# Am I Republican or Democrat?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 27, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886 "2009-08-27T07:50:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/81 "2009-08-31T01:09:33Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> Is not “guess my real political leaning” one of the _oldest_ bits of trollery on the web?
> For heaven’s sake the guy even claimed he ‘might’ be a Libertarian, but didn’t know what that meant!
Amen, which is why I can’t take this too seriously.
Oh, just so you know **vinyl turnip** , I _am_ a jackass 🙂
[sub]usually[/sub]
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/82 "2009-08-31T01:33:33Z")
> [@BaconAndEggs](#):
>
> Can someone tell me what the characteristics of a Republican and a Democrat? I need real answers because I’m trying to find out which one I am. I may be something else too…Libertarian…I really don’t know what each one means, but when I registered to vote I just put Republican.
Well, you make a commitment without thinking or knowing anything. That makes you a Republican.
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/83 "2009-08-31T02:01:47Z")
> [@TWDuke](#):
>
> You were just losing an argument on a message board before. Now you’ve made Der Trihs look like the better person. Congratulations.
Sure…whatever you say.
YOU could have remained anonymous, letting people think you’re just another run-of-the mill dumb-dumb, but your raised your hand and screamed ME ME ME.
Interesting.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/84 "2009-08-31T02:49:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Nonsense. They’ve never been for a small government; you can’t run people’s private lives for them and spy on them like the Republicans prefer with a small government. They just want to let the rich and powerful, the corporations and wealthy and churches run wild. That’s not the same as small government. Nor have they been fiscally conservative; they just wanted to spend money on different things. Nor have they ever been “pro-life”; just pro forced birth.
That was prior to the rise of the religious right. Think of the conservatives such as Barry Goldwater – who was actually pro-choice and pro-gay rights. (He also protested AGAINST the religious fundamentalists getting a foothold in government). I most likely wouldn’t have voted for him, but he’s one conservative I do admire.
Study your history, **Der Trihs**.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/85 "2009-08-31T03:25:52Z")
**And you’re a flathead too!: Reflections on American Ideology**
Today’s Republican party is a coalition between Christian and Economic Fundamentalists. The former want to ban abortion and are upset by gay marriage: these 2 concerns trump all others. Economic fundamentalists embrace crank economics: they have a monocausal theory of economic development in which tax cuts play the leading role.
In foreign policy, modern conservatives believe in responding to all US security challenges with maximum hysteria. So when jihadists from Afghanistan fly planes into US buildings, they turn around and attack Iraq.
In all cases, their rhetoric is leaden with so-called principles, sparser on empirical analysis.
Democrats and Independents make up the remainder of the American electorate, once you set aside the fringe groups.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/86 "2009-08-31T14:02:59Z")
You’re a chicken.
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### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/87 "2009-08-31T17:13:13Z")
Frankly, THIS gun-owning, flag-waving, pro-choice, pro-universal-health-care, pro-police, pro-military, pro-balanced-budget, pro-higher-taxes, pro-marijuana-legalization guy thinks political parties are a highly ridiculous shorthand and you should be evaluating individual candidates anyway.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/88 "2009-08-31T17:22:21Z")
This poster thinks **Zeriel** is a figment of his own imagination. Everybody knows that the Republican and Democratic parties cover the entire scope of human thought. 😉
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### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/89 "2009-08-31T18:07:40Z")
It’s still one of my favorite things to do to make the local park ranger’s head explode by showing up at the State Game Lands shooting range with a diesel Jetta full of rifles, sporting the following bumper stickers:
“Free Tibet”
“Support Amnesty International”
“NRA Member”
“Gun Control Means Hitting The Intended Target”
I feel it’s my duty to come into threads like this because dammit, **Der Trihs** and **bri1600bv** aren’t the only damn options and it’s shameful that our modern media tend to assume that’s the case.
