Stats and other strangeness

"Statistics is like a Bikini. What it reveals is tantalizing, what it
conceals is essential." - Friend of mine

Conservative: Someone who generally has enough money for beer (sometimes
from hard work, sometimes from inherited money, sometimes from an
exploitive source) and who really hopes he'll be able to buy beer before
the government takes it away from him. He doesn't like others being
given beer money, but won't turn away a proferred pint. And his major
skillset is complaint.

Liberal: Someone who may have enough money for beer (from hard work,
sometimes inherited money, sometimes government program) and who really
hopes he'll be able to buy beer for himself and all his buddies so he
doesn't have to go protest for more. He doesn't mind sharing his beer
money, since most of the time he didn't have to earn it, and besides,
one good pint deserves another. He won't turn down a free pint. And his
major skillset is complaining.

<chuckle!>

I find it endlessly humorous that, once-upon-a-time, being liberal meant
being open minded, fair, willing to listen to both sides of a story,
free thinking, inventive, revolutionary, etc. and being conservative
meant being closed minded, hidebound, set-in-your-ways, unwilling to try
something new and now they've grown to mean (respectively) being a
soft-hearted, care-about-your-fellow-man, can't-balance-a-checkbook
tax-n-spend policy and a supposedly-reasonable, often-isolationist,
I'm-just-fine-so-fix-yer-own-problems-bub, fiscally responsible policy.
It is quite fascinating to see how at one point, I'd have wanted to be
called a liberal (someone forward thinking, fair, educated in many
things) and how nowadays I'd be just as happy to be a middle-of-the-road
don't-want-to-be-called-either person.

Attempt at OnTopicness: It'd be interesting to see what kinds of changes
the GZGverse has brought to these definitions and which new ones have
been added. I assume their are descriptors (political/social) for
    - Martians
    - Belters
    - Megacorps
    - The block powers
    - People who think Terrans should abandon space
    - People who think Earth should rule all of space
    - People who think Earth should take a flying leap

Star travel would presumably remake many of the political definitions -
as a star traveller or a colonist off earth might have less in common
with the NAC government from Earth than someone in another on-Earth
block. Politics have divided (officially) along block lines, but it
seems likely many internal divisions exist, and that Earth is the seat
of old-money, old-power, and old-thought. Probably the colonies (many
times) perceive themselves as having left a stagnant/reactionary Earth.
And Earth no doubt percieves many of the independent colonies as
upstarts without any sense of gratitude for how Earth gave them their
start and for the wisdom of thousands of years of know-how in
administering national entities.

And with corporations larger than countries, that would have to have a
huge impact on how politics was played.

It makes for interesting speculation.

Tom.