share.triangle.com - Party affiliation: Republican or Democrat? - Comments

probably democrat

jabdo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:11:43 -0400

I feel I don't quite fit with either party - I lean to the left, am even somewhat socialist, but am pretty conservative religiously. I want to vote 3rd party, but recognize the conundrum of "throwing my vote away".

I am a pro life Christian, so I can respect those that say they follow close to the Bible and use that in their political choices, but I see it a bit differently.

I think all issues in the platforms have a moral aspect rather than just the traditional abortion and gay marriage planks. I am against abortion, but stop short of advocating a ban because of ectopic pregnancy and other similar possible life/death issues with mom and baby. I think it makes more sense to deal with it on a state level than Supreme Court, anyway.

On the one hand, I can see taking a moral stand against abortion, but on the other, the economy, foreign affairs, and healthcare are the issues that affect us more than abortion and gay marriage and those aren't without their moral issues. Economy- we are to be good stewards of what God gives us, so I need to pick someone who will make good choices and has a good plan. Foreign affairs- we should do unto others..., try to live peaceably with all men; the Bible doesn't preach against military service, etc, but invading countries on false pretenses poses some rather serious moral issues.

One thing I come back to as a Christian is- what would Jesus want? What kind of example did he set while on earth?I tend tobe more in favor of separation of church and state. I think more church in the state starts out as a good thing, but could turn quickly into not a good thing for those not in the majority- whether we are talking religion, denomination, etc.

What was and is Jesus’/God’s goal or desire? That all would come to Him, that is, believe and live faithfully. 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 say this quite well. When we look at Jesus’ example, he didn’t want to change (inside or outside the set process of government) the government even though the Romans were quite harsh on Christians and it was far from Godly. His focus was on individual responsibility because that is how we’ll be judged- John 12:48 and Rom 2:6. While I can see some value to having Christian leaders of a country, there are problems, too. One being the issue of having religious influence in government such that laws would be specific to certain denominations or something like that-the slope is slippery and I fear that myself and those who believe like I do wouldn’t be in the majority, so we’d be at their mercy.

One way to accomplish this (Jesus’ desire), some might say, is electing Christian officials to enact Christian laws and ones that don’t violate God’s law. This seems a little backwards to me, though there is some truth to the expression “fake it til you make it”. Another, the opinion I hold for now, is to focus on spreading the gospel individually such that people choose not to have abortions, rather than go the more authoritarian route. I think everything has a moral issue to consider whether it’s the abortion stance, how well he will handle money (money God blessed me with and I am to be a good steward of), or whether he will attack countries at will, killing innocent people for no real reason. The point is, is that how to accomplish God’s desire is opinion. Sin is sin and there is Bible proof for that, but who you elect, whether you are pro separation of church and state or against, and other political issues are open for debate. There has been a movement in the past decade to politicize certain religious issues, which has removed the necessity to think for oneself. Not to say that those who disagree with me aren’t thinking for themselves-far from it-but the propaganda doesn’t help us talk intelligently and freely about these issues.

This is just some of my thought on this. Here is some more:

http://notanotherpoliticalblog-j.blogspot.com/2008/07/politics-and-pulpit.html

http://notanotherpoliticalblog-j.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-email-forward.html (the part at the end "more thoughts on...")

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-80ppCHcleKKTvTrkTQ4-?cq=1&tag=abortion

Also read Founding Faith. It is good food for thought on the separation of church and state and religion and politics questions.It addresses the fact that both parties try and justify their positions and stop conversations by saying they are backed by the Founding Fathers (Christian nation vs. many were atheist, etc).

republican

Visitor — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:06:05 -0400

NO bama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

independent. i don't think

Visitor — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:19:19 -0400

independent.

i don't think Obama was calling Palin a pig, but his audience took it as that.

Mostly Republican for me

lemonwill — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:28:45 -0400

Yes, I generally tend to vote mostly for Republicans and am registered as a Republican. I do strongly support the McCain-Palin ticket mainly due to the fact that the math just does not add up for me on Obama's proposals. How can you possibly find funding for all of the programs Obama is proposing especially the health care and yet cut taxes for 90% of Americans? Either he will have to raise corporate taxes for both small and big business to such an extent that many of them will have to go out of business leaving us in an even greater recession due to massive loss of jobs or he is simply fudging the numbers.

And yes I also support Elizabeth Dole. She is highly respected in the US Senate and has been a great support for North Carolina. Unlike Bev Purdue who totally claims sole responsibility for keeping military bases in NC, Dole actually worked for that in the Senate.

The candidate that I am most excited about is Pat McCrory for governor. He is progressive in the business arena and has a plan to recruit business and actually has a record of doing so. He has a plan for addressing needs in the state dealing with transportation, energy, education, etc. etc. And he does not believe like Bev Purdue does that we as taxpayers should assume the burden of paying for everyone to go to community colleges. Again, just how much of a tax burden are we as taxpayers willing to assume? I love his plan for bringing back vocational education. Many of these who establish themselves as accomplished in these trades will eventually bring in a greater annual income than some of us who have even beyond a college education. Let's not look down on these professions. They are vital to the advancement of our economy.

I do, however, plan to vote for the Democrat in my district for the US Congress. I have great respect for Mike McIntyre and trust that he will not be caught up in the liberal agenda that Nancy Pelosi may introduce into Congress. I believe that he will vote his conscience and will vote for what he believes will be best for his constituency back in North Carolina.

