there is probably a similar thread but I'm too lazy to look
I'm not really political but I do follow politics a little. What annoys me is the extreme liberals and extreme conservatives.
I watch politicians on TV and to me it seems clear they are only going with their party's stance on a particular issue. I personally look at each subject I'm confronted with and form my opinion, so depending on the subject I can be liberal or I can be conservative. I just wish more politicians would use common sence on the issues. My two main political topics are food & drugs and religion, I think they don't mix with politics

I agree that political lables are mostly meaningless and it positions on issues that we should pay attention to.  But that assumes that politicians are willing to take a pragmatic, rather than an idiological, position on the issues.  Take Social Security as an example.  Sooner or later the fund will be payin g out more than it takes in.  Any rational person would say "well, lets find more revenue for it, like upping the tax a few tenths of a % or raising the cap without increasing benefits."  Instead, we get an idiological response - "lets deprive it of some of the revenue it now gets by "privatizing" some of it."  Its hard for me, at least, to see any of this, and many other issues in a non-idiological way when our "leaders" play p[olitics with EVERYTHING.

It can all be summed up very easily, once again by the great Chris Rock.

"Any fool, who makes up his mind on an issue, before he knows anything about it.. is a stupid Mother Fluffer!"

That's exactly what the 'labels' do. You got individuals (not to name anybody) who will follow the party line on everything (unless of course it is bad for them) no matter how stupid, inane or petty a policy is, they will fight tooth and nail for it, because it's 'obviously' there way of thinking.

BS!

We should also find a way to limit our dependence on natural gas, I've heard that the big oil companies pay big money to get rid of any invention that would limit our dependency on natural gas. Something need to be done about food companies as well, these company's have lobbied so hard that there is no telling what's in the foods we eat, I know when I go to Europe the food tastes much different, I wonder why? How can food companies claim to have the best ingredients when they go out of their way to use the cheapest ingredients as possible to maximize profits?

We should also find a way to limit our dependence on natural gas, I've heard that the big oil companies pay big money to get rid of any invention that would limit our dependency on natural gas. Something need to be done about food companies as well, these company's have lobbied so hard that there is no telling what's in the foods we eat, I know when I go to Europe the food tastes much different, I wonder why? How can food companies claim to have the best ingredients when they go out of their way to use the cheapest ingredients as possible to maximize profits?


Notn to be sarcastic, but this sounds rather "policical" to me.  By the way, I buy as much as I can from the farmer, right out of the garden. 

It can all be summed up very easily, once again by the great Chris Rock.

"Any fool, who makes up his mind on an issue, before he knows anything about it.. is a stupid Mother Fluffer!"

That's exactly what the 'labels' do. You got individuals (not to name anybody) who will follow the party line on everything (unless of course it is bad for them) no matter how stupid, inane or petty a policy is, they will fight tooth and nail for it, because it's 'obviously' there way of thinking.

BS!



I agree. Some people think because "he" said this, or "she" said that it must be true-when "he" and "she" are deffinately towing the party line. This nation is really being divided along political lines. I have NEVER seen it so polarized in my life.





Cat

Notn to be sarcastic, but this sounds rather "policical" to me.  By the way, I buy as much as I can from the farmer, right out of the garden. 
I can be political at times  :)

Political labels are annoying.  That is why I refer to myself as "Conservative" as opposed to "Republican" even though I do tend to vote republican.

I am conservative in the way I dress, the way I act and the way I speak. My political views also tend to be conservative, but there are exceptions.  I am pro-choice even though I personally could never have an abortion.  I support gay marriage even though I'm not gay.  I also support legalization of marijuana.

I feel people should have rights to use their own bodies and their own belongings the way they wish, as long as their actions aren't endangering or harming the general public.  If some  metalhead from Georgia (just an example, of course) wants to bite his toenails & grow marijuana in his backyard, that has nothing to do with me, or even anything to do with his neighbors.

Political labels are annoying.  That is why I refer to myself as "Conservative" as opposed to "Republican" even though I do tend to vote republican.

I am conservative in the way I dress, the way I act and the way I speak. My political views also tend to be conservative, but there are exceptions.  I am pro-choice even though I personally could never have an abortion.  I support gay marriage even though I'm not gay.  I also support legalization of marijuana.

I feel people should have rights to use their own bodies and their own belongings the way they wish, as long as their actions aren't endangering or harming the general public.  If some  metalhead from Georgia (just an example, of course) wants to bite his toenails & grow marijuana in his backyard, that has nothing to do with me, or even anything to do with his neighbors.
just tell 'em to stop stealing the buds  ;D

Just because one calls himself a Republican or Conservative doesn't mean that person must toe the party line 110% all the time. Anyone who does any independent thinking will find themselves at odds with people whom they usually count as political allies when it comes to a few issues. Those few issues are negligible enough to still apply a term to oneself. It's a useful and even necessary thing. Can you imagine not having words for certain beliefs? They help you to express yourself more accurately and concisely to others. If someone makes the mistake of assuming that "Republican" or "Democrat" is the only word he needs to hear to know everything about another's political beliefs, that's his problem.

It's fun to sit around and b'tch about political labeling, but the truth is they are here for a reason and they are just as useful as they are annoying.

This comes from a post I made a while back (an article by Kurt Vonnegut), but it seems relevant here:

Even crazier than golf, though, is modern American politics, where, thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.

Actually, this same sort of thing happened to the people of England generations ago, and Sir William Gilbert, of the radical team of Gilbert and Sullivan, wrote these words for a song about it back then:

I often think it’s comical
How nature always does contrive
That every boy and every gal
That’s born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative.
Which one are you in this country? It’s practically a law of life that you have to be one or the other? If you aren’t one or the other, you might as well be a doughnut.

If some of you still haven’t decided, I’ll make it easy for you.

If you want to take my guns away from me, and you’re all for murdering fetuses, and love it when homosexuals marry each other, and want to give them kitchen appliances at their showers, and you’re for the poor, you’re a liberal.

If you are against those perversions and for the rich, you’re a conservative.

What could be simpler?

there is probably a similar thread but I'm too lazy to look
I'm not really political but I do follow politics a little. What annoys me is the extreme liberals and extreme conservatives.
I watch politicians on TV and to me it seems clear they are only going with their party's stance on a particular issue. I personally look at each subject I'm confronted with and form my opinion, so depending on the subject I can be liberal or I can be conservative. I just wish more politicians would use common sence on the issues. My two main political topics are food & drugs and religion, I think they don't mix with politics


RIGHT ON! people cant have their own opinion because they want to label themselves they automatically think they have to go with whatever that party believes..now I'm not saying everyone but a large majority

You can probably tell from my wordy arguments in favor of or against this and that that I research my positions as well. While I can see what you are saying about conservatives and liberals, please remember that there are people out there who research each issue and come to the "liberal" or "conservative" view on most of them, thus making them either Liberal or Conservative. But, the labels are missused a lot.