The Geek Forum
Main Forums => Political Opinions => Topic started by: MoonLover on October 14, 2008, 06:28:48 PM
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From what I've gathered from hit television soap opera Brothers and Sisters (staring Ally Mcbeal.) Telling your Democratic family that your Republican is like telling your family you prefer your shopping delivered around the backdoor... (Much as was the case at the time with gay lawyers and Ally Mcbeal bonking the Republic president)
My question is why? Whats the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?
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The only difference is where the pork goes.
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mmm
pork
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Don't forget the onions.
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I knew bringing up gay lawyers and Ally Mcbeal would lead to conversations about pork... Oh wait, no I didn't, what the hell happened?
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The difference is simple.
Democrats are the party that say that big government can make you bigger, taller, smarter, happier and get the crabgrass out of your lawn.
Republicans are the party that say big government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.
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Sorta depends on whether you're talking about the politicians in said party; or a regular person.
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Are you asking what they say the differences are, what the differences are supposed to be, or what they really are?
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To Europeans, the differences aren't that great. The closest parallel I can come up with - and it's a stretch - is that the Democrats are analagous to the Labour/Socialist parties (although with little emphasis on nationalized companies and utilities, it has more to do with entitlement programs), whereas the Republicans (GOP) are closer to the Christian Democrats/Tories.
I've got a working theory on American political parties, in that the major parties are actually coalitions of lesser ad hoc parties, and the "flavor" of the major party depends on the balance of coalition power.
The "traditional" Democrat party consists of unions, civil libertarians, environmentalists and minorities. They tend to favour entitlement programs and federal regulation of industry and utilities. Their perceived strength tends to be on the national economic side of things: if the economy is struggling, Democrats tend to do better. Traditional example: Lyndon B. Johnson. More modern example: Bill Clinton.
The "traditional" Republican party consists of economic libertarians, business owners, farmers and nationalists. They tend to favour small government (although that's increasingly migrated toward corporate entitlement and bailout programs) and favour deregulation in favour of an "open" market. Prior to the Bush administration, Libertarians tended to lean Republican. Their perceived strength tends to be a strong military with a healthy dose of solid foreign policy. Archetypal example: Ronald Reagan.
The 1994 "neocon" version of the Republican party bears special mention because it dominated the Republicans until around 2006-07. There is currently a power struggle within the GOP which has yet to be resolved. The neocons are the ones who put the "Christian" in "Christian Democrat." The archetypal traditional Republican stood for low taxes, small government and foreign policy favorable to international trade. The neocon Republican is less interested in a conservative fiscal policy and more interested in a mix of nationalism and social authoritarianism: the mentality is that they're doing God's work, and they need to stamp out the immorality that is plaguing the U.S. (abortion, homosexuality, rampant science, etc.)
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I ate a raw onion on my 17th birthday.
Why in blue hell did you do that?
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So... One makes life practical and the other makes people happy?
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Neither one really do either of those things.
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I don't know, something to do?
Hrrm. Was it good?
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Suprisingly.
Wow. I am tempted to try my hand at eating a raw onion. (Yes, my hand.) :w:
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Lol. Its not that bad just wash it down with beer.
Like good beer (which would be a waste), or beer so bad that you forget about the onion?
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Ahhh....
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Please don't make posts like that. You get everyone to come in here to see what's up only to read "Ahh..."
That is VERY irritating. If you have nothing of substance to actually add; just don't post. Thank you.
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lol
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I KNEW it!! :-D I even guessed it would be YOU! :lol:
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you're welcome
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Well I'm happy with what I've learned off this post so, I have no further questions... Still the pork and onions conversation was quite interesting.
Shine on you crazy diamonds.
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Please don't make posts like that. You get everyone to come in here to see what's up only to read "Ahh..."
That is VERY irritating. If you have nothing of substance to actually add; just don't post. Thank you.
I got -3 points for that? I did not know we were not supposed to do that.
I apologize. :cry:
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I dunno about your points. I haven't smacked ya. Probably someone who came in and read "Ahhh..."
...see what I mean? :wink:
Seriously:
1. Don't worry about the points unless you just have an ego with an appetite; or a 'they don't like me' complex. They aren't really for anything serious. So far you're doing fine.
2. Whenever you go to hit the post button; stop for a second and imagine someone else just made that post, and you are waiting on your dial-up to load that page. . . . then... when it. . . . . finally does; all you get for your trouble is three letters; not even a word. "Ahh" or " lol" or "me too" . Now you have to wait for the Main page to load again before checking out the next post. . . .
That's really the main reason we *usually* frown on such posts being a habit. Every now and then is not so bad; especially when your three letter reply is -in itself- funny (or informational). I didn't mean to sound (read) like I was fussing at you; just informing you so you dont run afoul of anyone (Mod or a regular) in the future.
Carri On!
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Ahhh...
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lol
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Please don't make posts like that. You get everyone to come in here to see what's up only to read
"Ahh..." "lol"
That is VERY irritating. If you have nothing of substance to actually add; just don't post. Thank you.
:w:
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Yeh. You're a real hoot. :roll:
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Everytime I see that decapitated seal I die a little on the inside. :(
Way back long ago on another site, any new member that picked this one certain avatar would, for some reason or another, not last very long at all.
It became an inside joke that whoever chose that avatar would be banned shortly. That avatar was some blue dude's face. Well, it turned out that both BizB and I were using it whenever we would ban someone here as a sort of 'trademark'. Since BizB was using that one, I decided to pick another to use as a trademark; a somewhat 'appropriate' one. I picked the headless seal pup because I thought that was a near perfect choice. N00bs kinda remind me of floundering seal pups, and banning them is akin to lopping off their heads. It was the perfect choice.
Now however, it's different. I don't use the seal anymore and BizB doesn't use the blue ..."dude". It's gotten too confusing to some of the members, so we can't play like that anymore. Anyone with a headless seal avatar now picked it on their own for some sick, macabre reason.
Please don't die anymore! :-(
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I dunno about your points. I haven't smacked ya. Probably someone who came in and read "Ahhh..."
...see what I mean? :wink:
Seriously:
1. Don't worry about the points unless you just have an ego with an appetite; or a 'they don't like me' complex. They aren't really for anything serious. So far you're doing fine.
2. Whenever you go to hit the post button; stop for a second and imagine someone else just made that post, and you are waiting on your dial-up to load that page. . . . then... when it. . . . . finally does; all you get for your trouble is three letters; not even a word. "Ahh" or " lol" or "me too" . Now you have to wait for the Main page to load again before checking out the next post. . . .
That's really the main reason we *usually* frown on such posts being a habit. Every now and then is not so bad; especially when your three letter reply is -in itself- funny (or informational). I didn't mean to sound (read) like I was fussing at you; just informing you so you dont run afoul of anyone (Mod or a regular) in the future.
Carri On!
Okay. I am surprised I did not think of that, seeing as I have dial-up. I appreciate your advice, and I will always make a point to contribute something to the conversation.
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I don't?
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So where is the line drawn then? :-D
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Right up there above you. Although I don't always either.
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I have nothing to add to this conversation except for the startlingnews that I have nothing to add to this conversation.
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There for a second I almost thought you had nothing to add to the conversation...