I pretty much think the same about the Democrat party. I completely disagree with you regarding the Republican party. What's the point in arguing though? Neither one of us will change our opinion.
here's the thing though - a lot of people still assume that just because i'm intensely liberal that i'm a cheerleader for the Democratic party. there was a time that perhaps this was true, but my approval rating of the donkeys is about as low as the American Public's approval rating of congress right now. how did this happen? near-universal rejection of mainstream media, basically. once i (re?)discovered twitter and its functionality as an a la carte news feed you tailor and groom for yourself, i realized that there was a lot to be learned outside of the (cable) box.
I'm an American citizen, was born in the USA, hold a USA passport, and pay USA taxes. I have every right to call it my country.
aight
I believe that with power comes responsibility. As the most powerful nation on the planet I believe we should help to promote democracy and freedom around the world. Unfortunately we haven't been doing a good job of that for quite some time. In our current economic state I believe it's time to back off from the world. We can't hold that responsibility right now. We should seriously scale back our military. We don't need as many bases as we have around the world. Leaving Afghanistan and Iraq would be devastating to the region, but it's not something we can afford. You must help yourself before you can help others otherwise the system breaks.
as Gyps said, i whole-heartedly agree with these sentiments but arrive there via a radically different path. simply put, it is my belief that the use of military might to spread democracy and freedom doesn't really work. democracy - true democracy, not US-installed puppet governments - is most delicious when it's homegrown. look at egypt, for example: the people had suffered enough under mubarak, and it was through great communal solidarity and demonstration of passion and willingness to pay any price that the egyptian people were able to claim democracy for themselves. you simply can't bomb democracy into existence!
we are a nation of cowboys, we have the biggest guns and the loudest voices, and we get ourselves off by "spreading" democracy via violence. even if that worked, we can't afford to do it anymore. let's instead rebuild our democracy into a shining beacon of egalitarianism, social harmony, and actual justice for all - oppressed peoples the world over will rise up and fight valiantly to forge a nation like ours.
I'm not a huge fan of gay rights. I believe their acts to be an abomination to God. I am a Christian and proud of it. Many of you won't like that, but it's something I strongly believe in. That being said, a soldier is a soldier. Their gender preference takes no place in this role. I don't see how we can say someone can legally be gay but can't serve and die for our country. People often argue why women shouldn't be in combat roles. Well, gays are often some pretty fit dudes. The argument doesn't work for them. My brother is on his third tour in Iraq. I asked him about this issue. He and those he works with have absolutely no problem with gays in the military - they are soldiers and that is all is what he told me. I agree.
again, your opinion on DADT seems to be pretty rational, so i've got nothing to comment on regarding the end result. what i do want to zoom in on a bit is the idea of "rights." i don't see how it jives to deny someone the rights you enjoy simply because you disapprove of their approach (for any reason, let alone religious). there was no footnote about gays on the phrase "all men are created equal" in the declaration of independence, IIRC, and as much as mindia and the rest of the righty tighties would have you believe otherwise, America is a secular country and was pretty explicitly founded as such. disallowing civil rights to gays (or anyone for that matter) based on a religious belief is directly contrary to the constitution. besides, who cares? if it's pretty, fuck it.
I do believe we should tax the rich more, but more importantly we need to fix the tax system. It's not necessarily the tax rates that leave the rich not paying enough tax as much as it is the loopholes and tax havens. I would like to see detailed plans for the USA tax system from every presidential candidate. I do not believe in taxing corporations or businesses more. If anything we should lower these taxes to make our country more competitive. I would like to see a system in place that rewards the rich for investing in America and punish those investing elsewhere.
ahh, more sanity! closing loopholes and detonating tax havens would have the same effect as raising the corporate tax rate, but would have the added benefit of making it simpler to track their dollars. so yes, by all means, fix that shit. once that's done, i would argue for a forward-leaning approach to corporate tax. wanna make money on regressive industries (oil, etc)? take home less profit. wanna invest in future tech (clean sustainable energy, tech, etc)? take home a bigger portion of your profits! pay stiff penalties for outsourcing, get tax credits for hiring US workers. see what i'm getting at? there are no morals in pure capitalism - but they can be superimposed with regulations that make the most profitable and the most beneficial one and the same.
