for words and phrases common or uncommon in politics and philosophy
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A
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Affirmative Action:
Preferential Selection, based upon arbitrary criteria, whether race, gender, sexual orientation, or sometimes creed [when creed bears no relation to qualification]. The arbitrary criteria of female gender and African race most associated with this term.
Antisemitism [sic]
Conceptually; Anti-Jewish [as Arabs are said to be “Semitic”] - Prejudice against Jews/Hebrew people, ethnically, racially, or religiously. The most prevalent racism on the planet. Usually coupled with cultural myths & conspiracy theories that slander the Jewish faith.
Apologetics
Systematic defense of a doctrine against criticisms using information.
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B
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C
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Courage
http://youtu.be/IMJvFKDREa0
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Divergent - either a 'Free Market System';
a market free from govt. interference except to establish voluntary market conditions which necessarily exclude both "Positive Rights" and "Caste Systems" or a Control Market system [where wealthy interests purchase govt favoritism]:
Origin [term] - A pejorative popularized by Karl Marx demonizing the 'haves' as capitalizers in his materialistic secular prophecy instigating literal [as apposed to hyperbolic] class warfare; presumed necessary to social evolution to achieve economic equality regardless of ability: "From 'each according to his ability' to 'each according to his need'".
Origin [idea] - The 'Invisible Hand' a concept authored by
Adam Smith in his "
Wealth of Nations" posits that
“In spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, [people] are led by an invisible hand… and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society…”; this should not to be confused with the axiom that "greed is good"
posited by Bernard Mandeville and his 'fable of the bees' which Smith himself repudiated as "wholly pernicious".
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Classical Liberalism:
Of American Origin - Philosophy of 'limited government' and 'individual freedom' [from coercion, by social contract governance].
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Communism:
Political - The demonization of "capital" or Currency as an inherent evil wherever it is accumulated, in spite of currency merely being a versatile representation of labor which Commies clame to adore; the only solution to 'capital' being the State control of it, in the name of the people.
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Conservative:
Literal- To conserve [subject of conservation undefined]
American- Constitutional republicanism [conserving ideals of traditional values and individual freedom].
European- National Socialist [governmental ownership of industries], conserving indigenous culture and sometimes extremes of racial 'integrity']
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Cultural Marxism:
The collectivization of people into classes based on superficial criteria gaged by [limited & foolish] historical perceptions of groups being either oppressed or oppressor. An individual's decency, wholly unconnected to his/her actions if of the 'oppressor' class, can only be restored by their forfeiture of anything deemed to have been gained due the 'privilege' of being among that class.
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Currency:
Perception - A versatile representation of the value of labor, as defined by the receiver of its benefits.
Fiat Currency - Money backed by nothing but words, no hard assets.
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D
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Democracy:
Direct Democracy - A system of government controlled by popular vote [of citizens]
Democratic Republic - A system of government controlled by representatives selected by popular vote [restricted by constitutional law]; including the American Presidential Electoral College where Electors are free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, [but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates] and voters cast ballots for favored presidential and vice presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.
Democratic Republican Party - A United States Political Party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792
[In Blog]
For Early American "Federalism vs Nationalism" See "
A Patriot's History of the United States" pages 92-95 and 103-104
Historically - Revolutions undertaken for 'democracy' often have only one free election, which chooses an autocracy [prohibiting counter revolutions], America's early elections were significant in setting the modern standard for peaceful transitions of Executive Office.
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Disparate Treatment and Equal Protection
Equal Justice - should not be confused with any of the Orwellian terms used by socialists and progressives, It is juxtaposed to 'Disparate Treatment' or so called 'Social Justice' as forced redistribution of wealth with a hostility towards individual property.
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Discrimination
Literal - to discriminate, to notice or observe actual differences
Pejorative - to associate superficial differences such as skin color with inherent inferiority
Mad Stupid Use - To apply any moral judgement to behaviour
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Disproportionate Force:
Universal - two or more bodies perpetrating different levels of force.
Typical Use - It is purported, by some, to be immoral to render greater force in warfare, even in retaliation against aggressors, even if retaliators solely target combatants and aggressors target non-combatants.
