Let us look inside your head!

[SmilezRoyale]

So we have threads where the OP asks people what they think about political stuff. I'm going instead to ask you HOW you think about political stuff. Now since most people don't ask themselves this question since it involves more thought than most people are willing to engage in that level of introspection and self-criticism.

So I've devised something might be fun for some people [frustrating for others] I'm going to post a number of words commonly used in political discourse. And I want you to define them as they appear to you as concepts in your head, but in terms that are understandable to all. In theory, this will give us a picture of how YOU think about politics.

The general principle is that you want to try and define the word to an alien who was familiar in English but not in Political philosophy / political economy. There are some rules which should help you adhere to said principle:

1. Do not try to define a word using an object or example. All of the words you have to define here are concepts, not objects. So for example, If I asked you to define a conservative do not say ronald reagan.
2. Obviously, do not use the word in its own definition
3. It's Ok to use one of the words on the list in the definition of another but I discourage it, and please don't use circular definitions like defining a liberal as a progressive and a progressive as a liberal.
4. You do not have to define all terms, if you cannot figure out a working definition for a term you can either admit it explicitly or implicitly by excluding it from the list. [You'll see the list is pretty long, if you write long paragraphs for each definition it might take more than one posts]
5. You can use value laden terms if you think that fits with your internal definition, especially since not doing it is but calling something good or bad tells people more how you feel rather than how you think.
6. Do not rely on the dictionary. If your definition of a term happens to correspond exactly with what some dictionary says, then you shouldn't need to visit a dictionary website.
7. For those of you who are perceptive you'll notice a conspicuous absence of qualifiers which makes your job all the more difficult, that's all I'll say about this last part.

Also note one number might have two words separated by a slash, that means I'm asking you to define the words separately so that the reader could detect some distinction between them. Or if none exists in your mind please state why.

I'm going to post my own working definitions later, mostly because it's very late and good working definitions take time.

Define:

1. Progressive
2. Rights
3. Freedom
4. Equality
5. Political Correctness
6. Partisan / Ideologue
7. Imperialism / Colonialism
8 Socialism / Communism
9. Regulation / [A] Control
10. Tax
11. Moderate / Centrist
12. Extremism
13. Racism
14. Feminism
15. [The] Economy
16. War
17. Politics / Public Policy
18. Democracy
19. Science
20. Religion

[SmilezRoyale]

Damnit! sorry for the double post. I forgot

21. Government / The State

[Korriken]

At 11/13/12 12:56 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote:

Define:

1. Progressive

a nonsensical ideology that revolves around breaking down tradition and replacing it for the sake of change. usually dooms the culture it attacks.

2. Rights

Privileges the strong take for themselves and perhaps grant to the weak.

3. Freedom

The illusion that another does not have control over you and/or your property, or life.

4. Equality

The illusion that one thing is not better than another.

5. Political Correctness

nonsensical ideology aimed at censoring others. to prevent them from speaking freely, especially if the truth is being spoken.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

Charlatan who is too blinded by self righteousness to see their own folly. most politicians are this to some extent, some worse than others.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

8 Socialism / Communism

a feudal system in which the peasants are enslaved by the rich elite who use their authoritarian control to bring wealth to themselves as the masses suffer. Often requires threats of tyrannical brutality to keep peasants in line. See: North Korea, Venezuela, etc.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

The sometimes necessary sometimes not control over various aspects of reality.

10. Tax

system in which the government pays its bills.

11. Moderate / Centrist

person who is not a political zombie for either side. usually has their own opinions, but sometimes are simply uninformed. Most politicians try to masquerade as a centrist.

12. Extremism

What happens when idiots take something too far. typical extremists are low IQ poor semi to totally uneducated and easily manipulated by the powers that be who command them.

13. Racism

the unwarranted hatred of another race. Everyone is this to some extreme.

14. Feminism

nonsensical ideology of male suppression and female glorification. Often embraced by lesbians and bitter old women.

15. [The] Economy

the system of exchange of goods and services. control over the economy varies by nation.

16. War

the use of force to get your way, to acquire various resources including land, a great source of population control, and how things ultimately get done on a global scale
.

17a. Politics

the dog and pony show the rich elite use to either terrify or divide the unwashed peasant masses to stay in power.

:17b. Public Policy
the stated way the government is going to run the show. not always what actually happens.

