Why do people subscribe to choosing a political team, Left vs Right?

[cubby1223]

I think most people don't put themselves into a bin. Other people do.

This

My views are very moderate and damn near center of the traditional left/right scale of our political system. Yet so many times I've been called extreme right on this forum

 

[ch33zw1z]

So am I. Left Libertarians FTW!

P.S. You are officially the second one I've met on this forum. You will now be labeled a progressive/liberal dolt. Don't worry, we've T-Shirts.

Cool, sign me up if there's size-M available

 

[cubby1223]

To the meat of the original question...

To vote, our political system has been geared to be just a fight between the left and the right. How many representatives in the House actually have power within the party? Most of them are there to rubber stamp the party line. It's very difficult to vote for an individual, the party one the whole is so much more powerful. So voters largely do have to choose a side.

 

[lothar]

Because if you didn't pick a political team, you would be accused of having "centrist" bias.

 

[piasabird]

This is how a political party system works.

Duh, Duh, Duh.

Feel free to try to change the political system.

What are the other choices?

You are free to vote green party, or whatever. Maybe you should just mix and match. Every other year vote for the other party.

 

[wuliheron]

Among other things our founding fathers invented Christian Fundamentalism and in general the more capitalistic and classist a society the more fundamentalist it becomes. Western fundamentalism uses simplistic Aristotelean logic and a few basic axioms to promote xenophobia and divide the world into good-verses-evil-and-never-the-twain-shall-meet. Its so endemic in our culture that even our more secular philosophies at least implicitly embrace the approach and it leads to spectacularly bloody battles like the Civil War.

 

[dmcowen674]

Why do people subscribe to choosing a political team, Left vs Right?

It just isn't logical at all.

Why does the left do this?

Why does the right do this?

Lumping people together just isn't logical. Unless every person you group into one of the categories is thinking the exact thing at all times about all subjects, it's kinda silly to do that.

What's wrong w\ just being American? We're supposed to be in this together but everybody is too pre-occupied blocking legislation because of the persons party affiliation. Our 2 party system needs a facelift. I'm not offering any solution, just here to say that left vs right bickering is infantile and stupid.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theti...-the-house-gop-ever-agree-science-suggests-no

4-12-2011

Brain differs in GOP, Dems

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity.

Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

The study, which was conducted with the help of 90 young adult volunteers, comes on the heels of other research that linked political beliefs to genetic differences between liberals and conservatives.

One unknown is whether people are simply born with their political beliefs or if our brains adjust to life experiences

"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said in a statement accompanying the study.

"More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."
------------------------------------------------------------

It's pretty clear, Republicans are full of fear, anxiety, simple minded and are just plain wusses

Its no wonder they hate the country

 

[wuliheron]

Its not nature verses nurture, but nature AND nurture. One without the other is an oxymoron.

 

[piasabird]

A conservative does not a neo-con republican make.

 

[Steeplerot]

Left Libertarians FTW! Don't worry, we've T-Shirts.

Not an easy path, you are forever on the front lines of the revolution, the fascists and capitalists will try to buy the revolution and the liberal bourgeois will always try to reform it into bureaucracy.

Comrade Durruti No Pasarán to Capitalism/Fascism/Stalinism in any of its forms or rulers.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Perhaps, but sheep did just fine before there were shepards.

Does that statement make me a libertarian? :hmm:

Baa!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

People have a tendency to categorize information into dichotomies. Good/bad, Male/female, straight/gay, white/not white, tall/short, Christian/non-Christian, ect. It's how people make sense of a complex world and is a product of socialization.

This is just another example of that. Seeing shades of gray is a sign of maturity that most don't obtain.

I've warned you before. You aren't allowed to make sense here. :biggrin:

 

[werepossum]

Among other things our founding fathers invented Christian Fundamentalism and in general the more capitalistic and classist a society the more fundamentalist it becomes. Western fundamentalism uses simplistic Aristotelean logic and a few basic axioms to promote xenophobia and divide the world into good-verses-evil-and-never-the-twain-shall-meet. Its so endemic in our culture that even our more secular philosophies at least implicitly embrace the approach and it leads to spectacularly bloody battles like the Civil War.

That's the first time I've ever heard Christian Fundamentalism blamed for the Civil War. Congratulations on achieving a whole new level of crazy.

 

[werepossum]

To the meat of the original question...

To vote, our political system has been geared to be just a fight between the left and the right. How many representatives in the House actually have power within the party? Most of them are there to rubber stamp the party line. It's very difficult to vote for an individual, the party one the whole is so much more powerful. So voters largely do have to choose a side.

Or you could just say screw 'em both and vote Libertarian. Small government, maximum freedom, and very little chance of ever actually electing the asshole who inevitably turns out to be even worse than the last asshole.

 

[wuliheron]

That's the first time I've ever heard Christian Fundamentalism blamed for the Civil War. Congratulations on achieving a whole new level of crazy.

 

[werepossum]

Um, are you blaming the Civil War on the Ku Klux Klan? 'Cause your time travel theories need to be fully fleshed out before putting forth that claim.

But hey, one more cause and you'll have a trifecta of crazy.

 

[Steeplerot]

That's the first time I've ever heard Christian Fundamentalism blamed for the Civil War.

Both sides riled up their fundies, if anything that was THE fuel that divided the USA.

One side said it was gods way since we evolved to look different taking away slavery was breaking "gods plan".

The other side (the Union) felt that slavery was against god. (which drew a lot of criticism from southerner protestants and baptists as making them sold out to the pope or catholicism.

Truth is a good part of the union army were lots of poor Catholic Irish from the ghettos of NYC drafted into the Union.

