Liberal or Conservative?

[MickeyMac]

It makes no difference to me, only doing this out of curiosity.


Where do you stand??? Are you a liberal or a conservative???

[gazhekwe]

Why does it have to be one or the other?

[Sstashmoo]

Neither. I claim no party or doctrine that aligns with either, until one comes along I agree with. I think it's on it's way. Folks are starting to wake up, the two recent elections, Arizona's posturing and standing up for their position. They threatened LA today, to cut off their electricity, if the folks of LA continue to boycott Arizona. Kudos to AZ, not caving in to the special interests or party line.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Me? I'm a moderate. I think there is good and bad on both sides of the political spectrum. I also think people come from varied walks of life. The experiences you have, the environment, the family structure, just about everything comes into play to determine how you see life. I don't think there is a 'one size fits all' mentality that will lead us all to utopia. Until we try to understand why other people come to the conclusions they come to we will just end up fighting each other instead of working with each other. Since we come from many backgrounds, some of which we have no control over, then we need a political system that can accommodate many different views. The best way for a politician to turn me off is to propose a 'knee jerk reaction' as a solution or try to take a complex problem and make it into something that has such a simple fix. Politicians need to stop trying to cater to narrow minded thinking and really work on bringing people together to find solutions to common problems that we all face. If a problem has a difficult fix then politicians need to say that and work hard to come up with a solution, instead of just slapping a band aid on the problem to appease their constituents.

Okay, so that's my long-winded response to simply say I tow the middle ....

[313WX]

Liberal on nearly all issues, conservative on corporal punishment, moderate on capital punishment and moderate when it comes to the environment.

I guess my religious views would be considered moderate [[apatheist). I'm a Christian but I rarely follow their practices and I rarely pray. Also, I rarely acknowledge any gods and their involvement in society, I believe what humans do is based solely on their free will.

[Ray1936]

Slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan. Ya got a problem with that?

[terryh]

I suppose Liberal on most issues..with a conservative streak here or there I guess. Try to research both sides of the issue and always remember one of the prices we pay for living in a free society is that we are going to be offended and annoyed by vocal and written opinions and perceptions. If you encounter a countryman or visitor to our country who is passionate about an issue or belief and they go on a tirade just listen. Sometimes its best to just to let the next guy vent even if you dont agree with him [[or her). And dont feel foolish if you have trouble makeing up youre mind and flip flop....'issues' can be much more complex than they appear on the surface...at least try to grasp the issue at hand...

[Jimaz]

I've been trying to imagine a more simplistic question than this but have come up empty.

For example, how would Noam Chomsky answer this? He loathes liberals but is anything but conservative.

[Stosh]

Slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan. Ya got a problem with that?

Funny. Ghengis believed in the redistubution of wealth to his followers. So you are just a bit to the right of the Communist/Socialist spectrum I take it. Thanks for sharing that Comrade...

By the way, I am a Centrist by nature. I also am a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, but I reserve the right to pick and choose WHAT I am either supporting or opposing at any given time, and also to change my mind when appropriate or expedient.

[maxx]

Slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan. Ya got a problem with that?

Yeah, Genghis was not interested in democracy. Why aren't you in Iraq destroying and pillaging?

[maxx]

I am a liberal on most issues. However, I believe in enforcing immigration laws and I'm for capital punishment as long as the person executed was proved to be 100% guilty.

[Papasito]

Some of both. I feel we should be able to help those in genuine need to get back on thier feet, but I also favor robust freedoms, small Government, balanced budgets, low taxes, strong borders, an official langauge, strong defense, a colorblind society, and politicans putting America first. A "social conservative", I guess. Pro Choice, but personal responsibility should weigh into it. Pro death penalty, but the person better be guilty beyond any shadow of doubt. Unfortunately, neither party offers what I like. Any candidate I look at on either side may do a dozen things I can get behind, but at the same time do 2 dozen things I can't.

[Retroit]

I'm whatever Papasito is.

[gibran]

I am the local president of the Tea party liberals [[kidding )...I like green tea myself...but find my politics nicely steeped in the business of humanity and social justcie..so what ever candidate fills the role of liberal in humanity and conservative in protecting the ideals of the "declaration of universal human rights" is my person..Nader and the like...to bad Chomsky and Siad are gone...

[Zacha341]

While a tattered voters registration card has me down as a "democrat" I don't loyaly follow democratic policy or positioning wherever it leads.

Nor will or can I be a republican, though I tend to be more conservative than liberal, having been more left in my younger days.

