Tilted Party Affiliations
 

This is my first visit to the politics board. Having checked out some of the threads, I have two observations ...

1.) I am impressed by the diversity of opinions.

2.) I am disheartened by the diversity of opinions... I figured this place would be overwhelmingly liberal (i.e. like me) :)

Anyway, I was wondering how many of you belong to a political party. Myself, I registered as a Democrat today, after being an independant for roughly a decade. Even though being a Democrat in Kentucky is essentially like pissing into the wind, especially when it comes to national elections.....

Re: Tilted Party Affiliations
 

Do *not* be disheartened. I find a very equitable mix of Liberals and Conservatives in here. It really is close to being about a 50/50 mix. This is good in two very tangible ways;

1.) The majority does not overwhealm and silence the minority. This provides for a good healthy exchange of viewpoints and opinions out of what would otherwise dissolve into a rant.

2.) It helps me to look at various issues from angles that I had not considered before. While I may or may not change my opinion, it never hurts to have as much information about an issue as possible.

By the way, I am a card carrying Libertarian.

I agree Bill.

I am very very liberal but I try my best to be fair. Some issues I will agree with others on after I hear their side. Not often....but sometimes.... :P

I lean to the left but am willing to move to the right if someone can convince me well enough.

My ideas about how the world should be run is more like anarchy then left or right. So I guess that means I lean bottom left.

I don't belong to any party.

I don't think any political party fits me.. I was leaning towards the Libertarian party but their stands on welfare(and as a result, immigration), education have alienated me.

I don’t subscribe to any political party. There are some points someone may clear up for, since I make no claim to be an expert on politics.

The following is what I "think" I know-- not claiming it "to be"

The conservative mindset does benefit the wealthy through tax adjustments, but the way I see it set up is the heart of free enterprise. They encourage entrepreneurship thus encouraging competition. I believe anyone in America has the ability to create whatever their own intent will pave, because of this I agree with the conservative mindset in this area.

The democrats seem to discourage entrepreneurship. They want an environment where the government provides and takes care of many issues (ie-medicine vs. a doctor starting a clinic for private profits) basically a bigger government that sounds as though it borders socialism.

Here’s where it gets foggy for me: Conservatives seem to be from more of a free enterprise mindset with a smaller government (911 changed allot of things though)

Liberal mindset calls for more intervention by the government, so why does it seem backwards on the abortion issue. It would seem to me that it would be reversed. If I’m way off here I'll apologize ahead I’m not attempting to insult anyone or their beliefs, any clarification is invited.

Three cheers for the Libertarian party!

For those who aren't sure, click below to take a very short political quiz to get some idea of where you are on the political spectrum:

http://www.lp.org/images/wspq2-s.gif

The way it used to work was Republicans were economically liberal (ie less govt spending, less taxes) and socially conservative (abortion, death penalty, school prayer, creationism) and democrats were the reverse: more govt spending, more fiscal programs and pro-choice, anti-death penalty, etc on social issues.

In the last decade or so, thanks to Bill, we've seen a shift right on a lot of issues for the democrats, like less govt spending, targetted middle class tax cuts and so forth, and maintaining most of the social agenda, with the big exception of capital punishment.

A real eye-opener though is the stereotyping of democrats in the last 30 years or so as big government spenders who want to 'take all your money', when in fact, the only two presidents to balance the budget in that time were Carter and Clinton.

Another stereotype is republicans as being fiscally conservative. This is clearly not the case, as the last 3 republican presidents are responsible for some of the biggest deficit spending in history, measuring either by percent GDP, or total (in our current presidents' case).

-Independent, by the way

I tend to vote Republican most of the time - not out of party affiliation but because of the candidates themselves. I disagree with the continuing rush toward what I see as Socialism in the Democratic Party. I am a firm believer in the "if they can work and won't, then let the lazy bastards starve" theory. I am in disagreement most over the continuing lean toward religion mixed with government that the Republican party takes at times.

If I have to choose between the lesser of the two evils I will take the relgious lean (which I can ignore) over the Socialistic ideas of paying lazy SOBs not to work and paying women to have illigitimate children.