18. Democracy

an illusionary system of government in which the rich elite fight each other for the power by dividing the peasants and then having them decide directly or indirectly who gets to stay in power.

19. Science

Faith in lab coats who tell you how things work. sometimes highly corrupt.

20. Religion

Faith in what cannot be directly sensed. often highly corrupt.

21. Government / The State
Those in power who ultimately control your life.

[thegarbear14]

1. Progressive

Depends... can be good or bad, but it always involves changings the norms of society.

2. Rights

basic freedoms people are entitled to at birth.

3. Freedom

ability to control your own life, and think for your self

4. Equality

Same treatment for people regardless of many factors

5. Political Correctness

Attempts not to offend people by using other words, usually meaning the same shit but said more politely. Usually quite dumb.
Ex: black=african american.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

Closed minded and biased torwards one side

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

take over of another people's resource by force or moving into their lands by force

8 Socialism / Communism

Socialism: government controlled business, has varying degrees and can have a positive effect if done properly. (mixxing in lots of capitalist ideas...)

Communism: government owns all property, and controls all businesses. It usually is a complete failure and results in genocide quite often.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

Regulation: limitations, can be good or bad. Control: under the power of.

10. Tax

fees taken by government organizations and used to support the country. Can be good or bad depending what the government uses them for and how much they take from people.

11. Moderate / Centrist

Someone in the middle of the political spectrum

12. Extremism

A radically different view from the rest of the society. Usually really bad such as facism, communism, or radical islam etc.

13. Racism

Hate of someone based on ethnicity. It can go beyond white/black/asian etc.

14. Feminism

The ideology wanting more rights for women, can be extreme, really weird, or acceptable.
ex of acceptable: equal pay
ex of extreme /weird: Wants to be treated like men are but expects men to also treat them special like the things that men do special for women.

15. [The] Economy

Exchange of goods, services, and money.

16. War

Fighting between countries.

17. Politics / Public Policy

How people think a government should be run, political parties, government types etc.

18. Democracy

direct democracy? if so then voting on each issue individually. If not then picking representatives to vote in your best interests

19. Science

How stuff works

20. Religion

Moral codes, jesus,god, moses,allah, mohammed and other shit. I'm a christian i guess if that is what your trying to find out.

[Iron-Hampster]

1. Progressive
the idea that more government solves everything

2. Rights
you are born with them, the law defines which ones you get to keep

3. Freedom
the ability to keep all of your rights

4. Equality
to be taken, not given.

5. Political Correctness
what's socially acceptable

6. Partisan / Ideologue
a way to unite people under tyranny

7. Imperialism / Colonialism
take their stuff, make it ours, genius.

8 Socialism / Communism
the idea that if we all commit theft, that makes it okay

9. Regulation / [A] Control
soft words used to justify the unjust monopolization power

10. Tax
soft word for extortion

11. Moderate / Centrist
subjective, changes all the time according to what the public thinks is right

12. Extremism
subjective, changes all the time according to what the public thinks is wrong

13. Racism
unjust use of power against people who are ethnically different

14. Feminism
vague idea, alternates between women are equal, women should be made equal, and women should be treated equal.

15. [The] Economy
flow of goods and capital.

16. War
a series of normally unjustifiable crimes justified by achieving a goal at some one else's expense.

17. Politics / Public Policy
people who get to decide what rights you get to keep/ what rights you currently don't get to keep.

18. Democracy
the idea that if 50%+1 agrees to something that is wrong, it is right.

19. Science
understanding of the world around us

20. Religion
cool stories.

[Camarohusky]

At 11/13/12 12:56 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote:

Lots of rules, let's hope I got them all...

1. Progressive

One who seeks to affect change, usually in favor of the weak and often at the expense of the powerful.

2. Rights

Things we believe all people should have access to.

3. Freedom

The ability to make one's on decisions and destiny. (within reason, of course)

4. Equality

The view that no matter our differences, we all deserve the same base level of treatment and access.

5. Political Correctness

Attmpts, often misguided, to avoid offending others' sensitivities.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

One who puts themselves and their kind over the needs of the community as a whole.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

Buzz word for the weaker countries to complain about being weak.

8 Socialism / Communism

Failed experiment to used the government to right the percieved fults of wealth and capitalism. Yet to be properly implemented.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

The government placing limits on freedom to ensure that one person's freedom does not ruin another's.

10. Tax

The fee paid by the people for the servies the government provides. A patriotic duty.

