Why I'm NOT a Democrat

[johnrocks]

Why I'm NOT a Democrat and barely a Republican(I'm a RINO and proud to be one.....for now)

I am more libertarian and here's why in a nut shell, I don't like being told what to do, I don't like being told how to live my life; be it from a bureaucrat,policeman,preacher,politician or anyone else, I had a Mommy and Daddy that told me basically how to breath,eat,live,what to wear and most everything else for the first several years of my life, I don't need a father figure during my middle aged life until I die.

I don't drink,smoke or do drugs BUT if I want to sit in my Den; in my Fruit of the Looms; and drink,smoke Marlboro Lights, fire up a joint, do a line of coke or eat three foot long chili cheese Coneys then what the fuck business is it of anyone else, if I go out stoned,drunk or otherwise shit faced into the public, if I harm someone or their property while out, then punish me accordingly but don't treat me like a 10 year old before I have done anything wrong!

You may say that society has a right to tell me what to eat,smoke or whatever because government pays for health care, ER's have to accept all, well, who in the hell's fault is that, who created the nanny state to begin with and made such ignorant laws! Don't make laws that restrict my freedoms then complain about me moving!

 

[jillian]

come to the light...

 

[johnrocks]

come to the light...

Never!...

 

[jillian]

come to the light...

Never!...

pretty please with sugar on top

 

[johnrocks]

come to the light...

Never!...

pretty please with sugar on top

Subsidized sugar

 

[jillian]

i didn't mean to derail your thread and i hope i didn't. but the reality is that for now, there are only two parties that can win elections. that might have changed with campaign finance reform which should have, if done properly, leveled the playing field for third party candidates.

The citizens's united decision effectively destroyed that possibility. Corporations are now 'people' for the purposes of the first amendment. (That sound you heard was the people who dumped a lot of tea into boston harbor because they protested a monopoly by the British East India Co.).

In terms of what is left, we are left with a choice between people who claim to want 'small government' yet think it incumbant upon them to tell people how to live, who to marry, what life/death choices to make (a la terry schiavo) and what we're supposed to believe about g-d. Dems may be a little paternalistic and may see government as being able to do more than perhaps it can, and may be a little paternalistic in terms of protecting people from meanies who commit hate crimes, but overall, they don't hate education. they don't hate intellectualism and don't resent anyone who isn't exactly like them. They don't hate the environment and don't 'apologize' to oil companies for having to clean up their own mess.

that's how i see it anyway.

so come to the light... richard nixon (who would arguably have been considered one of our greatest presidents but for his having a problem with paranoia and a problem obeying laws) wouldn't even get past the republican primary today.

what party do you think barry goldwater would be affiliated with today?

 

[WillowTree]

Cookies. Bake some cookies. Then we'll talk.

 

[johnrocks]

i didn't mean to derail your thread and i hope i didn't. but the reality is that for now, there are only two parties that can win elections. that might have changed with campaign finance reform which should have, if done properly, leveled the playing field for third party candidates.

The citizens's united decision effectively destroyed that possibility. Corporations are now 'people' for the purposes of the first amendment. (That sound you heard was the people who dumped a lot of tea into boston harbor because they protested a monopoly by the British East India Co.).

In terms of what is left, we are left with a choice between people who claim to want 'small government' yet think it incumbant upon them to tell people how to live, who to marry, what life/death choices to make (a la terry schiavo) and what we're supposed to believe about g-d. Dems may be a little paternalistic and may see government as being able to do more than perhaps it can, and may be a little paternalistic in terms of protecting people from meanies who commit hate crimes, but overall, they don't hate education. they don't hate intellectualism and don't resent anyone who isn't exactly like them. They don't hate the environment and don't 'apologize' to oil companies for having to clean up their own mess.

that's how i see it anyway.

so come to the light... richard nixon (who would arguably have been considered one of our greatest presidents but for his having a problem with paranoia and a problem obeying laws) wouldn't even get past the republican primary today.

what party do you think barry goldwater would be affiliated with today?

Well, I voted for Barry Goldwater Jr. as VP in Nov. 08 with Ron Paul as President on the Louisiana Taxpayer Party ticket so I "think" he'd still be a Republican , just a disgruntled one like Ron Paul, his Son Barry Jr. ,me and many others since the neo/social cons slithered over from the Democratic Party and took control.

I realize that there are only two major parties and that's why I'm still in the GOP but;as I stated; I'm a RINO; so I am frustrated;perhaps will be until my dying days politically speaking; but I refuse to support nannyism in any form, regardless of the letter behind it

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Democrats have great death benefits because even after you die you still vote for them

 

[Dick Tuck]

Why I'm NOT a Democrat and barely a Republican(I'm a RINO and proud to be one.....for now)

I am more libertarian and here's why in a nut shell, I don't like being told what to do, I don't like being told how to live my life; be it from a bureaucrat,policeman,preacher,politician or anyone else, I had a Mommy and Daddy that told me basically how to breath,eat,live,what to wear and most everything else for the first several years of my life, I don't need a father figure during my middle aged life until I die.

