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Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs | Student News Daily
Dear Beretta: Still in the middle of an argument with a friend, over why I work with the Democrat Party, trying to bring in sustainable reforms from the Greens and based on the Constitution, but am leaning toward voting for Romney (or voting for the Greens, since I'm in Texas where the outcome is pretty much locked in anyway).
I told him in the end, it is my duty to uphold the Constitution first and foremost above party politics or platforms, and above any of my own personal views and preferences. And any candidates or officials in govt should be held to that same standard, putting the Constitution first and using that as the basis for judging laws and policies through the govt systems.
So none of his arguments about why he feels voting for the Democrat Party could hold any water, because none of that was based on the Constitution. It was all based on fear that the GOP would take away or oppose things, that I argued were protected by the Constitution NOT by voting for Democrats to "protect these for you against threats blaming the GOP.
If we made decisions based on the Constitution, and equal protection/inclusion/representation of diverse views, where differences had to be resolved by consensus and accommodate all the issues and interests in solutions by agreement so NOBODY was oppressed or discriminated against by political or religious position or group,
then we wouldn't HAVE these issues of trying to vote for the bigger bully to stop the other from bullying, etc.
And I told my friend, that as a Democrat who has WORKED with constituents among the Democrat, Green, Republican and independent, I've had more success with Republicans resolving differences based on the CONSTITUTION rather than Democrats who depend on voting people in they feel "represent" those values they want to enforce. The Democrats teach dependency on party and govt instead of enforcing the Constitution directly.
I align also more with the Greens promoting solutions that work independent of the current system, such as local currency, consensus-based decision making, and proportional representation. I normally lean toward voting Green, but have voted for Bush and McCain where I would have preferred a Democrat VP to balance the ticket and represent the whole country (but didn't have that choice).
I would consider voting Green, except for my total disdain for the health care bill as unconstitutional. This distracts from the fact that the budget and authority for health care reform belongs on the STATE level, because it is tied in with the need for massive state prison reforms, cleaning up the criminal justice system including crimes and trafficking tied to illegal immigrations, and saving resources for law-abiding citizens instead of penalizing citizens for the costs of crimes for which the wrongdoers are NOT being held accountable for paying back. So I see a real need to enforce the Constitution, and organize responsibility on the STATE and local levels to get rid of overreliance on govt bureaucracy, and pay back taxpayers by investing in sustainable solutions that can accommodate diversity on local levels, instead of trying to mandate these through federal govt.
I really would have to see that Obama acknowledges the health care bill is AT LEAST as unconstitutional as the AZ immigration bill he publicly opposed, if not more so, since the AZ bill was more easily corrected because the conflicts with Constitutional law were in specific clauses that could be remedied; while with the health care bill, the whole opt out clause would have to be made optional so the federal govt isn't regulating religious exemptions.
Otherwise, I cannot justify keeping someone in office who does not respect and uphold the Constitution as the office of President requires. Sorry, I just have a problem with that. I even see that President Bush and the GOP are more open to admitting overreaching, and adjusting to accommodate opposing views Constitutionally, while this seems foreign to the Democrat Party. I have almost given up trying to establish Constitutional principles among Democrat constituents and leadership who keep putting party politics first for elections. Maybe this is just because I am in Texas, where the Dems face an uphill battle constantly that they do this. That's where I disagree and believe in putting the Constitution first, especially if you want to work out policy issues with GOP: use the Constitution to make your arguments and build reforms on a solid foundation, not bullying based on partisanship!