Like most Brits, I am very cynical about political parties. I don’t belong to any of them, as all of them are only interested money and power. Mind you saying that, we do have a political party in England which isn’t interested in money or power, are honest and are not afraid to tell the truth. It is called the Monster Raving Loony Party . Give them a visit – they talk a lot of sense.
http://www.omrlp.com/

it is pretty liberal on certain issues like abortion and gay rights (to an extent).

this place is pretty liberal on social issues and divided on economic issues.

Personally I am a democrat, and a liberal one at that. Personally since I have enough friends, and a girlfriend who are conservative, I have learned that both sides are correct for who believe in them. I can play devils advocate for any side and I enjoy ruffeling a few feathers when I do :D

I took the test seretogis gave a link to; it classified me as a Libertarian

Heres the definitions the site gave for parties


Libertarian
Libertarians are self-governors in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity.

Left-Liberal
Left-Liberals prefer self-government in personal matters and central decision-making on economics. They want government to serve the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for economic equality.

Centrist
Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Conservative
Right-conservatives prefer self-government on economic issues, but want official standards in personal matters. They want the government to defend the community from threats to its moral fiber.

Authoritarian
Authoritarians want government to advance society and individuals through expert central planning. They often doubt whether self-government is practical. Left-authoritarians are also called socialists, while fascists are right-authoritarians.

I unexpectedly scored left liberal. :|

I'm a Centrist. I've voted for both democrats and republicans with mixed results. :D I usually lean right on many issues but I'm a very liberal thinker. Extremism from either side of the aisle annoys me and although I'll hear it out I find that it doesn't prescribe to the things I hold important. I enjoy the TFP political forum although I am pretty new to it. There is a good cross-section of people here and there are some very good posts and discussions. Most people here seem to be pretty good sports about debating things.

I'm a member of the Underground Common Sense party. It's a very small organization, consisting of myself, one of my friends, the bartender at a bar I frequent, and some Irishman who was at the bar Thursday night. We believe that while each party has its good points, they are riddled with terrible points. We refuse to follow the very strongly opinionated (see: idiots) people such as Rush Limbaugh and Al Sharpton, because they are constantly on the fringe and mix in VERY extreme views with shared-party views. We also understand that while it is nice to view yourself as an Independant or Libertarian, the likelihood of a candidate from these parties winning an election in the next few decades is slim to none. Going with that idea, we also understand that if the third-party votes in the last election were instead cast for the "next best thing," if you will, then Bush would not have been elected.

I don't support Bush, but I also don't think he should be pulled into the square by horses and beheaded on prime time TV, whereas I think Michael Moore should be. But, my hatred for Moore lies not in what he believes, but rather the manner in which he chooses to voice his opinions.

So, I welcome all of you to join my party. Beers are on the house, and we won't tell you not to have an abortion, you can screw whoever you want (within reason, of course, meaning no children or animals), and some drugs are okay while others should never have existed. But, bear in mind that if we think war is a necessary step, we won't sit around sucking our thumbs and singing children's songs in an effort to get something done.

There's my results from that little test.
That sounds about right to me.

I'm Very Independant!!!

I come from a high-middle class, family in a midwestern farming and agriculture community that has voted Republican in each of the past 100 years. That being said, I'm a social leftist, and a left leaning economic centrist.

Working Class Pride.

Death to the mob-run labor unions.

While I currently have a tendancy to be very conservative (and ramble according to smooth) with libertarian virtues, I have been all over the political spectrum. A socialist in college (back before it was cool), a democrat and union member, and a religious fanatic. I have voted for losers (Mondale), crooks (Nixon) and actors (Reagan). I have come to realize that the fate of the free world rests on the shoulders of the basic social unit (FAMILY) and anything that intentionally or unintentionally does damage to that unit, I am dead against (particularly if it threatens MINE).

Government deficits is like owing yourself or your dad money. duh. It's trade deficits that really matter.

Accoreding to the test I'm a


Personally I can't see myself voting straight down party lines, I vote for whom ever seems to support my view point on the issues, if its a Democrat so be it, same for a Republican.

I believe in no parties.
I doubt I will ever believe in one party.
I think pure faith and loyalty in one party is a sure way of saying you will rather show loyalty to a given stance than to the people.
I believe if a politician seems pure enough, you vote for him. To vote for the lesser of two evils in your own party to avoid voting for another party is evil and voluntary comunism.

