What does "Democrat"/"Republican" mean to you?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 7:29pm

I'm a Canadian, and I know up here we've got our own opinions on Bush and Kerry, but as election day comes closer and this board fills with political threads, I'm curious as to what you folks define as being a "true" Democrat or Republican. Obviously, there's a decidedly anti-Bush stance on this board, yet LadyG, for example, is a staunch Republican and no one has flamed her yet, so perhaps her...principles (for lack of a better word) are not necessarily what you consider "Republican"? (Sorry if I sound incoherent. I know what I mean to say but I can't put it in words.)

So please enlighten me. I'm sincerely curious. What does being a "Democrat" or being a "Republican" mean? And why do you support the side you do?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 7:59pm

Please. Don't trip over yourselves responding. C'mon folks. I'm ignorant, curious, and there's plenty of strong opinions on every other political thread, but no real consensus!

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:48pm

"and no one has flamed her yet"

That's really funny. I will just guess that you do not have access to my PM box!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:52pm

LOL No, LadyG I don't have access to your box.

So what's your opinion, since everyone's becoming so quiet on this subject all of a sudden?

[Mattio98]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:57pm

Well LG doesn't really get flamed much (at least I don't think she does) because she supports her opinions and is not ignorant to the facts. She's also not against gay marriage. Republican is mainly translated as Conservative and Democrat is Liberal. Of course, there are varying degrees in both but that's the main though behind the parties. I like to call the GOP the "God Squad" but that's just me.

[TGIF]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:57pm

Sorry for not responding. It is a personal thing for me. I dont consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. I just listen to the canidates and decide which one has the same priorties as i do. However, that is usually the democrat!

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:26pm

To me, being a Democrat means that I believe that government has an appropriate role in improving the lives of its citizens. For example, I believe that as the richest country in the world, we should not have 1 in 5 children living in poverty -- and it's the government's job, through a more just tax code and greater social benefits, to alleviate that poverty.

Republicans believe that government should interfere in the lives of its citizens only when absolutely necessary, and that the stewardship of the economy is best left to market forces. Again using my example, Republicans believe that poverty can be dealt with through limited government involvement (tight welfare policies) with a strong encouragement for private and religious-based philanthropy, along with as unfettered an economy as possible creating a tide to lift all boats.

It's no different in Canada, or in most of western Europe.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:31pm

Yeah, it's the same definitions in Canada, I was just curious how things like this are portrayed in the US. I think it would surprise people (not nec. you, just in general) how much more information regarding general world issues incl. US foreign policy that's available in Canada. (Sorry, I know I've just mangled that sentence grammatically.)

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:31pm

Republican: Correct
Democrat: Incorrect
Updated On: 9/25/04 at 09:31 PM

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:33pm

Republican: Abolisionist
Democrat: Antiabolisionist

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:34pm

Republican: Antisegregationist
Democrat: Segregationist

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:34pm

I try to vote for the person, not the party. I am strongly influenced by the Bible and Christianity and I cast my vote that way. I feel that over the last several years, the Democrats have become too liberal for my tastes. While I'm not in total agreement with the Republican Party, I am more comfortable with their conservative ways.

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:34pm

Republican: "take care of yourself"
Democrat: "I feel guilty. I should help you"

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:35pm

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!!!!!



MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We Shall Overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Tom Daschle & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "Fair Share."

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared into the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: VOTE REPUBLICAN

[BT]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:36pm

Tiff - you need to read Garrison Keillor's new book Homegrown Democrat. He says it better than I ever could:
"We democrats are deeply flawed people, we can be earnestly boring and awfully righteous about moral issues in faraway places. We can be weenies, capable of doing dumb things in the name of the common good. But we do stick to our guns. We believe in decency and public spiritedness and have refused to hitch our wagon to yahooism and have supported government as a necessary force for good. And we are passionate. This is a year for passion."

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:39pm

Sounds interesting, BT. Is the book new? Holy crap, how did you get Bway Legend status in 1 month?! (BTW, love the signature line. It's my fave episode!)

RodneyK - So as a Republican, what are your views on same sex marriage, poverty and social policy? (Sorry if I'm prying, tell me to fcuk off. Honestly, I'm just more interested in American politics more than Cdn politics. And I'm nosy by nature.)

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:40pm

I'd rather feel guilty and help others than live in a mansion and grow fat and help myself.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:40pm

RodneyK, LOL. Aesop couldn't have said it better.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:41pm

I tried as hard I could to be objective without some idiotic "vote democratic" tagline.

But, you see the other side can't help themselves -- they cannot see the other side to any issue. To them, it's all black-and-white, us vs. them, cut-and-dry.

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:42pm

"I'd rather feel guilty and help others than live in a mansion and grow fat and help myself."

Why does that remind me of Michael Moore (I apologize for the cheap shot).

While I would want to help others if I was rich, upper class people do not have an OBLIGATION to give money to the lower class. It's their money, the government shouldn't force them to fork it over to people dependent on government money.

[BT]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:50pm

The nice thing about Democrats, LG, is that they are interested in your feelings, your emotions AND your actions. More thinking and more feeling would do this country good. I hope you don't live in a swing state.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:53pm

Oh really? It's their money -- gained without any help from the government? No tax breaks? No subsidies? No corporate welfare? And I guess you believe everyone in America has equal opportunity? The logical conclusion here is: It's poor children's fault they came into the world born to a crack-addicted single mother in a dangerous neighborhood and attend a crumbling school that's more of a prison than a place of learning? We -- and I count myself as a rich American -- have no obligation to CHILDREN?! I guess it's correct that the Republican party is pro-life only until the baby is born.

Do you understand the COST to America -- all of America, including the upper classes -- of the level of poverty we have today? I'm not talking about the loss of human potential: I mean the real economic cost of having so many poor children. Here's one little fact: in 2030 when the baby boomers retire, 74 percent of the retirees will be white, but 54 percent of the work force will be people of color. (Government statistic, not mine.) So, I guess it's okay that a black boy born this year has a one in three chance of ending up in prison. He'll be a really productive member of the work force supporting the overwhelming white retired population.

No obligation? We have a moral obligation as well as self-interest to help poor people -- especially children -- to break the pernicious cycle of poverty. We have a patriotic obligation to our country.

How simplistic and how sad your attitude is. Social Darwinism is alive and well in some quarters here -- but that's not the America I want to live in. We're better than that.

Updated On: 9/25/04 at 09:53 PM

[BT]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:06pm

'nuff said.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:10pm

Rodney and Gotham, are you against gay marriage? Abortion?

[GaLiNdaFied]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:12pm

Wait wait wait, there are REPUBLICANS on this board? I never would have thought