I’d vote for you, Ogre, but you probably shouldn’t be happy about that. My vote appears to be the kiss of death.
I’d vote for you. I agree strongly with your social liberalism and I agree partly with your fiscal conservatism. And I’m an atheist.
So it looks like you’ve got the ultra-liberal internet message board vote sewn up, leaving you with only the other 98-99% of the population to convince.
Oh, and Bosda, pure genius, especially “don’t keep a Church.”
Change the location to Houston and this:
to this:
“I am 33, with an advanced engineering degree stopping short of the PhD.”
and I’d think you spelled my name wrong.
However, I’m a Canadian ex-pat who can’t vote so no vote from me.
What exactly is it you’re running for?
I might vote for you. It would depend on who your opponent is, I think. I agree with most, but not all of your viewpoints.
Your views are very similar to mine. You might get elected but you need to play up the fiscally responsible/moderate socially liberal part and stay away from the “chinese finger trap” social issues.
Keep your opionions about gay marriage, abortion, and gun control, and flag burning to yourself as much as you can.
Those are social issues that are hopelessly deadlocked and take up way too much energy and air time already.
Focus on tangibles and what you can DO rather than what you believe. People respond to well though out sensible plans even if they aren’t well-educated themselves.
There are too many people that believe politicians can get up there, throw out an opnion about Iraq, abortion, gun control. euthanasia and whatever topic de jour and that is an actual platform.
That isn’t even a platform for the POTUS let alone a congressman, governor or town dogcatcher.
Find an office you could help in and present your beliefs and skills around realistic expectations about what you can do in one term only in that job.
Well, I don’t know if you are or not. Taking the general viewpoint, I’d have to ask"
- Anything in you record like a DUI, or any kind of misdemeanor conviction in your past?
- Are you really in to severe masochism? I’m thinking you could hire this out for a lot less than you’d pay for a campaign, and probably have a better time at it.
- Unless you’re into the power-trip thing (and I am sure you are not), why on earth would a sensible person like you want to get into all this crap and abuse?
But hey, don’t think I am being negative towards you, I am not. I congratulate you for even thinking of it. (shudders)
I don’t know enough of the facts, really, but my impression is that something has to be done to lower health care costs. I don’t know what should be done exactly, but the market isn’t correcting for the inequities. Tort reform, perhaps? If insurance is driving astronomical medical costs (as I’ve seen argued,) and insurance rates are being driven by lawsuit payouts, etc… Dunno, exactly.
I definitely believe that health care should stay in the free market. I think socialized medicine is a horrible idea, and that pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to profit from their research. I think the companies will probably have to reprioritize, however, as I’ve read that much of the profit goes to executive salaries and political action.
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Also, being non-religious would be a big strike against you.
Yeah, fair enough. FTR, hwever, gun control is one of my conservative issues. Gun registration is OK, but that’s about as far as I’m willing to take it.
Oh, and no, no criminal past. No misdemeanors. No unpaid tickets. No nights in the drunk tank. No cheating on my wife. I’ve had my share of speeding tickets, but that’s all.
Misplaced idealism, maybe. I don’t entirely know. I do know I’d probably hate every second of it, and that idealism is possibly the worst reason to get into the political game. So yeah, maybe I’m a closeted masochist after all. 
I don’t know enough of the facts, really, but my impression is that something has to be done to lower health care costs. I don’t know what should be done exactly, but the market isn’t correcting for the inequities. Tort reform, perhaps? If insurance is driving astronomical medical costs (as I’ve seen argued,) and insurance rates are being driven by lawsuit payouts, etc… Dunno, exactly.
I definitely believe that health care should stay in the free market. I think socialized medicine is a horrible idea, and that pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to profit from their research. I think the companies will probably have to reprioritize, however, as I’ve read that much of the profit goes to executive salaries and political action.
Huge. Especially here in the Heart of Dixie.
And Bosda, I know you were (very cleverly. Well done.) making a point about politics. It was, therefore, the most discouraging thing I’ve read in ages. It’s that very outlook that makes me think I’ll never, ever run for any kind of public office. It would be too much of a strain and a compromise to force myself to use diplomatic language and devious, underhanded methods. I hate the very thought of it. I know “straight-talking” politicians usually end up being targets (see also, Dean, Howard,) but hell, Minnesota elected Jesse Ventura. I know that turned out badly, but then, I’m no ex-pro wrestler with testosterone problems. I’m just an impatient, pissed-off American.
I’m not really running for anything. It’s just an idle thought (but something I’ve considered, y’know, for later.) I was just gauging whether my politics are acceptable to most people. I guess to could say I’m militantly center-wing…and that seems to piss a lot of folks off, especially now that beliefs are so unbelievably polarized.
Yeah, fair enough. FTR, hwever, gun control is one of my conservative issues. Gun registration is OK, but that’s about as far as I’m willing to take it.
Oh, and no, no criminal past. No misdemeanors. No unpaid tickets. No nights in the drunk tank. No cheating on my wife. I’ve had my share of speeding tickets, but that’s all.
