Do you take any stances that contradicts your party's?

[general_kill]

I feel like there is a great division among members of this forum due to our political affiliations. It often bogs down to Democrat vs. Republicans/Liberal vs. Conservative. But I think that most of us do not follow our party's agenda 100% of the time and I am wondering what kind of issues all of you disagree with your party on.

If you need to see what kind of policies your party advocates, check out this website:
http://studentnewsdaily.com/conservative_vs_liberal_beliefs.shtml

Summary:

CONSERVATIVES – believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.


Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.


LIBERALS – believe in governmental action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, and that it is the duty of the State to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. Believe that people are basically good.

Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve people’s problems.

I am personally a democrat aligned voter but I share many beliefs with republicans.

1. I disagree with my party's pull out of Iraq ASAP approach. I feel like, we've just poked the bear, and it's too late to run away. If we do run away, we will get mauled while our back is turned. Iraq is in a very vital region of the world and to create a power vacuum there by leaving is an invitation to much worse things than what we have now. If we can turn Iraq into other countries we currently have military forces in, i.e.Germany, Japan, South Korea, then we can potentially add a prosperous, unique, and strategically influential ally to our roster. It will take a decade or two but it'll be good if it happens.

However, I really do not like it when people who defend the war try to make everything out to be black and white. Just because staying in Iraq is the right thing to do, it doesn't mean we should have been there in the first place, or that we didn't make mistakes, or that this war is affecting negatively, or that we can improve the situation.

2. I do believe that capital punishment should be allowed for heinous crimes. It is not efficient to use tax payer money to keep these criminals alive, and their punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime. Criticism about the cost of sending an inmate to death should not be an argument against the death penalty, but it should be an argument for a more efficient justice system.

3. Affirmative action should be scrapped. At the very least, it needs to be edited to use economic status as a criteria rather than racial background.

4. 2nd Amendment. While gun nuts piss me off as much as they piss off any reasonable person (1 of my professor wants a mandate for EVERYONE to carry guns), I feel like the right to own a weapon for self defense is important. Political realities can change very fast, and I can see a day when armed resistance against a bloated executive branch will be necessary. If they strip us of our guns, we have no physical way to defend ourselves from a powerful tyrant.

5. Same sex marriage should not be allowed. It's nothing but a vocabulary difference, I think Gay unions should have all the same benefits/rights married couples should have. I really do feel like that if we let gays marry, whose to say a man cannot love and marry multiple partners? Or that a Person cannot love or marry an animal? There are very real emotions involved, but for the sake of classification, if we distinguish a person with terms like homosexual and gay, then we should distinguish their unions as well. I am very flexible with this view, if someone wants to challenge me on this position I more than welcome it because I want to hear all sides of this. But please take into account I'm not saying gays shouldn't have "marriage" but I'm saying their marriages shouldn't use the word "marriage". It's a classification issue for me, not a gays shouldn't be together issue.

6. I'm somewhat on-board with Conservatives on the lower tax thing. But I want to lower taxes by reducing our army to a reasonable level and by removing the inefficiencies in our government.

7. I am somewhat on on-board with Conservatives on Welfare. I'd rather use that money to create opportunities for poor people who are willing to be productive and work. But welfare should not be removed completely because I think there needs to be some kind of security blanket in place to help struggling working Americans.

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So in conclusion, check out the website I linked, it will really help you understand who you are as an individual by letting you understand the issues a little better. I used to think liberal = reasonable, logical, good, and "right", but almost all of the issues Conservatives and Liberals debate over is not black and white and each side holds some water. So post what party you "align" with and then post where you disagree with your party's policies. I hope that once we can admit things are not black and white, meaningful and respectful discussions can ensue.

 

[Yoda Power]

I recently quit my party since we disagreed on too many issues. Now I'm party less.

Ohwell I save some money then.

 

[Sims2789]

I'm a registered Democrat, but I tend to agree with Greens and libertarians (small l) on many issues.

I morally favor the death penalty for rape and murder, though oppose it being legal because juries and judges aren't accurate enough to be given the power to take someone's life. I also tend to agree with Republican (though not Texas') self-defense laws, and would like to see some way for Social Security to go away without screwing everyone who's paid into it already. I also want the drinking and voting ages lowered, want the war on drugs/people to end, and don't support agriculture/ethanol subsidies. I don't think the government should recognize marriages at all but if we are to then we must recognize same-sex marriages.