If i was to classify myself, im a liberal, but i dont believe in all that they do.

Affirmative action, and a lot of social programs(welfare,etc) are loads of shit. Also, being really PC is getting annoying.

Really, i would like to see a kind of government that would invest billions in reaserch of a cure for cancer or trying to go farther in space..i just wanna live in the federation(star trek) *sigh*

according to the test, I fall on the line between libertarian (35%), left-liberal (18%), and centrist (30%)... sounds about right.

I'm a mix. I am liberal on certain issues, conservative on others. When I vote, I vote for the candidate I think will do the best job: not the party.

Libertarian Party, here.

Yeah, and at some point, dad is going to close his wallet.

9:20:14 A.M.
$6,681,382,980,826.43

Your share: $22,927.32
Family of 4: $91,709.29

I am a Libertarian, both in ideology and party membership.

Republican, but don't always vote that way.
Agree with geep that the, family, is the most important element in the world

Great little quiz! Thank you.

BTW, I scored a 90 for "Left-Liberal"...does that mean I passed?

I am a registered Democrat, but I don't always vote Democrat. In fact I voted for Bill Simon for governor here in California last fall, and signed the petition to recall Gov. Davis, who is a democrat. By the way, it looks like enough signatures have been collected to get the recall vote on the ballot in November.

I would consider myself a republican because of my conservative views. Lately, however, I've become fed up with political parties. For the most part political parties take honest politicians and turn them corrupt. The money and power the parties have can corrupt even the most decent people. I wish we all would have listened to George Washington when he told us not to form political parties.
My main problem with political parties is how they basically control what politicians say, think, and do. They must act a certain way or they are shunned by his or her respective party. Both parties are guilty of extortion, cover ups, and various scandals from drugs to sex to murder.
I am conservative in nearly all of my views but for the most part I can understand the other sides opinion. Although I am a conservative I am by no means a moralist. I really don't think its the governments position to tell us how to live our lives.

I'm Minnesota DFL, and will be a loyalist for life...

I might have been tempted by the Rockefeller Republican movement, but i can't stand the direction that conservatives have gone lately. There is no respect for balanced budgets, international opinion, or for the middle class.

Hey now, Republicans got the "shall-issue" carry bill passed in MN. :)

The Democrats may want to get their hands in your wallet, but the Republicans are beholden to people who worry about what other people do in their own bedrooms. Icky.

Personally, I'm against the concept of the "political party." Actually, I'm against the entire parlimentary system. However, if I would vote I would never follow party lines as they promote seperation of opinion rather than compromise and consensus. As for my political beliefs, I consider myself a moderate libertarian socialist, but I always take the stance of "widening the floor of the cage" when it comes to welfare, medicare ect.

fret
so how exactly would you select what canidates should run, would anyone who could get 100,000 be able to run. I mean how would you select who to put on the ballot, and how would those canidates put forth their ideas.

I fail to see any intersection between the libertarian and socialist idiologies.

seretogis - a couple of the questions on that survey/test were a bit problematic...



Government should not control radio, TV, the press or the Internet. - this does not allow for degrees. No the government shouldn't control the press or the Internet BUT they should control the licenses that allow free enterprise to use our (i.e. public airwaves)

Drug laws do more harm than good. Repeal them. - which drug laws? "Illicit" drugs such as marijana and heroin or "legal" drugs such as viagra and penicillin? There is a very big difference.


I just like to be clear in my approach to things is all...

I didn't take the test but would probably fall into the Left-Liberal definition in most ways...

Left-Liberals prefer self-government in personal matters and central decision-making on economics. They want government to serve the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for economic equality.

Libertarian
Libertarians are self-governors in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity.

I tend to vote for the more conservative candidate.

Left-Liberal and proud.

Civilised. Not indoctrinated.

Charlatan: As trade barriers come down and technology provides for ever more channels through the same or similar media, no single government can control the access to airwaves.

Control in that old way is dead, it's no longer practical, I think what they meant in the quiz is censorship.

Myself, I believe that every liberal democracy is in need of is an equal representation rule.

