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From age 15 to 20 I was a Republican because that is what my parents were.
From age 21 to 28 I was a Democrat because that is what the electrical union (IBEW) said was best for me and my career in the union.
From age 29 to 31 I pondered things, read and paid more attention not claiming an allegiance of any kind.
From age 32 to 45 (current day) I have been a conservative Republican because I finally discovered common sense as it pertains to how things should be run so as not to become a 3rd world country. This last epiphany happened organically through life experiences.
When I was a kid I considered myself a democrat also because that's what my mom was. The older I got and had to fend for myself I became more republican. I don't like the establishment types from either party though.
So a few days ago I got to talking to a guy in my office who happened to be a Republican/Con about politics. Unlike the discussions on this forum, we actually talked about where each side REALLY stands on issues rather than just attacking Obama, Trump, Hillary in a repetitive way like most people on this forum.
Anyway, what I discovered in our conversation is that his beliefs about what Liberals really believe was mostly false or exaggerated. I also found out that we actually agree on issues I would not of expected.
The question is why did you choose your political party and do you REALLY know what the other side believes or do you just go off FOX FALSE NEWS and CNN Not Real NEWS?
When I was a teenager living in MA, some of my friends were HUGE Kennedy family fans. I wasn't impressed though. Anyway, as soon as I could vote, I always registered as an Independent. I only wanted to vote for the best person for the post, and not just follow party lines. And in MA, even though we are a blue state, we'd have several Republican governors. And under Romney, MA developed Romneycare which worked really well (MA didn't need Obamacare).
In the last 15 years, I've become much more right-leaning. Democrats just want to give freebies to everyone with their hands out. So now I vote with my wallet and vote red.
I don't buy into party politics, and neither should anyone else. Parties have gotten worse as of late. It used to be understood that a Democrat representing a district in Texas may vote against a Democrat representing a district in New York, and no one viewed that as a problem. Local politics and actual representation seemed to be the norm, as it was originally intended to be.
As industrialization happened, both parties, the Republicans in particular, were routinely flirting with playing into corporate interests. They never fully committed as a whole, and there were often strong voices who opposed this within each party (such as Teddy Roosevelt, a progressive Republican). However, over time, the Republicans began to commit to this even more. By the time we get to Reagan, corporate interests was pretty much all that we got with the Republicans. Reagan however was a brilliant rhetor. People were charmed by him and tended to like him, which changed the culture. Ultimately, the Democrats, who had still fallen some since FDR, were struggling as their views had been branded (in some cases, rightfully so) as too idealistic against the hyper pragmatism of the new neoliberal Republican party. So Bill Clinton came in and adopted similar economic strategies, however also showed interest in identity politics; playing to interests, though not necessarily exclusively corporate ones, something the Republicans did, but less often. The Democrats swooped up basically everyone the Republicans didn't specifically target. The result, the mainstream leadership in both parties, which has now been almost exclusively nationalized (further dehumanizing the process), is uninterested in representing people, but rather represents groups that exist within the people, be them economic or social interests. In short, many of our representatives are not our representatives.
I do think it is funny to see how folks declare an allegiance to a party and stick with it for years and years...even as it evolves and changes.
I had someone say to me about 18 years ago that they were Republican because the Republican party's main mandate was smaller govt. When I mentioned then (18 years ago) that I also like the idea of a smaller govt. but that I could not find any record of any Republican govt. reducing the size or control of govt.....and so I don't know how that could still be a determining factor...I was told -- but it is their goal.
So I learned -- in the USA voters aren't so worried about what their party DOES as much as they are concerned about what it says it stands for...appearances are everything.
In the last 20 years in this country -- I've seen that. Individuals from both parties create these sweeping narratives of what each party stands for and they will fight for or against based on generalizations that have little to do with reality.
I don't have a political party. I vote on issues and whom I believe will make the best leader in the context of a certain time. My views range from very conservative to very liberal depending on the subject.
I don't need someone else to decide what I believe in or view as right.
Most my family members are Republicans. Democrats put one of my relatives in the internment camp, (she looked nothing like an "enemy", so the whole national security excuse is nothing but an excuse to her.) So, I think it is kind of hard to "get over" that. Growing up, living in an upper middle class neighborhood, I've heard a lot of toxic things been said about minorities, women, veterans by a lot of Democrats. Some of them are now local politicians.
This said, I also know a lot of good Democrats. So cannot really paint them with one broad brush.
Last edited by lilyflower3191981; 03-14-2017 at 05:27 PM..
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