I'm a card-carrying Libertarian but I can NOT support Rand Paul. It bothers me that he and his Tea Party simpletons elevate the rights of fictitious entities aka corporations above mine as an individual. Corporate person-hood in the US as I understand it has a very nasty origin dating back to the era in which some Americans were considered even less than 3/5 persons.
There are countless examples of US-chartered big boxes, mercenaries, and big oil/pharma crapping all over the environment, small businesses, and natural persons with impunity, all over the globe. At least the Dems in politics aren't coy about being in bed with the nation's corporate oligarchs and their agents along K St.
I've provided a link to a somewhat dated article which highlights how the BP oil spill humbled both the Tea Party and the White House.
I wonder if there have been studies of self-described true libertarians and their degree of religiosity - or at least data on whether they were raised in religious households.
Their pie-in-the-sky belief in a system that is unsustainable and that defies logic at nearly every corner is so ridiculous. They can't point to a single example of a successful true libertarian society on earth, but that doesn't stop them from believing in it. Much like Bible thumpers and their literal reading of that silly book.
I personally believe that the lines between these definitions have become very fuzzy. But it bothers me personally because I do not believe homosexuality is immoral and I do believe it should be legal everywhere. Yet on many issues aside from those of gay rights, I find myself siding more with Republicans.
So some on this board have assumed I'm a Libertarian but I do feel we should have a proactive foreign policy.
So I find myself at odds with people like Cruz and Paul because I have little patience with people who base their views on their religious beliefs. And the problem I have is twofold. The view is closed minded and, because it is a moral view, there is no room to negotiate compromise. I wish that Republican candidates would focus on economic and foreign policy issues but they don't.
It is the same problem that I have with people who are pro-choice. I am also pro-choice. However, I feel that 5 months is plenty of time to make a decision whether or not to keep the baby. In my mind, at 7 months you are not deciding to have an abortion, you are deciding whether or not to kill a kid. I also have no patience with women who say it is my body and I can do what ever I want right up until the baby is born. I can't talk to people with that mindset.
I sense that there is a huge group who feel much the way I do. I also believe that when the Tea Party started it was fundamentally a movement concerned with government spending. To a great extent the religious right has hijacked that movement.
No zealot from the religious right has a chance of beating Hillary. And likely no moderate Republican will be strongly supported by the right wing of the party. The two sides will probably destroy each other in the primaries.
My loose translation of it is that everyone has the right to go to hell (or heaven) in his (or her) own way, metaphorically speaking. Arguably, it's somewhat idealistic but I agree with each prank in principle.
To me, dented nailed it with "I also believe that when the Tea Party started it was fundamentally a movement concerned with government spending. To a great extent the religious right has hijacked that movement."
ETA: I agree that no religious zealot from the far right has a fighting chance against the Clintons; that is at the top of the ticket. But, pair Rand Paul with someone of Mike Huckabee's evangelical pedigree and things become interesting. That's why Rand has found religion, so to speak.
I also believe that when the Tea Party started it was fundamentally a movement concerned with government spending. To a great extent the religious right has hijacked that movement.
Just like how they hijacked the Republican party in the 80s. Since then, it's been a massive movement to have religion control politics ignoring the concept of separation of religion and state while using the First Amendment as an excuse when it doesn't work out for them. They can't have it both ways.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I think there's way too much focus on the religious right in this thread. Their days are numbered. The degree of religiosity in younger voters (both on the left and the right) is plummeting and will continue in that direction. The religious right still have power in many parts of the country, but even they know which way things are trending as more of their ranks meet their maker. They're loons and they will die off and become a joke.
What I think is far more odious and potentially damaging to our country in the long run are the economic and non-religion-oriented social policies of the Right (Tea Party and "traditional" Repub) and their, still, uncanny ability to get people to vote for politicians who support these policies which do not benefit them.
No. So if a viable baby resides inside a woman's body at the end of a pregnancy only she should have the right to decide whether it lives or dies?
I do not agree with that idea and I choose not to argue over that point because, to me, it is so obviously wrong.
However, I can live with women making the final choice because, as you infer, I am not a woman. It is the woman who must live with that decision. I happen to feel it is wrong.
My real point is that governing our country with our focus on moral issues plays a major role in creating divisiveness. Very little is accomplished when you use the Bible to make decisions.
The Libertarian religion is just as odious. Just go take a look at the political and culture mess that is the state of Florida for a glimpse of a barely-regulated libertarian dream.
"So if a viable baby resides inside a woman's body at the end of a pregnancy only she should have the right to decide whether it lives or dies?"
Um, yes. I can do whatever the hell I want with a collection of foreign cells in MY own body. I always laugh at the old white men protesting in front of abortion clinics, just like the men deciding if abortion should be criminalized in their states. Thinking they have any right to decide what women do with their bodies is astounding.
"Very little is accomplished when you use the Bible to make decisions."