Again, I don't know if any of these are "official" DNC policy, but many if not most Democratic politicians disagree with me on them.

I strongly agree with the Democrats on lower taxes for the bottom 99%, less government spending/bureaucracy, increased bidding and competition in privatization, and a lower national debt, though. These are some of the stronger reasons why I'm a Democrat. Reasons why I'm not a Republican include their wars, whether they be on Iraq, fun, or the poor, scapegoating gays, using the flag as a political tool, doing the terrorists' alleged job for them by restricting our freedoms in the name of security, making us unsafe by restricting our freedoms, bringing about a second Gilded Age (the CAN SPAM Act, for example), and general GOP douchbaggery.

CONSERVATIVES – believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty...

I beg to differ.

On personal responsibility, limited government, and free markets: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Much of that debt is caused by a very large subsidy (the war) to the military-industrial complex, and incurring it clearly isn't very responsible, and balloons the size of the government.

The GOP website even has an "overtime clock" for giving telephone companies immunity from illegally spying on us: http://www.rnc.org

 

[Rik Meleet]

Yes I do.

The party I support has the opinion to abolish the Monarchy while I am a strong Monarchy supporter.
However, since the party's opinion and my opinion match on a very large percentage of other topics and of all the parties in the Netherlands they match my opinions best I stay with them.

 

[LendMeYourTeeth]

I've always voted Labour and I agree with many of their policies: minimum wage; social chapter; effective homelessness policy etc. but I'm getting to the point where I'm alarmed with such issues as the pensions crisis, massive spending on the NHS (but with little or no productive outcome) and, of course, the Afghani/Iraqi situation.

 

[Stapel]

Yes I do.

The party I support has the opinion to abolish the Monarchy while I am a strong Monarchy supporter.
However, since the party's opinion and my opinion match on a very large percentage of other topics and of all the parties in the Netherlands they match my opinions best I stay with them.

Just like Rik, I am Dutch. Though my party is totally different than his, this is about the only thing our parties disagree on, but we agree on.

I'm strongly pro-monrachy (I even think the monarch should have more power), but my party is even stronger anti-monarchy than Rik's.

 

[Yoda Power]

More power to the monarchy? Like what?

 

[downtown]

I support NAFTA

 

[Dubai Vol]

Well I completely disagree with the characterizations of the two parties in the opening post.

Repubicans want free reign for business and government interference in people's personal affairs, Democrats want to stop business from raping the planet and exploiting their workers, and don't want to regulate personal matters.

Democrats think poor people should have a chance to improve their station in life through education; Republicans want rich people's children to keep the good jobs by only letting rich kids go to college, whether they are the best-qualified or not.

There, that's better.

One thing Democrats and I disagree on is the war in iraq: it should have been done in 1991, but Bush sr wimped out. Late is better than never, and everyone will be better off in the long run, IF the US doesn't wimp out again and leave.

Note that EVERY country in the Gulf supported the war in very real and concrete ways. The UAE, for example, sent an entire armored brigade to Kuwait before the war started, to be garrison troops in Kuwait, thus freeing US troops for the invasion. Not a lot of noise was made about it, but it was in the local paper at the time.

 

[downtown]

I support NAFTA

Actually, let me elaborate on this some more.

The Democratic Party, particularly the one in Ohio, has become more protectionist. The dialog around here is centered on "preventing our manufacturing jobs from going somewhere else". I'm more concerned about getting better jobs to move *in*. I'm typically much more sympathetic to business, and perhaps business interests, than most democrats.

I have become pretty pro-school choice. I believe very strongly in comprehensive education reform, and that is going to require some major democratic constituencies, like teachers unions, getting shaken up a little bit.

I've actually voted for more republicans I think in city elections than I have Democrats, at least when I lived in larger cities. I think that Urban Democrats have, in some cases, perpetuated dependency, particularly when it comes to schools. Some of them have also been softer on crime, although I can't say thats true for national or state level democrats.

I'm a very religious person. This has not been a typical democratic constituency at of late.

 

[amadeus]

Democrats ... don't want to regulate personal matters.

