Are you a Democrat or a Republican, a Liberal or a Conservative?

[HAL9000]

I found it quite interesting reading P&N as I've noticed that in America (at least on here anyway) everyone seems to know "what they are" whereas in the UK, as there is not only two parties, there's a whole mix, some people know, some people don't. Some people care, some people don't.

Reading through it seems that there are four main things you can be on here:

Democrat
Republican
Liberals
Conservative

So which of these combination are you? I'm assuming you cant be a Liberal and a Conservative and you can't be a Democrat and a Republican.

Poll en route.

 

[Infohawk]

You live in the UK so you run into normal everyday people, many of whom don't care about politics. The US has tons of people that don't care about politics. You're being exposed to a self-selecting group of judgmental assholes on this forum. I'm sure you know that you can't judge a country by its internet morons.

To answer your question I consider myself a moderate. I'm "left-wing" on some issues and "right-wing" on others. I have voted for both parties before.

 

[HAL9000]

You live in the UK so you run into normal everyday people, many of whom don't care about politics. The US has tons of people that don't care about politics. You're being exposed to a self-selecting group of judgmental assholes on this forum. I'm sure you know that you can't judge a country by its internet morons.

Of course that's true, but when i was in the UK I found that almost everyone I met, whether they have any interest in politics knew if they were in the "lefties" or the "righties" even if they weren't sure why, even if was just because of their location or their family or religion.

 

[Craig234]

America is filled with people uninterested in politics; they mostly aren't in P&N. We seem to have terribly low voting and registration rates.

And they're only going to get lower now with the Republican domination in statehouses passing a national agenda of making it harder to vote, which helps them get elected.

 

[Infohawk]

Of course that's true, but when i was in the UK I found that almost everyone I met, whether they have any interest in politics knew if they were in the "lefties" or the "righties" even if they weren't sure why, even if was just because of their location or their family or religion.

Did you mean to type US or UK? If you meant to write UK then I don't see what you think is the difference between the two countries since you're saying people in both countries "know" what part of the spectrum they belong too.

 

[HAL9000]

America is filled with people uninterested in politics; they mostly aren't in P&N. We seem to have terribly low voting and registration rates.

And they're only going to get lower now with the Republican domination in statehouses passing a national agenda of making it harder to vote, which helps them get elected.

Yeah fair enough, I just saw a lot of division when I was in the US of A and on here, so I just wondered where people would put themselves.

 

[HAL9000]

Did you mean to type US or UK? If you meant to write UK then I don't see what you think is the difference between the two countries since you're saying people in both countries "know" what part of the spectrum they belong too.

I meant to type US

 

[monovillage]

In terms of a political spectrum, i'm usually considered on the right side of the spectrum and usually vote Republican. Some issues such as gay rights, abortion, consumer rights and others i'd be considered on the left side of the spectrum. I have never voted for someone i really like, i usually end up voting for some clown i hate less then the other choice.

 

[HAL9000]

In terms of a political spectrum, i'm usually considered on the right side of the spectrum and usually vote Republican. Some issues such as gay rights, abortion, consumer rights and others i'd be considered on the left side of the spectrum. I have never voted for someone i really like, i usually end up voting for some clown i hate less then the other choice.

To quote south park "The choice is always between a giant douche and a turd sandwich"

 

[guyver01]

i'm moderate and unaligned.

i vote for whoever the fuck i want.

 

[HAL9000]

i'm moderate and unaligned.

i vote for whoever the fuck i want.

Fair enough

 

[freegeeks]

not from US but I'm very progressive (liberal) on ethical stuff (gay rights, abortion, ...) and at the same time a fiscal conservative (but with a twist). Sadly there is no party in Belgium where i fit in...

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Yeah fair enough, I just saw a lot of division when I was in the US of A and on here, so I just wondered where people would put themselves.

I'll go into me later, but suffice it to say that if people didn't vote because of republicans then I can offer an argument against atheism. After all it would require a miracle for the dems to have lost the House.

 

[cubby1223]

I am myself.

There are no two people in the world with exactly the same set of beliefs, ideals, goals, etc.

Lumping together everyone into a set of 4 names, really does nothing useful in today's world except to open yourself up to criticism from "the other side".

"You call yourself a conservative and you support the Iraq war. Well, there is another conservative who is passionately against the Iraq war. Therefore your conservative beliefs are stupid, and by default my liberal beliefs are right."

"Oh, you are a liberal. Guess what, this other liberal here is against gay marriage while you support it. This obviously signifies that your liberal belief system is flawed. You can't even agree amongst yourselves!"




In terms of U.S. national politics, I almost always find myself in disagreement with the reasoning the majority party gives for supporting a particular piece of legislation... while simultaneously in disagreement with the reasoning the minority party gives for not supporting the same piece of legislation. I'm not sure what that makes me

 

[Schadenfroh]

I am a conservative Democrat.

To summarize:
Fiscal: center / center-right
Social: right at the state level, libertarian at the federal level

 

[Infohawk]

I meant to type US

I dunno... I suspect you didn't meet a large sample of people. Or maybe you just got lucky and met a lot of people with political positions?

