Another thing that has been bothering me...

[philbob]

First I want to say that Im pretty much agnostic and boderline atheist to set up some context. But I have found it personally very disturbing that so much of the crititisms of GOP have said that the Republican party needs to abandon the Relgious right. Somthing about hearing that all the time really bothers me. Mainly its becuaes I think that everyone deserves representation, besides you really dont here the calls for the democrats to abandon Moveon.org and other far left orginizations and the super enviromentalist and what not (I also think the biggest problem facing the GOP has not been what it stands for but how it markets itself.) But the call to abandon the evangelicals seems to be more out of a personal vendetta in some of the things i have read and heard.

Opinions?

[dave81]

Because evangelicals have destroyed the country.

PS: To quote Steven Colbert: "An agnostic is just an atheist without balls."

[little icebear]

Opinions?

Yep. Two parties aren´t enough. The US political scene lacks diversity, IMHO.

[LaoSexMachine]

Yep. Two parties aren´t enough. The US political scene lacks diversity, IMHO.


There's others. They just don't have the support and cash like the jackass and dumbo groups.

[philbob]

Because evangelicals have destroyed the country.

PS: To quote Steven Colbert: "An agnostic is just an atheist without balls."

How did they destroy the country?

Do you live in a bombed out building? Do you not have clean water or any electrictiy? Is your home town like Sarajevo was in the early ninties? I highly doubt it.

[Cstafford]

Yep. Two parties aren´t enough. The US political scene lacks diversity, IMHO.
Amen, I think all partys deserve equal funding and publicity.

[philbob]

Amen, I think all partys deserve equal funding and publicity.

so how would we go about that?

[ren0312]

There's others. They just don't have the support and cash like the jackass and dumbo groups.

The fact that the US has only two parties tends to save it from the political instability that affects countries that have a proportional representation system, l mean look at how often prime ministers come and go in Italy and other European countries.

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

How did they destroy the country?

Do you live in a bombed out building? Do you not have clean water or any electrictiy? Is your home town like Sarajevo was in the early ninties? I highly doubt it.He might live in Detroit for all you know............p-) just kidding.:)

[ronnieraygun]

How did they destroy the country?

Do you live in a bombed out building? Do you not have clean water or any electrictiy? Is your home town like Sarajevo was in the early ninties? I highly doubt it.

They didn't destroy anything but are part of a larger culture war which destroys meaningful discussion. Things become polarized when one side can only speak in a language of absolutes. I was raised Episcopal and can't understand why being a Christian and an American has to be whatever the "religious right" says it is. It's not that this destroyed the country, but that this is a take-no-prisoners philosophy. They're not taking any prisoners in the Republican party, either. As a consequence, there is a big battle right now to squeeze out any in the GOP who don't agree with a somewhat narrow political philosophy.


Amen, I think all partys deserve equal funding and publicity.

I don't. Jesse Ventura became governor of a US state because of campaign finance reform. I liked his wrestling career and personally liked the fact that he won, but I'm not sure if the green party or natural law parties got a certain percentage of the vote that they should be funded as if they represented a larger constituency than they actually do.


The fact that the US has only two parties tends to save it from the political instability that affects countries that have a proportional representation system, l mean look at how often prime ministers come and go in Italy and other European countries.

-So they have to be big tents. They can't differ much from one another. You are left with Coke vs. Pepsi, but it beats the other system where the government dissolves every 4-5 years and reestablishes itself and the PM ****s his **** star mistress and everyone's happy.

[ren0312]

They didn't destroy anything but are part of a larger culture war which destroys meaningful discussion. Things become polarized when one side can only speak in a language of absolutes. I was raised Episcopal and can't understand why being a Christian and an American has to be whatever the "religious right" says it is. It's not that this destroyed the country, but that this is a take-no-prisoners philosophy. They're not taking any prisoners in the Republican party, either. As a consequence, there is a big battle right now to squeeze out any in the GOP who don't agree with a somewhat narrow political philosophy.



