive always to remember that there are people of sterling character in every “identity group”.
Ultimately, we can’t truly control the labels that are placed on us anyway — so the best thing to do is to not worry about whether you’re reading from the correct script for your identity group, and just (just!) act and argue with honesty to yourself. Sounds simple, but people screw this up all the time.
[*] The folks I’ve annoyed here with my “leftism” should have heard me back then, championing Camille Paglia and railing against the nomenklatura headed by Catherine MacKinnon.