Because as far as I know most studies have shown that people in the US are less politically involved than in other western countries. *shrug*

 

[shortylickens]

Libertarian.

Mostly cuz I only like about a third of Republican ideals and a quarter of Democrat ideals.
I know we wont see a 3rd party in the White House in my lifetime, but I cant in good conscience vote for people who I know will fuck me over.

 

[hal2kilo]

Liberal and a Demorcrat and damn proud of it.

 

[Scotteq]

Other

Mostly it depends on the issue:

- On Fiscal matters I lean towards conservative
- on Social matters, I'm more liberal/progressive

 

[Jaskalas]

I am a conservative and loyal to my values, not to a party that will sell them to the highest bidder. While I trend Republican, they don't just get my vote. They did not earn it in 2008 and I sincerely believe they will not earn it in 2012.

 

[nonlnear]

I disbelieve in the rule of law, institutionalized justice, and pretty much every founding value of Western civilization. Well maybe it's not so much that I don't appreciate the valus in the abstract, but every institution that has ever been erected to uphold them has done the complete opposite, so my first reaction when I see somebody claiming a set of values as part of a political platform is to despise everything they stand for. (Well, except for a select handful of politicians who actually rail against the entire system day in and day out.) Call me a pure cynic.

 

[Nebor]

Social liberal, fiscal conservative. I'm a supporter of totalitarianism\fascism as a means to advance the agenda I support though. Not a big believer in individual rights. Believe that the government\military doesn't need a giant bureaucracy, but needs to be just big enough to cow the people into good conduct.

 

[matt0611]

I'm a conservative because most would consider me on the "right" end of the political spectrum.

I also consider myself a "liberal" in the classical sense, so I also consider myself a libertarian since the word "liberal" has come to mean "progressive" as in bigger government, more social programs, more government control on all levels (which inevitably leads the road down to a police state) and pretty much a disregard to the constitution and traditions that the US was founded on.

To summarize myself I usually just say I'm a Constitutional Conservative Libertarian.

I'm not really into labels though so I'll spell out my political beliefs here, since I've never really done it on this forum. (if anyone actually cares...)

I believe in individualism, free market capitalism (i.e. no bailouts and no special treatment), small government, very low taxes, freedom to make our own choices in life for good or for ill, civil liberties (right to bear arms to defend oneself, assembly, religion, speech, due process, to be secure in ones processions etc).

I do not believe in the redistribution of wealth.

Basically for people to do anything they would like as long as its not hurting someone else.

I believe history has shown that individual freedom and free market capitalism has been the system that is most prosperous for people individually and collectively and is the only true moral system.

I hold the view that the federal government was created by the states and was created with limited and strictly defined powers laid out in Article 1 Section 8 and that the federal government has completely gone beyond its original bounds and needs to be completely overhauled.

I believe in states rights, the 10th amendment. The decentralization and localization of power as much as possible.

I believe in sound money, one where the value cannot be wiped out at will and cannot be printed out of thin air to to go to bankers or failed companies. A money that has more or less a stable value that people can save and can trust.

I believe in a strong national defense. But I believe in peace. I do not believe we should be the police man of the world. I do not believe we should go to war unless we are clearly in danger. I do not believe in joining international legislative bodies and think we should stay away from entangling alliances. I think we should be friends to other countries as much as possible. I want true free trade with everyone.

I'm registered as an independent so I have no special loyalty to a party. I do tend to vote republican over democrat though. (I also vote third party pretty frequently)

 

[BoomerD]

Mostly because I belonged to a labor union for most of my working life, I consider myself a Democrat...but I'm definitely NOT a liberal Democrat.
I'm strongly "law and order," heavily anti-illegal immigrant, very anti-drugs, and not particularly "gay friendly.

I DO believe in a woman's right to choose on the abortion issue, have no real issues with gay marriage, and believe in some social welfare...for those who NEED it.
I also believe this country seriously needs some type of "single-payer" socialized medical program. There's something wrong when, in a country as "advanced as ours," people can go bankrupt because of a medical issue. Health care costs are out of control in the USA. For mediocre health coverage for my wife and I, we'd have to pay between $1200 and $1600 per month...and that coverage would come with high deductibles and high co-pays.
Less than 20 years ago, similar coverage cost us less than $100 per month. Who's to blame? Damned if I know...Greedy insurance companies get part of the blame, greedy doctors and clinics/hospitals get part of the blame, greedy people who sue their doctors over trivial bullshit get part of the blame, people who use their insurance coverage for trivial bullshit that doesn't NEED doctor/hospital care get part of the blame, and greedy equipment manufacturers also get part of the blame.

 

[dmcowen674]

Are you a Democrat or a Republican, a Liberal or a Conservative?

I found it quite interesting reading P&N as I've noticed that in America (at least on here anyway) everyone seems to know "what they are" whereas in the UK, as there is not only two parties, there's a whole mix, some people know, some people don't. Some people care, some people don't.

Reading through it seems that there are four main things you can be on here:

Democrat
Republican
Liberals
Conservative

So which of these combination are you? I'm assuming you cant be a Liberal and a Conservative and you can't be a Democrat and a Republican.

Poll en route.

I am an American

I am all of the above and none of the above.