11. Moderate / Centrist

The name seems self explanatory.

12. Extremism

One who holds opinions that are stronger/more extreme than most.

13. Racism

The belief that people with different ethnic backgrounds are somehow inherently better or worse based solely on their background, whether it be generally or in specific actions.

14. Feminism

Collection of beliefs wanting to epower women, ranging from those who want to unseat men as the gender with power, to the who want blind equality, to those who want the freedom of choice.

15. [The] Economy

System of interconnected groups who buy and sell various goods and services. The web connecting all of these people that is susceptable to booms and busts is the economy.

16. War

The physical solution to a diplomatic problem.

17. Politics / Public Policy

Too long to explain.

18. Democracy

Governance where every citizen has an eqaul say in the government. Also used to describe the American Republic which has some democratic mechanisms.

19. Science

A conclusion supported by verifiable experiments and accepted by peers.

20. Religion

An organized belief in a supernatural power.

[orangebomb]

At 11/13/12 12:56 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote: 1. Progressive

Someone who thinks that they can use the government to implement change, sometimes it works, often times it doesn't.

2. Rights

How we as humans have at birth, which is ever changing with the times and sometimes is abused for whatever reason.

3. Freedom

The opportunity to live your life to how you see fit. Like with rights, they can be abused.

4. Equality

A system where all people are tolerated for their differences and beliefs within logic and reason. Pure equality is not possible, due to the fact that all men are not created equal.

5. Political Correctness

A bullshit way of covering your ass by trying not to offend a certain group of people, and ironically enough doing so.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

A way to appeal to both sides of the political spectrum, often how stuff gets done in government, but it has it's drawbacks.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

The subjugation of a weaker nation by a powerful nation/empire. Historically, this has met with mixed results overall, but the ignorant love to use this buzzword as a way of showing disapproval of an occupation, such as The Iraq War of 2003.

8 Socialism / Communism

A backwards system where the government has either full or much control of business, economy and society in general, often this system is in conjunction with a corrupt dictatorship, and the cost of many human lives.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

A way of protecting people from themselves and/or the scoundrels of society that promote cure-all medicines and lottery scams.

10. Tax

How the government pays it's bills, and often times grow and grow. A double-edged sword at best.

11. Moderate / Centrist

A politician/organization that rides the fence on the political spectrum, often used to drum up popularity and influence because of their appeal.

12. Extremism

The complete opposite of moderates, often insane and sometimes very dangerous to others.

13. Racism

A belief that one race is superior or inferior to another in which they find a reason why they are superior/inferior. Sometimes it can be subtle, but often times it's blatant and violent, such as Apartheid in South Africa.

14. Feminism

An ideological viewpoint in where females should be entitled to everything that men have, sometimes rational and understandable, but often times full of bullshit. Most of them tend to fall into the latter, which is why they're justifiably despised.

15. [The] Economy

The system of exchanging goods and services to the people, which depends on the government.

16. War

When words are not enough, bullets and bombs speak louder. Often the first and most common tactic popularized by fools and the bloodthirsty.

17. Politics / Public Policy

9 times out of 10, it's the grown up version of grade schools kids bitching and moaning. Public policy is self-explanatory.

18. Democracy

System in where the people have the most power, but is the hardest government to implement and understand for some reason.

19. Science

A way of explaining how the world works using logic and formulas, often times the more sane and rational viewpoints of how stuff works, but it can be corrupted for evil purposes given the chance.

20. Religion

A belief in where a deity/deities is worshiped in a group and often has a set of rules to live by, which is often corrupted and generally just plain silly at times. Much of it is one big joke.

[SmilezRoyale]

My Turn

1. Progressive

Believes 1. In an inexorable upward march of history 2. Someone keen to use the force of law to solve social problems.

2. Rights

A dishonest shorthand for saying that members in society ought to have X, with normative force attached.

3. Freedom

Can either mean a kind of non-violent permission to do as one pleases so long as one's actions are not aggressive, or a total removal of all moral and physical restraints to action.

4. Equality

A and B have X equality when they are identical with respect to X. To describe two things as equal generally tends to omit what sort of equality is meant. In normal speech this is acceptable though in politics it can really muddle things.

