Majority of Americans think the GOP is too extreme

[CapnAwesome]

I really hate hearing everyone say "Both parties are the same!" It's a sign of blatent stupidity. I mean, just look at the platforms of both parties, presented side by side, and you'll see what I mean. Fact is, I have a lot to gain if employment or housing discrimination against GLBT people is passed. The Republicans ain't gonna do that for me. I have a lot to gain if Pell Grants continue and the Republicans want to do away with that. I get health care from a center that's partially funded by grants which, again, the Republican party puts at risk. And those are just a few of the issues I can think of now. Part of the reason I vote Democrat is because, given their track record, I'm confident that their position on future issues will be more in line with my beliefs.

http://compare2012.returncontrol.com/?ut...dium=email

I mean, all that is fine, but what you should be wary of is falling into the thinking that because the democrats support things that make your life better, it doesn't mean they are right on all issues. You seem to give them blanket support for everything just because they (kinda) support a few issues you care about.

[Brian37]

I really hate hearing everyone say "Both parties are the same!" It's a sign of blatent stupidity. I mean, just look at the platforms of both parties, presented side by side, and you'll see what I mean. Fact is, I have a lot to gain if employment or housing discrimination against GLBT people is passed. The Republicans ain't gonna do that for me. I have a lot to gain if Pell Grants continue and the Republicans want to do away with that. I get health care from a center that's partially funded by grants which, again, the Republican party puts at risk. And those are just a few of the issues I can think of now. Part of the reason I vote Democrat is because, given their track record, I'm confident that their position on future issues will be more in line with my beliefs.

http://compare2012.returncontrol.com/?ut...dium=email

I mean, all that is fine, but what you should be wary of is falling into the thinking that because the democrats support things that make your life better, it doesn't mean they are right on all issues. You seem to give them blanket support for everything just because they (kinda) support a few issues you care about.

Name me one label where everyone who subscribes to that label agrees on everything all the time. Even as atheists we don't always agree on all things all the time.

We are human beings first. I hate loyalty oaths and guilt by association. Having said that, BOTH parties are NOT the same, and saying something is flawed is all you are doing. There is no such thing as a utopia, but the Democrats ARE trying to correct 30 years of the extraction bubble market the Republicans allowed Corporate America to set up.

There is no "lesser of the two evils", there is the republican party which is the arm of the robber baron class, and there are the Democrats who actually care about the health of our economy and increasing the stability of more NOT LESS people.

[TaraJo]

I mean, all that is fine, but what you should be wary of is falling into the thinking that because the democrats support things that make your life better, it doesn't mean they are right on all issues. You seem to give them blanket support for everything just because they (kinda) support a few issues you care about.

Well, I only listed the issues that impact me, personally. As for what I believe in, I do have some complaints about the Democrats, usually that they don't go far enough to the left. For example, their platform says

We believe that the death penalty must not be arbitrary. DNA testing should be used in all appropriate circumstances, [and] defendants should have effective assistance of counsel

I say do away with the death penalty altogether. There are some issues I simply haven't educated myself on enough to make a judgement such as fracking, the Keystone pipeline, Fair Wage Act, Violence Against Women Act or Native Americans issues. That being said, I cannot find a single thing on the Republican platform that I agree with unless it's somewhere that the Republicans are basically just rehashing what the Democrats are saying. The Democrats ain't perfect, I'll readily admit that, but I'd much rather vote for them than the American Taliban (aka the Republican party).

[The Grand Nudger]

Fracking, shown to directly effect seismic activity in areas not known for seismic activity. Sounds legit..what could possibly go wrong?

[Polaris]

That's what is so infuriating: the Democrats have been adopting failed GOP policy and passing it off as their own. I doubt even the conservatives' much vaunted Reagan would fit in with this new wave of conservatism infesting the Democrats.

I don't know about Reagan, but when you look at quotes from a lot of Republicans before Nixon, you get a different picture. You remember what Eisenhower said about any party that tried to end medicare or social security, right?

Tara, you do know that Clinton is the President responsible for the failure of the economy, right? He let the Republicans get their way by signing their BS and we've suffered for it. The deficit reduced under Bush because of it, but it was not sustainable due to deregulating the economy.

Sort of. Yes, Clinton let the Republicans deregulate the banking industry, but I'm not blaming anyone for causing the crash because if you look at American history, you notice that there's a crash or a depression every 20 or so years. What I blame Bush for isn't causing the crash but his response to it: prop up the wealthy bankers with huge government bailouts and don't lift a finger for all the honest people who were lured into predatory loans by those wealthy bankers. Which is kinda the Republican economic philosophy in a nutshell: help the wealthy, screw the public.

Also, worth noting, as much as Clinton may have done things wrong, can you imagine a Republican doing better? I can't. As much as the Democrats are further to the right than I'd like, I'll still be voting for them because the Republicans are so batshit crazy, I'm kinda terrified what they'll do if they're given real power. Remember how far right Bush was? Just 4 years after he left office, he would be considered a moderate Republican.

If there are any ways to move the Democrats to the left and do so without handing political power over to the insane asylum that the Republican party has turned into, I'm all ears. I do think we could stand to change our electoral process in a way to promote third parties, but I don't see that happening any time soon, and it's going to have to start at a state/local level.

I really hate hearing everyone say "Both parties are the same!" It's a sign of blatent stupidity. I mean, just look at the platforms of both parties, presented side by side, and you'll see what I mean. Fact is, I have a lot to gain if employment or housing discrimination against GLBT people is passed. The Republicans ain't gonna do that for me. I have a lot to gain if Pell Grants continue and the Republicans want to do away with that. I get health care from a center that's partially funded by grants which, again, the Republican party puts at risk. And those are just a few of the issues I can think of now. Part of the reason I vote Democrat is because, given their track record, I'm confident that their position on future issues will be more in line with my beliefs.

http://compare2012.returncontrol.com/?ut...dium=email

A sign of stupidity is standing by the Democrats and praising them for undertaking BS action whether because you stupidly believe everything the Democrats do is right or B. because you just don't pay attention to the actual legislation they have passed and get irate when it is actually mentioned.

