Where do you fall politically?

[PrincessFiona]

After an exciting (but short 'cuz we all know I'm right ) debate with ThuVan this weekend, I started wondering where everyone here falls politically. Forgive me if this has already been asked.

[PrincessFiona]

hehehe

Just kidding, ThuVan...you know I luv you

kris

[Meenah]

I don't think there is any question that I'm Democrat, but I do respect everyone's freedom to choose. What a great country we live in.

I'm going to Georgia in two weeks for my niece's wedding and this will be the first time I have seen many cousins, etc in years. I grew up in Mississippi and I have a lo of "right" wing family members. I'm also taking my husband and he has met only my immediate family. It should be interesting, I grew up Mississippi Catholic and I'm going home with my extremely liberal (like me) New York Jewish husband!!!!!

I should have some good stories to tell when I get back.
Luanne

[Rapunzel]

You forgot Libertarian on the survey. Although I am not officially a member of any political party (and thus voted independent) I am inclined to agree with their party platforms a great deal of the time. If "I generally subscribe to Libertarian principles" was a choice that is how I would've voted. My father was the first Libertarian I ever knew and he gradually "converted" my very Republican mother over the years to the Libertarian way of thinking. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the Libertarian party is actually growing pretty well in both Texas (where I originated) and in Massachussetts (my new home). Funny that you can find so many people from both states who agree!!!

[PrincessFiona]

forgot

Apparently, I forgot the "clueless but trying" category that ThuVan just assigned to me too

kris

[Rapunzel]

Where is the "exciting but short" debate that happened over the weekend? I guess I missed it!

[DCJenn]

Well- I'm as most of you know, major league liberal. I am mighty annoyed at the Spineless Democrats (except the ones in Texas !!! Gotta love that little protest we just had). I am extremely Pro-choice and will use that as one of the criteria for my votes. I also really like the Green Party Platform but they need to get it together a little more to have an impact on the National stage. I donate to them and to the dems though.

and I too, wouldn't take a glass of water from Dubya if it was the only water in the world. I can't even listen to the man, I have to read his speeches in the paper or online. I can feel my blood boil just thinking about him.

Jenn

PS: I voted undecided though because I will vote for a Pro-choice republican before I vote for a pro-life dem.

I am registered Republican and fall along party lines in a lot of areas but I put undecided also because I have voted both democrat and republican depending on the candidate. I get irritated with people who mark the box for all democrat or all republican without looking at each candidate closely. I grew up in a VERY democratic family. I am the first person in the family to register republican, then surprisingly to me, my brother followed suit. I really studied when I was trying to figure out which way to register. For me, there wasn't a significant enough difference between the two other than the abortion issue. I am VERY pro-life and with so many republican leaders also being pro-life, it was why I registered republican. I would vote for a democrat in a heartbeat (and have) if their views are similar to mine. If they are pro-life, they have an advantage for my vote. Jenn ... how you feel about George W. Bush is how I felt about Clinton.

Robin

I chose "don't fall into one general category...". I recently registered as a Democrat so that I could vote in the primary elections. I tend to vote Democrat, increasingly so in the last few years. Had McCain won the Republican nomination I would have voted for him for President. I too loathe George W and can't stand to hear him on TV. I think it is embarassing to have a president that sounds like such an idiot. I wish the democrats could pull together some better leadership and produce a viable candidate for presidency.
I am also pro-choice and that factors into my voting decisions as well. I will vote for a republican but not if they are extremely pro-life. I really admire the few republicans -- and democrats-- who stand by the beliefs and go against their parties on this issue.

[Auspicious]

I am registered Republican and fall along party lines in a lot of areas but I put undecided also because I have voted both democrat and republican depending on the candidate. I get irritated with people who mark the box for all democrat or all republican without looking at each candidate closely.

I hear ya on this, and it's definitely an inner debate I have each time I go to vote. Over the past several years I've become increasingly likely to vote the straight party ticket because I increasingly feel that you ARE voting for the party and not the individual candidate because of the appointments they make and the staffs they bring in.

For example, say hypothetically you normally vote Democrat but you felt George Bush was pretty moderate and you liked his stance on this or that issue more than you liked Gore's stance, so you decided to vote for him. Well, now you've made John Ashcroft your Attorney General, and I don't know of anyone who would describe HIM as moderate. When you put someone from the opposing party in office, you're not just voting for your candidate, you're giving a toehold to the whole range of people in that party. I'd rather deal with appointments and staff coming from the far left than the far right, so I have a hard time voting for a republican, even if the republicans put up someone who's not so bad.

