There is a very good diary on the rec list right now by Big Tent Democrat. In the diary and the comments that follow there is a lot of discussion about Markos, daily Kos, and how they fit into the equation of the liberal blogosphere. I am not going to debate the merits of Markos, or Daily Kos. The fact that I choose to post here instead of somewhere else, or on my own blog, is a testament to how I feel about the site and its founder. Instead, I want to talk about language. Specifically about the words left and right.
Left is defined by Wikipedia as the opposite of right. However, if we follow the link to the Wiki page on relative direction, we see that the relationship is more complex.
The most common relative directions are: left, right, forward, backward, up, and down.
No absolute direction corresponds to any of the relative directions. This is a consequence of the translational invariance of the laws of physics: nature, loosely speaking, behaves the same no matter what direction one moves. As demonstrated by the Michelson-Morley null result, there is no absolute inertial frame of reference.
There are definite relationships between the relative directions, however. ... One must mind the geometry of his environment when using relative direction to express motion, however. For example, if you continue walking forward until you have almost circumnavigated the Earth, you will expend much effort only to move backward slightly...
When considering the political spectrum, why should the relationship be any less complex ? Now I don't want to insult the intelligence of the community, I realize that most of you do not think that the left wing is defined simply as being the opposite of the right. What I want to consider is the relative meaninglessness of the concepts of left and right when defining political ideologies. At least in the way that those terms are most frequently used.
To begin with the political spectrum should not be seen as linear, this is wrong. Politics do not look like this...
Left_____________________center_____________________right
I repeat, this is wrong. It is far too simplistic. A better way of viewing the spectrum might look like this...
When the political spectrum is viewed in this way the dangers of identifying with, and clinging to an ideology become more apparent. Left and right inevitably meet in two places on the circle, extremism at the one end, and "center" at the other. The most obvious problem lies in defining the center. If the center of the spectrum is defined by, or even roughly correlates to, public opinion then it is always in flux. As the center moves, so does every other point on the circle.
This illustrates why it is immaterial to me whether the Daily Kos is considered to be a left wing site. I personally do not want to be defined by public opinion. I prefer to be defined by where I stand on policy issues that are important to me. By and large this community lines up with me on those issues. By and large Markos probably lines up with me as well. Most importantly the Democratic Party lines up with me on these issues, and as both Markos and Big Tent Democrat have said, this site is about electing Democrats.
Liberal, left-leaning, left-wing, progressive... call it what you want. But judge me on where I stand, and what I do.