I don't drink,smoke or do drugs BUT if I want to sit in my Den; in my Fruit of the Looms; and drink,smoke Marlboro Lights, fire up a joint, do a line of coke or eat three foot long chili cheese Coneys then what the fuck business is it of anyone else, if I go out stoned,drunk or otherwise shit faced into the public, if I harm someone or their property while out, then punish me accordingly but don't treat me like a 10 year old before I have done anything wrong!

You may say that society has a right to tell me what to eat,smoke or whatever because government pays for health care, ER's have to accept all, well, who in the hell's fault is that, who created the nanny state to begin with and made such ignorant laws! Don't make laws that restrict my freedoms then complain about me moving!

Society doesn't tell adults whether they can drink or smoke or eat 3 foot long hot dogs. Society provides the information so informed choices can be made. Society makes sure that the 3 foot long hot dog isn't made out of dog shit, and actually contains the contents that the label claims it does. I fully agree with you about drugs.

But let me ask you. Do you want society to make sure that your food is safe and properly labeled, that your pharmacueticals are effective, or that the air you breath isn't filled with contaminates? You talk about personal responsibility and choices, fine. I've got no problem with people making stupid choices, as long as they are given all necessary information regarding that choice. Now, corporations have this thing called limited liability, so there is a limit to how much they can be held accountable for reckless acts. Do you not want a body who represents the public interest to try to garauntee they follow best practice guidelines, and minimize the risk to the public? In a sense the same holds true for the individual. Suppose a reckless action of another cost me $1 million in actual damages, but the individual only has $1,000. I'm pretty much screwed. Like the old saying goes, "you can't get blood from a stone."

That's the part of Libertarianism that really gets me. It's a naivete that somehow the market is always a rational thing that will bring about the best possible outcome for all. That's been shown to be bullshit over and over and over. People like Ron Paul can easily hoodwink individuals by focusing on the nanny state at a personal level. It's at the macro economic level that they start hemming and hawing, and reverting to their Ayn Rand Little Red Book for some stock dogmatic answer that makes no sense in anything but some feel good theoretical level.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I'm not a Democrat because if I was, my ancestors would come up out of the grave and get me. We've never had criminal or carnival ride operators in our family history.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

America is a really big country and I think Progressives need their own state where they can tell each other what to do 24/7.

 

[California Girl]

come to the light...

And get hit by a train. No thanks.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Democrats and their media panicked and called the Vietnam War for their Soviet masters in the North right after we inflicted one of the greatest military defeats on our enemy in the annuals of warfare crushing their Tet Offensive.

Then wanting to repeat our "defeat" in Vietnam, Democrats tried to stop funding our soliders ON THE BATTLEFIELD in Iraq and Afghanistan and were openly hostile to our CinC and outright rooting for the Islamic Insurgency and Mooky Al Sadr to take control of Iraq, Joe Biden wanted to give Al Sadr his own state in Iraq.

Finally, Joe McCarthy warned us that Democrats were a direct to Moscow.

Yeah, there's a Party I want to join.

 

[Greenbeard]

I don't drink,smoke or do drugs BUT if I want to sit in my Den; in my Fruit of the Looms; and drink,smoke Marlboro Lights, fire up a joint, do a line of coke or eat three foot long chili cheese Coneys then what the fuck business is it of anyone else, if I go out stoned,drunk or otherwise shit faced into the public, if I harm someone or their property while out, then punish me accordingly but don't treat me like a 10 year old before I have done anything wrong!

I have no idea what this paragraph has to do with the title of this thread. You're not a Democrat because you'd theoretically like to have those vices. I am a Democrat and I do have some vices. I couldn't care less if you fire up a joint in the privacy of your own home. And certainly I don't care if you get shitfaced once in a while.

Being a Democrat is more about agreeing it's alright to stick an extra sales tax on your smokes to pay for health insurance for children. Or believing that a there's a right amount of regulation to assure that you're not getting ripped off (say, with something impure or something laced with something else--you don't want any of that but the underground economy doesn't always self-regulate). The notion that Democrats care very much how you live your life is either funny or narcissistic, I'm not sure which. I'm pretty sure most of them don't. But don't mix up those who tell you that you can't drink or smoke a little weed because it's bad for you--usually, "moralizing assholes" (and yes, some Democrats fall in this category, as do some Republicans)--with those who have a genuine liberal/progressive/whatever political philosophy.

Lots of room for the pro-legalization, pro-choice folks in the big tent party (and, since the tent is big, you'll find lots of the other folks under it, too). I will say, though, it is kind of usual for someone who doesn't actually do any drugs, legal or otherwise, to have drugs as his primary issue when choosing parties. But to each his own.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonYFxHHvaM]Marley[/ame]

 

[hipeter924]

Why I'm NOT a Democrat and barely a Republican(I'm a RINO and proud to be one.....for now)

I am more libertarian and here's why in a nut shell, I don't like being told what to do, I don't like being told how to live my life; be it from a bureaucrat,policeman,preacher,politician or anyone else, I had a Mommy and Daddy that told me basically how to breath,eat,live,what to wear and most everything else for the first several years of my life, I don't need a father figure during my middle aged life until I die.

