Apolyton Roll Call

[Anodyne]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
...but now I have the opinion, that all parties without exception consist of 99.9% liars and power greedy jerks. This opinion is not limited to my home country.

I could say the same thing.

But hell, this is Apolyton, so I might just get on with the game

[lunger75]

Libertarian Democratic Socialist

[Nubclear]

I'm noticing a tendency of the poly rightwing to put independant instead of republican.....

[Inverse Icarus]

Re: Apolyton Roll Call

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
Yep, its another one of those "Which political party are you in?" except this time I think we should list names. Here we go:

If you have predominately conservative ideals, vote republican. Liberal? Democratic. Very very liberal? Communist. So liberal it becomes conservative? Peoples Banana Party.

I've stated my ( odd ) position many times. I'm a Conservative Communist (Right Wing Commie).

I'm liberal on economic issues, conservative on social ones.

that technically makes me a "Populist" in American party terminology, but thats a stupid name

i'll abstain.

[Kontiki]

On a global political spectrum, I'm pretty centrist, but I don't know what I'd vote if I were an American, given the decidedly right-wing skew of both major US parties. I'd probably vote Democrat, but it would depend on the candidate.

[nationalist]

I am far right on social issues, moderately left on economic issues.

I am a registered independant. I voted for Buchanan last election, and won't vote in this election unless someone else with his sort of views runs for President (even though I know that they will lose) I would like to start a new American Nationalist Party sometime in the future.

[nationalist]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
I'm noticing a tendency of the poly rightwing to put independant instead of republican.....

In the U.S., both parties are "Liberal" not in the left or right sense, but in the political lexicon. The Democratic is a slightly left leaning liberal party, republicans are a slightly right leaning liberal party. They are "Liberal" in their economic beliefs and their fundamental beliefs in the way that democracy should work. The Green party is our furthest left party.

Being a Republican doesn't mean that you have right wing social beliefs, and having right wing social beliefs doesn't make you Republican. Many Republicans don't give a damn about social policies, they only care about free trade.

[Spiffor]

Isn't the Republican party opposed to abortion, and in favour of more spirituality, incl. at school ? To me, it ranges immediately within the veeeery right / far right social beliefs.

[nationalist]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Isn't the Republican party opposed to abortion, and in favour of more spirituality, incl. at school ? To me, it ranges immediately within the veeeery right / far right social beliefs.

It depends. Some Republicans are, some are very much opposed. What Europeans don't understand is that the structure of our particular democracy, most significantly its voting representation allocation (First past the post rather than proportional representation) American parties have very broad and shallow political platforms. Since there are two parties supposedly representing all voters, those parties cannot be very ideological. As a result both parties are very diverse.

There are some socially liberal Republicans and some socially very conservative Republicans, and the parties often have internal disputes. There are VERY few votes in Congress that follow party lines. Democrats often vote with Republicans, Republicans often vote with Democrats. There is very little party discipline in American political parties, becasue people are voted for personally by district in American elections, as opposed to nominated by party lists as in the case of Parliamentary Democracy. The only thing that a Texas Republican and a Massasschussettes Republican have in common is the name "Republican". This isn't very satisfying for ideological American voters, because neither party really stands for anything. The common theme with Republicans is that they are pro Laissez-faire economics.

[orange]

Put me down for Democratic Socialists, or if you don't want to start up a whole new category, Greens.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
I'm noticing a tendency of the poly rightwing to put independant instead of republican.....

Personally, I have always described my political POV as a republican with liberal and libertarian leanings...
That's a discription of my views, but not a discripition of my party affiliation. I vote for whomever best supports the positions I have

[Imran Siddiqui]

Republican with libertarian leanings. Or Libertarian with republican leanings .

[August Borms]

Is Pat Buchanan religous? If he isn't, I support him.

[Brizey]

nationalist: good explanation. I have had the same discussion with others who do not understand the American parties.

I vote Republican in general. I tend to lean more towards Libertarian, but do not vote for them (dang two party crap).

I voted for Bush. For what it is worth, I do not think things would be much different if Gore would have won, except we would have a less experienced administration in terms of war in the middle east. And the war would have happened a few months from now. Why? The democrats need to try to win back at least one part of congress. 65-70% of Americans support the war.

[Spiffor]

Thx for the info Nationalist.
I knew the 2 broad parties didn't have strong ideologies, and have a bad party discipline. However, I thought anti-abortionism and spirituality were unifying factors of the Republican party too. Thx for correcting me