I don't. Jesse Ventura became governor of a US state because of campaign finance reform. I liked his wrestling career and personally liked the fact that he won, but I'm not sure if the green party or natural law parties got a certain percentage of the vote that they should be funded as if they represented a larger constituency than they actually do.



-So they have to be big tents. They can't differ much from one another. You are left with Coke vs. Pepsi, but it beats the other system where the government dissolves every 4-5 years and reestablishes itself and the PM ****s his **** star mistress and everyone's happy.

If you look at Italy governments used to fall on an annual basis, sometimes they even last for only a few months, not every 4-5 years.

[philbob]

They didn't destroy anything but are part of a larger culture war which destroys meaningful discussion. Things become polarized when one side can only speak in a language of absolutes. I was raised Episcopal and can't understand why being a Christian and an American has to be whatever the "religious right" says it is. It's not that this destroyed the country, but that this is a take-no-prisoners philosophy. They're not taking any prisoners in the Republican party, either. As a consequence, there is a big battle right now to squeeze out any in the GOP who don't agree with a somewhat narrow political philosophy.



I don't. Jesse Ventura became governor of a US state because of campaign finance reform. I liked his wrestling career and personally liked the fact that he won, but I'm not sure if the green party or natural law parties got a certain percentage of the vote that they should be funded as if they represented a larger constituency than they actually do.



-So they have to be big tents. They can't differ much from one another. You are left with Coke vs. Pepsi, but it beats the other system where the government dissolves every 4-5 years and reestablishes itself and the PM ****s his **** star mistress and everyone's happy.

You make a much better reason on what they did wrong, its a pet peeve to here how they 'ruined' the country. Especially after going to Iraq and then seeing Thailand and Band Ache after the 2004 Tsunami.

Would that be so bad to have a goverment like that though? the currant one we have doesnt do anything anyway even with a supermajority now?

I prefer Coke, it has a stronger bite so it must be republican :D

[IronFinn]

If you look at Italy governments used to fall on an annual basis, sometimes they even last for only a few months, not every 4-5 years.

I wouldn´t look at Italy as for the first representative of multi-party system. They have too much corruption, political figures are involved in business (like Berlusconi having his media empire and banks etc). In Finland the multi-party works just fine and people are happy having more than two choises.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Finland

[gaijinsamurai]

x2 what Ronnieraygun wrote.

It is my opinion that the extreme fringe of both the right and the left hurt their respective parties. I like moderation, and I think the majority of American voters tend to get turned off by hard core idiologues.

Although I'm a registered Democrat, i can easily vote for Republican candidates if I feel they have the ethical highground, better judgement and experience, and are in agreement with me on issues I feel strongly about. If that GOP candidate happens to be religious, it doesn't matter to me, as long as he/she doesn't force their views on the rest of us.

[philbob]

x2 what Ronnieraygun wrote.

It is my opinion that the extreme fringe of both the right and the left hurt their respective parties. I like moderation, and I think the majority of American voters tend to get turned off by hard core idiologues.

Although I'm a registered Democrat, i can easily vote for Republican candidates if I feel they have the ethical highground, better judgement and experience, and are in agreement with me on issues I feel strongly about. If that GOP candidate happens to be religious, it doesn't matter to me, as long as he/she doesn't force their views on the rest of us.

I wont vote democrat becuase in my opinion it seemed like they were too eager to give up on Iraq back in 2006 and 2007 and said some pretty outragous stuff. That being said I feel the same way as you for the most part. But it just seems like there is this rush to completly leave behind religion and I dont think that is a path we want to go down

nice avatar btw looks like one of the outstanding resident of eastern Washington or Oregon

[gaijinsamurai]

That's Shane McGowan of The Pogues. Their "Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash" is one of the greatest albums of all time. Especially if you like Irish music.

Regarding the war in Iraq, my personal policy is that I wouldn't have voted for any candidate who voted for the war. I would have, at the time, considered making an exception for John Edwards, because he had the balls to say he was wrong, and didn't try to make excuses the way Hillary did.
Of course, now we know that Edwards had other issues, so it doesn't bother me that he lost in the primaries.