Simply put, in my thinking both parties have good and bad points, and the extreme liberal left position is no less more endearing to me than the extreme right. I refuse to take the liberal position as a default option as expected by certain communities I am involved with and in, nor do I see the full-out conservative view to be a perfect option either...

I prefer to take a more independent view and response, which frees me to not reflexively defend a policy, or idea simply because it is from my so-called "party". Therefore, don't have to pretzelate MYSELF out of all reality when a truth is staring at me contrary to my expected liberal party affiliation. I will not be so bound.

It makes no difference to me, only doing this out of curiosity.


Where do you stand??? Are you a liberal or a conservative???

[Zacha341]

Yeah, that speaks to and reflect many of my perspectives too....

Some of both. I feel we should be able to help those in genuine need to get back on thier feet, but I also favor robust freedoms, small Government, balanced budgets, low taxes, strong borders, an official langauge, strong defense, a colorblind society, and politicans putting America first. A "social conservative", I guess. Pro Choice, but personal responsibility should weigh into it. Pro death penalty, but the person better be guilty beyond any shadow of doubt. Unfortunately, neither party offers what I like. Any candidate I look at on either side may do a dozen things I can get behind, but at the same time do 2 dozen things I can't.

[Zacha341]

Hah! Good response and really speaks to a depth I've discussed often over the last few month since I starting to post here.

Too many ideas are "captured" under the umbrella of left / right, conservative / democrat and are therefore discarded due to affiliation. The ides may be good but when "branded" as right or left even the response or argumentation re. said idea becomes templated.

I've long said that many ideas and policies need not be OWNED by are particular party. Some are are just sound ideas or things to consider. But no, we need convenient boxes in which certain perspectives and positions go, and from which response go forth. Thus, we have what we have....

Why does it have to be one or the other?

[Crumbled_pavement]

Hah! Good response and really speaks to a depth I've discussed often over the last few month since I starting to post here.

Too many ideas are "captured" under the umbrella of left / right, conservative / democrat and are therefore discarded due to affiliation. The ides may be good but when "branded" as right or left even the response or argumentation re. said idea becomes templated.

I've long said that many ideas and policies need not be OWNED by are particular party. Some are are just sound ideas or things to consider. But no, we need convenient boxes in which certain perspectives and positions go, and from which response go forth. Thus, we have what we have....

What I could never understand is how come liberals want to conserve nature and conservatives are liberal with their use of nature? Like someone mentioned, fans [[I mean voters, excuse me ) of both parties twist themselves like pretzels to support the rhetoric of their party.

[Jimaz]

...to bad Chomsky and Siad are gone...

What do you mean by gone? Chomsky's still active.

[Pam]

What do you mean by gone? Chomsky's still active.

Maybe he meant Howard Zinn?

[EMG]

With only a couple of glaring philosophical exceptions [[the chief two areas being gun control and regulation of business), absolutely, positively conservative. [[I'm the type of person who considers even self-proclaimed "moderate" Republicans to be RINO Socialists - I mean Democrats ).

[mjs]

I love how many other people split their answer by topic. Hope one day we can have a mutli-party system that reflects that. Right have had their historic splits and left have had their historic splits, but have reconsolidated as they have never both split at the same time. It will hopefully happen now if we can simply split both parties along the line of whether they think corporations are more important than individuals. 61 Senators just voted down a bill to limit the big six banks to controlling 10% of GDP each. 28 Dems, 32 Repubs, and 1 Independ. At least we can have a bipartisan understanding that restricting the banking oligopoly is too onerous to their federally subsidized profits.

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[Zacha341]

Yeah, what's more curious is how for the cause of not being thought of aligned with the other "party" some will pretzel their thinking and responses around a cause or position, even when it is blatantly wrong-headed, misleading or not sustainable.

What I could never understand is how come liberals want to conserve nature and conservatives are liberal with their use of nature? Like someone mentioned, fans [[I mean voters, excuse me ) of both parties twist themselves like pretzels to support the rhetoric of their party.

[johnsmith]

Are you a liberal or a conservative???

Why only two choices?

I'm a conservative liberal, or maybe that's a liberal conservative, or somewhere in between or to the left or right or diagonal or along the Z-axis of that.

[Zacha341]

LOL! I can relate to that : )

Why only two choices?

I'm a conservative liberal, or maybe that's a liberal conservative, or somewhere in between or to the left or right or diagonal or along the Z-axis of that.