Let's Get Political... again!

I peruse a political forum called NSG, mostly to keep up with current events, or at least the majors ones.

Or, at least, that's what I generally tell people. Truly I go there not to get news, but to read and be entertained by people's reactions to the news, whatever it may be.

Our last political thread was successful, although it did spark quite a bit of anger from multiple people, but it was interesting, so I'm bringing it back.

I've been catching a lot of flack lately for my political/social views, at NSG and other places. I genuinely don't care. As with America's recent election, I didn't care in the least who won. With Iran's recent election, I don't care. I don't care that North Korea is exploring nuclear options and that they're not bosom buddies with the US. I couldn't care less about local politics, of which I am about as aware as I am of the current weather of western China. America's current economic crisis? Whatever. My view is simple; if it doesn't directly affect me, I don't care how it works out. I also hold the same regard for personal relationships and social interactions, but that's not what this thread is about.

So! The thread is two-fold. Either you can debate my position and tell me why you think I'm wrong, or, you can go over your view of politics, your take on current events, and why other people's takes are wrong.

And I added a poll because they amuse me.

Anarcho-Capitalist for me. Although I will withold any real comment untill this thread explodes.

I tend to be more capitalist/conservative, so hence why I chose republican. I have my views, but only very rarely do I share them.

Governments suck

Firestarter: The current revolution in Iran and Obama declaring non-involvement, for now. Discuss.

I don't hold alleigence to any one government group or party. I belive in personal freedom and a persons ability to persue what they want. Just as long as that quest does not disrupt another persons right to exsist. I don't like the idea of people comming up and telling anyone what to do. But I understand that sometimes you have to do things that you really don't want to do. As it is with every human endevour, its more complex then that.

Since I'm Irish and live in Britain, it doesn't really affect me... but Iran still think we're the evilest country in the West...

I'm un-affiliated with any political party. I vote for propositions and candidates based on their individual merits alone.

You know, the poll doesn't ask what party you're a member of, it asks what party you most identify with. Meaning, the one that has values that are closest to your own. Genuinely apathetic would mean you don't vote and don't care to vote, anarchist would be the selection if you don't like government at all, etc etc. The choices were broad on purpose. The other option was really meant to cover any major/broad system I forgot about.

Teasealot wrote:Since I'm Irish and live in Britain, it doesn't really affect me... but Iran still think we're the evilest country in the West...

And I'm American. It doesn't affect me either. That doesn't prevent either of us from having an opinion on it.

Pandora wrote:I'm un-affiliated with any political party. I vote for propositions and candidates based on their individual merits alone.

So, pork barrel projects and personality for the candidates, and you only look at the pure hard statistics for propositions? It's one thing to say you don't vote straight ticket, but another to say you don't lean at all in any direction.

So, pork barrel projects and personality for the candidates, and you only look at the pure hard statistics for propositions? It's one thing to say you don't vote straight ticket, but another to say you don't lean at all in any direction.

What? I don't understand what you are saying at all.

I don't care what political party someone is affiliated with (frankly I couldn't care less if Obama was Republican or Democrat) I vote based on what seems in better interest to me and the public. Like I will never vote for a president who wants to make abortion illegal, regardless of what his political party is, but I do not consider myself a liberal. I'm not conservative either. I would never have voted for McCain, and I don't ever plan to vote for Palin, but that doesn't have anything to do with them being conservatives, it has everything to do with the fact that their policies make me crap my pants and weep for the country.

Well, in a nutshell, what I'm saying is, looking at what a candidate has done is akin to voting based on the pork that candidate has thrown. If you don't know what I mean by pork. It's a slanted term. And on the propositions, I was asking if you only looked at the cold hard facts, without regard to the social impact of a proposition. It's less slanted, but not entirely without bias.

It sounds to me that you're in the middle ground with democratic leanings.

Lord Grey II wrote: And I'm American. It doesn't affect me either. That doesn't prevent either of us from having an opinion on it.

Grey, as you are an AMERICAN citizen, any decision made by the AMERICAN leader will have an affect on you, if you realise it or not. His decisions affect EVERYONE in the country he leads.

I'm an active member of my democracy. I chose to vote and voice my opinion on who I think should be in charge. I really don't understand people who complain about the government and then don't vote or do anything to change it.

Teasealot wrote:Grey, as you are an AMERICAN citizen, any decision made by the AMERICAN leader will have an affect on you, if you realise it or not. His decisions affect EVERYONE in the country he leads.

Sorry, I misspoke. It will not directly affect me. And honestly, that's all I care about. But I was more seeking an opinion on the subject.

Grey, you're still misunderstanding what I said. But I really don't have any other way to explain it.

And I don't trust wikipedia. Take a gander at the top of the article you linked. See what that box says? Ya. That's why I don't trust wikipedia.

Well, seeing as it's a typically American term with an American origin, it would make sense that the term doesn't carry over world-wide. And I wasn't going for describing in every detail what it was, just the general concept, for which wikipedia is spectacular. If you like, I can link and otherwise cite dozens of different places for the meaning of pork barrel projects. Honestly I think that that's unnecessary, for wikipedia does a fine job of covering the basics.

I'm not sure what I'm missing. You've explicitly stated that you favor no political party over the other. However, from what you've said, it sounds like you're moderate with democratic leanings.

I still don't trust wikipedia.

What you said was that I sound like I don't care about what kind of social impact a policy will have, but more about the personal history of a candidate, which is not what I said. What I'm saying is that I don't care about the candidate's personal life, I don't care what political party they are affiliated with, I care more about what kind of impact their policy will have on the nation, and how it will effect me personally, whether it be a conservative or liberal policy. Last time I voted, I voted Republican, this time around, I voted Democrat because the person who seemed a better choice happened to be democrat.