Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[rjs246]

The more I research and discuss politics, the more I come to realize how liberal I am. And yet I refuse to align myself with this country's liberal party. Socially there's no question that I'm about as liberal as it gets, but I find more and more that economically I fall to the left as well.

So I've been trying to figure out what it is about being a Democrat that turns me off so much and I think I'm starting to figure it out. First, I hate bleeding hearts. Man was not meant to be taken care of. Man was meant to take care of himself. The very nature of bleeding heart politics makes me sick. Second, and this is the one that really sticks in my craw, big government doesn't scare me in a economical sense (although some of the things I've learned about the power of the IRS are rather terrifying) but big government scares the shtein out of me in a civil liberties and right to privacy sense. Granted, the Republican party has been responsible for the most recent infringements on our civil liberties, but they are capable of doing it because of their perceived right as a government to poke into our private lives for the sake of protecting us from ourselves and from some imaginary threat.

None of you care, but I've been struggling with it and finally am starting to get a better idea of what my problem is so I figured I'd share.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

It sounds like you're still more of a Libertarian.

The issue is that fiscal conservativism, as I've said many times, is DEAD in Washington right now.  So, if both parties are for big government, the Democrats are at least for big government that helps people.  The Republicans are for bombing people and looking the other way as oil companies turn record profits.  And to boot, they want to mess with our civil liberties.

Both parties have it wrong, but the Repubs have it "more wronger".

[Rome]

I don't like the government pissing my money away on stupid shtein but I don't mind them spending it to help people or to keep my ungrateful ass safe or to keep the roads paved.

I don't like the government monitoring my phones, mail, e-mail, computer usage or spying on my ass in any other way, shape or form.

I don't like the government telling me what I can or can't ingest.  If I want to do lines off the bellies of strippers then that's my farging business, not their's.  If I get behind the wheel of a car when I'm hammered, then it's their business.  If I get drunk and beat my old lady, then it's their business.  Otherwise, stay the farg out of my shtein and you won't hear a peep out of me.

If all that makes me a "liberal" then I'm fine with the label.  Labels are retarded anyway and anyone who would slap one on them to feel better about themselves is a sap anyway.

As for the Democratic Party, they're no better than the GOP.  As far as I'm concerned they're unindicted co-conspirators with the Republicans because they've barely offered any resistance to what's gone on the past eight years.  They were sheep when it came to Iraq, they were sheep when it came to the Patriot Act, and they're sheep now for not outright demanding that Bush change his idiotic policies on both the foreign and domestic fronts.  Bush has been a disaster for this country but without the Democratic majority aiding and abetting him at every turn, his effect could have been much less worse.  I refuse to help the Democrats until they help themselves and until one of them gets a backbone and starts standing up for traditional Democratic ideals, then they can all suck it hard.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

You'll still vote for Hillary, and you'll have convinced yourself it's a good idea by then.

[Rome]

I voted Libertarian in the last election because I voted for Gore in 2000 and it still didn't make any difference.  There isn't a single candidate in this mess who's inspired me in the least.  They're all empty shirts in one way or another so when it comes right down to it, you're probably right.  I will likely vote for whoever is the Democratic candidate, even if not a single one of them is worth a damn.

[rjs246]

It sounds like you're still more of a Libertarian.

The issue is that fiscal conservativism, as I've said many times, is DEAD in Washington right now.  So, if both parties are for big government, the Democrats are at least for big government that helps people.  The Republicans are for bombing people and looking the other way as oil companies turn record profits.  And to boot, they want to mess with our civil liberties.

Both parties have it wrong, but the Repubs have it "more wronger".

Quality.

[Cerevant]

Here's the problem, and it shows up in the above quiz:

The "Republican" view is that corporations should do whatever they want, because the free market will correct for anything they do wrong.  The alternative is presented as socialism.

A fiscal conservative trusts the free market, but understands that government has a responsibility to ensure that there is a free market.  If the government does not protect the market from anti-competitive, monopolistic practices, the market will consolidate to an oligarchy of vertical monopolies.

Further, capitalism only accounts for supply and demand based on price.  It does not account for the safety or environmental impact of products outside of their markets.  Further, it does not account for collusion of consolidated markets to underperform for cost purposes (safety standards).  Government bodies create and enforce minimum standards to address these concerns (building codes, automotive safety, FDA, etc) and ensure that those standards are applied equally in the market to ensure fair competition in the market.

These concepts are anti-big business and so they are not on the republican agenda.  They are decidedly not socialist, and therefore not "liberal".  These are the things that move social liberals toward center / right on the economic spectrum that don't show up in quizes/polls/political speeches.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

A fiscal conservative trusts the free market, but understands that government has a responsibility to ensure that there is a free market.  If the government does not protect the market from anti-competitive, monopolistic practices, the market will consolidate to an oligarchy of vertical monopolies.

You forgot that a fiscal conservative also should be against excessive government bureaucracy, even in the hallowed military.

That said, a fine line has to be drawn between regulating to prevent monopolies and over-policing.  Then again, that's exactly the line that has to be walked in the national defense also.  The problem is that all the solutions presented in Washington are all or nothing and allow no room for intelligent balance.

[Phanatic]

With the Clinton's you get both of them. Bill is defending his wife and not his mistress...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/14/clinton.obama/index.html

I guess at some point the race card was played?

[Rome]

Petty squabbling is exactly what the farg is wrong with American politics.   Why Clinton & Obama are tearing each other to pieces is beyond me.  What they should be doing is pointing to the idiot in the White House and describing why their policies are going to be different and superior to his.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Petty squabbling is exactly what the farg is wrong with American politics.   Why Clinton & Obama are tearing each other to pieces is beyond me.  What they should be doing is pointing to the idiot in the White House and describing why their policies are going to be different and superior to his.

They both tried that.  Clinton was ok with that until Obama started saying it better, so now she has to attack him to accomplish her objective.

[Rome]

Obama's just as culpable in this as Shrillary.  Toss both of them into the middle of the ocean for all I care because neither one of them is worth a damn.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

You're going to vote for one of them for President of the United States.  You may want to choose your verbiage more carefully.

[Rome]

They both suck but they're both less loathsome than anyone the GOP is offering.

I mean, John McCain?  Mike Huckabee??  Uh, no. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Well, if you tossed Obama and Clinton into the ocean, who would you have left?  Those aforementioned "Uh, no" guys, that's who.

Just stop it, and start declaring your man-love for Obama or Clinton now.