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E
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Economics:
A 'social science' - that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
The Purpose of Economics;
FA Hayek - "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."
Thomas Sowell - “Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.”
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F
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Fair Share:
Typical Use - "The 'rich' need to pay their fair share"
Fascio-Progs
- An ambiguous term used to promote more disproportionate taxation of the successful. A propaganda term used to promote class warfare without using the term 'class warfare', directly demonizing the successful, or addressing economics at all.
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Fascism:
Historic, According to Historian Jonah Goldberg - “Fascism is a religion of the state, it assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people.
It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good. It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of the thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure.
Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives.
Any rival identity is part of the 'problem' and therefore defined as the enemy." -page 23 of Liberal Fascism
Governing Systems Implementing 'Fascism'- The Jacobins of France, The USSR, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany
According to Ignoramuses - Anything subjectively bad
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G
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H
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Hate-Speech-Laws
Unconstitutional "Thought Crime" Laws used to increase sentences & penalties for crimes deemed to be motivated by "prejudice" only enforced to punish those violations against special classes of people [Women & Minorities].
Hoarding
Holding What You Own to the consternation of the Jealous & would be Tyrants.
Homophobia
A slur used against both those tolerant of & intolerant of Homosexuality in attempts to force moral acceptance of behavior.
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I
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Indoctrination
1. To systematically teach the uncritical acceptance of 'doctrines', rather than both sides of an issue.
2. The coerced belief in a specific dogma, to the exclusion of alternative evidence.
3. To learn solely from propaganda regarding any issue.
Colloquial Use of the Object - Indoctrination is meant to silence dissent, creating Ideological
Puppets ignorant of arguments against their mindset, which
progressively demonize all other arguments, to the point of not accepting
debate (in any form); as anything but Racist [or other equivalent
labels] to ostracize opposition rather than addressing ideas with reason."
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Intolerance
Colloquial - The expressed outrage at, and rejection of, someone [or something] for any
reason.
Antonym - Tolerance - A group defined by their behavior or philosophy can be
tolerated, while rejecting their beliefs or actions on
moral/philosophical/religious grounds.
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J
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K
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L
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Laissez Fare:
Adam Smith: The eighteenth-century Scottish economist popularized the term "Laissez Faire" ['Leave/Allow, to do'; more colloquially: 'Let them get on with it'] in his book "The Wealth of Nations" in which he describes the "Invisible Hand" that provides for the maximum good for all, if businessmen are free to pursue there own profitable opportunities as they see fit.
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Liberal[ism]:
Literal - Freedom
Divergent - Either, freedom of individuals [from coercion, through social contract governance] or freedom of government [to sacrifice individual liberty for the (undefined) 'greater good']
American - Colloquially the latter of the Divergent [usually] unless prefixed with "Classical[ly]", Before the end of the "Progressive" era, Liberalism meant what is now called "Classical Liberalism".
European - The former of the Divergent [usually]
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Love:
In other languages there are many words for "Love" depending on the object of and kind of love.
Agape - Christian [or charitable] indiscriminate Love for fellow man,
Eros - Love of the divine or aesthetic, or Romanticism, esp things or objects,
Amore - Romantic Love,
Phila-delphia - Brotherly love
Stergo - especially of the love of parents and children or a ruler and his subjects.
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M
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Marxism
Lenin
Stalin
Castro
Kim Il Sung
Mao Tse Tung
colloquially - "Marxism" refers to generally anti-capitalism and pro-Redistribution-ism because of the Marx quote
"From each according to his ability to each according to his need"
Secular Prophecy - Marxism predicts an inevitable global revolution, a war among the classes which first establishes Socialism [through direct democracy] and develops into Communism where presumably there is a culturally ingrained disdain for personal property and a equally engrained craving to work in spite of zero external motivation.
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O
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Overton Window
The political theory of a spectrum of publicly ideas arranged by acceptability which can be moved or changed, but personifies the zeitgeist
"the spirit of the times".
See Book: "Animal Spirits" for a progressives outlook on shaping public opinion.
