The Geek Forum
Main Forums => Political Opinions => Topic started by: Agent_Tachyon on February 01, 2007, 01:47:57 PM
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Up here in the frosty land of Canadia, I've had problems for the last little while in trying to sort out the differences between Republicans and Democrats. My neighbors in the nearby igloos seem to think that a two party system that exists for that long will eventually homogenize, and Democrats and Rebublicans are more alike than they like to admit. However, since my time in glorious US and A is measured with a watch and not a calendar, I am in no way qualified to form an opinion.
http://wise.fau.edu/~rpwatson/Just_Vote/just_vote_005.htm
I realize it's full of 'vote or die' style prop, but are the facts correct?
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Some of the facts are more-or-less correct, others are only correct for the most extreme members.
The Republicans are fairly close to the Conservative Party. The Democrats tend to be more like the New Democratic Party. The two parties tend to balance things out resulting in a government that is closer to the Liberal Party than either extreme, though on the whole, the US government tends to be more conservative than the Canadian.
We don’t really have an equivalent to Bloc Québécois (fortunately).
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Some of the facts are more-or-less correct, others are only correct for the most extreme members.
The Republicans are fairly close to the Conservative Party. The Democrats tend to be more like the New Democratic Party. The two parties tend to balance things out resulting in a government that is closer to the Liberal Party than either extreme, though on the whole, the US government tends to be more conservative than the Canadian.
We don’t really have an equivalent to Bloc Québécois (fortunately).
Lawlz yes, I love to piss of the Québécois by using seperatist lingo as phonetic confirmation words ( "E", comme Elijah Harper, "B", comme Bloc Québécois...)
The thing that confuses me is that I've heard Democrats who sound like my version of conservatives, and also some people on this board and others who say they're Republicans but say things that sound a lot like the Democrats.
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There are blocks within both parties that disagree with certain parts of their own party’s platform.
I don’t think there is anyone on here that represents the US political norm. There is a disproportionate number of Libertarians around here, and that can get really confusing to anyone not familiar with that tiny, fringe group.
Personally, I tend to be very centrist politically. Just slightly Republican leaning...
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Keep in mind, also, politicians (regardless of flavor) will say almost whatever they assume the people in front of them want to hear; whether it's party line or not.
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Keep in mind, also, politicians (regardless of flavor) will say almost whatever they assume the people in front of them want to hear; whether it's party line or not.
That's a good point. The last few times I've turned on the TV I've heard Republicans trying to dispell the notion that they're rednecked and intolerant, and Democrats saying that they're not all hippie tree-hugging pinkos.
I don't understand why people join parties if the individuals inside them are so different. What sounds like an alright idea to me would be if there were a lot of smaller parties so that people could find one that's really right for them. Joining any party at all seems to be applying a label to oneself and therefore limiting.
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I don't understand why people join parties if the individuals inside them are so different.
Because, sadly, there are actually only two allowed to participate. To be a viable candidate, you have to be one of the two; Republicrat or Demoblican.
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That doesn't sound smart to me for some reason.
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It's not. Not smart at all; but then, we're talking about politicians' way of doing things.
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Is anybody trying to get that fixed?
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$$$
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Yeah...damn it sucks that it's impossible to get somebody who isn't a crook elected. I know it's weird to find an honest billionaire, but it looks like that's just about the only thing that COULD get something cool done nowadays.
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He'd be paralyzed in the current system. So, it really doesn't matter if you DID get elected; you'd just get shot down by everyone else.
Yay freedom!
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He'd be paralyzed in the current system. So, it really doesn't matter if you DID get elected; you'd just get shot down by everyone else.
Yay freedom!
That seems counter to the sort of thing I hear Americans talk about when they are asked what they like so much about their country.
And how the hell did you hide that "Yay freedom!"? I thought it was just written in black as I often hide comments, but I couldn't highlight it.
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Heh. It sounds great to get a cool dude elected, or that any old Joe can actually get in there and run; but the reality is- there's two parties participating, and they have a firm grip on the rulebook, the process, and the money involved and are extremely jealous of it.
Currently, one party can't get much done without the other opposing simply on principle. There's no way one - much less both- parties are going to let a 'renegade' succeed.
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Oh and the Yay freedom... I edited that in. You must have seen the post (without it) right before I submitted the change.
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Oh and the Yay freedom... I edited that in. You must have seen the post (without it) right before I submitted the change.
That's disapointing...I was wondering exactly what the sort of m@d hax0r skillz I was looking at!
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Well . . . that's the excuse we used to use over at HN. "It was just a simple edit" :w: