FeelHappy Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Its funny to me that Republicans will take no responsibility for their portion of the Obama deficit, conveniently ignoring the Bush Tax cuts, the deficits caused by two wars and the Bush lead TARP while bitching about how much we're spending and balking at the idea of raising taxes at all (see the 2010 standoff). The idea is to further cut back taxes and say fuck the poor (poverty defined: as an annual household income of 20,000 for a family of four is extremely low). The problems we have balancing a budget of course are because we're both trying to have a safety net with lower taxes, you can't have both. ( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serendipity Rose Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 But to answer the question, I have not been able to understand non-religious people who continue to support the party of the religious right whatsoever. There have certainly been a lot of religious right-wing Republican idiots in the news lately. And definitely those boobs are becoming a larger factor in the party. But I think it only looks like "the party of the religious right" because that's how the media tends to portray it. We hear everytime some moron blats something about "legitimate rape" or rape pregnancies being "god's will." We don't hear as much about other Republicans who just go about their ordinary legislative business. Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending any politicians. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think they're all poltroons to say the least, no matter what letter they have after their names. But to call Republicans "the party of the religious right" and therefore say nobody should ever vote for any Republican candidate is as erroneous as saying the Democrats are "the party of racial quotas" or "the party of Saul Alinsky radicals" or "the party of [fill in whatever left-wing issue somebody hates]" and therefore nobody should ever vote for any Democrat. Despicable as most politicians may be, they're still individuals with a variety of individual positions on the issues. I did not call "Republicans" the party of the religious right. I just stated "party of the religious right". The Tea Party infiltrated the Republican party and many call themselves "Republicans" but the two are not necessarily interchangeable. Unfortunate for the Republicans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsy79 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 What I don't get is the fact that most people focused on the economy automatically default to the Conservative/Right/Republican camp as if they have the corner on sound fiscal policy. Wasn't Clinton in office the last time we were solvent and actually had a surplus? Didn't Bush waste no time in wiping that out and begin to amass huge debt? I don't think Republicans do any better with money than anyone else, but their rhetoric is characterized by vague warm fuzzies for "business" (no, not YOUR small business) and middle class white men eat it up thinking they could be the next CEO of Exxon if only the Republicans were in charge. Speaking of smoke and mirrors, of course the Liberals sell the dream of total equality between all men and women, which is equally unattainable but still gets votes. I completely agree, so I usually vote Independent instead of R or D (and will do so in this election). Depends on the individual who is running and for what office. Re: this particular election, the deficit has gotten so out of control that I think some people are simply voting for the person who they think will only take it to 105% of GDP instead of the person who they think will take it to 110% of GDP. Making up the percentages, obviously, but you get the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 making up percentages is what politicians do best. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConureDelSol Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Then there's people like me, who can't begin to understand anything about how the economy works and is socially liberal. So I always vote democrat. Granted, I've only voted once in my life before this election... Personally, I'd rather live in a broke country with freedom than a rich country where gays are oppressed, religion is imposed, women are demeaned and rich assholes get special treatment from the government. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I was a Republican atheist for quite a few years. Jesus and I parted ways when I was 13- before I really had any political opinions. But I was raised in the deep dark hills of East Tennessee- where the existence of 'Libruls' is just a nasty rumor that nobody has ever really proven. I grew up among ignorant, sexually repressed xenophobes- and I was no exception. So naturally I gravitated toward the Republican Party. As a young adult, I was a staunch Republican- my reasons were more or less the following: Republicans didn't cut those lazy welfare-sucking black people any slack. Republicans didn't pander to them disgusting gays. Republicans talked about cutting taxes and paying down the deficit- and being a cheap bastard (still am), this appealed to me. Republicans railed against 'political correctness', which of course I opposed. I mean, I knew damn well that black people and gay people were shit- and by god I had a right to say so. Of course, there was (and still is) the gun issue. Those motherfuckers need to mind their own business. And Democrats were all the time selling us out to the U.N. Sending out black helicopters to fuck with people. Scheming to put us under marshall law, take all our guns, and imprison us under the Denver airport and some place in Oklahoma City while the blue-helmet guys took over the country. But then I grew up- and I saw the damage done to our country by MY (former) political party and people with MY (former) world view. I came to realize that there's nothing inherently 'right' about who I am and how I live. I won't bore ya'll with the details of my political deconversion, except to say that it was not unlike a deconversion from christianity. Religion and politics have a lot in common- both involve a certain pre-packaged view of the world. The two are often intertwined, but either christianity or a right-wing world view can be held on their own. