Greenfield: The Long March Through the Republican Party

Sultan Knish blog ^ | Saturday, June 07, 2014 | Daniel Greenfield

[Jack Black]

How are things under the coup in Thailand?

Probably about like things under the coup in America, only less irritating because the Thai Military is a much better keeper of the Thai people's integrity and the Obama Maladministration is of the American people's.

[ek_hornbeck]

I think one counterexample easily shows that Left vs. Right is a little more complicated than a spectrum of extreme collectivism to extreme individualism. If you ask a conservative vs. a liberal "are you willing to fight and die for your country," who is more likely to honestly say "yes"? The conservative. Yet what can be less "individualistic" and more collectivist than sacrificing your life, or that of friends and loved ones, for the good of your country?

Everyone has both an individual identity and a collective/group identity. The difference between left and right is often what you attach your group identity to.

[oldbrowser]

If you ask a conservative vs. a liberal "are you willing to fight and die for your country," who is more likely to honestly say "yes"? The conservative. Yet what can be less "individualistic" and more collectivist than sacrificing your life, or that of friends and loved ones, for the good of your country?

In order to have a country, you have to have an agreement among the membership.

T difference between the collectivist and the individuals is that the individual believes that the collectivism is a necessary evil and should only be used when absolutely necessary

Collectivists believe that individualism is a necessary evil that should be kept to the absolute minimum and collectivism is always the preferred system.

[expat1000]

Hi Louis,

Glad to see you are keeping up the good work! :-)

I live in a smallish town, and am not much affected by the political situation here. I don’t expect it to get violent in any case.

[Louis Foxwell]

Thank you. Thinking of you 1/2 way around the world. Keep the faith.

[expat1000]

Thinking of you too. G-d bless!

[ek_hornbeck]

The point I was making is that conservatives and liberals are individualistic and collectivist about different things.

The Left in America is economically collectivist, but their lack of patriotism and obsession with the sexual license is in a very real sense selfish and individualistic.

Consersely, the Right is individualistic in the economic sense but has a stronger collective national, community/civic, or religious identity. In other words, the distinction between Left and Right isn't individualism vs. collectivism, but rather the entities and concepts of the collective allegiance.