Do you consider the Left/Right divide to be more economic or social/cultural?

[Tooting Carmen]

A. In a South African context, definitely the nationalisation of public transport. The government is concerned with economic reform, nationalisation of banks/mines, redistribution of land, affirmative action policies etc.

The social rights in the context of gay rights movements (and others) isn't a government concern. There are citizen-driven non-governmental organisations which rely on donations and volunteer support that try to bring social issues like this to the public's attention. They make a noise every now and again at it usually makes page 3 of the newspapers.

The abortion law is there. You can choose to use it or not. The gay marriage law is there. You can choose to use it or not. There is no big fuss about these things in South Africa like there is overseas. It's really a non-issue.

During the Apartheid regime, how much government ownership of the economy was there? Obviously, companies had to strictly comply with Apartheid laws, but in any case that would apply whether they were public or private.

[Kazimiera]

During the Apartheid regime, how much government ownership of the economy was there? Obviously, companies had to strictly comply with Apartheid laws, but in any case that would apply whether they were public or private.

I don't know enough about the economy and policies to discussed this deeply.

There were a lot of parastatals - Eskom, Iscor and Sasol - being the most prominent then. Eskom is still a parastatal and Sasol is privately owned although the government still retains some shares. The financial sector is highly developed and has never been controlled by government. There is still state-owned media (SABC). Naspers was government-run but is now private and known as Media24. The Post-Office and telecommunications was government-run but is now private - called Telkom.

A general rule of thumb is that the government holds about a 25% state in strategic industries (mines, arms etc).

[Tooting Carmen]

Even in this forum, there is often confusion in how we politically define our members. For example, I personally would describe KMack as more right-wing than Smeagol, because of his strongly free-market views regarding the economy, but Smeagol is clearly more fascistic than Kmack because of his far more socially authoritarian views.

[Smaug]

More social/cultural. In my class there are some or many well off people that defend PT party and Lula.

Retards.

[Tenma de Pegasus]

Retards.

Also because part of them use drugs, thats why.

[Tooting Carmen]

Social/cultural. I wouldn't describe say an Anarcho-Capitalist who's about as "right wing" as it gets economically but socially very Libertarian as a "rightist" as an example; I would use that term for social conservatives/nationalist conservatives.

Well I decided to revive this thread because an Australian forum member in a discussion I had with him labelled right-wing libertarians as "Leftists" because of their social liberalism.

[Tooting Carmen]

Basically, what do people consider to be a more 'quintessentially right-wing' statement?

(1) "I want to privatise our education system".
(2) "I want to ban gay marriage".

Funny as it may sound, many people on the Left nowadays would be less outraged by statement one than statement two. By contrast I, as someone who is centre-leftist, socially liberal and bisexual, nevertheless do recognise that the first proposal would ultimately harm a lot more people's lives than the second one.

[Sacrificed Ram]

I think it is sexual. Left wingers do more sex because with more partners because they are free. Conservative people can do sex only after marriage and with only one partner because they are tied with religious beliefs.

[Tooting Carmen]

I think it is sexual. Left wingers do more sex because with more partners because they are free. Conservative people can do sex only after marriage and with only one partner because they are tied with religious beliefs.

A gross over-simplification, but point taken.

[Trouble]

At this point, in the west and especially America, it is far more social. Some economic ideas of the left may resonate with people but their social agenda can be rather off-putting for most. That's how it is for me anyway.