For every murder report, there should be equal weight given to a birth.. For every columbine a piece on the setting up of a new system of education in underprivelidged neighborhoods or whatever.

I'm sick and disgusting of being told how scarey the world is, when in reality it is nothing of the sort.

Just the other day a lady in her twenties was on British radio, as part of a discussion on the 12 year old girl who went off on a jaunt with a 31 year old US Marine, telling all who would listen that life is much more dangerous now than it was 20 years ago. She certainly couldn't let her kids out on the streets unsupervised.

This is Hobbiton, and I am Bilbo tis'. (c) William Hicks Inc.

FEAR, DEATH, DESTRUCTION, RECESSION, POISON, MURDER, MOLESTATION, LIES, DECEITE, CORRUPTION, FAMINE, WAR, PESTILENCE, ARMAGGEDON...

Turn on CNN.

Is it any wonder people actually believe that all of their neighbours are axe murderers?

It's OK if they are axe murderers as long as you have walls around your house and a gun to protect yourself... :rolleyes:

I don't agree with this. It is true that the Internet opens many corridors for broadcast that can jump traditional boarders. What I am talking about is the traditional broadcast and cable spectrum. I am a firm believer in the need for a "public" broadcaster (in fact I think the US is the only nation without a truly public broadcaster - PBS is completely unlike other nation broadcasters).

There is a need for stories, histories, news, etc to be told from a particular nation's point of view. The power and reach of US programming is quite powerful.

I am not saying it is bad or that it shouldn't be licensed by local broadcasters only that alternative programming must be made available. When it is much cheaper to license US (or other foreign made programs) than it is to producer indigenous programs I see no problem with subsidy.

That said, the broadcast spectrum is public property and should be licensed to broadcasters not just given away for nothing. Giving it away to them is practically providing them with a license to print money at our expense...

charlatan
but who will determine what the nations view is on something, the president, a poll?

Well, with you being in the states, I imagine that you pick up huge amounts of channels from canada and south america?

In europe, as soon as you invest in a satelite dish, or a cable system with a satelite head, you're exposed to channels in a huge variety of languages and covering a huge variety of tastes.

Go to the middle east and you'll find a lot of channels targetted at your nation whose signal originates in a very far off land (read Iran and L.A. for example ;) ). If you state had total control over "Public" bandwidth, then i'm sure you can see where my line goes here...

No matter what governments try to do, they are always going to be behind the technology. They've no hope of regulating bandwidth, etc. The only way they, governments and societies, have a hope of regulating the content is through the advertisers and companies that are the fuel the media fire burns on.

Any other approach is doomed to failure.

I have unique views that don't fit in to any real party. Im anti-guncontrol, pro-drug use, pro-gay rights, anti big business, pro-choice anti- big government and anti-nazi.

Call me what you will.

Hmm...says I am left liberal (true) but would never vote for Federal or Provincial Liberal Party. Federal Liberal Party of Canada is Natural Governing Party and smears itself from left to right, depending on issue. British Columbia Liberal Party is Democratic Fascist in action. (The road to the Winter Olympics will be paved with the bodies of disabled children and seniors! All Hail the ReichsPremier! Support the Olympics or we'll close your hospital!))

Personally, I think any politician who toes "The Party Line" over human rights should be buried up to their necks on a beach and left for the tide to deal with.

Not that I am bitter or anything...

I am very liberal socially but kinda in the middle on other issues...I don't feel like I haven't affiliated with a party as of yet, although some of my heroes were Dems.

Party affiliation..NEVER.

Since we're three dimensional beings how come our political spectrum is only 2 dimensional?

I propose we add a y axis to the spectrum. Forward and back. Because then I lean forward. We can work on the definitions later :)

I like to think I have a cohesive political philosophy about almost any issue, but it is one that is not really championed by either party. Call me either a practical libertarian or a greedy liberal who wants to keep his money and let everyone else get to keep theirs too. There aren't many socially liberal and economically conservative candidates, and the Libertarian party is too extreme even for me.

