An Alternative View on Politics...

Samir Mehta | September 10, 2008
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Amy Austin | September 10, 2008
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Aaron Shurtleff | September 10, 2008
I think there may be a less vocal minority of people who keep their right-leaning opinions quieter because there's no point trying to talk about the smaller good things that the right stands for in an environment where indicating any kind of support for so-called conservative values (which is nigh-undefinable...imo) is equated with full support of W's policies.

Right now, Bush bashing is very fashionable, and don't get me wrong, he deserves it, but I think some people may be more right leaning than they appear. But who wants to speak up and get ridiculed?

Not that I lean to the right, of course. I just think right-leaners are out there... ;)

Let's be honest, not all republican voters are "non-evolved knuckle draggers", but that is exactly the image being protrayed above (not to call you out, Amy, but it fit with what I'm saying). Republicans are ignorant hicks at best, and damn stupid rednecks at worst, or they're uber-rich white guys who don't care about the other 99% of the country. Any of this sounding familiar? Gun-loving racists? Potty mouths? Maybe they're silent because they feel looked down upon, because the #1 man who represents the values they espouse is everything they feel is bad about their party?

I don't know. I'm not a political scientist. I'm barely a scientist. I just think if W didn't make it so onerous to have to say you lean to the right, more people would admit to it. I mean, hell, in 2004, I don't know very many people who wanted W for four more years, but he got re-elected. I think people are just hesitant to admit they vote that way in public, but a phone poll is an easier place to admit it.

Or maybe there's more ignorant knuckle draggers and rich white fat cats than I thought...

Amy Austin | September 10, 2008
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Samir Mehta | September 10, 2008
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Tony Peters | September 10, 2008
Ok this brought me out., I was raised in a well right of center family...I'm a right leaner...I beleive in smaller government, lower taxes, gun rights, strong defense, that said social conservatives scare the shit out of me...they are what I beleive is wrong with the republican party...that they have become the base scares me all the more. No matter how much I like the decisions such a person makes I don't trust their judgement because it isn't in my opinion based on reality as the rest of us know it. I have a real problem with the mix of religion and politics, I consider it no different for christians than I do for muslims. Historicly speaking no matter how nobel the intentions the mix has always lead to problems (death and destruction) in the end. I think the problem for the left at the moment is that Palin represents such a temping case of hypocrasy to throw in the face of these same social conservatives, the teen pregnancy thing just makes me laugh but that as tempting as it is is a minor issue when compared to what is facing our nation. But that is hard to discuss in this day of packaged canidates. Who here can list the platform of either canidate? I remember there being deep political fights at the convention over what the canidate should stand for now it's 4 days of name calling and Palin is one of the best name callers I've ever seen. If Biden can't make the debate on what she and her party beleive the for the future of the country is he's doomed. Sadly all of this brings me to the point where I really don't know if I will vote. I am no longer a resident of Florida where my vote for one side or another will actually mean something...instead I am now a resident of RI which is as blue as it gets so my vote on either side means nothing. which is probably OK since I truthfully don't know which man would be a better choice...8 years ago I would have said McCain, at that time he stood for a lot of what I still beleive in...now though I'm not sure if he hasn't changed too much in order to gather the support he needs to be president, i know Palin is window dressing but I think she brings too much influence from a viewpoint that I don't care for. The man himself used to be about bringing people together but his message of late seems to be too much us and them. As for Obama I really hope he is as great a communicator as Regan was and can unite this country because there is a great divide that needs to be healed. I think he has the chrisma to bring this country together where i no longer see than in McCain
humm I seem to have rambled a bit

Erik Bates | September 10, 2008
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Samir Mehta | September 10, 2008
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Tony Peters | September 10, 2008
I have a problem with Roe vs Wade because it's based on a privacy issue which in and of itself is too mutable (look at FISA). I could probably find a lot about Roosevelt Rupublicans to like I know for certain that the present party isn't what I like. My father is a big beleiver in ballance, and he points to Bush's 1st 6 years as an example of why we should always have it. Clinton for all my distaste for the man was much more ballanced in his agenda than Bush. The current Democratic congress is derilct in their duties to the nation IMO though maybe lazy is a better word. I don't think that the dems can loose as much as the republicans can this fall.

Scott Hardie | September 12, 2008
Part of the Republican Party's winning streak is that they're damn good at politics, damn organized, and damn well funded. They're the Yankees. The Democrats are the Mets.

Two events earlier this decade shaped my thinking:

When I moved to Florida in 2002, I didn't want another Bush (Jeb) in office, so I got involved in Bill McBride's gubernatorial campaign against him. That whole fall, polls gave McBride five points over Bush any given day. When Election Day came, Bush trounced him with a 10% lead. Lesson: Everybody answers polls, but only Republicans turn out to vote.

When I was at work on Election Day in 2004, I observed my peers – young, educated, media-savvy, idealistic, want-to-see-a-better-world types – gather around the morning online news alert that Kerry was as much as ten percent over Bush, and grumble with dismay. They clenched their fists, they crossed their arms, they murmured platitudes to each other about how it wasn't over yet and Bush could still win this and we wouldn't be doomed. Lesson: Don't assume somebody thinks the way you do, or should think the way you do, just because you're alike.

What I really gleaned from those days, and from Bush's high approval ratings right up to Katrina, was that we're a red nation with a few blue states. To those of us on the left, liberal thinking is sane, and we don't get why anybody would want to think like a conservative. But we're the abnormal ones. They don't get us either, and there a lot more of them. I'd love to see an Obama presidency, and for a few weeks leading up to the DNC it looked like he was going to pull it off, but I've been predicting a McCain victory since the campaign season started, and I still think it's going to happen. (Or maybe I should say it's a Palin victory, since she's apparently now running against Obama. Is McCain even still in this?)

I've done a lot of soul searching on what makes a conservative a conservative. And when I'm sincere about it, I realize they don't intend to be bad people. But they definitely have limited interest in improving the world for people who aren't them. Or more specifically, they think the only ways to improve the lives of others (the downtrodden and oppressed) is to either make them like us, beat them into submission, or isolate them.

Jackie Mason | September 12, 2008
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Samir Mehta | September 12, 2008
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Samir Mehta | September 12, 2008
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Jackie Mason | September 13, 2008
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Scott Hardie | November 5, 2008
Samir, you asked why people vote Republican. Here's a sociologist's answer. (thanks Sara)

Jackie Mason | November 6, 2008
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