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Originally Posted by Manx
Can conservatives seperate themselves from the extremism of the religious right, or will they continue to align themselves in order to maintain power, no matter how displeasing they find the results?
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O.K., I will attempt an answer to the second part of the first question (my BAC is way too high to handle this, but I will try).
In the end, most of us will vote for the person who is close enough to our ideals and has an actual chance of winning.
This feeling is reaffirmed for me after reading all of the posts from people on the left who said they would vote for John Kerry, not because they liked him, but because he had the better chance of beating GWB than any other candidate they "liked".
The only thing keeping me from going "hardcore" Libertarian is that some of the wackos of that party kinda ruin it for me. Also, Libertarians don't have a very good track record of putting forth "viable" candidates.
Personaly, I can deal with a lot of this religious bullshit and shrug it off, as it has had zero effect on me. I don't agree with that part of my party, but I accept it (for the same reasons that I accept my parents, who are the epitome of the things you hate in this matter).
Likewise, there are many on "your side" that can be considered to be the "wacko contingent". They didn't vote/support the person who most closely matched their beliefs, they supported the most viable person....such as the game is played. Who is to say how their idealogies would play out if given the chance?
In the end, as an individual, I will never be able to find a political party that matches my beliefs 100% of the time; I am looking for the party with the greatest percentages. For right now, that is the Republican Party.
While I could go on and on about the things that irk me about my party, the list would be even longer if I were describing the Democratic Party; hence my allegiance.
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Originally Posted by Manx
How important is money in comparison to being controlled by religion? (I.E. the second part of the first question you posted, now geared towards you specifically.)
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Sorta answered above....but.....money is more important, to me.
I mean this in regards to direct effect. I am directly affected by an increase in taxes, social programs, etc. Conversely, I cannot think of one area of my life where your concerns affect me.
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Originally Posted by Manx
What about the libertarian party?
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I would probably agree with many of the Libertarians core "beliefs", but their messengers have a tendency to be to far one way or the other for me to support.
Right now, most Libertarian candidatess are just not viable.
I would rather throw my support behind a candidate I sorta support, than to throw my support behind a "better" candidate who has no chance of winning (and thereby remove a vote from a candidate that is an actually "viable" candidate)