5. Political Correctness

1. A doctrine that treats notions of essentialism as evil on the grounds it will lead to a second holocaust.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialism
A simpler way to explain 1. is the idea that everything and everyone is interchangeable. Therefore invoking categories such as Race, Gender, etc. As having *essential* characteristics is blasphemy.
2. Anything that a politician would be permitted to say. Generally because it is anti-essentialistic.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

Someone who treats party affiliation as having primary importance.
Someone who treats notions of ideas and ideologies as having primary importance.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

Imperialism usually refers to the control of the state by one group of a self identified different culture from another group. There is a matter of subjectivity with whether something is an empire depending on notions of cultural similarity. One man's nation may be another's empire.

Colonialism refers to the settlement of one area by people from another area, which is why one can speak of the moon as being colonized, rather than speaking of having a 'lunar empire'

8 Socialism / Communism

State control of the means of production or at least the major industries. Today republicans have debased the word to the point where it's more synonymous with general feelings of "big government-ness"

9. Regulation / [A] Control

A mechanism which promotes regularity / stability in a given sphere.
An attempt by force of law usually with the professed goal of acting as a regulation, and usually called a regulation as well.

10. Tax

confiscation of wealth under a general threat of physical or financial reprisal, in a manner that is legally sanctioned. In contrast with extortion which is it's illegal counterpart.

11. Moderate / Centrist

Someone who fashions themselves roughly in the center of where they perceive the two extremes in political opinion are at a given time and place in history. Keeping in mind that politics like the universe has no real center.

12. Extremism

Taking positions outside of what is declared as acceptable
or
Engaging in anti social behavior.

13. Racism

A way to accuse someone of supporting slavery, the holocaust, or Jim Crow through subtle manipulation of language. "Race hatred" can legitimately be defined as hatred of a race or hatred of someone because of their race, but it is often the case that people who accuse other's of racism cannot get away with accusing the same people of race hatred because the falsity of it would be too obvious.

14. Feminism

A movement aimed at the collectivization of female sexual power in the hands of women as a group.

15. [The] Economy

A network of exchanges of desired tangible and non tangible things.

16. War

A violent conflict between two states

17. Politics / Public Policy

Conflicts over ostensible control of the state
public policy on the other hand is the actual laws that are enforced. Politics without public policy is the new normal of today's Democracies.

18. Democracy

A system of government which preports to be 1. Generated by the masses 2. Approved by the masses 3. acting on the interests of the masses, the exception to this is the more Nazi Definition of democracy which is a government that relies on parliamentary representation.

19. Science

The accumulation of information based on a procedure that relies on repeatable, testable, and falsifiable hypothesis. Peer review is useful insofar as it serves the functions of 'repeatable' and 'falsibiable' but the emphasis on peer review ignores the fact that peer review could refer to the review on doctrines of the holy scripture by peers of priests, having things being being reviewed by peers as a sign of proof without adhering to the above 3 principles of the scientific method is simply intellectual imperialism.

20. Religion

An organized group of people associated by a roughly common view on certain aspects of Metaphysics and ethics.

[theburningliberal]

At 11/13/12 12:56 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote: 1. Progressive

One who sees changes in society and responds with a public policy encouraging that change rather than restricting it

2. Rights

Inalienable propositions related to a person's existence and their ability to lead their lives without intrusion.

3. Freedom

The ability to exercise the rights that we are due as part of our inherent human nature. As long as we don't violate the rights of others, our freedom should be left intact.

4. Equality

Tricky. There are varying views of what equality is (ontological equality, equality of condition/opportunity/outcome). Ontological equality is a religious notion, and has no place in this debate (secular government), although there are some deontological standards for equality that may be relevant. Equality of outcome is essentially communism, in that is much less concerned with the rules of the game than it is with the distribution of resources. Again, not a compelling argument for equality as I am sure many will agree. The two standards for equality that I believe are most compelling are equality of opportunity (the idea that everyone should have access to the same kinds of opportunities in our society. In this standard, inequality of condition is acceptable as long as the "rules" that govern opportunity are equally applied to all citizens. The other is equality of condition, which is essentially the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point from which to begin their lives. My sociology textbook has a good explanation of this:

Social actors know that the playing field is uneven, so they try to make it slightly more level. Sometimes these policies can enhance efficiency if they result in fairer competition; other times they may result in a trade-off between efficiency and equality in favor of the latter. We may accept that certain groups with slightly lower SAT scores are admitted to colleges because they faced much greater obstacles to attain those SAT scores than other groups of test takers who enjoyed more advantages. Such "social engineering" may be based on race, class, gender or any other social sorting category, as long as the proponents can make a justifiable claim that the existing playing field is tilted against them.

