“I am unalterably opposed to discrimination of any sort”, do you agree or disagree?

Speaking of "bigoted," many of the white political conservatives I knew as I was growing up were most definitely racially bigoted.

It's just like political liberals who say that they are personally opposed to abortion but don't want to impose their moral views upon others. (Yes, I'm pro-life.) Regarding these two different issues, both groups are hypocritical.

But the fact remains that more Republicans than Democrats voted for Civil Rights legislation when the roll was called. It would never have passed otherwise.

I'm opposed to marriage licenses being given to homosexual and lesbian couples, if only for the reason that marriage is an exclusive institution.

I'm disgusted with the ACLU representing NAMBLA for free.

I even favor the censoring of pornography, which makes me a reactionary (I guess) on this issue.

Do you get the impression that Foxfyre has returned with a new username?
(that's the impression I have)

Speaking of "bigoted," many of the white political conservatives I knew
as I was growing up were most definitely racially bigoted.

Politically bigoted is for sure. I remember November 1963 and friends of my parents throwing parties because they didn't like Kennedy. My parents thought it was in bad taste and macabre to boot so they turned down those invitations. Bigoted isn't necessarily racial.

That's why I don't believe Rand Paul is bigoted. Mr/Ms Brown here on the other hand definitely is. But that's just my opinion.

i believe his point goes like this, history is filled with folks who won primaries but not elected office

Goldwater was doomed even before he started, his fate settled by the bullets in Dealey Plaza.

.....the bullets that cut down Kennedy that November ricocheted crazily through the ranks of his political enemies. Though the assassin was a lifelong Marxist who had defected to the Soviet Union and was seeking a visa to Cuba only weeks before the shooting, the blame, unaccountably, settled on the American right.

Nothing was more problematic than the civil rights issue -- particularly the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed most forms of racial discrimination. ...{Goldwater} understood, too, that government-mandated affirmative action was merely the flip side of segregationist racialism: "It reintroduces through the back door the very principle of allocation by race that makes compulsory segregation morally wrong and offensive to freedom." And, that, to Barry Goldwater, was the bottom line. "Our aim, as I understand it, is neither to establish a segregated society nor to establish an integrated society," he said. "It is to preserve a free society."

Greetings, David. I looked up the meaning of the word "bigot" in an unabridged dictionary. The entry defined the word as follows: "a person who is utterly intolerant of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own." Your understanding of the word's meaning is correct, but I would disagree with you slightly that a person who has the courage to stand for his convictions is always a bigot. For example, the late Dr. Andrei Sakharov certainly had the courage of his convictions to condemn the Soviet regime for its horrendous violations of human rights; and he paid a heavy price for his public stance. But he didn't want to kill anyone. I strongly believe in the existence of God, yet my friends include atheists (even though I strongly disagree with their views about God). I will even say that one of my atheist friends, who is a sociology professor, has had a very beneficial impact in my life -- not because he's an atheist, but because he's had some insight into certain other matters that has enabled him to give me some counsel that I had desperately needed for many years. I might also add that even when I was a young guy and considered myself to be very liberal politically, I still had conservative friends whose association I valued because they were nice guys.

The word "bigot" also has a negative connotation. For example, a racist bigot -- an anti-black white person, an anti-white black person, an anti-Semite, etc. -- is intolerant of PEOPLE, and may even pose a potential threat to others to a greater or lesser degree. Of course, totalitarian movements have typified bigotry to the extreme with the radical actions their adherents have taken towards those who have been their opponents or even people who simply would not support them.

I fear that some of my comments and observations in this topic may have upset you and that you may be disappointed in me. Believe me, I don't fit neatly into any ideological camp. Actually, I don't fit in at all. Politically I'm neither a liberal nor a conservative. I would say that I'm apolitical and rather independent in my thinking. My current views on different issues would be met with disapproval by most members of this forum, depending on the issue. I hope you will still consider me a friend, despite any differences.

Rand Paul and the Tea Party are new manifestations of a Libertarian strain in American politics that goes back to the founding of the Republic.

Hi. I will admit that I'm far more of a moralist than I am a Constitutionalist,
and I think in terms of what is best for society in the long run. . . .

Rand Paul and the Tea Party are new manifestations of a Libertarian strain in American politics that goes back to the founding of the Republic.

You may note that extremely few elected officials are, in fact, Libertarian. The reason is that people respect Libertarianism in theory, but don't want it in practice, because the stringent rules it calls for do not function in our real world.
Cycloptichorn

Violation of the Constitution, robbing people of their personal freedom is immoral in the extreme.