An honest, serious discussion about the Democratic and Republican Parties

[Badger]

The Democratic and Republican parties stand for murder and evil and always have, though possibly less so at certain points.

Edgy!

Or perhaps I should have just said attention- whorey!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Democratic and Republican parties stand for murder and evil and always have, though possibly less so at certain points.

It would be more useful to note that the upper class engages in murder and 'evil' through the capitalist system, and that these 'political parties' are mere tools towards that genocidal end.  Blaming these parties would be like blaming the gun for the murder - sure, you should ban the gun, but you also need to guillotine the owning class.

Whats up with the obsession with guillotines?

It's an aesthetic thing, mostly. He likes the idea of the guillotine.

[opebo]

The Democratic and Republican parties stand for murder and evil and always have, though possibly less so at certain points.

It would be more useful to note that the upper class engages in murder and 'evil' through the capitalist system, and that these 'political parties' are mere tools towards that genocidal end.  Blaming these parties would be like blaming the gun for the murder - sure, you should ban the gun, but you also need to guillotine the owning class.

Whats up with the obsession with guillotines?

It's an aesthetic thing, mostly. He likes the idea of the guillotine.

Not far off Al, I do like old but effective machinery.  But really its not so much an obsession with guillotines as with the idea of the privileged having their heads forcibly and suddenly removed, so that they might get one last look at those they offended.

[Ogre Mage]

Since social policy has been given somewhat a short shrift here, I would say that starting with the civil rights movement in the 1960s, virtually every advance for socially disenfranchised groups has come though the Democratic Party.  Certainly there have been individual Republican politicians who have been supportive but in general the party's stance has been somewhere from total indifference to outright hostility -- the current battle over gay rights being a case in point.  I noted that when the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which provided financial compensation for Japanese-American WW II internees came up for a vote, a large majority of Democrats supported it while a majority of Republicans opposed it.  And being both gay and a minority, I would rather shoot myself than vote for the GOP.

[fezzyfestoon]

TJ as someone who is more focused on fiscal issues than social issues(although I would still consider myself a social conservative just one that doesn't vocalize really at all) I have to say that I am in the minority in the party. Most are more social issue driven than fiscal issue driven and that includes the majority of congress. The only difference right now is that the economy has thrust fiscal issues to the forefront for the time being. It wont remain there and I'm okay admitting that soon enough the concerns of predominately social conservatives will soon dominate those of predominately fiscal conservatives.

Social issues are a distraction from real policy discussion. They are predominantly a marketing tool used by the Republican Party to rile up supporters because social issues are and always will be extremely polarizing. It mobilizes people for a campaign without having to actually outline anything of substance. There's nothing deep, intuitive, innovative, or even capable of benefiting anyone's life about conservative social issues. They are meant to make people angry and perpetuate ignorance. The less people pay attention to the giant scam that is the US government, the better for them. They just keep getting elected and doing nothing but rake in the dough.