5. Political Correctness

This is essentially a standard of ethics of what is acceptable to talk about, and how we are allowed to talk about it.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

Partisan - someone who is deeply attached to the beliefs of their party to the point of being unwilling to compromise even if it serves a greater interest to do so.
Ideologue - someone who is deeply attached to the beliefs of a political ideology to the point of being unwilling to compromise even if it serves a greater interest to do so.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

Imperalism - the promulgation of values we feel are important outside our national borders through various mechanisms not including military or civilian occupation. This can include hinging foreign aid on the existence of democratic authority, using economic authority to deny countries access to nuclear material (Iran) or other various tools.
Colonialism is essentially the same thing, except that it involves the use of military force or the existence of a significant presence of American citizens (non-military, and more than just an embassy or consulate) on foreign soil.

8 Socialism / Communism

Both of these systems feature public ownership of the means of production, the difference being how that ownership is administered. In a socialist system, we have a national state that administers the means of production and the distribution of resources. In a communist system we are able to do without the existence of a national government.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

I would delineate the difference between these two concepts like this... If you or your company manage a product, industry, whatever that has the potential to be detrimental to public safety or the public interest, you would be subject to regulation to ensure that the possible detriments don't happen. The key difference is whether or not there is a legitimate, definable interest that is being protected through that regulation. If there isn't, it becomes control.

10. Tax

In my eyes, we pay taxes so that, collectively as a nation, we can achieve things that even the richest among us would not be able to accomplish individually. We pay a premium to be a citizen in good standing, and those taxes should be used not only for the national defense, but to promote the growth and continued evolution of our society (through funding R&D programs that we as a nation deem important, funding the national defense, funding social safety net programs for the least fortunate among us and creating and maintaining a national infrastructure that enables commerce and allows society to continue evolving).

11. Moderate / Centrist

I have to agree with Camaro's definition, this is pretty self-explanatory. I will add, though, this is entirely subjective, so maybe a better definition would be someone who sees value in differeing political opinions and is ultimately unsure which way to fall off the fence, either because they don't know which one they agree with more or they don't see an opinion with which they agree.

12. Extremism

Again, this is subjective over time. People who advocated for slavery in 1850 were considered mainstream in 1850, but would be considered extremists today. Essentially, these are people whose ideas are far out of the political mainstream discussion and are unlikely to garner broad public support, but they still advocate their ideas anyway.

13. Racism / Prejudice

There is a distinction between racism and simple prejudice. Prejudice involves having a private belief about a certain group that makes you unwilling or unlikely to associate with them. Racism is actively making that private belief public through various mechanisms of behavior (speech, decision-making, violence, etc...).

14. Feminism

A movement to raise conscious awareness of the fact that gender is an organizing principle of life - gender thus matters because it structures relations between people. Second, as gender structures social relations, it does this on unequal ground, so there are real powers and privileges at stake in gender ideology. Feminists (those who believe in mainstream feminist ideology) tend to be less interested in erasing the differences between men and women than in covering the pwoer stakes behind the socially constructed differences between men and women.

15. [The] Economy

Broadly defined, this is the sum of our purchases, investments and losses as a nation or as a global society.

16. War

The use of state-sanctioned force against a domestic or foreign interest.

17. Politics / Public Policy

Politics is the clash of differing arguments of how power is exercised and what the exercise of that power looks like. Public policy is the sum of the decisions we have made as a society on how power is exercised and what that power looks like.

18. Democracy

Any system of political ideology that places a large amount of power with the people. This includes direct democracy, but also includes systems of representative democracies (which is essentially an admission that modern societies are too large to allow for the exercise of direct democracy). In many cases, we still reserve the right to make certain issues available to a public vote (called referendums).

19. Science

Technical, practical knowledge of any sort.

20. Religion

A system of thought used as cover for those who have no better basis for arguments. Carlin -

The God excuse, the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument

Religion is simply a way of organizing people with no answers and no arguments.

21. The Government/State

Established following principles of social contract theory - state is only legitimate when it is reflective of the people who built it. The state then is the bureaucracy by which government is made reflective of the people.

[theburningliberal]

I know I'm bumping, but I'm really surprised more people haven't responded to this. It's an interesting idea, a good way to know where people are coming from when they start talking about different things on this forum.

