When reading articles and message boards I find it somewhat distracting from the point when the author or respondent begins using labels to describe another with a differing opinion.
IE....left, right,dem, neocon, etc etc..
I do tend to get lost in all the rhetoric.
Sometimes making it difficult for me to digest the topic.

This leaves me wondering where do I fit in ? What label should apply to me ?
In past elections I tend to think of myself as independent. I don't follow one party with any allegiance.
Though it appears I may have missed the point. The candidates will follow the lead or that common thread that connects them to a party; regardless of any grandstanding, speeches or promises made in the heat of the moment.
I really need a scorecard or something that offers direction in the search for truth. (truth, politics..Yeah right)

My concerns are that government gets too big and then out of control.
You know like w/the IRS and w/social programs like welfare.
It really bugs me the thought of some fat ass momma getting pregnant "again" to work the system and increase the amount of her monthly check.
This plan will also include the health care for the "won't work but will eat" breeder and her pups.
All the while kids starve living on the streets and old people can't afford their meds.
The public and businesses have to held accountable for the state of our environment.

I may be stuck somewhere between Green and Libertarian.

Who are you ?

I have also debated at length my place in the political spectrum. As children tend to follow their parents example, I considered myself a liberal for a long time. (My mom is about the most liberal person you will ever meet). And yet as I grew older, I found myself agreeing with more and more conservative viewpoints, and disagreeing with some of the more radical liberal ideas. Although I would consider myself a lot more of a liberal Democrat than a conservative Republican, I'm sure anyone who knows me well would call me a Moderate. If you read my posts in the Politics section you will find that my views on almost every issue are usually in the middle of the argument.

Jim,

Your concerns about the IRS and welfare land you squarely in the conservative camp. Your ideas on the public and businesses being accountable to "the evironment" land you more in the liberal camp. Most people are like that, leaning toward one group in certain situations and leaning towards another on other issues.

i think it's better for people to embrace and be honest about the views they hold, rather than sell their souls to support a political party.

I'm about 80% libertarian.

I am essentially a moderate libertarian who leans more to the left than to the right.

What ever happened to the political barometer? Here you go. (http://www.politicalcompass.org/)

wowie kazowie.

that thing had me all the way down in the lower left hand corner, right between "left" and "libertarian".

i think the label that describes me best is progressive socialist, and i'm way too far to the left for the democrats, so if i had to support a party it'd be the greens.

That's in fitting with being a hippy Canadian. :)

im an anarcho socialist! yay! and sputniks actually a closeted marxists. :eek:

if your having trouble deciding who you are ther is no doubt you are a liberal

Originally posted by Travh20
if your having trouble deciding who you are ther is no doubt you are a liberal

I guess "liberal" says it all eh Trav?

Originally posted by Vilepagan
I guess "liberal" says it all eh Trav?

Good to hear from you again.

Yeah, where have you been, Vile?

Interesting site Prae; shows me as -4 by -4. I would prefer to say fiscal conservative / social moderate.

if your a fiscal conservative and social moderate then I am the pope

Bwhahahahaha! I thought the same thing...:)

if your a fiscal conservative and social moderate then I am the pope I don't even buy cars on credit. I pay cash money. My credit record is so clean it squeaks. My mother was a child of the depression and taught me well. As a conservative I have a problem with a party which pushes the Balanced Budget Amendment when they are out of power and then runs up trillions in debt when they are in power. Does that answer your question, your Holiness?

Originally posted by The Praetorian
Yeah, where have you been, Vile?

Moving and trying to figure out how to save money by combining my phone and internet service, and dealing with a virus infected computer :( ...I'm back now :)...and it's nice that I was missed.

Originally posted by Vilepagan
Moving and trying to figure out how to save money by combining my phone and internet service, and dealing with a virus infected computer :( ...I'm back now :)...and it's nice that I was missed.
Have you looked into any voice over IP solutions? Everything gets conducted over the Internet, and at a nominal charge, I might add. I also think it's common protocol for your service provider to offer you fairly effective virus software at no charge as well.

And yes, I'll admit, I missed your cynicism...

Welcome back Vile !
About the political barometer, it's really biased. I stand on the left/libertarian corner, while I do not consider myself so libertarian (I am in fact favorable to very regulated society). I have many frends who are much, much more leftists than me - should they be off the chart ?