I do listen to what the candidates have to say, particularly at the national and state levels, but I don't believe that it's as simple as picking the best candidate.

That is a good point Julie and I find myself too ending up voting mostly along the party line (although my votes tend to go Republican) It is just frustrating when someone ahead of me goes to vote and it takes five seconds to check the box. Maybe they have prepared in advance and know what the candidates are saying but then again .... I doubt it most of the time. It is true that when you vote for a presidential candidate, you are getting more than just the president. You will get the whole staff to go with it and I guess that is probably why I voted for Bush in the last election. I figured he would surround himself with strong people, like Collin Powell. Gore came across so arrogant to me and wishy-washy in his convictions that I didn't know what kind of people he would choose for his staff. I didn't have strong likes or dislikes for either of them. More apathy than anything, which is very sad!

I think the United States needs a third party to become strong enough to break up the whole Democrat versus Republican mind set. There is too much following party lines and not solving any problems. Republicans don't want to give Democrats credit and visa versa. Bills are thrown out because they don't want the other party to look good or the bills are at least changed so much that they don't do much good. A strong third party would shake things up a bit and maybe something productive would get done!

Robin

[DCJenn]

Amen Robin!!

Maybe more than one more. I think it's really too bad that the smaller parties get washed over. I don't necessarily agree with all of the platforms of all of the parties (no one could!!) but I truly believe that there has to be a way to get better results.

I don't always love all of the Dems or their candidates, either- so we do get stuck. I would have actually probably voted for McCain as well because he very clearly stated that the abortion thing wasn't something he would likely challenge and I really liked a lot of what the man had to say. I voted for Gore because he wasn't Bush, not because I particularly liked him or his platform. I think he's a sold out democrat who had no spine. Jeez, why are they so afraid to actually say what they think? That's why I liked McCain- even if you didn't agree with him, you knew exactly where he was coming from. How refreshing. And I liked Lieberman, too. So why couldn't I vote for a McCain-Leiberman ticket? Why can we pick the people and not the party. (I know why, but what a stupid system...)

Too bad politics has become sound-bite moments rather than well thought out points of view. Maybe we should go back to newpapers and radio for our primary news!!

Ugh- there aren't any answers except for all of us to make sure that the parties and the candidates understand that pretty much universally, people are disgusted. Unfortunately, that turns in to apathy which doesn't do anything to help the situation either.

Jenn

[PrincessFiona]

Third party

I agree about the third party, Robin...I ended up voting for Nader :mrgreen" in the last election...but I guess it ended up being a vote for Bush...

kris

republican all the way

I am a very conservative Republican and I enjoy voicing my conservative opinion. I am EXTREMELY pro-life! That is probably my biggest issue. Although I do agree with the majority of the conservative Republican platform on other issues including social and economical issues. I will say that I have voted for one Democrat before because I knew that person personally. I don't vote for Republican's because they are Republican, I normally vote for the Republicans because they are conservative.

[Rapunzel]

I agree with Robin that the US could use a third "major" party. For me I find the Democrats and Republicans to be VERY similar in their dealings on any government matter. The answer for both parties to any problem in the world is to increase the amount of government beauracracy. Have a problem? Pass a law. That seems to be the party line for both parties. I subscribe to the view that "liberal" in government refers to a liberal use of government - ie lots of beauracracy interfering in people's lives. In that manner both the Republican and Democratic parties are VERY liberal. They simply remain diametrically opposite each other on issues such as abortion simply to distinguish themselves from each other. In summary the mindset of both major parties is the same - with variations in what is "right" and "wrong".

That's why I'm Libertarian. It's the only party that truly upholds a "conservative" use of federal government by keeping the federal government's role to a minimum by following the US Constitution. It is really suprising just how far away our federal government has strayed from it's original purpose at the inception of our nation. We face a highly centralized government brought about increasingly post-Civil War. I argued in a paper in my Federalism course a few years back that the role of State government is increasingly chipped away by the Federal government and increasingly the Federal government begins "programs" and taxes its citizens outside the parameters set by the supreme law of the land - the Constitution.

The only party that seems to actually support thinking outside of increasingly socialist policies and un-Constitutional behavior on the part of the Federal government is the Libertarian party. It is truly the party that supports Civil Rights fully and the limitation of a centralized government in compliance with the Constitution. Hopefully this movement will continue to grow and maybe gain candidates on a national level that will give it the momentum it needs.