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P
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Palestine/Palestinian
Palestine Etymology
- The word Palestine came from the word Philistine (a non-Semitic Greek group from the 12th century BC)
- Philistine came from Plishtim (פְּלְשְׁתִּים)
- Plishtim came from Palash (פָּלַשׁ) - the Hebrew root of “Invade.”
So Plishtim was the Hebrew nickname used by the Israelites to name the Philistines (Philistines did not call themselves that).
Therefore, Palestinians are using a Hebrew term for “Invaders” to describe their identity.
(Source: here)
Palestinian people do not exist by Joseph Farah -
I've said it before and I will say it again, in the history of the world, Palestine has never existed as a nation. The region known as Palestine was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their ancestral homeland. It was never ruled by Arabs as a separate nation.
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Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir - "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people."
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Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
In fact, on the same day Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Jordan TV. Here's what he said:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
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Progressive[ism]:
Literal - Moving toward something, usually presumed good
American - 1. Moving away from the constitution, often demonizing founders 2. defined as "Third Way Politics" [between capitalism and the extremes of socialism] 3. reforming through govt. action Synonymous with Fabian Socialism and Keynesian Economics
Naivete - Historical struggles for modernly assumed positives are solely used to define what is "Progressive", Racism, Eugenics, Prohibition, Communist and Nazi association are at large ignored.
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Plutocracy
Monopolized rule of the wealthy
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Propaganda
[PROPAGANDA and INDOCTRINATION]
Dictionaries not having caught up with colloquial meaning attributed
1. The illegitimate Govt propagation or funding of self aggrandizing and or empowering ideas, often stealthily, through Artistic Mediums.
2. Opinion falsely portrayed as Objective Truth; therefor no openly 'opinion' show or medium, can be construed as "Propaganda"
3. Demonization where refutation is impossible, is The tactics of Fascism."
[IE Propaganda]
“Political correctness is the soft fascism, which drowns ‘free thinking dissent with false guilt”
[A Response to TheYoungTurks]
Dictionarily, Propaganda is any promulgation of any opinion. I prefer a more restricting definition of Govt. Promulgation, or any demonstrable False declaration of objectivity. If you define News (Dictionarily falsely) as synonymous with stark objective fact distribution, no one meets that criteria.
Fair and Balanced being obviously subjective terms; unless? News Anchors actually state that they ARE Objective rather than (the only thing I've ever heard from any anchor) a statement of "We try to be objective"; only then (Using my 3rd definition) could you actually define FOX News as Propaganda without indicting yourself (the 2nd definition necessitating that Propaganda be funded, or that it originates with Government. Excluding All News and Opinion Professionals and Amateurs
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Public Safety Exception to the Right To Remain Silent
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R
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Segmented - Racism: 1. the belief in the inferiority and superiority of races. 2. Holding individuals accountable for the actions of others associated by superficial measures. 3. Belief in a sub-humanity within humanity.
Summary - Racism: The belief in the collective inherent superiority and inferiority of races.
Commentary- “Every time a leftist falsely accuses someone of racism another devil gets a pitchfork with which to cover up actual racism.”
-Asd
Marxist Racism - [Racism = Prejudice + Power] The belief that predominant societal forces attribute 'whiteness' with being the defining factor of normality, and non-whiteness with abnormality/undesirability. Only whites in America [being the majority] can be racist, blacks not having the 'power'.
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Revolution by Search and Hiring Committee:
The American left's method of infiltrating academia [and other professions] unto large niche monopoly [effectually moving the overton window]
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S
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"Save or Create" [Jobs]
The Wall Street Journal -
"We would never have used a formula like 'save or create,'" he tells me. "To begin with, the number is pure fiction -- the administration has no way to measure how many jobs are actually being 'saved.' And if we had tried to use something this flimsy, the press would never have let us get away with it."
no one -- not the Labor Department, not the Treasury, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- actually measures "jobs saved." As the New York Times delicately reports, Mr. Obama's jobs claims are "based on macroeconomic estimates, not an actual counting of jobs." Nice work if you can get away with it.
However dubious it may be as an economic measure, as a political formula "save or create" allows the president to invoke numbers that convey an illusion of precision. Harvard economist and former Bush economic adviser Greg Mankiw calls it a "non-measurable metric."
