UPDATED: Which Party Should I Join?

[Free Bird]

Based off iSideWith

Social Issues: With the exception of guns, I am very much in the progressive camp. I am all for gay rights, am satisfied with current abortion laws, etc. I am sharply opposed to the death penalty, and feel references to God should be removed in future cases.

Environmental/Energy: I believe in strict standards to protect the environment for future issues. While still supporting it for now, we should gradually ween ourselves off oil and focus on alternative energies, including temporarily subsidizing wind to prop it up. I am for labeling GMOs 100%

Economic/Healthcare: I am firmly in the starve the beast camp. I won't go into detail, but I am basically a follower of Ron Paul's economic plan, sans the gold standard. The income tax is an abomination, and we need to eliminate spending that is not constitutional. For healthcare, we need to scrap all current medical spending, including the filth that is Obamacare and replace it with Medicare for all, as well as an expansion to make it more broad. This could also allow us to scrap Medicaid! On the same merit, we need to pass tort reform and a separate preexisting conditions bill to make private insurance viable and affordable, too. This will save billions a year. I am all for unapologetically cracking apart monopolies. This will inject TRUE capitalist competition into the economy, and free us from corporatism crap. For welfare, I generally support the LePage plan. Look it up since this paragraph is getting too long.

Domestic: First and foremost, the NSA and Patriot Act are a cancer to this world. We need to get rid of them. They haven't done ANYTHING to stop attacks. For drugs, I think the US needs to adopt the Portugal Method. It would end the drug war, thus saving lots of money, AND drop addiction rates. I am 100% for Net Neutrality and Congressional Term Limits. I am a huge supporter of the Wolf Pac Amendment (it only makes sense), and believe that affirmative action is an outdated concept that needs to be scraped.

Education: The smaller the better is my policy. Common Core and the DoE need to be scrapped. I believe that States should be allowed to set broad standards for the FUNCTIONING of schools, such as the length of school days. Otherwise, I believe that school boards should be allowed to set their own loose standards with the three Rs, and make other classes optional. The local control of standards would give parents much more power, and therefore make school boards as a whole more accountable. We've all joked on how we won't need to know how to solve physics equations for real life, so why make a class like that mandatory. Besides the three Rs, this would allow schools to develop strong elective courses to allow students to foster THEIR interests, like a controlled environment unschooling. Doing this will make the jobs they go into in the future more productive and more more enjoyable than the cubicle job that a current high school education will bring you into. This is the true solution to "competing in a global economy" as opposed to making everyone robots. That method has been tried and failed.

Foreign Policy/Immigration: Withdraw all foreign aid and only go to war if we or our closest allies are attacked. We aren't the policemen of the world and need to stop acting like it. The first step to real immigration reform is to admit that both sides politicize it. Democrats want more immigrants because Hispanics vote Democrat, and vice versa for Republicans. Most people that come here want to better their lives, so why should we impair their ability to do so? The new process should involve a simple background check, and when you pass it, a universal visa, the only diverging ones being whether or not you brought family with you. For two years you have to learn English and can work here at your leisure. After the two years is up, you take an English test. A simple one. If you pass, welcome to the country. If you are caught here illegally, you are slapped with a hefty fine and then sent through the above described process.

So, which party should I join?

[RINO Tom]

You should not join a party based on a test, IMO.  I'm a Republican because I admire the history of the Party of Lincoln, my family has been Republican for generations and because I believe the GOP could more easily be molded into a party I fully approve of than could the Democratic Party.  I also view independents as "sitting on the sidelines."

[Free Bird]

You should not join a party based on a test, IMO.  I'm a Republican because I admire the history of the Party of Lincoln, my family has been Republican for generations and because I believe the GOP could more easily be molded into a party I fully approve of than could the Democratic Party.  I also view independents as "sitting on the sidelines."

I'm only using the issues presented on the test. I actually fluctuate on the actual test results, hence why I'm asking for other people's input

[SATW]

Republican.

 I'm a pretty mainstream Republican (in the 18-29 age group, at least) and you and I agree more often then not.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

As I said last time, it doesn't matter. go to both parties organisations and choose whichever has highest chance of getting you some action.

[Free Bird]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, but I was wondering more based on philosophy

[Mehmentum]

You shouldn't feel compelled to place yourself in one party or another.  If you must chose, it seems like your closer to a Republican than a Democrat, though it really depends on which issues are important to you.

On Social Issues, the Environment, and Immigration you fit with the Democrats.  On the Economy, Healthcare, and Education you fit with Republicans.  For most people, the economy is the deciding issue, though your mileage may vary on that.

[Mr. Illini]

Democratic - the ass you save may be your own

[Redalgo]

It seems quite clear to me that you should be a Libertarian. Your positions on the environment could be defended using the non-aggression principle if interpreted to apply on an inter-generational basis. Your stances on that matter won't be very popular with other folks in the party but there will be more overall compatibility than if you go with either of the two major parties - both of which are too paternalistic and communitarian for your tastes, no? In the U.S. the Greens are social democrats and ecosocialists for the most part, which makes for too sharp of a contrast with your vision for the role of the government. Your environmental and tax ideas might make you fit in with the Unity Party of Maine - although I think on the whole you would be disappointed by their lack of common ground with you on controversial social issues.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It sounds like you would fit in fairly enough with the Maine Republican Party.

I don't think you can get 'Medicare for All' without a big increase in taxes, btw.

[Free Bird]

It sounds like you would fit in fairly enough with the Maine Republican Party.

I don't think you can get 'Medicare for All' without a big increase in taxes, btw.

Even if you cut ALL medical spending and replaced it with it?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It sounds like you would fit in fairly enough with the Maine Republican Party.

I don't think you can get 'Medicare for All' without a big increase in taxes, btw.

Even if you cut ALL medical spending and replaced it with it?

Yes, since it costs more to cover all the country's medical expenses than it does to cover half of them.

[Zioneer]

You're a Libertarian who happens to like Medicare for All, the end of Citizens United, and subsidizing clean energy.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

You a fan of Mike Gravel, by any chance?

[Free Bird]

You a fan of Mike Gravel, by any chance?

He be the boss

[dead0man]

You don't have to be in a party.  I'm currently registered as a Pubby (for primary season reasons), but I rarely vote that way.  The Libertarians are often too loopy for me.  The GOP too stuck in the past, the Dems, too full of sh**t.  Individuals of any party can be fine, but the parties themselves tend to suck.

[Free Bird]

Cut enough spending in other places and I don't think you'll have to raise taxes to pay for universal Medicare