Why I will vote Democratic

larrybob — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:30:24 -0400

I will vote Democratic because I am appalled at what conservatives have done to this country. Conservatives have undermined our basic institutions and substituted a narrow hierarchy that completely dominates the individual.A clique of conservatives in Congress through their super-majority rule allows a president like Bush to shred our God-given rights without interference from a majority of our representatives.A clique of Supreme Court Justices has ruled that individual property rights can be taken away by right of eminent domain and turned over to private entrepreneurs.A clique of pill makers now overrules doctors on what and how much medicine patients receive.A clique of private business owners orchestrates the widespread immigration of foreigners to lower their labor costs.A clique of professionally armed mercenaries now operates without complete oversight of Congress or our military.Return America to representative government that is the basis of our democracy and send conservatives and their cliques back where they came from.

Democrat for now....

Visitor — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:57:41 -0400

I have been a democrat all my life; just as the rest of my family going back six generations. The Democratic party; the party of Jackson, FDR, Truman, LBJ, and Clinton stood for the working people. However, over the last 40 years we have seem to nominate extreme elitist liberals, exceptions being Carter, and Clinton. I have been an officer at every level of the grassroots since 18; tomorrow being 20 years. I was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton, a white southern male, moderate in politics. However, I feel as though the democratic party has once again nominated an ultra liberal, who is know of the elitist ilk, and will ultimatley lose in November. I can't in good conscience vote for Obama; a man with no experience at any level.

To compare him with Kennedy is again wrong. Jack Kennedy, no liberal, had four years in the US House, and eight in the Senate, plus his record in the War. If Obama is elected he will be the least experinced president ever. That might be a good thing who knows. However, those going to DC to change Washington don't serve there very long, ask President Carter, a man whom I admire greatly, but let's face it; he was the worse President ever. Good man, but he didn't have what it took to compete in DC.

So, this November I will do something I have never done before; vote for republican for President, and even for Congress. The only way for the moderates to take this party back over is to send the message that we will not tolerate it any longer.

re: Libertarian

visitor — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:56:51 -0400

You are throwing your vote away. However, I understand why you want to do it. I'm a conservative who usually votes the straight republican ticket. I don't hate George Bush like many but I think he AND MOST politicians are out of touch with the people and reality! When I look at Libertarian websites I TOTALLY agree with 80% of the ideas and absolutely 20% of them are DEAL KILLERS. It's like 80% of the stuff about personal liberty makes sense and then 20% is unacceptable or unrealistic. And there no clear sense of timelines. Getting rid of social programs would get rid of 25% to 50% of the Government, and US government employees. It would significantly hurt many people and help some others. (it is like wealth re-distribution). I like the concept but it would be extremely difficult to sell. I mean if you can't sell it to me who despises the expansion of gov't spending to 45% of the annual GNP then the party needs more work.
Sun

Libertarian

Visitor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:45:45 -0400

I find that the two major parties differ only in the details.

Both want to increase my taxes, reduce my privacy and personal freedoms, and share common behaviors such as saying one thing and doing quite different things.

One thing they're good at is pandering to local audiences. They'll promise groups in different parts of the country to support their favorite causes, but when you look at the big picture, each group ends up paying for the others. Both end up losing money as a result through higher taxes, but they get to feel good about it because they were promised what they wanted.

There was a political cartoon from a few years ago that described the situation pretty well: Four people are standing in a circle, pointing at their neighbor. Each is saying "I want better schools/safer streets/social security/cheaper healthcare, and I want him to pay for it!"

While friends say that I'm throwing my vote away, I don't see it that way. I want a real change in how our country is being run, and so I'm voting for Bob Barr, instead of more of the same Pepsi & Coke politics we've had.

Republican

Visitor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:51:25 -0400

Dear Republican...Although I can understand common sense on just about every level, did you realize the comment you made?
"The Republican party is the party for me because they follow closer to the Bible. I think we'll keep the White House in November."...
Unless you have been living in the woods or under a rock somewhere that is not even close to the truth...as seen over the past 8 years the GOP has been nothing more than media propaganda and scare tactics..I will not insult you with words...please come up with a better reason...because in noway on God's green earth is the Repulican party closely sanctimonious...
INDEPENDENT! TRUTH! GREAT FUTURE!

Neither

Sun Tzu — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:37:10 -0400

Our political leaders have expanded our government spending to where it is now 43% of the entire GNP. Government spending is growing at 8X the rate that the economy is growing. BOTH Democrats and Republicans (except for Ronal Reagan) have grown the spending and we are creating a world that will eventually not be sustainable in the "free" way that we exist today due to unsupportable government infrastructure. Look at this website. http://mwhodges.home.att.net/ Here are some very scary statistics about where we are and where we are headed. No one running for president is mentioning it as they all like having your tax dollars to spend. All the democratic screaming about defense spending is about 5% of the budget. Over 50% of the US budget is on social programs. So many US values are collapsing. Wait until we have 80% of the US working for the government. Well I hope it doesn't get there but neither McCain nor Obama will help this cause. (I think Obama will hurt it more than McCain but it is difficult to tell).

Republican

Visitor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:35:05 -0400

The Republican party is the party for me because they follow closer to the Bible. I think we'll keep the White House in November.

McCain '08

GOP

Visitor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:32:19 -0400

My issue is pro-choice. I'm against abortion so I identify with republicans.

Party affiliation: Republican or Democrat?

mwilliam — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:28:27 -0400

Which party are you affiliated with and why? Is it religious beliefs? Taxes? Health care?