The reason you vote Democrat is because you are too stubborn to look at all the options.

Bush actually did more for the LBGT movement than Obama who only cared about a legislation that was actually established to protect homosexuals serving in the armed forces in the first place. Bush was someone who took action (many times not in my best interests), Obama is someone who just likes to talk about doing action even when he had the chance to do something....GOP took advantage of his lack of initiative to take seats away from the Democrats in 2010.

[Aractus]

I really hate hearing everyone say "Both parties are the same!" It's a sign of blatent stupidity. I mean, just look at the platforms of both parties, presented side by side, and you'll see what I mean. Fact is, I have a lot to gain if employment or housing discrimination against GLBT people is passed. The Republicans ain't gonna do that for me. I have a lot to gain if Pell Grants continue and the Republicans want to do away with that. I get health care from a center that's partially funded by grants which, again, the Republican party puts at risk. And those are just a few of the issues I can think of now. Part of the reason I vote Democrat is because, given their track record, I'm confident that their position on future issues will be more in line with my beliefs.

Tara, while I really don't have a deep enough understanding of the USA's political policies to give an in-depth understanding and critique of their individual policies, I can still point out the huge glaring obvious problems that the whole world - except the USA - sees.

You get health care funded by grants. As much as I firmly believe in universal healthcare, the USA cannot afford the spending that the Democrats want, and it can not afford the tax cuts that the Republicans want. Your economy is more insolvent than Greece, and yet the USA government fails to recognize this. The whole world laughed as one clear loud voice at Obama when he declared that the USA is a triple A economy and will always be a triple A economy!

Furthermore there is nothing more immoral than squandering your children's and your children's children's money today. And claiming status-quo because that's what your parents and their parents and their parents did doesn't change this fact.

The USA is heading straight towards becoming a 3rd world economy. Instead of making sacrifices in the present, and in the past, you've chosen to sacrifice your children's future. You think 20.5 trillion dollars in public debt got there from tax-cuts alone? It got there because the yanks keep wanting to spend more money and have more tax cuts. The only way to level your budget and repay your debt is by: 1. increasing taxes substantially, 2. cut spending substantially.

Your system of democracy is substantially flawed. You have a 2-party system, where each party needs only attract their own supporters to get elected. If you had mandatory voting, then you wouldn't need to put on such a song and dance to get people to the polls and you could focus more on persuading people on your policies by their merit.

It's all very well to enjoy the grants you get from the government - but those grants are unaffordable and throwing away your future!

So FYI I don't see the parties as "the same", no logically thinking sane politically-minded person could do that, but I see them as both equally contributing the "same" problem in the USA.

[CapnAwesome]

[quote='CapnAwesome' pid='377924' dateline='1356361487']


Name me one label where everyone who subscribes to that label agrees on everything all the time. Even as atheists we don't always agree on all things all the time.

We are human beings first. I hate loyalty oaths and guilt by association. Having said that, BOTH parties are NOT the same, and saying something is flawed is all you are doing. There is no such thing as a utopia, but the Democrats ARE trying to correct 30 years of the extraction bubble market the Republicans allowed Corporate America to set up.

There is no "lesser of the two evils", there is the republican party which is the arm of the robber baron class, and there are the Democrats who actually care about the health of our economy and increasing the stability of more NOT LESS people.

Both parties kill people overseas in mass numbers, Bill Clinton's policies on Iraq killed 500,000 people. Fuck you if you don't think that's evil. LBJ started Vietnam. Every Democrat, including Obama has continued the drug war, and plunging the economy into debt has hardly been just a Republican occupation.

---

The Democrats ain't perfect, I'll readily admit that, but I'd much rather vote for them than the American Taliban (aka the Republican party).

It's odd, I almost made a thread about this, I think people who use the phrase American Taliban have no idea what the Taliban actually did. I'm not a Republican but no Republican is calling for the stoning to death of women and the mass execution of homosexuals. I don't think anybody who uses this phrase can ever complain about someone else making a false comparison. It drives me crazy, living in the most Republican part of Texas is not the same as living under the Taliban, where you personally would of been killed a long time ago for being who you are.

[Minimalist]

I'm not a Republican but no Republican is calling for the stoning to death of women and the mass execution of homosexuals.

No, just let them die rather than have an abortion. So much more "civilized."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct...nneccesary

Republican Joe Walsh: abortions to save mother's life never necessary

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/19/mississippi-2/

Mississippi Conservative Calls For Putting Gay People To Death On Facebook Page

You can pretend that they're wonderful fucking human beings all you want but you should make a little effort to find out what kind of crazy motherfuckers you are defending.

[CapnAwesome]

I'm not a Republican but no Republican is calling for the stoning to death of women and the mass execution of homosexuals.

No, just let them die rather than have an abortion. So much more "civilized."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct...nneccesary

Republican Joe Walsh: abortions to save mother's life never necessary

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/19/mississippi-2/

Mississippi Conservative Calls For Putting Gay People To Death On Facebook Page

You can pretend that they're wonderful fucking human beings all you want but you should make a little effort to find out what kind of crazy motherfuckers you are defending.

The Taliban government actually put gay people to death. The in power government. Fuck off with some nut and equating him to 25% of America.

[Polaris]

Just more Democrat scare tactics like the Fox News Republicans did under Bush to coerce us to vote for their BS ideology.