The fact that my comment got several responses assuming that I was a right-wing nutjob pretty much proves my point.
For the record, I am not a Republican, don’t support the current administration, and would really like to vote for Kerry, but every liberal I meet seems determined to convince me otherwise.
My point was that Liberalism’s unquestionable correctness is one of it’s central tenants; one cannot disagree in even the slightest and still be a good, decent human being, much less intelligent or informed. All good, rational, enlightened people must be liberals. Otherwise they couldn’t be good, enlightened, or rational, right? If A->B, then B->A.
Before you all fire off heated responses about what a ridiculous assertion that is, please take a moment to read some of the threads on this board, or spend some time on a college campus, or at least try, just for a second, to look at the left and their policies impartially. Or maybe remember Nietche’s warning about what can happen when you fight monsters.
(Personally, I don’t think all liberals or leftists are jingoistic, just the extremely vocal ones. And I probably will vote for Kerry, but it really seems like were trading an obvious devil for a more subtle but much more dangerous one.)
If you’re basing your decision on who to vote for by, “…every Liberal you meet…”, well then you might as well vote for the current administration. Such a fickle opinion, in my eyes, is a sign of someone without terribly strong political ideals who is willing to let piddling little things(like the character of “other liberals”), get in the way of their vote.
Did I say anything even remotely like that? I thought I said the opposite - that I planned to vote for Kerry inspite of the words and actions of other liberals. What did I say that implies that I have a “fickle opinion” or that I really gave a rat’s ass about “the character of other liberals” or that such a thing would compel me to vote for an administration I don’t support?
And I don’t see how you’re in the position to coment on the strength of my political ideals. If I didn’t have strong ideals I probably would be a liberal (which is not to say that I think liberals lack strong ideals; they’re just different from mine).
But of course, since I’m not a liberal, you have license to make any negative assumptions you want to about me, even when they are in complete contridiction to the things I’ve said.
Now what about that statement says that you are planning on voting for Kerry? What about that statement implies anything remotely having to do with other “liberals” actions? Simply “meeting” other liberals apparently is tempting you away from a democratic vote, and that would be character-based and fickle, IMO.
Maybe an apology is due you, but your comments certainly aren’t clear.
Sam
P.S.- I don’t give a rat’s ass whether you are a “liberal” or not. Hell, I work with nothing but Righties, Conservatives, Libertarians and outright political loons so I’ve learned to tone down judgement of other peoples political leanings-especially jingoistic ones.
Two words. John McCain. Hardly a liberal, yet hardly demonized by them. It seems that men of integrity who disagree are treated with respect. Those who treat the Constitution as toilet paper perhaps don’t deserve as much respect.
We have a political system that is like a chessboard. Every piece of legislation is geared towards being a tool that someone, right or left, up or down, backwards or forwards, can twist and turn and tilt to their advantage to put them where they can do what they want.
Congress has control over Federal Court jurisdiction? Well, sounds like a nice Checks 'n Balances idea. Trying to use it to prevent people suing over “Under God”? Stupid. Sure, I think people are too sue-happy over it (as well as many issues), but that’s their right. They have the right to sue.
Criminy. With 99% of the politicians out there, there’re two things I hate about 'em for every one thing I like.
And we need to focus on these respectful men of integrity, whichever side they identify with. That’ll encourage other politicians to not be douchebags. Change starts with us, man, at the bottom. You’re not gonna fix things by using a broken system, tryin’ to fix things from the top down.
Sure, there are some people who are simple-minded jerks who view the entire world in black and white. There are some die-hard Republicans who think every democrat is a traitorous communistic namby-pamby flag-burning probable-homosexual. There are some die-hard Democrats who think every Republican is a rich, evil, white, business-owning, Cheney-shmoozing, racist bastard.
There are see-the-world-in-black-and-white idiots of that sort in just about every belief system you could come up with.
What makes you think that the modern American left engages in that kind of blanket condemnation more than average? Or, for that matter, more than the modern American right?
(For what it’s worth, the single most heinous example of that kind of thinking that I can think of is Anne Coulter’s vitriolic waste of paper, Treason.)
The way things are going between the Repugs and the Demonizocrats, there could be lots of write-in votes for Nader.
Just in passing, I should note the towering disappointment I felt recently when, after receiving the joyous news that DeLay had been indicted, it was subsequently made clear that they were talking about Ken Lay.
I guess the best thing to do is to vote your conscience, and not worry about what “nutjobs” from any extreme think. I’m looking at the candidates’ platforms and trying to re-evaluate my beliefs on the Iraq War, then seeing where that puts me.