When I was younger I was for the death penalty. Now I am against the death penalty. Hey, opinions do change! As a Christian I believe in the grace of God. I believe in His redemption over our sins. I do believe that God has given us the right, power, and responsibility to judge and carry out punishments. I see absolutely no reason why it is necessary to execute anyone though. It costs more money, mistakes are made, and those with money have an advantage over those who don't. That is wrong.
yes. aside from the G-man, my reasoning is the same - though i would also add the fact that it simply does not work as a deterrent
those with money have an advantage over those who don't. That is wrong. I see the rich (think Wall Street) blatantly harming our country and the world as a whole. How are these people not in prison? The system is broken and this saddens me.
that is what #occupy is all about. public policy in the united states is dictated almost entirely by economic power, when it should be the reverse. efforts are underway in more than 30 states to make the act of voting itself more difficult (look it up). many on the right like to malign this movement as "anti-capitalist" or "anti-American" - but what could possibly be more American than citizens from all walks of life coming together to stand up for true democracy?
I'm against abortion but at the same time would have a hard time telling a 14 year old rape victim that she MUST have her baby. I have mixed feelings here. I'm allowed to not know the answer right?
hoo boy, i usually plead the fifth on this one too. i only nibble at this kind of thing when the right blasts Planned Parenthood for its eeeeeeebil abortion practices, when - fact - that is less than 3% of what they do
I believe in legalization of guns. In China guns are illegal and people run around stabbing each other on a regular basis. Try reading the China Daily or Shanghai Daily on a regular basis. In Malaysia guns are illegal, but it's not extremely difficult for someone to get a gun illegally. It doesn't matter what country you are in if you're a criminal you CAN get a gun. At the same time this is not a big issue for me. If a candidate were against legalization of guns that wouldn't be a factor in me voting for him/her.
guns are a weird issue for me. on the one hand, our nation has such a violent history to begin with, and violent imagery and rhetoric dominate much of our civic discourse and popular entertainment, to the point where it seems silly to blame guns for what we do to each other. on the other hand, i refuse to believe that the availability of guns had nothing to do with that.
I believe entitlement programs have gone completely overboard in the USA. I'm not for leaving the elderly, disabled, or other sorts of special needs people without assistance. There are currently way to many people getting way to much for free though.
first of all, i detest the use of the word "entitlement" because it has such negative and cynical connotations. lots of good honest people need those programs; calling it entitlement just makes it easier to marginalize them and leave them to the wolves. that being said, i'd like to draw a parallel to the old testament story of Lot. how many honest people that really depend on those programs would you let slip through the cracks and go under just to weed out abuse? would you sacrifice 20% of the needy to roust 80% of the abusive? 10%/50%? 5%/70%? blindly cutting these programs is not the answer. you want to reform them, fine - just make sure you're not losing anyone who needs help
I believe that many of these programs greatly benefit the pharmaceutical industry. When the Gov. is paying there isn't a lot of negotiating room on prices. I think the vast majority of Americans on prescription drugs really don't need to be on them. Others do require them. This is a huge strain on our economy, and these programs need to be either scaled back or completely revamped.
did you know the USA is one of the only "first-world" countries that allow pharmaceuticals to be advertised? it's all a big scam. over 100 million people regularly take prescription medication. they see an advertisement for a medication to address some type of ailment, they ask their doctor, their doctor has been promised a big kickback from the schmoozy pharma company, whose lawyers prevent the manufacture of a generic version that would save EVERYONE money, etc. and the cycle continues. unrestrained capitalism fails us again. regulate pharma advertising, prevent kickback, allow generics, and bam - fewer americans need/get medications they can do without. #occupy is also about this.
I believe there needs to be more control on immigration. This is one area where I don't have a lot of first hand knowledge though. I'm from Minnesota where it isn't AS much of an issue as other parts of the USA. Malaysia has immigration issues as well, but I see this country taking steps deal with the situation in a very good way. From an outside perspective, it seems that anyone who wants to do anything about immigration in the USA is considered a racist. That's wrong. The American Gov. is responsible for looking after its' own people first and others later. On one side these people are necessary for specific jobs/industries in the USA, but on the other side many of them are simply a strain on the economy. It's a tricky issue.
quite tricky. i will allow that it isn't fair to label everyone who wants to do something about immigration a racist - but only if you allow that some of those who do actually ARE racist. once again, unrestrained capitalism shits the bed - illegal aliens come here because they can GET jobs that pay really well compared to back home. INCREASE REGULATIONS and this particular issue shrivels. are you seeing a pattern here? one of the GOP's biggest goals is to deregulate industries and commerce, when i find it pretty clear that a lot of the mess we're in can be traced back to a distinct LACK of regulation and oversight.
