slightly ashamed of being a liberal right now

[smileyeagle1021]

A government big enough to give you everything you need, is big enough to take everything you have.-Thomas Jefferson
.

Perhaps I should have said social conservatism.

[blas87]

I'm a conservative, and I'm still your ally, smiley.

[Hyena Dandy]

Same. I'm also Christian. We're all on the same side here.

[HYHYBT]

Too far in any direction lies trouble.

[joe hx]

Gay Parent's bashed

ABC did a show "what would you do" in Texas where they had an actress in a very conservative small town diner bash a gay couple (also actors).
24 of 58 bystanders stepped in to help the gay couple.
A year ago they did it in liberal new york... only 12 of over 100 bystanders stepped in.
For fucks sakes, liberals are supposed to be better than that. We got shown up by conservatives from a state that is famous for hating gays. Hell, I bet we'd get more than 12 out of a hundred in Provo, one of the most anti-gay cities in America.

While it brings me great hope that our long time enemies will show us compassion and support, it brings me great despair that our long time allies will leave us high and dry.

The thing here is there's a lot more variables just than "conservative" and "liberal" - I think they key thing here is that it was a very large town and a very small town.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's what I'm saying.

The media can and does spin any story to fit their agenda. Putting that particular spin on this story is a reach, even for them.

[daleduke17]

If anyone tried pulling that stunt in the restaurant where I live, there'd be hell to pay. Even though the township is predominately conservative, you don't just make a scene and publicly humiliate people who are just trying to have lunch. One of several things would happen, and not to the gay couple quietly eating their meal.

[Shards]

Conservatism is a disease, one which can't be eradicated soon enough.

So, what you're telling me is that as a social and fiscal conservative who believes what you do is morally wrong, but not my business to judge and interfere in any more than adultery or refusal to volunteer for the armed services, that I am diseased and in need of being purged.

Remind me again where you're supposed to come off as the well meaning, persecuted one here. Because as far as I can tell I, and the vast majority of the political conservatives I'm close with, accept your lifestyle as one that while we don't approve of we have no right to interfere in, while you're busy roping us all together and calling for fire and brimstone.

[FArchivist]

Because as far as I can tell I, and the vast majority of the political conservatives I'm close with, accept your lifestyle as one that while we don't approve of we have no right to interfere in, while you're busy roping us all together and calling for fire and brimstone.

As an American social conservative, how can you be tolerant of other's lifestyles that do not tally with your moral expectations? One of the standards of modern American conservatism is the need to proselytize, convert, and dominate American culture, transforming it into the perfect moral standards required by American social conservative ethos. It is the Manifest Destiny of the Moral Majority; those who are not aligned with American social conservatives are the Enemy and MUST be destroyed.

Now, you're probably going to say "Where the hell do you get THAT from?" The answer is pretty simple: It's what the leaders and spokespeople of American social conservatism promote.

You can see what they have to say here.

So the question is, do you agree with them? And if not, why are you in disagreement with American social conservative leadership?

[Shards]

As an American social conservative, how can you be tolerant of other's lifestyles that do not tally with your moral expectations? One of the standards of modern American conservatism is the need to proselytize, convert, and dominate American culture, transforming it into the perfect moral standards required by American social conservative ethos. It is the Manifest Destiny of the Moral Majority; those who are not aligned with American social conservatives are the Enemy and MUST be destroyed.

Now, you're probably going to say "Where the hell do you get THAT from?" The answer is pretty simple: It's what the leaders and spokespeople of American social conservatism promote.

You can see what they have to say here.

So the question is, do you agree with them? And if not, why are you in disagreement with American social conservative leadership?

... and? Political leaders and pundits on both sides are either so middle of the road that it boarders on having no views whatsoever, or so outspokenly extreme that virtually nobody truly agrees with the majority of what they have to say. Guess what? As much as you want to assume we're all little Glenn Becks, we're no more that than you are a herd of Michael Moores.

[smileyeagle1021]

a social and fiscal conservative who believes what you do is morally wrong, but not my business to judge and interfere in any more than adultery or refusal to volunteer for the armed services

I believe the word for that is "libertarian"

And to be blunt, if you vote for a social conservative that does want to and does interfere in my life and rights, guess what, YOU have interfered in my life.

The "I don't hate gays, but I support tax breaks and small government" argument is growing thin too... guess what, neither party is interested in small government and neither party is going to raise taxes. Right now what separates a demo from a repub is what they will waste money on and whether or not they are going to try to write discrimination into the laws of our nation.
Or do all social conservatives care so much about making sure money is wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan on endless wars than wasting it on renewable energy projects and mass transit projects that will never turn a profit that they will vote on that despite them not hating gays and lesbians and not thinking they should interfere with our rights?

[Shards]

I believe the word for that is "libertarian"

And to be blunt, if you vote for a social conservative that does want to and does interfere in my life and rights, guess what, YOU have interfered in my life.

The "I don't hate gays, but I support tax breaks and small government" argument is growing thin too... guess what, neither party is interested in small government and neither party is going to raise taxes. Right now what separates a demo from a repub is what they will waste money on and whether or not they are going to try to write discrimination into the laws of our nation.
Or do all social conservatives care so much about making sure money is wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan on endless wars than wasting it on renewable energy projects and mass transit projects that will never turn a profit that they will vote on that despite them not hating gays and lesbians and not thinking they should interfere with our rights?

Actually, the one thing I do support erring on the side of overspending on is the continued equipping, training, and use of the people who willingly volunteer to risk their lives for the rest of us back home.

Now, as far as the libertarian issue, let's be honest, each year, more people who want to write anti-gay laws die, and more people who are against the lifestyle but accept it as a fact of life and modern culture are reared. Yes, there are still young conservatives who hate gays and want them banned, but they're not growing up as fast as the old ones who feel that way are dying or becoming unable or uninterested in making their way to the voting booths. The time where there was a serious threat of anti-homosexual legislation passing is all but gone, and despite the rhetoric spewed by people who want to garner hard-core right-wing support, those who are in power, even on the right, know it's never going to happen. The tide has shifted, and it isn't shifting back any time soon short of some lavender assless-chaps wearing, interior decorating bomber blowing up several major landmarks. As it stands today, the way I look at it I can throw my vote down the toilet by voting libertarian or tea party, where there are frankly too many people milling around splitting the vote to make any reasonable bid on a national level, or I can find the best representatives for my values in the one party I am able to support that has a chance of fielding a potential winner. I don't claim to agree with all their causes, but I do the best I can within a broken system to make my values heard.

However, I understand what you're saying. I was nearly aborted. As such, it's a personal matter to me, and I refuse to vote for any politician who is pro-choice. However, as much as I may resent some of the people who try to use the killing of their children as birth control, I've never stated that they were "a disease" or "Couldn't be wiped out soon enough."