Were you raised Conservative or Liberal? And has that changed?

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I am a Federalist that is registered Independent.

I hate both the Dem and Republican parties and any political elected asswipe that has been in office for over 20+ years.

I also think that they really need to bring back the draft! Everyone should have to serve.

There should be only a flat tax for all citizens and all lobbyists should be required to have a penis tattoo'd on their foreheads so we know when a prick has entered a room or conversation.

Police should be required to have weight restrictions and be able to pass a physical exam. My local township hired a 350LB + police woman and they had to purchase a new and larger SUV for her to fit in at the local tax payers expense. I doubt she could run a mile in 3 - hours....well maybe if someone dangles a dunkin doughnut in front of her?

All elected officials should be required to pay for their own health insurance if they make over $80,000.00 a year.

I am conservative in the means of which I hate how the government elected asswipes spend our tax dollars and I am liberal on certain issues such as decriminalizing marijuana.

I am an eqaul op hater of both sides.

[paradise!]

Economically speaking, I'm kind of split. I'm an Econ major, so I'm getting exposure to both the Friedman side of things and the Keynes side of things. I mean sure, stimulating the economy during a depression might be easier for the government to do when people have a higher marginal propensity to save.

A higher rate of savings means the people would be spending less. They get their stimulus and pay off creditors or put in savings. If they had a significant propensity to save then the stimulus would be pointless. Keynes argued stimulating for an economy prepared with a higher propensity to consume not a higher propensity to save.

[the_paul]

I was raised liberal. My parents are liberal, and one of my sisters is liberal. One day I woke up and actually thought about what they stood for and realized liberalism is bullshit. I've been a conservative ever since. I'm not down with abortions, I'd prefer if gay marriage was kept at the civil union, and I'm all for the death penalty. And I like the second amendment, do not fuck with it.

[Pandagirl!]

A higher rate of savings means the people would be spending less. They get their stimulus and pay off creditors or put in savings. If they had a significant propensity to save then the stimulus would be pointless. Keynes argued stimulating for an economy prepared with a higher propensity to consume not a higher propensity to save.

Yeah... I know. What I'm saying is that if people have a higher propensity to save then the government needs to stimulate the economy with their own spending.

[Galleleo]

I am probably straight across from most people on this board. I would call myself a socialist, but the meaning I give to the word socialist is a lot different than for instance Kthx puts on the word or most Americans in general. When I saw the panic in America about Obama being a "socialist" I laughed, Obama would be considered right wing in most European countries. And yes, I am referring to Americans in general and not every single American out there specifically.

I wasn't raised in any particular way. I was just raised to think for myself and to make my own choices, my brother for instance is a lot more right than I am, my mom is slightly more conservative than my dad was (though in America she would probably still be viewed as extreme left wing).

I think everyone should have equal rights, I think gay people should be able to get married and it should be called a marriage, the church has no right at all to the word nor meaning of the word marriage and it has a lot of legal meaning that is important. Making a distinction is basically you looking down on those people, you think they are lesser people. I believe all people are equal no matter what they think, and everyone should be able to do what he/she wants as long as you don't invade other peoples rights with it, or bother their personal space. I believe in the social structure that we have, that is the richer people should pay more taxes and carry more of the burden. And a social net should be in place for those that need it. The biggest problem in the entire system is bureaucracy and the insane amount of time some of the things take.

I would be pro death penalty in very extreme cases. Killing one person wouldn't count whether that person is a low life junkie or a police officer. It would only be reserved for incurable psychopaths. I also feel that punishment in the Netherlands is ridiculously weak, getting 2 years of which you only have to serve like 8 months for rape for instance is laughable. The fact that murder has a max. of 18 years (besides life, which is only handed out rarely) of which you only have to serve 12 is beyond insane.

As far as abortion goes, I think everyone should be free to decide what they want, although personally I feel that it shouldn't be used as contraceptive means (meaning you shouldn't be like: Oh o... well let's just go get an abortion), I feel that before doing such a thing you should have a good reason, but like I said, it's not really my place to tell others exactly why they can or why they can't do something.

As far as economy goes, I am not completely sure. I don't really believe a completely free market works, the world and the power in the world is far to skewed and a completely free market would send for instance Africa into even more poverty than there is right now. Also Smith's predictions on the workings on the market wouldn't work in markets the size of which we have it now. It is far to specialized for his ideas to really work. Besides, this whole crisis is a perfect example of why a free market wouldn't work. It is seriously not possible.

On the other hands, I don't think governments should be deciding what kind of bonuses business are allowed to give their people. If a business gives too much and they go under it's their fault. But if a business turns a 4 billion profit, why can't the CEO have a bonus of 2 million? It's a different story for businesses that are (partially) owned or run on tax payers money, because then the bonuses are being paid out of other pockets.

As far as the draft goes 404, hell to the motherfucking no. I am not going to fight some war half way across the world because "that is keeping our country safe" that is absolute bullshit. That war is what is making your country unsafe in 10 to 30 years from now.

[Ilya]

that's quite a narrative, gal

i feel like i really got to know you

[Material Girl]

All this stuff is too confusing......... all I want to know is if you joined a different party than you were raised to believe in when you became an adult. The crossover thing....... I just want to see how common it is. FOR EXAMPLE,,, my friend was raised Conservative and now that he is an adult, he is a staunch Liberal.

