Thinking about identifying as 'independent' from now on, because while I lean right on many strong issues, I feel I don't fit the typical MO of the Republican party or the everyday American conservative in general Specifically on issues of healthcare reform, trade protectionism, as well as the fundamentalists/literal creationists/science skeptics/etc - and the stricter anti-abortion positions (ex. those who believe an embryo the day after conception is the same as a viable fetus, despite not yet having a brain or conscience). But on the same note, there's no way I'd ever jive with the liberals and the Democrat Party, such as their obsession with 'affirmative action', 'political correctness', their phobia of 'guns', their treating of 'gay marriage' as a more significant issue than our national debt, etc- and the mere fact that liberalism seems the go to for Edit/Rules 2 and 3, lol Not to mention I'm not a complete party worshiper like some on both sides of the isle are, I like to argue real issues instead of "my party's better than yours", and argue with both sides of the isle when I disagree with their views. My beliefs are too eclectic to label under any of the established parties in the USA (other than maybe some obscure 3rd party that I've never heard of)- if there were a 'right-wing' in this country with a more European-style right-wing platform, I'd probably join them, but until then I'll be identifying as an independent, and not a member of the GOP, libertarian party or any other parties.
In "European style" elections people vote for the party they agree the most with despite how popular it is , in 2012 i voted for a party who got 0.91% on national level and i will vote for them again . It is not your role to identify with anyone it is political parties' role to identify with people , that said there will never be a political formation to accurately reflect your beliefs . People who fully identify with a party are not conscious citizens but party dogs.
Welcome to the unfortunate reality of todays GOP....get ready to embrace the RINO label, and be called a liberal anytime you act like an old school Republican. I did not leave the Party....they kicked me out.
Even though my views lean mostly Libertarian and I view politics as Freedom vs Tyranny rather than a Left vs Right dichotomy, I largely feel the same way about politics these days. I just don't neatly fit into a Left wing or Right wing way of thinking. Honestly, there's good and bad in both Liberalism and Conservatism. I try to accept the parts that increase freedom for all individuals and discard the rest.
Think of them as women. I don't mean that as an insult. I like women. The Republican I think of as rabid dogs.
I self-identified as a moderate or Centrist Democrat until 2008 when a weird fusion of well-meaning wishful-thinkers and political rock star groupies spurned the nicely experienced and thoroughly trained [for the Oval Office position] Hillary Clinton for a first term U.S. Senator, with zero meaningful national level experience or history of leadership skills, whose only qualifications for the most important executive office position in the entire world were a glorious speaking voice, a ready grin and a quip, and a moderately dark skin tone. You see I was very bitter over what eight years of G.W. Bush and the GOP leadership had done to this nation and therefore I was Hoping for an INTELLIGENT Change in national leadership and in a general policy shift of this nation . . . and then a plethora of iiffy thinkers and emotional junkies put a Clown Prince into office instead of the capable Democratic Party candidate already thoroughly trained by Bill Clinton to be an effective president from day one. It was at that point that I gave the Democratic Party the middle finger and declared myself to be a Political Independent. Nothing I have seen or experienced since 2008 has inclined me to change my mind regarding my choice nor tempted me to join the Republican Party. So I will still vote for a decent Democrat or for a Republican or -- if it should ever happen -- for a third party candidate should he or she ever reach the point of genuine political viability in a presidential election contest.
Define conservative. Curious...can't tell if you're citing things you have a problem with or things you're agreeing with... If you're seriously thinking about 'unplugging' from the political parties, you might start by unplugging from party-bias media as well. 'Liberals' doesn't 'go for the effeminate men'. It goes for justice. Currently, those 'effeminate men' (and conversely the 'butch women' which you would likely call them) don't get justice. As far as political correctness being a big issue, I fail to see what the hell you're talking about. It sounds like a way to dismiss affirmative action by the GOP while taking one issue and breaking it into two separate issues so as to seem to have more to be against. The GOP is great at that David Copperfield'ing of issues, playing magic tricks of word play. The Democrats are too, but the GOP seems to a team meeting every morning so they know what to repeat. Much more effective. Finally, liberals don't have a 'phobia of guns'. Liberals generally are against profiteering over human life. Currently, the gun lobbyists push for laws which makes it easier to sell guns to people while they've already made it legal for them to not be held accountable for the actions of their customers in previous years. So when you connect these dots, they're literally putting human life below profits. Case in point, Mexican drug cartels armed with American-bought arms. Don't get me wrong, the 'war on drugs' is also to blame here, but it's definitely the lax gun laws that are lobbied for that exacerbated the situation the point that someone like me from San Diego can't really go down to Tijuana anymore over the weekend. It's just too dangerous. Also, treating 'gay marriage' (why is there apostrophes around this?) as more significant than our debt is something the media does to down play some progressive strategies that media sponsors aren't fond of. So they drum up gay rights in order to drown out progressive solutions to debt being broadcast. You know, money talks and all that. Party worship is as useful as going to work without pants on. I wouldn't call them eclectic. You sound like a typical American GOP'er. It's time you ween off the teet of sensationalism and corporate parroting beating your thinking into a vote for them and start checking out other avenues. Might I suggest Independent Voter Network. There's people like you there who are freshly disatisfied with the GOP as well as 'liberals' harping on about CO2 emissions and the large population of people who have never been affiliated with either party ever...oh and some 3rd party rebels hang out there, too. Most of the news isn't reported one direction or another. It's simply reported and it always ends with 'What do you think? What what you do?' For most stories they'll post the GOP and DEM versions of stories both with equal space. They're not always side by side or anything, but it's done quite frequently.
I'm actually there with you on that. Both sides seems more interested in partisan games then actual issues. And most politicians on the left and right are either really stupid or radical. And until people start holding them accountable none of that will change.
Not sure what you are trying to say , in general political parties that fail to identify with people are vanished , party policy defers of course.