I believe in legalizing marijuana. Mindia is way off his rocker on this one. There's no need to go into detail here. It's plain fucking stupid that marijuana isn't legal. For the record, I haven't smoked pot in years. That is my personal choice. I guess I grew out of it. Legalizing it would save us billions on law enforcement and create billions in taxes. It would also create thousands of jobs within the USA.
good man. it's a no-brainer. and yeah, it's been years for me too, though if it were suddenly legal tomorrow i'd be first in line at the dispensary
I believe in using more of our resources within the USA. We should be drilling for a shit load more oil than we are. Oil is not running out any time soon. We have plenty in reserve, and a shit load more in probable sources. Now is not the time to waste money on green energy. It's not currently practical. In time green energy will be figured out, but right now it's not very important. A boost in our domestic oil industry would create a shit load of jobs. We also need to do away with the tax breaks these oil companies receive.
finally, something i can really chew on. seriously? "now is not the time to waste money on green energy?" dude, oil production peaked twenty-five years ago. since then it has only gotten harder to find and more difficult to refine. canada is currently our biggest source of foreign oil - take a minute and go study up on canadian tar sands oil. i'd say now is EXACTLY the time to pour money into green energy. would you rather wait until gasoline is $8 a gallon? $10? and as for jobs, pffft there are boatloads of jobs in green energy. building wind farms across the nation? manufacturing and installing solar panels? drilling geothermal vents? shit man, they've made cars that run on water. why on earth would we waste a single penny more on OIL? oh right, because the most concentrated economic forces in the world refuse to let us pull that needle out of our vein ;\
CHINA... wow... this is an issue most people don't really talk about that much. This country has been taking advantage of us for years. In a way we have benefited from their rise, but at this time we suffer more from this countries actions than we benefit. I would like to see change in our policy towards China and American companies manufacturing there. Those manufacturing within the USA simply can't compete. If China eventually builds a very strong domestic consumer economy we could benefit, but if our companies are all manufacturing in China to sell to the Chinese it's not going to help us much. Why not tax these American companies? I don't see the issue of double taxation as many countries offer these companies insanely low tax rates. Obama wants to demolish the tax break American citizens get for earning abroad (same issue with double taxation), but I think it would be much better to do this to the company instead of the individual.
i will confess i don't know what the fuck this paragraph is about, but i will point out two things: 1) china is way ahead of us on green energy and 2) a lot of our debt is owed to china. what happens when we collapse again and they decide it's time to collect? fuuuuuuuuuck
You may find everything up there 'uninteresting,' but now you have a better idea of where I stand.
not at all. i won't completely set aside my previous assertion that your physical removal from the US causes at least something of a societal removal, but i must now admit it is less than i thought
Spazz wrote:Thats the problem though. You are using a faith that not everyone shares to justify why some people cant have equal rights.
I'm not going to disagree with that. I don't see it as 'equal' rights though. The idea of a man and man or woman and woman getting married is absolutely ridiculous to me.
mostly went over this above, but let me try again. you have a right to marry the person you love most. neil patrick harris doesn't. ridiculous or not, you cannot logically call that anything but unequal!
Gypsiyee wrote:I never said you aren't entitled to your opinion, I said your characterization of the left and your desire to demonize us in a post that had nothing to do with politics was out of place. You responded that I always attack you and say that you don't count because you don't live here and that's simply not true. Never once did I say you can't call this your country because I don't believe that. I believe you're disconnected enough from US society that your opinions are inevitably affected by your lack of ability to grasp the daily struggles here beyond headlines, but that's not something I throw at you constantly because honestly I just don't talk to you frequently enough to address that. Due to that, I simply don't understand where you're coming from when you say I'm always nonsensically attacking people.
Your opinion on gay rights doesn't really matter imo because it's not about being gay or straight, it's about them being citizens of this country and entitled to the same life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as anyone else. Whether you're morally against their lifestyle or not simply should not impact what rights they're granted. I don't disrespect people for being religious and never will; I do, however, condemn those who would allow religion to impact policy. Had the founding fathers wanted to mandate religion as a factor of governance in these United States, they could've just stayed in Britain. Personal, religious, and moral beliefs have no place in federal decisions. A man or woman born as homosexual is no more an abomination than a man or woman born red-headed or Autistic. Biologically, you are what you are. I often wonder if Mindia's stance on abortion would change if we had the technology to determine if the child would end up gay.
hah that's interesting
I agree with you on a number of issues you listed, so I won't bother going down the list. I don't necessarily agree with the why's on how you came to believe in them, but that doesn't matter.
Dealing with immigration is not a racism problem. Wanting to purge millions of people who have families here just because of a prejudicial view of what they are is though, and it's a bit misguided to call those undocumented immigrants in the states a strain on the economy because it tends to be a bit short-sighted; a statement like that ignores how much these people actually contribute to our economy in the primary sector doing jobs that legal citizens simply will not do, and especially not for the wage paid. Bottom line, our immigration system is broken (much like our tax code). It's virtually impossible for hard working middle class people to get into this country with just one of them, much less an entire family. It takes thousands of dollars and an impossibly difficult qualification criteria that eliminates the possibilities for a large chunk of those who wish to immigrate here as productive members of society. This is a topic that I do have quite a lot of personal knowledge on, and if you'd like to discuss it further I'd be happy to.
