Prog & Politics

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 CPicard wrote:

Extreme Center. 

Damn you took mine. I define myself as a center extremist. In a way I oppose political "leanings" because when you define yourself as something, your thinking might be warped by your self-definition. A la "I think this, but I'm this, therefore I will find a reason to think like that". 

The left-right situation here in Israel is f**king mental. On the one hand, we have the left wingers- stereo-typically, European descent, High class, doctors and lawyers and Hi-tech people, who believe in the return of the 1967 territories to the Palestinians and believe in a 2 state solution- a Jewish and an Arab state.

The right wingers here are- stereo-typically, Middle Eastern, lower class- who work in less "exclusive jobs" and such. They on the other hand will usually (and I use "usually" very loosely here)- believe in more "aggressive" approaches to the "Israeli-Palestinian" conflict. 

Now as you might have seen, the situation of what defines left or right barely actually has anything to do with something other than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to a lesser extent these days- relations with our Arab neighboring countries.

There's barely enough attention by the general public to Israel's economic policies. In my opinion we are on the verge of "hyper-capitalism"- with companies and "the 1%" (blaaa) gaining worrying influence over the gov't. We are on the verge of neglecting our economic policies completely. It comes to the situation that the right wingers will vote to a right-wing party, who has right-wing economic policies, just because of the party's security policy. This of course applies to the left wingers as well. 

So what we have now is a country in constant opposition to our governments economic policy and to a lesser extent against the country's security policy. It's a madhouse.

Me? On the one hand, I support the 2 state solution (though, there still lies the question of whether the Palestinian state will consist of both Gaza and the West Bank (even though I have family in the West Bank). There are 5 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. There are 7.5 million Israelis (including Jews- about 6.5 million, and 1 million Arab-Israelis). By 2050 there will be an Arab majority in Israel and the occupied territories. Apart of course, from the humane crimes committed by the Israeli occupation (not that I'm in any way excusing the acts of the Palestinian gov't, the Hamas, or any terrorist or terrorist group in the occupied territories. Some of the acts such as rockets, terrorist bombings, and kidnapping have shown that the Palestinians are just as capable at committing monstrous acts), the demographic situation by 2050 will not allow the continuation of a Jewish state (which in essence is why any Jews are here, really) Israel without literal apartheid-like laws which will abstain Israel its democratic nature. Moreover, it will probably result in massive economic embargoes on Israel, and one hell of a war (not that there haven't been some already.

On the other hand, I find myself on the more right-wing side when it comes to issues like the Arab spring. I found myself supporting a much more quiet change of gov't in these countries, than the direct overthrow of leaders such as Mobarak, and the future overthrow of Assad. Of course I believe all countries should be democratic- but in these countries I really don't think a democratic state can be established. With over half of Egyptians under the poverty line, I fail to see how any new parliament- particularly one filled with Muslim fundamentalists and near-fundamentalists, will be able to establish a country with proper democratic ideals. Moreover, that particularly afflicts Israel, as parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood go against the peace treaty with Israel- and I really don't want to know what happens when another war between Israel and Egypt happens.

On the economic side, currently I'm on the left-center side of things. Each economic policy and its time and place. The over-capitalization of Israel has massively hurt the middle class and has now caused a major rift between the high class and low class- with the middle class withering. 

Bla bla in these situations the gov't should help the people get the proper support in order to diminish the class differences. To do so, they must tax the rich, and establish further social aid to the people in the lower classes. Bla.

Yeahhhhhhhhhh.... 

Poll Question: I love prog, and consider myself to be:
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Left of center	37	[60.66%]
Right of center	11	[18.03%]
In the center	13	[21.31%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted

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