I don't drink,smoke or do drugs BUT if I want to sit in my Den; in my Fruit of the Looms; and drink,smoke Marlboro Lights, fire up a joint, do a line of coke or eat three foot long chili cheese Coneys then what the fuck business is it of anyone else, if I go out stoned,drunk or otherwise shit faced into the public, if I harm someone or their property while out, then punish me accordingly but don't treat me like a 10 year old before I have done anything wrong!

You may say that society has a right to tell me what to eat,smoke or whatever because government pays for health care, ER's have to accept all, well, who in the hell's fault is that, who created the nanny state to begin with and made such ignorant laws! Don't make laws that restrict my freedoms then complain about me moving!

Let me see:

1. I have never had sex outside marriage nor do I believe in abortion outside of the threat to the life of the mother, severe medical conditions, rape, and economic circumstances i.e. poverty.

2. I don't smoke, drink (that much), or take drugs. BUT its your life if you want to do it, and if you do serious drugs or take 500 smokes a day all I can do is state disapproval that you are wasting your money or your health not run your life for you (or ban them and try to make them so expensive so it hurts people's wallets).

3. I believe that businesses should not be taxed and all taxes if implemented should be voluntary i.e. you only pay for what services you actually use (not for someone else).

4. I believe that government should be voluntary and done for free (no salary save for transport costs), hold limited powers (only market regulation, human rights protection,etc) and be low cost (transportation and building maintenance costs basically). Meaning everyone is the government (and have a real job on the side), no elite bureaucratic class.

5. I don't believe in democracy because of its tendency to become a tyranny of the majority (and thus be collective and anti-individuals) or undermine decision making and good sense. I would prefer a system where everyone can have their say, and everyone goes away reasonably happy.

How about people present laws and people can sign onto it if they want, or refuse it if they don't want to? Meaning if some people create Obama care and a giant trillion dollar bailout they can pay for it and live with the consequences, and you don't have to because you never signed onto it and thus its not your problem nor your worry.

 

[johnrocks]

Yeah, tax to the point of being cost prohibitive and yeah, Democrats;liberals; aren't all about freedom; it's bullshit when there are local movements underway to outlaw or limit trans fats, fast food restaurants and other things that are "bad for society".

 

[johnrocks]

I don't drink,smoke or do drugs BUT if I want to sit in my Den; in my Fruit of the Looms; and drink,smoke Marlboro Lights, fire up a joint, do a line of coke or eat three foot long chili cheese Coneys then what the fuck business is it of anyone else, if I go out stoned,drunk or otherwise shit faced into the public, if I harm someone or their property while out, then punish me accordingly but don't treat me like a 10 year old before I have done anything wrong!

I have no idea what this paragraph has to do with the title of this thread. You're not a Democrat because you'd theoretically like to have those vices. I am a Democrat and I do have some vices. I couldn't care less if you fire up a joint in the privacy of your own home. And certainly I don't care if you get shitfaced once in a while.

Being a Democrat is more about agreeing it's alright to stick an extra sales tax on your smokes to pay for health insurance for children. Or believing that a there's a right amount of regulation to assure that you're not getting ripped off (say, with something impure or something laced with something else--you don't want any of that but the underground economy doesn't always self-regulate). The notion that Democrats care very much how you live your life is either funny or narcissistic, I'm not sure which. I'm pretty sure most of them don't. But don't mix up those who tell you that you can't drink or smoke a little weed because it's bad for you--usually, "moralizing assholes" (and yes, some Democrats fall in this category, as do some Republicans)--with those who have a genuine liberal/progressive/whatever political philosophy.

Lots of room for the pro-legalization, pro-choice folks in the big tent party (and, since the tent is big, you'll find lots of the other folks under it, too). I will say, though, it is kind of usual for someone who doesn't actually do any drugs, legal or otherwise, to have drugs as his primary issue when choosing parties. But to each his own.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonYFxHHvaM]Marley[/ame]

It's the reason why I'm NOT a Democrat, more because of my individualistic attitude or "live and let live" philosophy whereas both parties seem to want more of a "good of society " philosophy, it's not part of me to want to be part of a group yet at the core of the Democratic Party, that seems to be the mindset and the GOP really isn't that different and why I regard myself as a RINO.

 

[007]

Democrats = socialism/collectivism

Republicans = capitalism/individualism

I know which one I am, and why. I've made more money on my own than the government could pay me in a life time.

 

[Greenbeard]

It's the reason why I'm NOT a Democrat, more because of my individualistic attitude or "live and let live" philosophy whereas both parties seem to want more of a "good of society " philosophy, it's not part of me to want to be part of a group yet at the core of the Democratic Party, that seems to be the mindset and the GOP really isn't that different and why I regard myself as a RINO.

Well, that's different than just an "I'd like to roll a joint in my living room" philosophy. If you don't believe society ought to make health care resources available to children, then you're absolutely right not to be a Democrat. The philosophical gulf there is likely just too great.