This Forum has been archived there is no more new posts or threads ... use this link to report any abusive content
==> Report abusive content in this page <==
Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Votes - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Can someone define these political terms without Political Bias?
01-23-2013, 09:36 AM
Post: #2
 
Democrats tend to believe that the role of government is to protect individuals from harm (such as poverty, abuse by others or businesses, lack of resources, bad decisions). Republicans tend to believe that individuals and businesses should be responsible for themselves and the consequences of their own decisions, and the government should have minimal impact.

No economic theory is bad, what's bad is how they function in the real world. Socialism is when the state controls the markets, and there is social ownership and control of production, management of the economy, and institutions. Communism is a subset of socialism where in addition to social ownership of production, there are no classes of people (no poor and no rich), there is no private property, and the community as a whole owns everything. Capitalism is where the private sector (individuals and businesses instead of the state) owns the means of production and competitive markets decide what to produce and consume. There is no central planning of the economy. Making profits, accumulating capital, and investing in new products and services is what drives this system. NONE of these have ever existed in pure forms, these are economic theories. Marxism and Leninism are specific forms of social theory.

Most countries have some degree of socialism and capitalism, and are described as "mixed economies". In the US, most police, fire services, and roads and bridges are socialist programs. Taxes go to pay for these. Some roads and bridges are privately owned, and the owner provides upkeep and sets the rules. Some fire companies won't fight your fire unless you have paid into the fire district: people who haven't paid have lost houses as the fire department watched. Are these "bad"? Depends on your perspective.

Dictators are individuals or small groups that are in complete charge of a country. Absolute monarchs are a subset of dictators where power is transferred by inheritance. Neither is limited to communist states. There have been capitalist countries/societies with dictators.

Authoritarianism is when the central authority is in total control of the political part of life, often through oppression and elimination of rivals. Totalitarianism is a subset of authoritarianism that adds control of all other aspects of life -- education, media, religion, private life, social institutions and economics -- everything.

Libertarianism is complicated as there's many flavors. In general, it's a philosophy of free will, free of government encumbrance, maximum individual rights.

Lobbyists are anyone who tries to influence, educate, or convince a legislator to vote a certain way. I'm lobbying my congressman when I call to express my opinion on how he should vote. Anyone can lobby. (The term comes from people standing around in the lobby of Congress waiting for legislators to come out.) Major lobbyists are paid by corporations, institutions, or groups to try to sway legislation. Lobbyists exist on many sides of issues. Lobbyists are often experts in their fields. Sometimes lobbyists write up what their ideal legislation would look like and give it to congress members, who may include parts in the actual bills they submit.

The deficit/surplus is simply the difference between revenue (taxes and fees) and expenditures. Spend more than you take in and you have a deficit. The debt is the accumulation of every year's deficit/surplus. It sounds simple, but there's political spin on everything. Part of the problem is when do you start counting? If Obama was sworn in in January 2009, the budget he was working with was Bush's budget for 2012, passed the year before and active until October 2012. Do you count that as Obama's deficit or Bush's? What about the stimulus? Or non-budgeted items such as the two wars? Revenues fell dramatically in 2009 due to the recession, who gets dinged for that? Look at this first chart: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonk...-deficits/ Not easy, is it?

Ads

Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 


Messages In This Thread
[] - Whatever4 - 01-23-2013 09:36 AM
[] - George S - 01-23-2013, 09:36 AM

Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)