Isn’t Cat Whisperer Canadian?
It’s a good thing most of these stupid, asshole Americans don’t read this MB. They would have their worst fears about liberals validated.
I’m with you there to an extent. That is a major flaw in the American system. Both parties are equally the [del]victim[/del] co-conspirators of lobbying on some things, such as banking reform.
But as far as what the parties stand for, there isn’t so much equality. One side is going to back lobbyists out to discredit science and promote religious law-making. One side is going to back lobbyists out to discriminate. One side is going to back lobbyists out to fuck up the environment for profit. Etc.
The Ds have their flaws too, but IMO they tend to be more about trying to move stupid legislation with reasonable goals in mind. The Rs are just off the rails right from their motivations.
And another thing, the people making up the parties have different reactions to the crazy shit that lobbyists get done. D voters tend to be discouraged that D reps are being lobbied into things like stopping banking regs, campaign finance reform, environmental regs, and allowing things like insanely low taxes for the rich and voluntary wars for fun. R voters line up with their reps and lobbyists on those things.
Yeah, pretty much this.
I’m with the OP on this. People are a superstitious and persuadable lot, and the churches and schools have done a good job of persuading people to fear “liberals” and vote “conservative.”
I can’t explain why “sheeple” lead themselves to slaughter; I can only rankle them enough to make them do research to prove me wrong…and thereby find some facts.
Huh? The only home schooler I know is a liberal atheist.
Check out the documentary “Jesus Camp”. There are a few Young Earth Creationists deeply disappointed by sex education and science that refuse to allow their children to be educated in such a fashion (and can’t afford private education).
As gamerunknown said, home schooling is much more common amongst evangelical christian and mormon families than “liberal atheist” ones, mostly because they don’t want to learn “the gay” and “evolution is real” and other nonsense.
Its not just the US that has dumb assholes, they breed all around the world.
Here in the UK you need look no further than the EDL (English Defense League)
A bunch of bored football hooligans who realised the number of people who also liked to fight after a game was dwindling, picked up the whole anti Islam thing and ran with it like a bunch of ill educated dickheads.
Also as a non American i can honestly tell you the Republicans scare the living shit out of me with their Fundamental Christian outlook.
Yeah, I don’t get it either. I have a friend who is a teacher and is going to vote republican. His main reasons seems to be that he is against “Obamacare”, that big business and corporations are providing all the jobs, and Abortion. He just thinks that people should go find a job with health insurance if they want one and that all abortion should be illegal (unless it was a kid who got raped). Again, he’s a teacher and a Christian and he’s like my best friend.
Im at the point where I’m just saying “you’re being stupid.” and dropping it all together because it’s like a wall of impenetrable unreasonableness. What could I possibly say to him to knock some sense into him?
Hmm, I know a couple of dumb Democrats. You know the ones I am talking about, they’re the ones that haven’t figured out that the rest of the dixiecrats moved over to the Republican party 40 years ago.
Education and helathcare are two things that should not be distributed based on ability to pay. They are also things that should be provided to minors regardless of how their parents feel about it. You can home school but if your kid isn’t going to understand biology and natural selection by the time they are 18 then we should make sure they do.
I know folks who were single issue voters (on abortion) 20 years ago who have adopted the entire conservative agenda. These are folks that didn’t really have a strong opiniobn on the size of government, supply side economics, gay rights, women’s rights, the minimum wage, gun control, taxes, etc. but now they line up consistently on the conservative side of all these issues.
Pro-life was the gateway drug for their current broad conservative outlook.
Name one democratic country in the world where this is true of education. (We’re not talking about healthcare here.) Remember, the proposition is that kids be forced to attend public school, not making sure all kids are able to go to public school. Those are two completely different things, and the latter is already the case in the US as it is most of the developed world.
Well, that’s fine in theory, but there is no way you can force children to believe something if their parents don’t want them to. You can expose them to it, but you can’t prevent their parents from telling them it’s the work of the devil (or whatever).
I see. So, we parents can be assured that our children will listen to us, and and mold their views to fit the received wisdom we pass down. Right. Of course they will. How many kids you got, John?
A lot of the conservatives are like my mother.
My Mom is 85 but about as sharp as anyone can be at that age. She is vehemently pro-choice and worked with her church in North Carolina in FAVOR of gay marriage, heck she was almost an activist on the subject. Not to mention that she supports my younger brother ( who has some psychogical issues ) and his teen-aged daughter and (sometimes) his 21 year old son. They rely heavily on food assistance and other government programs to make ends meet…not to mention that she has the health care issues typical of someone her age.
And she is intending on voting Republican and was assuming that I would. When I heard this I snapped at her, something about “what’s the matter, don’t you like eating anymore?” Really, all I can figure is that she has always voted Republican and doesn’t even absorb the concept that she or anyone she knows would ever do otherwise…she may think that would dishonor my father who was a stanch Republican although he died before the Republican Party went totally ape-shit crazy.
Well, I still havce two months to work on her …and her boyfriend, who is in the same age group as her, is voting Democrat which gave her pause. But I think lots of the older people just don’t keep up and they think they are voting for the Republican Party of 20 years ago.
To quote the devil himself ( Rick Santorum ) on evolution and global warming
“Science should stay out of politics”
I wish I was making that up but I’m not.
just to re-emphasize my point in this thread…
A lot of people are posting about “omg I know a stupid asshole R voter also”. That is kind of a tangent to what I was trying to get across. And we have dozens of threads about that.
My point was more specifically about the number of Dopers who don’t appreciate the amount of them. People who naively expect America is going to breed its way out of being dominated by the stupid. People who think the Rs can possibly turn hard enough to the right that they will become irrelevant, when it has been demonstrated that half the country loves their crazy tea party bullshit. People who think all the swing states are all going to come through for Obama. And even if he does win them, that 51-49 is OK. Granted, it’ll keep him in office, and that’s no small thing, but the fact that 49% would vote for Rs today is pretty disturbing just the same. That congress will still be R is a sign of desperate madness throughout this country. If America had the amount of good sense these people want to ascribe to it, it would be 80-20 D over R. But its not. I contend that the Rs have not yet reached the point of backlash for the right turn, but the Dope likes to think they have, and any day now the tea party will fade cuz it is so obviously stupid… but really, it is exactly the stupid America craves. Dopers think Romney/Ryan/Boehner/McConnell are animals for pushing such nonsense, without appreciating that half the country really digs nonsense.
I sound like an old school Republican? Sheesh. That’s just weird.
I think you’re demonstrating the problem with the US American system - you still think that there is a difference between political parties. The politicians on both sides are paid for by lobbyists - the lobbyists pay for the election of the politicians, then they decide which laws are going to be created. The people making the policy decisions for the US are not the politicians that people vote for - your votes make no difference.
Do you think the Democrats would support changes to the way people are elected in the US that would make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties, and to outlaw lobbying? I’m pretty sure the Republicans wouldn’t, but you know the Democratic party better than I do.