No being a republican isn't bad. However their party ideals have been severely undermined or if not lost. Republicans routinely increase government, increase taxation and increase oversight on people's lives. Dems do it too, but I just don't understand why Republicans hold on to these ideals if their party doesn't really represent them. As far as the part that I highlighted, what about people who raise taxes, then diverts taxes to politically connected corporations?
I think Libertarian could be a broad label for us. Libertarians stand for government doing basic stuff like protecting us from war and building infrastructure. they don't believe that government should tell us how to live in any way outside of the constitution. Ron Paul is a libertarian.
Well the ideologies themselves are polar opposites, but of course the vast majority of people who identify themselves as one or the other actually fall somewhere in between.
"political beliefs about social issues" At a local level that statement makes sense, but when you are talking about Federal politics under the constitution that statement is almost an oxymoron. That's where this country started to fail, when we abandoned the constitution and started focusing on social policy, legal paternalism, and positive rights. They manipulated the democratic process by targeting sensitive issues, allocating the power of control to the central government, and turning the whole "less government/more government" debate into one centered around "religious morality/ethical morality". When less government isn't even an option anymore, we've let them win. This enables the government to create those wasteful programs you see today, which never seem to work in the interest of the people who voted for them. By default, a conservative is "socially liberal". The federal government should play no role in social issues, thus allowing local representation of state constituents.
Polar opposites because they both believe in money? Well, I'd like to hear honest reasoning. There are people like that, you know? I'm Jewish and personally would take no offense. Hitler knew he would have been killed for being part Jewish if he lived in his own Germany as a citizen. Hypocrisy of that magnitude is not really honest to me, and is ignorant on a crucial level. The most basic issue is taking another human being's death into one's own hands, and the dehumanization process used for the sheer purpose of denying certain human beings any sort of decent or satisfying life. It seems to me that the wedge issues change virtually every election. I don't think religious morality is always issue number one. Some would say economic woes are the deciding factor this year. Gas prices affect people less than subtly, just like religious issues.
Agreed. Depends on what definition of "conservative" you're using though. You and I understand the real definition... but to most of the country, being conservative means something entirely different. The neo-cons totally changed everything. For example: Your average registered Republican who considers himself completely conservative would say that this is basically pure liberal propaganda. But in reality, this statement is about as conservative as you can get. At what point does the actual definition of the word change? When there's no one left to remember what it meant in the first place?
Right wing religious nuts don't give a shit about anything but fighting pagan muslims overseas and protecting their children from the sins of sex and gays. They are just the base. There are other people within the party that call attention to more important issues, but the votes come from religion. Yes, economic woes definitely will play a larger role this year. Maybe something good will come out of the pressure. Cosmic, the memory hole is in effect. We now rely on media for meanings.
i agree man.. the far right and the far left have totally changed everything. They seem to have the same agenda, but different ideas on how to achieve it. aaronman, those quotes are disturbing.
As if the Democrats being jingoistic fear-mongers is some kind of news... I think that's the third certainty in life... "Death, Taxes, and The United States waging war." Benjamin Franklin would have been so proud.
This reminded me of an article written by Greg Palast called "Republicans and Democrats, Hand in Hand, to Save the Billionaire's Boys' Club". I agree as well, despite their "differences" as far as the public is concerned, in my book Reps. and Dems. are largely part of the same group. Wealthy elite.