Calling all Republicans/Conservatives
Jun. 10th, 2008 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_sparrow(I know I must have at least one or two on my list; feel free to forward this to others. I want as many responses as I can get.)
*dusts journal off* Been a while, huh?
I have a question for you. This is an honest question, no sarcasm involved. It was sparked by a conversation with my boyfriend (Republican). I'll admit that while he's got a high base intelligence, his education is not what it could be and he is not the most articulate of people, hence why this is going on LJ.
I know a fair amount of Republicans (by which I mean people who identify with and seem to support the ideals of the party which currently calls itself Republican.) Now, I've tried to stay away from politics recently, because I'm flat sick of it, and besides which the guy I like dropped out ages ago.
Not a one of these people, some of whom are extremely smart folks, can answer my questions. Neither do the Republicans on television.
My question is, why? Okay, so Hilary is evil (another thing that no one will explain-- never why, just is) and Obama is inexperienced (which I'll grant, though it's not like it's his first day in politics either). So what makes the Republican candidates better? I'm willing to listen, but no one will talk. There's plenty of mud-slinging and blustering and nonsense words (that last can get pretty funny though), but no one will convince me. No one will tell me why-- except for reasons that are completely irrelevant. My boyfriend, for example, wants to vote for McCain, for no other reason than he spent six years in a POW camp. When I say, "Okay, yes, I also respect him for that, now what do you consider his qualifications as a president?" I get a blank look. The same has been true for other people.
My other question is, why are you a Republican? I don't understand how people can still follow the party. It's funny, my dad calls me a liberal (still don't understand why that word is supposed to be an insult). Really, if Republicans were still what I considered Republican, I would be one (my mom calls it "Goldwater Republican"). I'm extremely fiscally conservative, believe in small government with minimal governmental interference, as few taxes as can efficiently run the country, states rights (within, as now, an broader set of laws to maintain cohesiveness). I despise the way the current administration is throwing money around, quite frankly.
I'm about half and half on social issues; in some areas I'm very conservative, where in others I'm liberal. I think abortion should be legal. I think everyone should have access to education.
There's another question. WHY is education a 'liberal' thing? Isn't education good? Don't we want people in this country to know things? Shouldn't we know what's gone before, how to speak our own language*, you know, little things like that? Things most people don't seem to have ever learned, or promptly forgot if they did? So tell me, why is it 'liberal' to want education? Suppressing or preventing knowledge is a sign of tyranny, not the way of a free and civilized people.
*(that always cracks me up-- oh yes, it should be the official language, don't you dare make me press one for English, it's not like most of the languages native speakers can't use it for shit. When most of the people you meet who can use your own language properly grew up speaking another, it's time to be depressed.)
That's about all. It's not as clean and coherent as I would like, but it's been a long day, and there's a fire about five miles away with wind blowing strong towards my house, so I'm just a tad scattered.
My gratitude towards anyone who replies. I apologize if I sounded snarky anywhere in there; written word is a hard medium to get one's meaning across sometimes, and I do have a tendency to sound rather bratty if I don't watch myself closely. No offense is intended; I truly do want to hear answers to my questions.
Thanks.
-Sparrow
*dusts journal off* Been a while, huh?
I have a question for you. This is an honest question, no sarcasm involved. It was sparked by a conversation with my boyfriend (Republican). I'll admit that while he's got a high base intelligence, his education is not what it could be and he is not the most articulate of people, hence why this is going on LJ.
I know a fair amount of Republicans (by which I mean people who identify with and seem to support the ideals of the party which currently calls itself Republican.) Now, I've tried to stay away from politics recently, because I'm flat sick of it, and besides which the guy I like dropped out ages ago.
Not a one of these people, some of whom are extremely smart folks, can answer my questions. Neither do the Republicans on television.
My question is, why? Okay, so Hilary is evil (another thing that no one will explain-- never why, just is) and Obama is inexperienced (which I'll grant, though it's not like it's his first day in politics either). So what makes the Republican candidates better? I'm willing to listen, but no one will talk. There's plenty of mud-slinging and blustering and nonsense words (that last can get pretty funny though), but no one will convince me. No one will tell me why-- except for reasons that are completely irrelevant. My boyfriend, for example, wants to vote for McCain, for no other reason than he spent six years in a POW camp. When I say, "Okay, yes, I also respect him for that, now what do you consider his qualifications as a president?" I get a blank look. The same has been true for other people.
My other question is, why are you a Republican? I don't understand how people can still follow the party. It's funny, my dad calls me a liberal (still don't understand why that word is supposed to be an insult). Really, if Republicans were still what I considered Republican, I would be one (my mom calls it "Goldwater Republican"). I'm extremely fiscally conservative, believe in small government with minimal governmental interference, as few taxes as can efficiently run the country, states rights (within, as now, an broader set of laws to maintain cohesiveness). I despise the way the current administration is throwing money around, quite frankly.
I'm about half and half on social issues; in some areas I'm very conservative, where in others I'm liberal. I think abortion should be legal. I think everyone should have access to education.
There's another question. WHY is education a 'liberal' thing? Isn't education good? Don't we want people in this country to know things? Shouldn't we know what's gone before, how to speak our own language*, you know, little things like that? Things most people don't seem to have ever learned, or promptly forgot if they did? So tell me, why is it 'liberal' to want education? Suppressing or preventing knowledge is a sign of tyranny, not the way of a free and civilized people.
*(that always cracks me up-- oh yes, it should be the official language, don't you dare make me press one for English, it's not like most of the languages native speakers can't use it for shit. When most of the people you meet who can use your own language properly grew up speaking another, it's time to be depressed.)
That's about all. It's not as clean and coherent as I would like, but it's been a long day, and there's a fire about five miles away with wind blowing strong towards my house, so I'm just a tad scattered.
My gratitude towards anyone who replies. I apologize if I sounded snarky anywhere in there; written word is a hard medium to get one's meaning across sometimes, and I do have a tendency to sound rather bratty if I don't watch myself closely. No offense is intended; I truly do want to hear answers to my questions.
Thanks.
-Sparrow
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Re: not republican, just curious
Date: 2008-06-11 02:20 am (UTC)And the bureaucracy needs to get pared down significantly.
What I think the current (and many of the previous) administration is doing is taxing far too much and wasting the generated revenue.
That's about as far as my brain can go right now. I'm off to dinner. If you want to ask me more questions, please do so. In a way this post is as much to help me frame and understand my own beliefs, as well as those of others.
Re: not republican, just curious
Date: 2008-06-11 04:31 am (UTC)I'm confused.
Re: not republican, just curious
Date: 2008-06-11 05:49 pm (UTC)Sure, take care of those are sick. That's a necessary part of a civilized, healthy people. However, I believe if the focus was put on preventative health, ie a small surgery to prevent a large one, promoting good food and exercise, along with a STRONG focus on creating vaccines or cures for those issues that currently have none, or for which the treatments are not entirely effective or, in some cases, nearly as bad as the issue itself... I believe that only then will we have health in this country. You can't make people well when their lives and our ineffective health system don't show them how to be. You can't make people well when you're playing catch-up on the ones that aren't. You need to make it so that fewer get sick in the first place (and for the economically-minded, less sick people = less money spent on making them better).