A interesting fact was that they were fighting against both ideologies as they also despised Lincoln for forced draft. As actual catholics they thought both sides were anti god as factories in the north were rife with crushing wage-slavery 14 hour days etc. capitalism was back then (this was a REPUBLICAN MANTRA lol) something to be abolished when finished with the southerners as that was a step in the right direction.

The actual history of the people fighting is very obscured. Reading diaries is amazing from back then.

One you get past the general slavery issue and see where the power lied back then its 100% relevant to the fights we have here daily. Problem is really conservatives do not want to see the past as it happened as they do not see themselves as falling for making those arguments.

All countries deal with this. Not demoralizing one another and a bit of solidarity as Americans is all it takes really.

 

[rudder]

Because there are only two political parties. Independents and candidates like green party, reform party, etc will not get anything done if elected. You need majorities in congress to get stuff done. So people align themselves to one of the two main political parties.

 

[sao123]

Choose your ideology.
left... or right...?

http://infobeautiful2.s3.amazonaws.com/leftright_EU_1416.gif

 

[exdeath]

Because some principals are diametrically opposed and cannot be reconciled.

Example yes or no questions: Is stealing wrong? Does an individual own property?

You don't choose to be left or right, you simply are based on your own principals.

Neither is right or wrong, what is wrong is using force of law to force people to embrace your ideology when its best left to the individual to decide. For example if you don't like guns, dont buy one. If you don't like gays, don't be gay. If you believe in universal healthcare, open up your account and start your own plan with like minded individuals and set your own rules. You cannot force others.

Government exists to protect the liberty of the individual to choose for him/herself but its always abused to make one ideology or the other prominent in law.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm registered as republican but the extremes of both sides are equally evil. I voted for Obama in the last Presidential election but I also voted to recall Governor Joe (aka Gray) Davis and voted to replace him with Schwarzenegger. I never voted for Clinton but in retrospect he was a decent President...much better than Bush anyway.

I'm seriously considering changing my party affiliation to Independent...not that it really matters much as I haven't donated a penny to any political party or activist in my lifetime.

 

[fskimospy]

I'm registered as republican but the extremes of both sides are equally evil. I voted for Obama in the last Presidential election but I also voted to recall Governor Joe (aka Gray) Davis and voted to replace him with Schwarzenegger. I never voted for Clinton but in retrospect he was a decent President...much better than Bush anyway.

I'm seriously considering changing my party affiliation to Independent...not that it really matters much as I haven't donated a penny to any political party or activist in my lifetime.

Not much point to that, in most states you can't vote in primaries if you're an independent. Then again, since I left CA in September I did hear that yet another horrendous ballot initiative went through that screwed up the primary system, so who only knows?

 

[werepossum]

Choose your ideology.
left... or right...?

http://infobeautiful2.s3.amazonaws.com/leftright_EU_1416.gif

+1

Because some principals are diametrically opposed and cannot be reconciled.

Example yes or no questions: Is stealing wrong? Does an individual own property?

You don't choose to be left or right, you simply are based on your own principals.

Neither is right or wrong, what is wrong is using force of law to force people to embrace your ideology when its best left to the individual to decide. For example if you don't like guns, dont buy one. If you don't like gays, don't be gay. If you believe in universal healthcare, open up your account and start your own plan with like minded individuals and set your own rules. You cannot force others.

Government exists to protect the liberty of the individual to choose for him/herself but its always abused to make one ideology or the other prominent in law.

Very well said - but see the post above. Unfortunately both sides of the aisle are in love with using the armed might of government to vote themselves bennies and/or force others to conform to their own standards of acceptable behavior. Your points are however very good ones about how both sides SHOULD behave. Government should indeed primarily exist to protect your liberty, not to meet your basic needs nor to prevent you from being offended.

 

[wuliheron]

Um, are you blaming the Civil War on the Ku Klux Klan? 'Cause your time travel theories need to be fully fleshed out before putting forth that claim.

But hey, one more cause and you'll have a trifecta of crazy.

I'm blaming the war on the good-verses-evil, winner-takes-all, fight-with-your-last-breath mentality of fundamentalism. It is eminently compatible with extreme capitalism and does not foster compromise. As such it required another hundred years after the war for the country to even begin to serious address civil rights issues. That's a lot of institutionalized hate and the KKK merely represented the tip of the iceberg. Just as today we might blame terrorism on radical Islam, I blame many of the more violent social problems in the US on extremism including extreme capitalism and fundamentalism. No doubt fundamentalist Christians will object to this characterization as vehemently and eagerly as they will point their fingers at radical Islam, but that finger points both ways even if American's are reluctant to even consider the possibility.

 

[werepossum]

I'm blaming the war on the good-verses-evil, winner-takes-all, fight-with-your-last-breath mentality of fundamentalism. It is eminently compatible with extreme capitalism and does not foster compromise. As such it required another hundred years after the war for the country to even begin to serious address civil rights issues. That's a lot of institutionalized hate and the KKK merely represented the tip of the iceberg. Just as today we might blame terrorism on radical Islam, I blame many of the more violent social problems in the US on extremism including extreme capitalism and fundamentalism. No doubt fundamentalist Christians will object to this characterization as vehemently and eagerly as they will point their fingers at radical Islam, but that finger points both ways even if American's are reluctant to even consider the possibility.

Dang, you took me seriously and went for the trifecta!

You have peeked my curiosity on exactly how one might compromise on slavery. Would a state have the right to keep only particularly dark Africans as property? Would we have freedom lotteries to maintain some acceptable compromise level of slavery? Require a federal slave license, with a season designed for a sustainable slave harvest? Change from 1/64 black means slavery to 1/64 white equals freedom? How does one compromise on arguably the worst thing in American if not in all human history? How can one see this as other than good versus evil, especially with the benefit of today's liberal society viewpoint?

Extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice. Moderation in defense of liberty is no virtue.