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### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/90 "2009-08-31T18:10:13Z")
Oh boy, a Toomey-for-Senate ad. Time to consider resubscribing to remove ads.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/91 "2009-08-31T18:16:12Z")
I’ve got Michael E. Arth for Governor of Florida in 2010- “Bringing the Future to Florida”.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/92 "2009-08-31T21:20:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I don’t believe there is a single statement one could make that has less credibility with me. My take is: Republicans think The Second Half Of The Second Amendment is the only part of the Constitution that is important. Democrats read the entire Amendment and are able to put it in perspective. Yes I know about Heller. Five justices got it wrong.
This is one of the sillier notions of the modern left – somehow, a statement of a “collective right” (whatever that is) somehow got dropped into a list of guaranteed individual rights, like a sex scene from a Harry Potter slashfic somehow getting dropped into the middle of a quarterly sales report.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/93 "2009-08-31T21:29:41Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#):
>
> Here’s another one. Republicans find out that the CIA has been “torturing” terrorists and that said torture uncovered numerous plots and saved many American lives.
**BZZZZTTT!!** Survey Says: Come back when you have examples that match [the facts of the real world](http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/top-bush-terrorism-adviser-admits-cia-docs-didnt-prove-torture-worked/).
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### Author:  [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/94 "2009-08-31T21:30:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> 'Who cares if he doesn’t have any legs and only one hand! Let the parasite starve!"
>
> /snip
Ok, a republican (moderate) will let all those people with no legs and one hand stay on welfare, all others go to work.
A democrat will let all the others stay on welfare too!
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/95 "2009-08-31T21:32:47Z")
> [@magellan01](#):
>
> Der Trihs,
>
> You know, I’m done with you. Not only do you continually spew cartoonish stupidity, you can’t even track your own fucking conversation.
“Now, claszz, ve zee the venomenon ov ‘projekzshun’…”
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/96 "2009-08-31T21:37:15Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#):
>
> This is one of the sillier notions of the modern left – somehow, a statement of a “collective right” (whatever that is) somehow got dropped into a list of guaranteed individual rights, like a sex scene from a Harry Potter slashfic somehow getting dropped into the middle of a quarterly sales report.
Agreed. The second amendment says individuals can bear arms. However, similar cognitive dissonance goes on with ‘the modern right’ when they think the second amendment only applies to semi-automatics and handguns, and not to machine guns, bazookas, grenades and surface-to-surface missiles.
The second amendment needs revising. Both sides are being intellectually dishonest about what it says.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/97 "2009-08-31T22:14:38Z")
Just going by this thread, I’d say that the major difference between Republicans and Democrats is that the frothing, spittle-spraying, barking mad ideologues on the left tend to have marginally better spelling and grammar than the ones on the right.
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### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/98 "2009-08-31T22:18:07Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> Just going by this thread, I’d say that the major difference between Republicans and Democrats is that the frothing, spittle-spraying, barking mad ideologues on the left tend to have marginally better spelling and grammar than the ones on the right.
Well, we do have the intellectual elite on our side, walking amongst us and smacking our knuckles with rulers when we get it worng.
Ow!
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/99 "2009-09-01T04:42:35Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#):
>
> This is one of the sillier notions of the modern left – somehow, a statement of a “collective right” (whatever that is) somehow got dropped into a list of guaranteed individual rights, like a sex scene from a Harry Potter slashfic somehow getting dropped into the middle of a quarterly sales report.
Disagree. Let’s go back to the text:
> [@](#):
>
> A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
If I read that in a magazine, I wouldn’t know what the hell the writer was getting at. My best guess would be that it’s bad poetry.
A broad claim,
which is demonstrably false,
in an empirical sense,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
My claim here is narrow: the text of the 2nd amendment is ambiguous, which is quite awkward and somewhat unfortunate.
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### Author:  [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-republican-or-democrat/507886/100 "2009-09-01T05:51:29Z")
> [@Roadfood](#):
>
> Yes, Republicans believe in the US Constitution.
>
> Except the part of the US Constitution that very explicitly separates the government from any church or religion.
Please quote the Constitution where it separates government from any church or religion. You may have to look a while, but at least you will have the side benefit of actually reading the U.S. Constitution.
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