As for China, the issue with removing the tax break only for companies is that you're still leaving exploitation wide open.
I'm actually surprised at some of the stances you have because some of them are decidedly left of center, and yet you seem to detest all things left. Based on your stances on some of these issues, to me it seems like you're more of a moderate just like most of the country, so how is it that you've been sucked into the mantra of evil free-loading democrats and America loving republicans?
she's right you know, a lot of what you have explained above lands right around both sides of the middle (with a couple of outliers). so why swear fealty to the GOP overlords? call yourself an independent moderate and be done with it
I apologize for saying you attack me because I'm not living in the USA. Many people do, and that is not right. When you introduce me the way you did what do you expect? My point was that because you are left wing I'm not surprised that you dislike me. I lean right overall. It wasn't a political statement.
You can't ask someone with religious beliefs to put their beliefs aside for any purpose. My beliefs govern my life completely. I'm not perfect and certainly make several mistakes. Yes, I sin!
My main two issues with the Democratic party is their defense of entitlement programs and their ideas for boosting the economy. I would like to see individuals empowered to create their own success. Democrats/liberals want to 'take care of everyone,' but that only keeps them down. When someone is comfortable they are far less motivated to do something for themselves. I don't want to see people starving, but I also don't want to see a kid from a welfare family walking around with Jordan shoes. He's a little too comfortable I'd say. That kid is going to learn that he doesn't need to work to live a somewhat comfortable life, and inevitably stay on welfare.
1. defense of entitlement programs. as above, i will agree they need tuning, but outright cuts are simply immoral. those are people's lives you're messing with - throwing away X amount of needy people simply because Y amount of people abuse the privilege (esp since X is invariably > Y) is not acceptable. like i said - fix it, don't defund it. (plus it's pretty cynical to imply that the life of a single-parent family trying to get by on $400 a month is "comfortable")
2. i won't say a whole lot about the dems' method of boosting economy as i'm not a huge fan of it myself. all i'll say is that "tax and spend" will always win out over the "cut and deregulate" approach of the GOP because the latter allows for greater dishonesty and ties up money in the hands of a few rather than keeps it circulating like the former.
I firmly believe that the Republican way will do far more to boost the economy and job growth in the USA than the Democrat way will. The private sector for the most part built America to what it is now. I don't see the majority of these corporations as evil-out-to-get-you types. The left-wing media has done a wonderful job of painting that picture though, and as a result most let-wing Democrats buy into it. The rich white man is evil OMG! We want to see individuals succeed, but most often when they do they are made out to be a villain.
the private sector did build it. it built a good robust economy that accomplished its goals and helped everyone to prosper until about 1980 when it started seeping into governmental processes. its influence was allowed to grow unchecked all through the profitable 90s, shedding regulations and accountabilities, until the last decade when the cancer had become endemic. the economy crashed in 2008 under the weight of its own greedy practices, and our ever-capitulating government simply threw more cash into the embers, tossing in some superficial "regulations" that were almost immediately laughed off. the criminals who crashed the market went back to pulling down record profits, while the rest of us got the shaft. fact: trickle-down economics has failed the middle class for over 30 years now. something different needs to happen - and deregulating is NOT the answer.
It doesn't take a lot of experience in the USA to know that our culture has a great deal more integrity, honesty, and morality than most of the world. My international experience does give the right to say that. I have faith in humanity, and especially faith in American humanity. I would like to see the private sector and individuals empowered to make their own future/success. The Democrats stifle every aspect of that.
the private sector is nearly as empowered as it can possibly be, and individuals are just as disempowered. this is one of the greatest injustices of our time. i don't really know or care whether the dems' approach can actually solve this, which is why i've gone beyond it into #occupy territory.
There are other reasons/issues why I support the Republicans over Democrats, but none are as important as the above.
Mindia, one thing you learn in a university is how to socialize with all kinds of people. You learn to work together with people you disagree with. You learn to cooperate. That is something seriously lacking in your life.
In another thread you asked me to get off my high horse for saying you're a judgemental person. I'm not on a high horse. I'm not going to be friends with murders, rapists, paedophiles, etc... But I'm sure as hell not going to choose not to be some ones friend because they smoke a cig or do the occasional drug. I believe being gay is wrong, but I'm not going choose not to be some ones friend because they are gay. That's ridiculous.
Remember that the sin is what you should hate - not the person.
agreed
