Left,Right,Left Right but don't mess with Mr.In-between
langeweile said:
The word leftist is probably not the right term. You are absolutely right in comparisson to most countries, even the Democrats would be considered right wing..LOL
Arguably, John Quincy Adams can be considered a leftist, as some steeped in his writings allege.
But the real significance of the Left in contemporary America is the manner in which "leftist" culture, as some writers portray it, has had an enormous influence upon the shape, circumstances and direction of its political process and context of divisive social problems and approaches.
In recent history one can trace the leftist perspective from Harry Hopkins advisory inflence over F.D.R. during WW11-(an influence whish Churchill treated very gently),Alger Hiss , the soviet spy and chief advisor to Roosevelt at Yalta (talk to some citizens of the Baltic States about this), Harry Dexter, White,deputy secretary Treasurer, and many others.
More recently, the influence of people such as Anthony Lake who regarded the Khymer Rouge as benign social reformers in Cam bodia and who was naturally Clinton's first choice as an advisor.
In more recent times, the de facto alliance between the leftists and radical Islamic terrorists, the work of prominant historians such as Zinn, Lerner, Hobsbawa, et al, philosphers such as Chomsky and, of course, the littany of academics and semi-educated journalist and media types, have found and established the rebirth of the fifth column of leftism since the war in Iraq.
Perhaps, I suppose, to get back to the topic as my random views seem to indicate: the irony is that Ms. Meirs will be confirmed, but the main opposition will come from a rather unholy alliance between the "Leftists" and the "Radical Right".