[Ilya]

no one cares what you think. you made the thread now get the fuck out

[Cops]

thankfully my parents never pushed their politics on me, like religion it was rarely discussed in my household. interesting that twenty years into my life i find out my father is a conservative which was mainly derived from his religious upbringing. it's interesting to see someone admit and realize their own backward logic but not fully understand someone else's way of thinking. in his heart of hearts he doesn't hate homosexuals, he just can't understand or fully internalize how one man can love another man.

growing up i've seen a man love a man more than i've seen most heterosexuals love one another. i've seen a man on his knees weeping at his loss of his friend, partner, and lover and at that moment i understood better than any other moment in my life why the notion of being heterosexual or homosexual is obscure. i've seen families built on the premise of stability and dependence, and rarely so often do you see people actually in ones company that they cherish and enjoy. simply put, gay marriage isn't an issue that should help define your politics, simply because it's not an issue to begin with. realizing this i am saddened by those who believe in individual liberties, yet in the same token want to limit those liberties.

[phata$$]

I'm poorly paraphrasing Aziz Ansari here but:

Activists against gay marriage are just people who hate gay people, plain and simple. However, I'm not saying that I wouldn't do the same thing if I was presented with similar opportunities. If there was a law that allowed douchebags who wear tight shirts and get bottle service at night clubs to own property, I would be like 'fuck no! fuck those guys!. I respect the sanctity of owning property and it says so in the Bible that they're douchebags. Whatever I need to say so you don't think this is coming from purely a place of hate."

[Fit of Rage]

paradise blah blah blah something i learned out of a textbook blah blah blah

</thread>

[Soup du Jour]

I wasn't really raised any particular way. My parents seemed to me to be slightly left of center but hit opposite ends of the spectrum depending on the issue.
I used to be a lot further left than I am now. Seeing how wasteful, slow and cumbersome government bodies can be has made me want to give more spending power to people, but at the same time, like Gen said, I have no faith in people to do what's "best".

I'll probably end up in the middle with my parents.

[cash.MONay]

Nazism.

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All this stuff is too confusing......... all I want to know is if you joined a different party than you were raised to believe in when you became an adult. The crossover thing....... I just want to see how common it is. FOR EXAMPLE,,, my friend was raised Conservative and now that he is an adult, he is a staunch Liberal.

Nothing has changed...never was pushed to be liberal or conservative. It always seemed to boil down to which candidate(s) are the lesser of the two evils. Always been independent and never aligned myself with one party. I love the people that vote straight party lines, even though there may be a better person to do the job in the other party.

I voted for Regan as well as Bush Sr. due to the candidates that had run against them. I then voted for Clinton over Bush.

They all lie and all are crooks...so does it really matter?

[Ara]

Funny how anyone could be satisfied having only two major parties to choose from. There's more ideologies than "conservative" or "liberal". The American democratic party would be considered conservative in Finland. Maybe you do have more parties over there but all I hear is the talk of either liberal or conservative which sounds pretty much too simplified to me.

from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_%28government%29

In some countries, particularly those that use the Westminster system, the Cabinet collectively decides the government's policy and tactical direction, especially in regard to legislation passed by the parliament. In countries with a presidential system, such as the United States, the Cabinet does not function as a collective legislative influence; rather, their primary role is as an official advisory council to the head of government. In this way, the President gets opinions and advice in upcoming decisions. The second role of cabinet officials is to administer executive branch government agencies or departments (in the United States, these are the federal executive departments).

Personally I think the Presidential system is outdated as the exchange of information and opinions in this millenia is much faster and cheaper than in 1900's for example. There's no reason to have one guy being incharge of almost everything and have so much legislative power. Also Bicameralism seems like only a less evil compromise. Finland for example was a Presidential democracy till the 1990's, after which the President at that time gave most of the legislative power to the parliament. Currently we are in semi-Presidential phase, President is still the chief of Finnish army but acting mostly as the moral advisor and ceremonial leader.

There's lot of different kinds of governments, best examples of most democratic systems in my opinion would be Ireland's mixture of Constitutional democratic republic and Parliamentary democracy, the systems in Scandinavian countries, and Switzerland's mixture of Federal state, with parliamentary system and direct democracy, direct democracy being the key word in there. Today it is much cheaper to ask the real people what they think of different issues, only reason to not do this is so that the current elite could hold on to power. Actually there's something about this on the wiki also: Interactive Democracy, although it's very short and doesn't really go too deep, I wonder why.

Yes there's more to politics than just saying hey we liked it how it used to be, or hey we want a change. And you can have more than two parties running the country, this allows more specialized parties such as environmentalist parties, feminist parties or piracy parties etc.

EDIT: To add another point of view, voting for a candidate based on some vague criterias such as charisma, good looks or humor or views on the world that he or she only lets you know couldn't be any more blinding. But voting only for a party isn't enough either, a party making it's members vote how the current party leader wants is deceiving the voter. So there's no easy way to get your voice heard I guess, but voting in any case is the least I can do to promote democracy.

I'm only arguing for a better system, not which one of the thousands of different views on life is the right one.