Unless it's smoking, or eating something unhealthy, or telling you how to raise your kids, or telling you to spay or neuter your pets, etc., etc., etc...

Edit: also, violent video games. Forgot those.

 

[Ecofarm]

Conservative, anti-death penalty, pro-legalization and pro-gay rights.

I'm not very conservative on the social side, but I'm a hawk, anti-welfare, pro-tax breaks (yes, even for the rich!), free-marketeer that understands the importance of private property (tragedy of the commons and all that).

 

[Stapel]

More power to the monarchy? Like what?

I would like to see that virtually any power the governemnt (as the executive power) has, will be divided to the parliament (the legislative power) and the head of state. Of course, 95% of these powers should go to the parliament and only 5% to the monarch.

I think a completely independent non-political factor, should appoint the prime minister as the head of government, relatively independent of the composition of the parliament.

The funny thing is, that an independent person can only be found in............... a monarch.

 

[warpus]

I am not affiliated with any party for this very reason - I will never find a party that fully matches up to my views unless I found it myself.

 

[Stapel]

Conservative, anti-death penalty, pro-legalization and pro-gay rights.

I'm not very conservative on the social side, but I'm a hawk, anti-welfare, pro-tax breaks (yes, even for the rich!), free-marketeer that understands the importance of private property (tragedy of the commons and all that).

You are, according to European standards, a true liberal. I think USA-ians refer to it as libertarians.

Though I am not as strongly anti-welfare and pro-tax breaks as you are, I do think the government can do better with less spending.

In a choice between right or left or liberal or conservative, much can depend on what issues are more important. Would I have been American, I guess the ultra-conservative anti-social-freedom issues would keep my vote away from Republicans.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I am not affiliated with a party, in part for this very reason.

 

[Hygro]

Actually, let me elaborate on this some more.

The Democratic Party, particularly the one in Ohio, has become more protectionist. The dialog around here is centered on "preventing our manufacturing jobs from going somewhere else". I'm more concerned about getting better jobs to move *in*. I'm typically much more sympathetic to business, and perhaps business interests, than most democrats.

I have become pretty pro-school choice. I believe very strongly in comprehensive education reform, and that is going to require some major democratic constituencies, like teachers unions, getting shaken up a little bit.

You just saved typing time Particularly wrt globalized trade.

 

[emzie]

Disagree 98% with the Democrats on Iraq, but am more concerned with domestic stuff.

Support NAFTA, assuming the US upholds the law when it doesn't benefit America (a la softwood lumber).

Then again, I'm not very unbiased.

Could care less about gun ownership, aside from automatic weapons. And even then, I think it should be possible to get a permit for those.

 

[Perfection]

I agree 100% with everything a Democrat politician has said ever.

 

[Ecofarm]

You are, according to European standards, a true liberal. I think USA-ians refer to it as libertarians.

Though I am not as strongly anti-welfare and pro-tax breaks as you are, I do think the government can do better with less spending.

In a choice between right or left or liberal or conservative, much can depend on what issues are more important. Would I have been American, I guess the ultra-conservative anti-social-freedom issues would keep my vote away from Republicans.

I lose the libertarians at hawk (I mean hawk, like, bomb Iran now) and environmental regulation (I prefer a permit trade system for the more egrarious pollutants and preservationist policies on federal and state land).

What ultra-conservative anti-social freedom issues are you talking about? Pro-life and anti-gay marriage? Well, I'm pro-life (I find it consistant with being anti-death penalty and think it sets a bad example) and I'm sure that even headed people will see to it that civil unions are avialable in all state soon, as obviously gays should have equal rights. Now, those people don't bother me so much because I need them to wage holy war on Islam (and the godless chicoms). End justifies the mean, on this one - I really don't care why people want it, as long as democracy spreads - that's the most important thing to get done in the next few generations. Without the anti-abortion gay-hating thumpers, I'd have noone to fight terrorists with. All the weepers and huggers and libertarians would rather enjoy our lifestyle and say "screw other people if they can't overthrow tyranny alone".

It takes all kinds to get the job done, and the thumpers aren't as bad as you think. C'mon over to the right side

I agree 100% with everything a Democrat politician has said ever.

Hillary 2007:

"We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
"God bless the America we are trying to create."
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/election2008/a/dumbquotes.htm