</.02>

[Ravariel]

Sure, I'll give it a shot. Mind you, these issues are rife with contextual nuance that your simple words gave little hint towards. I fear we'll be running into a lot of category mistakes here, and elsewhere if we get into discussing the actual answers we give, instead of just listing the answers themselves.

Then again, knowing you, that's probably the point: revealing where we make category mistakes and trying to find a way to fix that rhetorical problem. A goal I am all for.

At 11/13/12 12:56 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote: 1. Progressive

Ideally this is a political philosophy that espouses changing with the times, to better reflect the cultural mores, and scientific facts that we learn as we progress as a society.

2. Rights

Those freedoms that we, as a society, have deemed inalienable, or deserved of all people. Rights are not given, but rather taken from those in power, through the power of number, to be spread among the people.

3. Freedom

The ability to pursue your desires unhindered by establishmentary power, until such a time as your desires clash with another's.

4. Equality

Equality of opportunity, creation/ability, or treatment? In a political discussion, these are so often conflated in a way to muddle meaning and get people arguing at cross purposes. However, to me, equality is the notion that under the Law, anything that is not relevant to the decision made by the law should not be considered. I.E. all people are treated exactly the same, all opportunity given is disinterested in anything barring need, and no group or person is denied access to institutions or protections created by those in power. An ideal not yet met in this country (or likely any other)

5. Political Correctness

The unfortunate (and somewhat ironically offensive) growth (like a goiter) on the civil rights movement that declares it a right of the people to not be offended.

6. Partisan / Ideologue

A Partisan is an apologist for most, if not all, of his or her own political affiliation's platform. An Ideologue is someone who fights mainly for a single or small group of issues he or she deems important.

7. Imperialism / Colonialism

Both are means of control by one governmental or cultural authority over another. Imperialism seeks to conquer other cultures in order to bring them under the tent of the empire. Colonialism seeks to insert cultural and political satellites into other cultures in order to civilize them, believing that through guidance the savage people that they are "helping" would see the error of their ways, and that conforming to the colonial empire's paradigm is the better way to go.

8 Socialism / Communism

Socialism is the political philosophy that the members of society who are the best off have an obligation to use their wealth to help those less fortunate. This is done through governmental redistribution of wealth and via large social programs.

Communism is the political structure in which all means of manufacture, distribution and labor are owned by the workers themselves. Considered by Marx to be the final evolution of government whereby the people finally cut out the middleman of government and take ownership of their own collective lives.

9. Regulation / [A] Control

Regulation is the mechanism by which government curbs the more excessive and harmful tendencies of business.

Control is merely the act of containing, guiding or driving something. WIthout more specific context, I can't really give a more specific answer.

10. Tax

The cost of government, society, infrastructure, and safety.

11. Moderate / Centrist

A Moderate is someone who sees good ideas in many different parties' ideas. He or she is willing to entertain any idea, so long as it works, and is a pragmatic solution to the extent problem.

A centrist is someone who sees the real answers as lying between two opposing sides' positions. They believe that political polarization pulls ideals to the extremes, and that the only logical way forward is somewhere between those extremes. Seeks to compromise between sides, rather than pick and choose individual issues about which one side or another might be correct.

12. Extremism

A stance outside of the mainstream, that can often take severe and sometimes violent action in defense of said position.

13. Racism

The belief that there are physiological differences between races that make them better or worse at certain tasks. Also, the discrimination of people based on race or appearance.

14. Feminism

Movement that fought for political, social and workplace equality for women.

15. [The] Economy

The system by which goods and services are traded.

16. War

The act of violent force applied between nations.

17. Politics / Public Policy

Politics is the mechanism by which government works. It is the power play between elected officials by which compromise and legislation are found and passed.

Public Policy is the end result of political maneuvering.

18. Democracy

Rule by the people, literally. The political system that uses the will of the people to determine public policy, law, and all other governance.

19. Science

The search for knowledge through falsifiable, repeatable experiment.

20. Religion

An institution of faith created both as a cultural catalyst, and also as a control structure. The first, and still foremost, agency by which people tried to answer existential questions, and often characterized by a comforting afterlife and/or deity(ies) that guide the paths of the living to some greater goal.

21. Government / The State

Government is those people to whom we delegate the job of running the country, from foreign policy, to water treatment, to school boards.

The State is the overarching entity which the Government runs, and of which the People comprise.