Oh, bullshit. They’re pretty much the same thing. I voted for Obama. I’m to the left of Obama. I worried a bit about a Romney election - though admittedly more due to potential collateral damage ( Supreme Court, the possibility of a straight Republican legislature that might have pushed Romney’s policies towards wackiness ), since for me as a voter social values trump economic issues.
But it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. And voting for Romney ( or Obama ) shouldn’t trigger the Mark of Cain.
As a libertarian myself, I’m not outraged by Obama’s election, that though I disagree with many of his policies, I do believe he’s doing what he thinks is right and his election was more or less a foregone conclusion. Also, it’s not like Romney was in any substantial way a more libertarian candidate. On paper, Romney was slightly closer to my views, but even not accounting for flip-flopping, there’s no way to know how close he might actually been, and we’re still only talking something like 20% vs. 15% alignment. So I have a hard time seeing someone so upset about supporting Obama and not virtually as upset about Romney. Personally, because of that, I couldn’t really vote for either of them and voted for the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
But let’s run with it and say that one insists on voting for one of the major parties and one candidate was somehow so much better than the other. How does ostracizing people who supported your opponent make the situation better? If your only goal is to get more people over to your side, you’ve now lost those connections and the ablity to raise discussion with them and possibly persuade them to change their minds. Perhaps worse, they’ll now see you, and probably others like you, as representative of others who share your viewpoint and you’ve actually damaged the chances that they might change their minds to your perspective in the future. And, on a personal note, you’ve now lost a lot of personal connections. Surely, if someone was your friend, you have a lot of other things in common that brought you together, even if you merely tolerated their political opinions. Surely with family, dealing with differences in politics is a lot less than all the other ridiculous drama that comes up in family.
It really makes me sad that there are people out there that put their politics so high. That someone does, particularly a libertarian, is that much more depressing because it only serves to hurt the cause that is so important to them. And, even sadder, is that I have people like this in my own life who, though they haven’t cut off everyone, have cut off people they otherwise were close to simply because of those difference, or just driven them away. Hell, I didn’t even vote for their most direct opponents but “a vote for a third party is the same as a vote for [insert opponent]”. IOW, if you’re not with us, you’re against us. This really needs to stop, from all sides.
Dondero sounds like a fake Spanish word meaning “stupid”. I don’t know why, and I speak Spanish.
Emphasis on small. Like nowhere to be seen. It’s virtually a paradise by the author’s standards.
I can’t think of many places worth living that are to the right of the US. Can you? In fact the countries with the highest standard of living seem like a Marxist paradise in comparison (not really).
Norway? Really? Don’t they have access to Wikipedia? Denmark I would understand (very restrictive immigration policies), but Norway?
Romney as president might not have been the end of the world, who knows. But, being willing to vote for such a man reveals a character flaw so deep that I don’t want to associate with that person. Like Yankee fans who are worse than the Yankees, Romney supporters are worse than Romney.
The thing is, you are quite well informed, and obviously are aware of where the parties and the candidates stand.
Many others though? They’ve been told that Obama is the worst left-leaning socialist/communist president in the entire history of the country. FoxNews and talk radio have convinced them that he’s not just wrong, or slightly different from Romney, but that he is actively EVIL, and will not just take the country in a different direction, but will DESTROY the country. There is a whole cable network and radio shows that tells them this over and over. A significant percentage of them think he is the antichrist.
Indeed it does. However, the same aforementioned cable news network and talk radio is doing just this, and doing it well. Why? Well, one needs only to follow the money. They do not want their viewers/listeners to go elsewhere. How to convince them to stay and listen to your advertisements? Tell them that to go elsewhere is to accept EVIL COMMUNISTIC IDEAS.
It’s like the controlling abusive spouse who will not let their partner see friends or family anymore. They are afraid that they might lose control. FoxNews/Talk radio is that abusive spouse.
It’s actually worse than that. That person checking him out? He’s just insulted that person too. Because that person’s almost guaranteed to be on Government Assistance.
His need to only spend his “hard earned dollars” on the cheapest product at the cheapest price means that we, as a society, are now obligated to support full time workers because their pay and benefits are not enough to provide for the basic necessities of life.
This is a good point, but liberals were threatening to move, not start some kind of nihilistic civil war. Conservatives can’t really play the “move” card. The US is still the most conservative nation-state in the G20; where are conservatives going to move to, Saudi Arabia?
I actually have looked into emmigrating to another country (I’m not picky as long as it’s left of the U.S.). Unless you’re a doctor or have 250k+ in cash reserves, the amount of countries that will just let you up and mosey on in is nearly zero. These repub quacks think they are owed not just a manifest destiny in the U.S., but the entire Earth.
Really? So my gay friend who said unfriend me if you voted Romney, Obama and Romney have the same amount of respect for gay equality and are equally likely to make marriage equality a reality? :rolleyes:
I am absolutely sick of these false equivelences between republicans and democrats. They’re not the same, and one is somewhat good, and the other is absolutely wrong on EVERYTHING.
The US needs to adopt parliamentary oppositionalism. Cooperation limits the actual freedom of choice and diminishes the actual choice of the electorate to vote for distinct policy positions, which is why we have two “big government” left wing parties.
Wait, really? Romney is absolutely wrong on everything? ** Everything?**
Romney is incorrect in his believe that elections should decide who the government’s leaders are? He is incorrect in his belief that women should have the vote? He is incorrect in his position on the government having broad, fundamental social assistance programs like Society Security? He is incorrect in his continued belief that America should maintain peaceful relations with its neighbours, Canada and Mexico? He is wrong when he holds out the belief that it should not be illegal to practice any religion? What about his belief that American citizens should be allowed to go about wherever in the USA they please, and leave and re-enter the country at will?
You don’t notice the rather fundamental similarities because they’re just all assumed. But not every country enjoys a commonality of opinion on these matters.