I think my take on this is that a conservative POV seems based in fear and closed-mindedness. It also doesn't seem very spiritual or even christian in how it explains the world. What's the moral importance of low taxes, small government, and a strong defense? It seems to denigrate our social responsibility to our neighbors (every man or woman for themselves). I don't feel the current liberal attitude is much better however, but it does seem that they at least pretend to care about the people. Just my view.
Look. If you are going to vote based on your religion in saying that if you are an evangelical so you have to vote for the GOP, then you are an idiot. Are there people out there like this? Yes, absolutely. Just like there are militant-atheists who will always vote against the person who is the most religious (Or will never vote for someone who is religious). We never hear about this latter group, however.
But for this forum (LPSG politics) to repeatedly say that a "conservative... seems based in fear and closed-mindedness" and all the other claims is just getting really old. It is as-if, I am automatically defaulted when I speak because (1) I am conservative leaning and (2) because I am a Christian.
What are you questioning about the low taxes, small government, and strong defense? Yes, I believe in low taxes. Actually, I think that we should make what we make, not give it to a government that repeatedly does all the wrong stuff with it. Yes, I believe in a small government. I believe this is right because that is why this country was founded. The settlers wanted government
out of their life, so they moved here to gain freedom. They didn't want the government taking their money, "just because" so they also didn't have taxes. And as for a strong defense, by this I mean a very lean, mean strong defense. We spend way too much on our military as is. But, I do think it is our Federal government's job to protect the States should it be attacked (we can't have Maine protect itself if it is attacked, type thing).
In all, I just believe in personal liberty, freedom, and responsibility. Should we take care of our neighbors? Yeah, but it should be out of morality and duty to ones neighbor. It should not be arm-behind-the-back taken from you (taxes). We need to quit thinking that some faceless entity (government) is going to take care of our neighbors
for us and start doing it ourselves.
A perfect example of this change of mind is this... Back in the day if your carriage or car broke down, people would stop and help you. Now, today, people just drive by and hope that you can find your own help (here in AZ, I've seen people with their cars on fire, and the whole highway just drives by and stares). Back in the day if your house burned down, your neighbors would come over to help you rebuild it and let you sleep in their house while it is being rebuilt. Today, we all hope that the government will provide some sort of disaster relief and we don't even go ask our neighbor if they are OK or need anything. These are a few things that come to mind. In a nut shell we don't need to take more money to force us to "do good," we need to obtain a sense of community again. I don't like giving my money to some entity who is going to spend it however it feels is "best." Perfect example, is the Iraq war. I didn't and don't want to pay for the Iraq war, but I have to anyways because the government says so. Wouldn't it be nice to have some voice in where your money and thus your help goes?
The "ubers" on both side are to blame. You and I both know this.
So where did you mention this? All I saw in the post you put above was
"influx of these uber-conservatives coming into the forums" and I don't see any mention or blame of this other side. I never do, it is always the GOP/Republicans/Conservatives who come in and "start stuff."
I'm sure some people tend to think that I'm an extreme liberal because I'm siding with Obama. But if you can REALLY look at my gripes, it's all about supporting someone that is truly like me, and even though no politician can truly be like me I know one is closer to it than the other. And sadly, that means I cannot support (or even relate) to a privileged male who owns multiple houses and cars, and thinks the middle class is defined by those who make less than $5 Million. Doesn't matter if he's a war hero.
I am confused here VB. In another post you said that you were a hillary supporter but am now a Obama supporter because he still more closely resembles what you believe than the othe side. However, here you are saying you support Obama because his net worth is closer to your own. So, with that said, why would you have gone for Clinton in the first place when her net worth is right up there with McCains? I mean are they all really that different? They all live in million dollar homes. They all have investments worth a lot of money. I'm sure they all have multiple [nice] cars. So, in other words, none of these people are close to
you and I. At the end of the day, we are picking between Millionaire A or Millionaire B, someone who makes 10x more than a healthy family $100k!
(On a side note I think it is interesting that a lot of the figures I've found about how each candidate made took Cindy McCain's net worth and combined it with Johns. Same with Hillary, they counted in Bill Clinton's money to her net worth. However, when doing Obama's, they did not count in Michelle's money. Interesting, but I could be wrong.).