I have refrained from writing about the stunning conclusions in the Lancet study which claims 100,000 excess deaths since the US/UK invasion of Iraq. Although extensively peer reviewed and done with accepted methodology for war conditions (I'd link to Spencer Ackerman's Burnham interview, but his blog is currently experiencing some technical problems - read lenin's excerpt), the number was so much higher than any other figures put forth - albeit with less reliable methods - that some caution seemed appropriate until more critiques were in. One critique that seemed, as lenin put it, damning, was Fred Kaplan's in Slate. Fortunately for all of us who were so much less enterprising, lenin corresponded with the authors of the Lancet study and obtained a very convincing explanation.

Charles Johnson - 11/2/2004

"In Right-wing political philosophies, political power rises from the bottom up. These would include true democracies and representative republics. In Left-wing political philosophies, political power originates at the top and moves downward."

This is not what the terms were made to signify, and it's not how they've historically been used. In Revolutionary France (where the terms were coined) the "Left" were those (among them many classical liberals and libertarians such as Frederic Bastiat) who argued for the sovereignty of ordinary people, claimed that government could have no rights except those that people chose to give it, and defended the right of those people to make fundamental changes to the structure of government. The Right were those who argued that the absolute authority of the King was sanctioned by Almighty God.

If you want to clarify how the terms are used, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind would recommend that the clarified terms have at least some connection with their historical use.

Stephen Wade - 1/5/2004

Halleluia!

And I thought I was the only one who recognized Fascism for what it is: a totalitarian, left-wing political philosophy. I would like to redefine left-wing amd right-wing. In Right-wing political philosophies, political power rises from the bottom up. These would include true democracies and representative republics. In Left-wing political philosophies, political power originates at the top and moves downward. This includes all totalitarian philosophies such as communism, fascism, socialism, monarchies, dictatorships, etc.

Today's American liberalism is also left-wing by this definition.