Conservatives, Republicans, and American debate

[SkullKing]

Another thing the also can account for variation is that there isn´t a hard center line that says where is the dicision between right and left.

Many left wing american politicians would be considered center, or right in other countries.

[guywithashovel]

American political conservatives are an enigma to me. They incessantly harp about how they value small government and personal liberty, yet they are more than happy to use the government to tell people what their families should look like, tell two consenting adults they can't get married just because they're the same sex, tell women what to do with their bodies, etc.

Oh, there's more. They never, and I mean NEVER, think the military is big enough. Sure, we may be dealing with soaring deficits and debt, but we still need to increase military spending. And if anyone suggests that we cut even a little bit from the defense budget, that person allegedly wants to turn the US into a "weak welfare state" like the ones that supposedly exist over in Europe. Likewise, if you think we could deal with this problem by raising taxes, it's a socialist "crime against liberty," even if it is just a small amount and on the wealthiest people in the country (though decreasing the salaries of firefighters, police officers, and teachers who make less than 1% of what the top earners do is perfectly acceptable).

So, you increase the size of the military and continue to want to make it bigger now matter how huge it gets, you wage wars on countries that pose no threat to us, you impose laws on people's bodies and use the government to inflict your primitive, bigoted beliefs on everyone, and somehow you've got "small government" and "individual liberty."

Sure, that makes sense.

[Gravekeeper]

Another thing the also can account for variation is that there isn´t a hard center line that says where is the dicision between right and left.

Many left wing american politicians would be considered center, or right in other countries.

American politics is a matter of mislabelling, not a matter of having a different political spectrum. In American politicals, "Liberal" is really just "Anyone that doesn't agree with me" for the most part. American politicians, by and large, don't actually seem to know what a liberal is. Or what socialism is for that matter. The definition of both left and right has become severely warped in the US over the last 40ish years.

American political conservatives are an enigma to me. They incessantly harp about how they value small government and personal liberty, yet they are more than happy to use the government to tell people what their families should look like, tell two consenting adults they can't get married just because they're the same sex, tell women what to do with their bodies, etc.

American conservatives use to be fiscal conservatives and libertarians ( an idea they still pay constant lip service too with "small government" but don't actually do anything about ), but since the late 1960s, Republicans started catching on they could exploit the religious right and the south to their advantage. Blame Nixon. He started it. Then Reagan opened the flood gate entirely. Till the Republicans eventually got taken over by that which they were intially just using to their political advantage. The same thing happened to them again in the last few years when they foolishly embraced the Tea Party. Now they've been completely taken over by the frothers in the religious right. Resulting in embarrassments to humanity like Santorum being seriously considered as candidates.

If Barry "Mr. Conservative" Goldwater was any indication, the original American conservative was a pro-choice libertarian, somewhat hawkish and fiscally conservative. Being morally conservative was not an aspect of it. Religion had not yet entered the political arena. Goldwater spent most of his later life railing against the religious right taking over the Republicans. His final fuck off to the GOP before his death was, and I quote:

"Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you've hurt the Republican party much more than the Democrats have."

>.>

[draco664]

I'm missing something here. The statements "Muslims are homophobic" and "gays are immoral" are not only not the same thing, but the difference between them is almost precisely the difference between Islamophobia and homophobia. (Almost.)

They both said "Islam says gays are immoral".

He also mentioned the case of a pub singer who belted out "Kung Fu Fighting" during a gig. A chinese couple walking past heard it and complained, causing him to be arrested and charged with racism. His point was that as things stand, some speech could be illegal depending on who hears it.

[Gravekeeper]

He also mentioned the case of a pub singer who belted out "Kung Fu Fighting" during a gig. A chinese couple walking past heard it and complained, causing him to be arrested and charged with racism.

Citation needed.

What the fuck? That doesn't make sense on *any* level. Even the one its trying to make sense on. Seeing as the song is basically about how awesome Kung Fu is.

Does this mean I can have Japanese businessmen arrested for a karoke round of Eye of The Tiger? >.>

[Andara Bledin]

Citation provided, courtesy of the BBC.

Man was never formally arrested, but placed on "street bail" and told to appear, which he did. The police then dismissed the case for lack of evidence.

However, it still stands that some whiny Chinese man in the UK complained that a singer in a pub chose to sing Kung Fu Fighting so that he could harass him as he walked past.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Citation provided, courtesy of the BBC.

Holy Nanny State, Batman. -.-

Least the cops realised it was silly. Still, they should go back to the guy that complained and smack him one for wasting their time.