"The expression 'create or save,' which has been used regularly by the President and his economic team, is an act of political genius," writes Mr. Mankiw. "You can measure how many jobs are created between two points in time. But there is no way to measure how many jobs are saved. Even if things get much, much worse, the President can say that there would have been 4 million fewer jobs without the stimulus."
In the months since Congress approved the stimulus, our economy has lost nearly 1.6 million jobs and unemployment has hit 9.4%. Invoke the magic words, however, and -- presto! -- you have the president claiming he has "saved or created" 150,000 jobs. It all makes for a much nicer spin, and helps you forget this is the same team that only a few months ago promised us that passing the stimulus would prevent unemployment from rising over 8%.
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Sexism
Exactly - The belief in the inferiority and superiority of gender. Not limited to Men being thought superior to Women.
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Social Justice:
Colloquially - A term with two contradictory meanings; both associated with the Civil Rights Movement and the title of a Nazi Publication.
Divergent - 1. "Equal Opportunity", that is, sanctifying individual property rights and civic equality or 2. "Economic Equality", that is, with hostility to individual property rights except as an equal share in collective property rights against the individual.
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Aquinas defines distributive justice as follows:
...in distributive justice something is given to a private individual, in so far as what belongs to the whole is due to the part, and in a quantity that is proportionate to the importance of the position of that part in respect of the whole. Consequently in distributive justice a person receives all the more of the common goods, according as he holds a more prominent position in the community. This prominence in an aristocratic community is gauged according to virtue, in an oligarchy according to wealth, in a democracy according to liberty, and in various ways according to various forms of community. Hence in distributive justice the mean is observed, not according to equality between thing and thing, but according to proportion between things and persons: in such a way that even as one person surpasses another, so that which is given to one person surpasses that which is allotted to another..
Aquinas asserts that Christians have a duty to distribute with provision to the poorest of society.
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Rawls primarily influenced
Social Justice as a secular concept, distinct from religious teachings, emerging mainly in the late twentieth century.
1. Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all; and in this scheme the equal political liberties, and only those liberties, are to be guaranteed their fair value.
2. Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: first, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.
These principles are subtly modified from the principles in Theory. The first principle now reads "equal claim" instead of "equal right," and he also replaces the phrase "system of basic liberties" with "a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties."
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Michael Novak -
Social justice has become a rally cry to action. Just what kind of action, however, is not always clear. Is social justice primarily an agenda for government to pursue, or for individuals and their interactions together in community?
Social justice, rightly understood, is about exercising "the elementary skills of civil society," says Michael Novak. It involves cooperating with others to accomplish things for the good of society as a whole. Social justice is best pursued not through the bureaucratic state, which tends to be expensive, impersonal and even counterproductive. Indeed, this can be an injustice. F. A. Hayek and others have roundly and rightly condemned such notions of social justice.
There is a better way, says Novak: to practice the virtue of social justice through rebuilding civil society. Social justice demands the nurture of the individual and community habits and the social, political and economic institutions that sustain a free society. Only through attention to these concrete means can we hope to achieve the ideals of liberty and justice for all.
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Glenn Beck -
"Social Justice: Forced redistribution of wealth with a hostility towards individual property under the guise of charity and or justice."
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State of Nature:
a term in political philosophy used in social contract theories to describe the hypothetical condition of humanity before the state's foundation. In a broader sense, the state of nature is the condition before the rule of positive law comes into being, thus being a synonym of anarchy. The idea of the state of nature was a part of a classical republicanism theory as a hypothetical reason of entering a state of society by establishing a government.
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Subsidy:
Literal - Capital/Monetary Assistance to a particular group;
Govt. Subsidy - A Positive Liberty; or common material 'right' provided to select groups defined collectively by arbitrary criteria.
Economic - Subsidization by govt. increases price.
Leftists - From a Government-Centric worldview [which holds belief that money earned by citizens belongs to the government], a Tax Break is considered a subsidy.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/about_those_oil_subsidies.html
Dictionary.com
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T
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Treason
The betrayal of one’s nation by aiding their enemies. If
that country has freedom of speech, the dissenting opinion is not
treason, without explicitly criminal action.