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Even the dems all love jesus in election season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I've had the misfortune of coming across atheists who were sexist, against abortion or against gay rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 bigotry is not exclusively a white male christian republican problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 bigotry is not exclusively a white male christian republican problem. Agreed. Its not exclusive at all to white male Republicans. But bigotry IS pervasive within that group- it's pretty much the norm in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryG Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I'm a free-market anarchist and a gun owner and I can tell you from experience that a lot of the things both sides say are both bigoted and stunningly ignorant. For instance, the comments anti-gunners make about both firearms and gun owners are frequently as wildly strange as the comments Akin, Mourdock, and company have made about women's bodies (e.g. semi-automatic rifles are "spray and pray" weapons, gun owners are all violent people, people buy guns because they feel insecure about their penis size). It's just that the media (rightly) reports offenses against women while many in the media actually share the ignorance and prejudice against gun owners (including we gun-owning women who hardly need to worry whether our penises are large enough). I've seen and experienced stunning bigotry from people on the left. And not only on that one issue. But wherever we stand in the political spectrum, when we agree with certain positions on issues, we often fail to see how bullheadedly ignorant we sound to people who have more information or even just a different perspective on a given subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I'll take the bait.... ***why do I do this?*** I am a fiscal CONSERVATIVE who leans Libertarian on social issues, but I will always vote Republican or Tea Party (gag) because I simply have no other VIABLE home for my thoughts about economic issues. WIthout a strong economy, we ARE NOT EVEN A COUNTRY, so the rest of that social shit doesn't matter AT ALL. A strong monetary system has to come first before we can give out goodies to everyone else...duh. Do the goofy Jesus rants form Christards like Glenn Beck make me crazy and embarrass me? You bet they do...but I hold my nose and vote with them the way my more Conservative black buddy Reggie held his nose in 2008 and voted with Democrats in spite of his ProLife values (but swears he is all in for Romney this time because Obama is an idiot on the economy---its about his gas tank this time...go figure..?) And yes---while I may be only barely a year into this de-conversion, I am very much an atheist, though that word comes very hard for me considering most "never been Christian" Atheists have the reputation for being quite malevolent. The George Bush administration did a great job managing our economy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I'll take the bait.... ***why do I do this?*** I am a fiscal CONSERVATIVE who leans Libertarian on social issues, but I will always vote Republican or Tea Party (gag) because I simply have no other VIABLE home for my thoughts about economic issues. WIthout a strong economy, we ARE NOT EVEN A COUNTRY, so the rest of that social shit doesn't matter AT ALL. A strong monetary system has to come first before we can give out goodies to everyone else...duh. Do the goofy Jesus rants form Christards like Glenn Beck make me crazy and embarrass me? You bet they do...but I hold my nose and vote with them the way my more Conservative black buddy Reggie held his nose in 2008 and voted with Democrats in spite of his ProLife values (but swears he is all in for Romney this time because Obama is an idiot on the economy---its about his gas tank this time...go figure..?) And yes---while I may be only barely a year into this de-conversion, I am very much an atheist, though that word comes very hard for me considering most "never been Christian" Atheists have the reputation for being quite malevolent. I completely understand that position. Many people are single issue voters, and if you realize that a strong economy is the first fundamental step to everything else, you must try to make that happen regardless of the shit that is attached to it. What I don't get is the fact that most people focused on the economy automatically default to the Conservative/Right/Republican camp as if they have the corner on sound fiscal policy. Wasn't Clinton in office the last time we were solvent and actually had a surplus? Didn't Bush waste no time in wiping that out and begin to amass huge debt? I don't think Republicans do any better with money than anyone else, but their rhetoric is characterized by vague warm fuzzies for "business" (no, not YOUR small business) and middle class white men eat it up thinking they could be the next CEO of Exxon if only the Republicans were in charge. Speaking of smoke and mirrors, of course the Liberals sell the dream of total equality between all men and women, which is equally unattainable but still gets votes. We're the 90s good economically because of a centrist Dem POTUS, or the repubs that had control over house AND senate? Or is it simply because of the beginnings of the interwebz and the bubble it brought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDPApostate Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I'll take the bait.... ***why do I do this?*** I am a fiscal CONSERVATIVE who leans Libertarian on social issues, but I will always vote Republican or Tea Party (gag) because I simply have no other VIABLE home for my thoughts about economic issues. WIthout a strong economy, we ARE NOT EVEN A COUNTRY, so the rest of that social shit doesn't matter AT ALL. A strong monetary system has to come first before we can give out goodies to everyone else...duh. Do the goofy Jesus rants form Christards like Glenn Beck make me crazy and embarrass me? You bet they do...but I hold my nose and vote with them the way my more Conservative black buddy Reggie held his nose in 2008 and voted with Democrats in spite of his ProLife values (but swears he is all in for Romney this time because Obama is an idiot on the economy---its about his gas tank this time...go figure..?) And yes---while I may be only barely a year into this de-conversion, I am very much an atheist, though that word comes very hard for me considering most "never been Christian" Atheists have the reputation for being quite malevolent. I am also a fiscal conservative. I am only about 6-7 months into my deconversion, and am still assessing what other areas of my life I have been deluded with, but there is a party for social liberals, and fiscal conservatives. There is even a very famous atheist that promotes this view. Penn Jillette Libertarian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts