Preferred Parties- Worldwide

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

France - UDP\CAP-21\Greens
Canada - Greens
US - Greens
Mexico - Not Sure
UK - Liberal Democrats
Russia - Union of Right forces
Germany - Greens or FDP
Israel - Unsure
Spain - Right now? PSOE
Ireland - Anti-Fianna Fail

That makes no sense whatsoever.

I'll do mine tommorow.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Because you support economically right wing parties in most countries but then the Greens here (have you ever read their platform?)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Because you support economically right wing parties in most countries but then the Greens here (have you ever read their platform?)

Yes. Voting for the Greens would be a protest vote for me If I lived in the United States. I would vote for the Democrats at a local level, but not nationally. Plus I'm not entirely against the economic left.

why? Hell you strike me as a moderate Republican, even to the right of them on many issues.

And the Green platform is not just economically left, it's completely unfeasible.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Because you support economically right wing parties in most countries but then the Greens here (have you ever read their platform?)

Yes. Voting for the Greens would be a protest vote for me If I lived in the United States. I would vote for the Democrats at a local level, but not nationally. Plus I'm not entirely against the economic left.

why? Hell you strike me as a moderate Republican, even to the right of them on many issues.

And the Green platform is not just economically left, it's completely unfeasible.

LOL. And what issue am I to the right of the Republicans?

Public schools.

I'm on the left of the Democrats on many issues - especially foreign policy and attitudes to "morality".

Then you've been paying crap attention to what the Democrats are doing on those lately. The Democrats are opposing the Iraq War and despite the idiotic claim you made before, a majority of Democrats did not support it originally (a majority of Democrats in Congress voted against it). The Democrats are not supporting the religious right (their entire agenda basically died with the Democratic takeover of Congress)

I also hope you aren't including tobacco under that "morality" label.

I know the Greens platform is ultra-left wing on many economic issues but the greens aren't going to win power, are they?

Making voting for them a waste of time.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Here's mine:

US: Democrats
Canada: NDP
Mexico: PRD
Britain: Tactical vote depending on a lot of factors
Northern Ireland: Tactical vote against both DUP and Sinn Fein
Ireland: Labour, but I'd be voting absentee from somewhere else in the EU since I'd NEVER voluntarily live in Ireland.
France: PS
Germany: SPD
Belgium: Whichever Socialist Party ran where I lived
Netherlands: SP
Norway: Labour
Sweden: Social Democrats
Denmark: Social Denmarks
Finland: Social Democrats
Iceland: Alliance
Italy: Democrats of the Left
Austria: SPÖ
Hungary: Socialists are lesser of two evils
Czech Republic: CSSD
Serbia: Democratic Party
Spain: PSOE
Portugal: Left Bloc
Switzerland: Probably would depend on which canton I lived in, and for federal elections wouldn't really matter anyway
Bulgaria: Socialists
Moldova: Communists
Ukraine: Right now Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc
Turkey: Republican Peoples' Party despite reservations

Countries I'm glad I don't have to vote in because all their parties suck:

Slovakia
Greece
Romania
Poland
Malta

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Bono, why do you support Fremskrittspartiet in Norway? They're xenophobic populists who want a massive expansion of the welfare state. Not what I'd expect from you.

I read they want to seriously dismantle the welfare state and make the economy more free market.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

1. Being against the formal system of education is not a left or right wing issue. Unless you consider Ivan Illich or George Bernard Shaw to be right-wing. 

You'd have a tough time finding anyone in the US besides radical libertarians and anti-government conservatives who support the abolishment of public schools.

2. Most leading Democrats supported the Iraq war, in 2004 the realistic presidential nominees all supported the war and those who opposed were not taken seriously.

Howard Dean didn't support the war and he was the frontrunner for most of the time (and seen as the inevitable nominee for awhile)

3. I admit the Democrats are not in bed with Religious right (Neither are the Republicans - except when it suits them.) but they are still a socially conservative and Authoritian party imo. Remember PATRIOT Act senate vote: 99-1

Also remember when it happened. Most Democrats are now opposed to the PATRIOT Act.

4. By your logic voting for a Democrat in say, UT-1, would also be a waste of time, no?

In all fairness probably, though I still would out of sheer partisanship. I'm still going to vote straight DFL with where I'm moving, even though the Democrats win every single election ever with no exceptions whatsoever, even opebo would landslide there. That's what I love about it

However, it certainly makes sense to vote Democratic in statewide and presidential elections there, as it's still Minnesota.

6. If you lived in Ireland you definetly be a green at least, if not a member of the Socialist party or even Socialist Workers Party (Hahahaha...). Your Irish equivalent would not vote for Labour.

I don't like any of the Irish parties actually.

7. What's wrong with Ireland?

I'm sure you know what the Magdalene Laundries were, right? Just too many horror stories I've heard about the place. I mean, this weekend I was drinking beer with some people who were born when you couldn't even buy condoms in Ireland! (and it was only a few years before I was born). And while things probably aren't so bad now the fact is Ireland still has one of the highest birth rates in the EU and far higher than the Catholic countries I don't mind (like France, Italy and Spain). Isn't Life of Brian banned in Ireland too?

And I just hate Catholicism in general.

And actually beyond all that Ireland doesn't really have what I like, I mean sure you have PLENTY of bars, but how many strip clubs? I also hardly ever hear of bands touring in Ireland and when they do they're usually crappy British street punk bands and the like. I can't name any Irish emo or post-hardcore bands. I'd have to live around Germany, France or Italy for the stuff I like. And since Ireland is an island I couldn't road trip to the big fests in those countries like I am to Indianapolis this summer.

I'd agree, but for his 'wasted vote' theories. If BRTD was born and brought up here, I'm fairly convinved he would be a Sinn Féiner. Obviously, given his anti-Catholic, pro-Unionist rhetoric this seems very odd to say the least, but pretty much all his other political philosophies can reconsile easily enough with SF. Like I say, this is incumbent on his being born and raised here. In the absence of that and assuming for some reason he suddenly found himself simply transplanted and living here tomorrow, his allegiance and vote would probably depend significantly on the constituency. The Socialist Party would be a distinct possibility where they're reasonably competitive.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like Catholicism regardless of where I was born, and I don't vote for terrorists regardless anyway. So that completely eliminates Sinn Fein. The only place I'd be willing to vote for them is Ian Paisley's constituency (as a pure protest vote), just as the only place I'd vote for the DUP is Gerry Adams' constituency.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

7. What's wrong with Ireland?

I'm sure you know what the Magdalene Laundries were, right?

I've read up on them. Mostly they were part of a much larger phenomenon in the British Isles as a whole. There were many such asylums in England and Scotland as well that had mostly the same sort of abuses and same "standards" as these asylums and by the second half of the 20th century they were already in decline, though the true villainy of these institutions wasn't found out until unmarked graves were found at the sight of one of these "laundries" in 1993.

The last one in Ireland was closed in 1996

Oh good heavens! You heard from some drinking buddy of yours that condoms were illegal in Ireland over 25 years ago. Wow. Don't you consider that places can change, as they have done in Ireland very quickly. It would be as uninformed as to basically consider the culture, politics and social mores of the early Reagan administration the currently accepted norms in America.

It wasn't some drinking buddy. I remember some article that said contraception was only legalized in Ireland in 1979.

Ireland has a general fertility rate of 1.86 children per woman. The United States has a general fertility rate of 2.17 children per woman. Australia is 1.81, New Zealand 1.78, Norway is 1.78, Denmark is 1.76, there really isn't a whole lot of difference between fertility rates in Ireland and those in the rest of the first world, they are actually lower than in the United States.

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ei.html

Birth rate: 14.45 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

The US has 14.14. Italy has 8.72. So yes, Ireland's numbers are not THAT much higher than the US's, but a large portion of that in the US is because of poverty (poor families in the ghetto are just likely to have more kids). The rate of people actually following Catholicism is certainly higher there than anywhere else in Europe and probably the US too.

