How would you identify yourself, politically?

[Belle Du Jour]

I am left of centre but I am not sure how well I fit into the categories.

 

[thestonesfan]

I have strong Whig leanings.

 

[MrPresident]

You need to use a better glue then.

 

[Grisu]

I consider myself a liberal. Here, I always vote the Liberal Party (FDP - Freisinnig Demokratische Partei), sometimes with a small hint of social-democrat in it.

 

[Archer 007]

Originally posted by allan2
Libertarian.

DoubleBarrel, I LIKE your idea of a referendum needed to approve a war--a friend of mine also brought up this idea, and the more I think of it the more I like it, in principle. War is something that affects people on a profound individual level--many have family or friends who serve in the military, and I think they deserve to have more of a say than they do in where they're sent, what they're used for, and whether or not the potential rewards of the action are worth the danger they could face--particularly in an era where our wars aren't PRIMARILY acts of defense, although there might be a small peripheral argument in that vein.

What about Vietnam. It was a war that was needed, but a majority of the people wouldn't have voted for it. Public opinion isnt always the same as national interest.

 

[John-LP]

How do you figure the Vietnam War was "needed"?

 

[thestonesfan]

Originally posted by John-LP
How do you figure the Vietnam War was "needed"?

It was as "needed" as anything else that ever happens.

In a geo-political sense, it made it apparent that the United States would take a very active role in opposing communism.

 

[FearlessLeader2]

Authoritarian.

Cast your vote for God for President-for-life of the Universe.

"Let thy kingdom come..."

 

[luiz]

In Brazil 'liberal'means pro-free market and capitalism. Therefore Im a brazilian liberal. But I understand that in the USA 'liberal' have a different meaning.

 

[cgannon64]

I think I'm hard to identify. I'm liberal on foreign policy, conservative (probably ultra-conservative to some of you) on aborition and birth control, liberal on the Death Penalty (at least I assume so - I'm against it), and pretty unsure of myself on the economy. Well, with Bushonomics I'm pretty liberal, because I think tax cuts are a waste of money...

 

[Richard III]

Originally posted by luiz
In Brazil 'liberal'means pro-free market and capitalism. Therefore Im a brazilian liberal. But I understand that in the USA 'liberal' have a different meaning.

Yes, there it means "pro-free market and capitalism, but not enough to satisfy the guys who are really pro-free market and capitalism."

Although you'd never know it....

R.III

 

[John-LP]

Originally posted by cgannon64
I think I'm hard to identify. I'm liberal on foreign policy, conservative (probably ultra-conservative to some of you) on aborition and birth control, liberal on the Death Penalty (at least I assume so - I'm against it), and pretty unsure of myself on the economy. Well, with Bushonomics I'm pretty liberal, because I think tax cuts are a waste of money...

That makes you a moderate/centrist

 

[alamo]

Chose independent conservative

fiscally conservative - goverment inserts itself into people's buisness too much through tax and spend
socially liberal - freedoms should not be abridged w/o compelling reasons - Ashcroft is DEAD wrong

I guess a left-right spectrum would be easier than labels

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

I cast my vote with the Democrats for now.

 

[JollyRoger]

Mainly identify w/ U.S. Democrats, but am fearful that

Yellow (afraid to take on Bush) + Blue (as in Democrat - a la "Blue States" on election night coverage) = Green (Too many would be Democrat voters voting for the Green Party or some other alternative and allowing another Greenbacked Party amBush).

 

[Archer 007]

Originally posted by cgannon64
I think I'm hard to identify. I'm liberal on foreign policy, conservative (probably ultra-conservative to some of you) on aborition and birth control, liberal on the Death Penalty (at least I assume so - I'm against it), and pretty unsure of myself on the economy. Well, with Bushonomics I'm pretty liberal, because I think tax cuts are a waste of money...

Me too . But i feel that i should lean more to the side that i agree with on most of the issues.

 

[allan2]

Originally posted by archer_007


What about Vietnam. It was a war that was needed, but a majority of the people wouldn't have voted for it. Public opinion isnt always the same as national interest.

If the US had put strong conditions on the South Vietnamese government, like cleaning up the rampant corruption and actually forming a democracy, in exchange for our help, perhaps more people would have been behind it. Plus, Ho Chi Minh WANTED to model the Vietnamese constitution after that of the US (just after WWII), and wanted us to help him throw off the French, just as we helped him throw off the Japanese (we worked with Vietnamese guerillas during WWII, some who would probably later become Vietcong--now WHO dropped the ball?). De Gaulle would have caved, had we more actively encouraged them to give up their colony, just like Britain gave up India. We could have done that and had far more influence in the fate of Vietnam than we ended up having. Yes, hindsight is 20/20, BUT perhaps some of those who were opposed saw this coming ahead of time--in which case, we can hold those in power accountable for their mistakes--they were warned.

We both won AND lost the Cold War--we saw the toppling of the Soviet Union, but we created a lot of bad feelings in a lot of countries, and probably unwittingly CREATED a lot of communists (or enemies otherwise) who would otherwise not have been so ideologically inclined, due to our offering oppressive alternatives to the people in many cases (usually by not caring what happened once the local "communist threat" was taken care of). Particularly in Latin America.

Anyway, there were reasons both for and against the Vietnam War. But the sad fact is that the government sent hundreds of thousands of our boys over there WITHOUT a clear mandate from the people--and those boys were the ones who got bit in the ass for that foolish political decision. The people WILL express their will one way or the other. Might as well make sure the people are behind any war we commit to, time permitting of course. And there was a lot of time, as the Vietnam situation was developing, to hold spirited debate on our course of action, inviting the public to participate. Because they ended up doing so anyway, only after the fact of our commitment.

(Actually, when we started sending troops, the vote of the people MAY have been in favor, had there been a referendum. Opinion really went south after the body bags came rolling in.)

 

[amadeus]

Conservative. I believe strongly in economic freedoms and some social freedoms, if you'd consider something like partial-birth abortion as a "social freedom."

 

[Zarn]

Conservative here, but I think everyone knew that. A little (and I mean little) hold on the corperations, but not too much is fine by me. Low taxes and as little socialism as possible also seem nice.

 

[Dr. Dr. Doktor]

I used to cast my vote for the capitalists. However the recent war has shown me how filthy, corrupt and narrowminded they really are. It will be the communists next time around.