Why did you choose the side you're on?

I am registered as an Independent. Mainly because there are some issues I lean toward the Democratic side and for other reasons I lean toward the Republican side. I also do not want to "take sides" on the political spectrum. In other words I prefer to look at each issue individually. I do not make decisions based on either a liberal or conservative basis, but on what is the best solution given this particular situation. Also, living in Mass, being registered as an Independent I can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. I get to choose. Finally, when I vote, I do not vote based on political party, but based on the candidate himself…I look at the candidates' proposals for the future, what issues are important to him and how he plans to handle these issues. Then I look at past history. See how he has voted in the past, what issues he has dealt and his past experiences. From there I weigh the candidates. I will tell you that in the past I have voted both Republican and Democrat. Maybe a little more weighted toward the Democrat side perhaps because many of the issues I was concerned with would have favored better with the Democratic candidate. Also, I can mention one case I went for the Democratic candidate because I felt his past experience was better suited for the position. I try to keep emotions out as much as possible and keep to facts as much as possible.

My dad was a rabid conservative. He was always saying how they should take some group of people he didn't like, and put them up against a wall and "machine gun" them. When Martin Luther King was marching in Alabama, he said MLK was a "known Communist." Most of his views were about as far to the right as you can get, but I never did pay much attention to him when he started shouting at the TV. My mom is a conservative but rather moderate. I think I take after her. Probably the reason I'm a conservative too is the upbringing. I never really thought about the "why" of the matter before. One of the reasons might be that I was brought up to respect authority and make my own way in the world, and the liberal welfare state of the "Great Society" was pointed out as one of the world's evils. And yet, after my dad died, my mom supplemented our food supply with "surplus" government food, so I was the beneficiary of that which I was taught to despise. And strangely enough, I've never realized that until just this minute.

That Goldberg book sounds interesting. I wonder it it's still in print after this long. It's always fascinating to me to spot the evidence of the media's liberal bias night after night on the national news. They start out a story with a quote from someone in the government, then add a basic fact about the issue, and then comes the big transition. "But critics maintain that the government could do more when it comes to blah blah blah." They will go on with a few more liberal viewpoints and "calls" for action. There will be one more minor conservative point to be made, and then the story will finish with the Final Conclusion, which of course is something like "But experts maintain that it is too little, too late." They make it look like they have reported both sides of the issue fairly, when in reality they always end up with a liberal spin. Someone who's not paying attention or doesn't have the capability (because of alcohol or mental capacity or whatever reason) to think for himself can be fooled by tactics like this. To the rest of us, it's amusing to see that it's still going on after all these years.

Re: Why did you choose the side you're on?
[quote="Foxfyre"] We are voting with our feet and TV remote controls for more diverse, reliable information at places like the Fox News Channel.[/quote]

Anyone who refers to Fox News as "reliable" is either a extreme conservative or a moron in my book.

How can the guy be hypocritical enough to accuse CBS of bias and then call Fox News reliable?

Centroles writes:


So Centroles, could you address the question presented in this thread? Why is Fox less reliable than CBS? What brings you to that conclusion? What made you decide which side is the most trustworthy?

"We are voting with our feet and TV remote controls for more diverse, reliable information at places like the Fox News Channel....." foxfyre

ROFL!!!

No wonder you're confused!

Next foxfrye will be posting about what moral people Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh are. Shades of townhall.com! LOL!!!! [/color]

Yes Titus, I concede that you think I'm a blooming idiot and my opinions are not worthy of any respect whatsoever. You also did not acknowledge that the author came down on conservative news media as well. It is no secret that Fox News is way ahead of its nearest competition in ratings so the statement the author said holds up.

Nevertheless, the question is, why do you believe Fox News sucks and the networks are better? How did you get to be such a partisan liberal? What made you decide to go that route?

I don't consider myself to belong to any one group. I just find that every policy implemented and supported by conservatives sickens me to my very soul. They disgust me in a way that words simply cannot describe.

ie. it's called conscience. Something that right wingdings lack.

So what brought you to that conclusion Wilso? What has happened to you or who has influenced you to decide that conservatives suck?

I'm a Democrat because I care more about people than I do money. Conservatives don't suck. They are just misguided. They are taught at a young age to be greedy. With greed comes corruption. This defines the Republican party. Greed and corruption.

Besides, modern conservatives aren't really conservative. Republicans spend money like it grows on trees. Democrats are more fiscally responsible.

I respect that this is what you think roverroad. But can you explain what brought you to think it? Why do you think Democrats are more fiscally responsible? And what brought you to believe that Republicans are greedy?

All you have to do is look at presidential policy regarding the deficit. Clinton gave us a surplus. The Bush's and Reagin gave us deficit. Do I really need to answer the second question? It's all about the bottom line with Republicans. charity only if it can be a tax write off. There's no human factor in that party.

Do you think the Clinton budget surplus might be at least in part due to his gutting of our military? And perhaps the Bush budget deficit might be at least in part due to the need to repair Clinton's damage?

Just a thought...

Well we shouldn't even be in Iraq so all of that money that we're waisting fighting this war SHOULD be going to reduce the deficit.

The military was doing just fine during the Clinton years. In fact it's the Clinton military that did so well when Bush sent them into Afghanistan. (A justified war, unlike Iraq). They didn't increase military spending drastically until after 9/11.

If we had an adequate military there shouldn't have been a spending increase at all, should there?

We did have an adequate military. We didn't need to increase spending when we weren't at war. Why wast all that money when there's no war? It makes sense to increase the spending when we went into Afghanistan.

The point is that the Clinton mini-military wouldn't have been able to handle the war on terror. The country needs to have a military that can handle a certain response level, even in peacetime. Clinton's military was gutted and was far below what was adequate to protect the country.

I'm from Oz, like Wilso, & pretty much share the same views. In Oz at the moment "conservative" (Liberal ) means supporting policies more suited to the 1950s, going along mindlessly with the USA in foreign policy & generally supporting policies favouring big business & the well off .... However, as I'm in a very safe labour seat, which makes both major parties complacent about gaining votes here, I tend to vote for smaller, more idealistic political parties. This time it will be the Greens.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on that. I think the military responded quite well with the funding it had at the beginning of Afghanistan. Even with the reduced funding we always had the worlds most powerful military.