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What a dumb and absolutely bigoted remark. I'm an agnostic of Catholic descent and I think that's pretty damn insulting. You seem to love your sweeping generalizations and your bigoted remarks. Suburbs, Muslims, now Catholics, you hate as many different groups of people as the KKK.

I said I hated Catholicism, not Catholics. If I hated Catholics I wouldn't have voted for one for President in 2004. Are you really fond of the patriarchial sexist Catholic hierarchy and social attitudes from the 19th century? I don't like the Southern Baptists because of this either, and for that reason I'm not all that found of the deep south states.

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Oh Jesus tapdancing Christ.

I like what I like.

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Thank you Irish people for at least not giving into that sh**t.

Whatever you think. That stuff is huge in Germany and Italy now. Yet it's bigger in North Dakota than in Ireland. (North Dakota seems to love the whole "screamy emo band with violin parts" thing)

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They do have car ferries to England and possibly to France from Ireland so it is possible to road trip to those places.

Yeah, but rather inconvenient. It'd be like living in the middle of Wyoming, aka even worse than North Dakota. At least ND has some pretty good shows in Fargo and does get some occasional good ones around Bismarck and Minot.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yeah, but rather inconvenient. It'd be like living in the middle of Wyoming, aka even worse than North Dakota. At least ND has some pretty good shows in Fargo and does get some occasional good ones around Bismarck and Minot.

It's not inconvenient at all. It's just that it's unfamilier to you. These two things are not the same.

It is inconvenient for me, just as living in the middle of Wyoming or rural North Dakota would be. And as it would be inconvenient for some rancher/hunter types in those places to be living in Minneapolis.

No, no it's not. It was when it was first released but has been available for viewing for as long as I can recall.

That's good. But now that I look up banned films in various countries, it appears Baise Moi and Romance are still banned, as is "Meet the Feebles" although I haven't heard of that one. Not good. I just don't like countries that ban movies, period.

What Colin said was mostly accurate on most issues - or at least the ones he knew (though Contraception without perscription was legalized only in 1978 iirc due to a supreme court case - Ireland in 1978 was quite a different country in some ways to Ireland now though.) as for morality, I don't much strip clubs as I have the self-respect to wait until a real woman comes along, but recently there was some furore when Stringfellows lap dance club opened in Dublin about a year ago or so with residential protests, etc soon afterwards it closed down due to lack of customers - perhaps Ireland isn't deprived enough for you BRTD, is that it?

Residential protests? Already enough reason not to like it. That applies to places in the US too of course. No one ever protests or is bothered by the local strip club, or the ones in Minneapolis. Minneapolis with it's 13 or so strip clubs certainly isn't "deprived" though and I once got laid through one so that's clearly not the issue here.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Since 2003 we have had a new Film Censor and films are rarely banned here anymore - I think only "Spun" was banned out of the films released to the censor since his appointment.

You shouldn't have a Film Censor at all though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Since 2003 we have had a new Film Censor and films are rarely banned here anymore - I think only "Spun" was banned out of the films released to the censor since his appointment.

You shouldn't have a Film Censor at all though.

The title of Film Cencor is increasingly a misnomer insofar as the job really entails the certification of films much more than the censoring thereof which is a very rare and increasingly pointless activity (this is the age of the internet after all).

Though, I also think that for all you can try and slam Ireland in this area, it's not as if the U.S. doesn't have it's own issues in this regard. TPTB's attitudes (in the U.S.) to swearing and to things like whats-her-name's 'wardrobe malfunction' at the Superbowl a few years back come to mind.

Swearing? No one cares about swearing. They show the South Park movie on TV unedited all the time.

The Super Bowl thing, well that was pretty idiotic, but it also happened on a largely watched prime time TV show, not a movie. Moral outrage against movies doesn't happen anymore.