Gays want to get married and adopt -hey whatever, and it's probably better than a children's home or worse.
I think everyone has the right to have guns, whatever kind of guns they want, but if you have to have a license to drive a car, I don't think it's unreasonable, and it makes sense to require a license for a gun.
I'd rather see safe pot cigarettes made by Kraft, and think kids staying at home watching cartoons and eating cheetos are more safe than driving from bar to bar getting in fights and looking for sex.
I believe that seperation of church and state is generally a good thing, but that's not what the establishment clause says, and the Supreme Court has expanded it way past what is legally logical.

Balancing the budget is a good thing, but so is going after those who have or could attack us. It also makes sense to invest in ways to prevent missiles from hitting us. Commercial success is one of the advantages America has over the rest of the world, and we should encourage businesses, rather than see big business as the enemy. We need to become less dependant on foriegn oil, and yes, that means drilling in the arctic and elswhere and nuclear power until we can come up with another energy source.
Our medical system needs some help, but Americans need to quit thinking they have a right to healthcare. Tort reforms now proposed will be largely ineffective and will not fix the problem at all. Tax cuts are great, and the poor did not get as large a tax cut because they weren't paying a whole lot of taxes to begin with! We need to change social security by, if not phasing it out, at least upping the retirement age to where it was in the 1930's relative to life expectancy. I'll stop now with my one sentence solutions to complex issues

I can't find many candidates who I agree with, suprise, suprise, but I generally vote conservative.

I don't belong to any political party. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I wouldn't belong to any party that would have me as a member. According to the test, I am a Centrist (but barely so - - right on the corner between Left-liberal and Authoritarian). I wonder about the test, though, because only about 7% of the test-takers were categorized as Right-Conservatives. Only 7%? How, then, do they dominate politics and political discourse today? /Damn liberal media - - always letting us down.

Since my state requires a party affiliation to vote in primary elections I am registered as a republican, but I am really an independant,no one party sees all issues the way I see them and the arguments for thier positions dont convince me to change my mind. The bad side of this is that I ussually dont vote FOR a candidate, but gor the least bad choice.

It is because conservatives tend to be religious. I have noticed this in the people I have met. When you have religious conservatives, they oppose abortion, gay rights, etc.

I am quite liberal, but it is sad that the liberal party isn't that liberal. I just don't like the conservatives in Ontario. They try to sell off everything government owned so they can spend way more than they have.

I scored just Left of Centrist, where Democrats used to be.

On a different political quiz I scored just Left of center, which is when I decided to switch from Republican to Democrat.

I only agree with Republicans on a few issues ie. Firearm Ownership, Death Penalty.

Other issues, especially Economic and Personal Rights issues, make more sense to me from a Left and Democratic point of view.

Card carrying member of the green party

I believe that a more comprehensive affiliation test was posted before, and I ended up being the most liberal and anti-authoritarian person in the thread.

I am a registered Democrat, but only for the sake of having a say in primary elections. I will vote for whoever I think will be best for the country, and I think that voting along part lines is a sign of a closed, inoperative mind. The only issues that I tend to agree with conservatives on are gun control, which I almost completely oppose, and welfare, which I think should be limited to those who are actively seeking employment or education. For everything else, I tend to be extremely liberal (and I've been told, sometimes annoyingly liberal)

I'm definately a practicing Democrat, or left-liberal. I'm a Senator-At-Large on Bowling Green State University's Undergraduate Student Government, and a registered Democrat. DOWN WITH BUSH!

(no offence intended but, this is clearly from an American that doesn't have a Public broadcaster...

Public Broadcasters in Democratic states are funded with public (and usualy some sort of private: read advertising) money. They are however, arms length organizations.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Media Corporation of Singapore, NHK (Japan), ABC (Australia), the list goes on... all of them are well known and respected for offering programming (news, sports and entertainment) that goes beyond what the Private Broadcasters have on offer...

According to the very short test I am a:

I'm a moderate Liberal, and a registered Democrat. Hey, I was elected to be John Edwards' #2 delegate in my district.. too bad he only won one delegate. Heh.

No real surprise here, but I am a Democrat - on the test, I came our as a centrist - smack dab in the center - which makes sense. I am liberal on some issues and conservative on others.

i am fairly conservative about issues regarding money, and fairly liberal about issues concerning most everything else.

im still young and not that well informed at the moment to make any major decisions. but so far i can relate to the libertarians more than anyone....