Misplaced idealism, maybe. I don’t entirely know. I do know I’d probably hate every second of it, and that idealism is possibly the worst reason to get into the political game. So yeah, maybe I’m a closeted masochist after all.
I saw that. But because you have socially liberal views, in my eyes, that makes you a liberal and I would never vote for you.
Sorry.
If it makes you feel better, if you’d run for president, I vote in California, so my vote wouldn’t matter.
Don’t worry. I’m not particularly upset. I would like to know, however, what you find distasteful about my views as stated in the OP.
Let’s see…
First, what I agree with:
- Affirmative Action is stupid, stupid, stupid (Even though I would, if I chose, benefit from it, I still loathe the idea.)
-I believe welfare should be cut down and overhauled. There’s far too much abuse of the system. Money should be put into work programs. (I don’t know how you’d fix it though. How anyone would. No matter what you did, people will find a way to scam it.)
What I disagree with:
-Your stance on drugs (Government must protect their people, even from themsevles)
-Your stance on abortion (I’m not going to go into this one)
-Your stance on imigration (Not going to go into this one either)
-You stance on the defense budget (A strong military is the most important thing a country has. All other things wouldn’t mean anything if your military is weak.)
Even if in every other facet I believed you were the perfect canidate, because of those four things, I wouldn’t vote for you.
You’d have my vote.
In fact, I agree with almost everything you said(I’m not an athiest and I take a slightly harder line on immigration).
If you were a woman(I don’t know that you aren’t), I’d ask you to marry me.
And you’d never get elected.
Why?
Because you’re an athiest, and thus, a communist pinko who wants to round up christians and send them to death camps.
Or you’re “not accountable” to a higher power and thus, will push the red button during a rampant sex orgy.
Because Athiests, by definition, have no morals or ethics.
Or so I’ve been told by numerous religious people.
I’d be willing to concede the registration thing with the caveat that a serious gurentee could be made that it would never be used to perform politically motivated confication.
That’s the big reason most pro-gun people oppose it, because they seriously fear(not without reason) that putting their gun on a list today is as good as losing it the next time an idiot goes on a killing spree in a public place.
He’s Ultra-liberal? Is the O’Reilly definition of “Ultra liberal” which includes pretty much everyone he disagrees with? I would think Noam Chompky are ultra-liberals or dicks like ward churchill.
Ogre sounded pretty moderate to me, which fits nicely with my worldview.
I doubt we’ll ever agree on this one…even though I’m pretty sure I can show that the WoD is a colossal and ineffective waste of money. Beyond that, however, it boggles my mind that you think that anyone is actually being protected by drug laws. If anything, people are dying because of them.
Stance? I don’t have a “stance.” I thought I made that pretty clear…or are you dead set against anyone who has even the slightest bit of uncertainty about how they view what is, after, an exceptionally controversial topic? Or is it possible you’re a perfect example of what I’ve been talking about: someone who is so polarized that you automatically shut down if they don’t have the “right” answer on the tip of their tongue? I’m not trying to attack you here, by the way. You have every right to your beliefs. I’m just trying to make sure you are representing mine correctly.
OK.
I think you’re misinterpreting me (and possibly reading into my statements what you want to see in them.) I know the importance of defense. I don’t want to gut the military. I want advanced body armor and effective weaponry and shiny new fighters and all kinds of other stuff to more effectively kill anyone who would fuck with us. I really do. However, there are programs that we have been dropping billions into for decades that will never pay off. Antiballistic missiles, anyone? I say shave a paltry $2.5M off an ABM project’s budget and let the freaking EPA keep their headquarters’s library open, for God’s sake. Or give it to NASA. Or anything except checking the “miss” box off on yet another ABM trial run.
And HPL, sorry buddy. I’m a (married) male.
Well, certainamundo. We ain’t going with the lame Fleetwood Mac crap, either; let’s start with at least a good bassline strategy. So, I suppose, you’ve seen those nice graphs of how basslines make people physically resonate at their midsection, and move to the music, at a level that unleashes pent up frustration, while unifying the group in pleasant attention. That seems like a good political platformance, and I’d nominate Bootsy Collins as your Minister of PFunktOratory. One Nation Under A Groove…ain’t too late…
I like where you’re going here, but I still think the nation isn’t ready for “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” as a platform plank.
You’re right in that I shouldn’t have said, “stance.” I misinterpretted it.
Said that way, I can’t agree with you more.
But you’re right in that I’m extemely polarized in my views. But you have to keep there are a lot of voters like me.
Yer right there, O,
Might want to go with the “Unmuddying the Waters”, Plan B: Like A Rolling Stone. Just for the feelgood subterfuge of it all.
Ogre, I’m just curious. If hypotheically elected, would you invest effort into fixing the VA/Veterens Benefits system which has been badly broken for a while now and that our current “Pro-military” adminstrion hasn’t made any effort to remedy?
Because I believe that would go a long way towards showing you do support the troops, as opposed to some who love to say it but don’t actually seem to mean it.