Most likely, yes - they should.

Originally posted by fluffernutter
I don't even buy cars on credit. I pay cash money. My credit record is so clean it squeaks. My mother was a child of the depression and taught me well. As a conservative I have a problem with a party which pushes the Balanced Budget Amendment when they are out of power and then runs up trillions in debt when they are in power. Does that answer your question, your Holiness?
Why would you buy a car with cash? With today's financing, you'd be better off investing the money in short term CD's that pay 3 to 5% while you pay the car off incrementally. Think about it, you’d make some money in the process, and all while improving your credit score. Spending your cash in one, lump sum is flat out stupid, Mr. Fiscal Conservative. This is just one investment scenario - be creative...

i took a political barometer test of a similar format on the libertarian party's website, and i was WAY off the chart.

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

Yeah, that test has me in the far right corner of the libertarian quadrant, bordering on conservative. I guess I kind of see that, but I have to say, in all honesty, I'm leery of any "placement" test that consists of 10 questions.

that site had me as a right wing authoritarian, pretty accurate huh?

While you and I favor a similar political belief system, I don't think being that far right is necessarily a good thing, CM...

Political Compass has me at:
Economic Left/Right: 2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15

And the ten-question one has me on the extreme left edge on social issues, and somewhere in the middle economically.

Jim's, these fat ass mommas that's getting pregnant wouldn't have to work the system if these fat ass dead-beat daddys were working and paying child support. It take two to make a woman pregnant.

Wake up, and see things for how they really are. The dead-beat fat ass daddys are working the system too. Catch my drift?

Either I've lapsed into a vortex of complete cyber-stupidity, or your post makes no sense, whatsoever. Which is it?

http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=no

i took that one once, and it said i was an anarcho-communist. is that even POSSIBLE?

i am so obsessed with these things, its not even funny. especially since they all give me the same result. i guess it just makes me happy to have the computer tell me i'm a leftist.

Wow, they have me classified as a Right-wing Neoliberal. That's a new one...

:@@:
the Political Compass summary..
Economic Left/Right: -3.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.77

Puts me somewhere between Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama ?

I don't think the test has ever seen my posts or my blog.
:confused:

Praetorian, if my post was what didn't make sense to you, I was responding to the very first post in this thread. Maybe I should have made that known, but I figured it would click with the author of the thread as soon as it was read. ;)

Gotcha...

Thanks for clearing that up.

Originally posted by M&Mdelite
Jim's, these fat ass mommas that's getting pregnant wouldn't have to work the system if these fat ass dead-beat daddys were working and paying child support. It take two to make a woman pregnant.
Wake up, and see things for how they really are. The dead-beat fat ass daddys are working the system too. Catch my drift?
I was eluding to a problem w/the system.
and Yes it takes two to tango.
The moms don't always know who the dad is and the dads aren't always informed or just don't care.
A responsibility for both and apparently w/o using protection... scary...

Point is becomes a burden to society and how our tax $ are spent.
I don't deny those in need but I resent those along for the ride.

American "Liberal"

Is what I got. HAHA

I got "social-liberal", whatever that is supposed to mean.

Originally posted by jim's op/ed


Point is becomes a burden to society and how our tax $ are spent.


actually, a pretty good chunk of our tax money is spent on weapons and other military expeditures. it was in the hundreds of billiobs just for Iraq. we don't spend anywhere near that on welfare and other social services. i bet if we got rid of our military we would have no problem creating better ways to support those in need.

Originally posted by WhammyBar
actually, a pretty good chunk of our tax money is spent on weapons and other military expeditures. it was in the hundreds of billiobs just for Iraq. we don't spend anywhere near that on welfare and other social services. i bet if we got rid of our military we would have no problem creating better ways to support those in need.

Heck, the city of Cincinnati alone just passed a $1 billion school building plan, so don't lose perspective on spending. Yeah, a billion sounds like a lot of money (and it is), but in the context of the federal government, not so much. In fact, according to this (warning - pdf file):

U.S. budget report (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/pdf/hist.pdf)

(see page 56)

we spent an estimated $450 billion on defense and an estimated $1.5 trillion on "social services."