Originally posted by martin
Richard D,
When I stated "opposite end of the spectrum" I was not commenting on world politics. I was commenting on the differences between the previous administration's policies regarding civil liberties for US citizens versus the current administration policies towards its citizens. There is a vast difference in that regard.
Martin - sorry I didn't realise it was restricted to internal civil liberties. I also confess my knowledge of civil liberties within the US is not that deep. Over here I get the impression that neither of our major two parties are particularly good on civil liberties, but I'm sure there are members of the parties who do have concerns.
Originally posted by velocipedo
Richard D: It's not offesnive, I think, to point out that there are a number of different political perspectives and that terms like "lunatic fringe" are generally vacuous. "Lunacy" should be
used to describe tactics and strategies, not ideas.
Not at all, I just wanted to avoid offensive language by not giving my views of some of their actions
Originally posted by velocipedo
And I think the CM tactics -- they don't seem to have much strategy -- verge on lunacy. A minority doesn't change the perceptions of a majority by cheesing them off. The problem with CM is evidence by their lack of widespread support within the cycling community, not to mention in the general, non-cycling population. Whether you work within the system or not -- and I do believe that real change can happen outside the system -- you have to make sure that your aims and means are not mismatched.
I agree that their means are unlikely to fulfil their aims. I think changes within the system (if you can avoid diluting your aims too much in order to make them palatable to the majority) are easier, but obviously changes outside the system do happen - French, American, Russian Revolutions are quite big examples
What do you see as the best way to improvecity cycling facilities?