Are you really a democrat?

I’m certainly fed up, but I’ve always been much more left leaning.

Of course I am.

I’ve been a Democrat since I was about 5 years old, though I didn’t really realize why until I was in college.

I’m a Democrat because I believe in the separation of church and state.
I’m a Democrat because I believe in workers’ rights.
I’m a Democrat because I think it is our duty to be good stewards of the Earth.
I’m a Democrat because I don’t believe the market can solve all of society’s ills.
I’m a Democrat because I believe in human rights – for all humans. This means women can choose what to do with their own body. Gays and lesbians can marry whomever they choose.

Eh, parties are overrated.

I’m with Keto.

As am I. The Democratic Party represents the ideals that I hold dear: a secular state, human rights (for all humans), environmentalism, and others.

I’m a Babocrat!

as one who is skeptical of big government, i suppose i am not a “true” democrat. i think of it as the lesser of two evils.

I’m a centrist, both the Democratic and Republican parties have polarized to the point of embodying certain positions that are indefensible, intellectually and pragmatically. The answers to many issues typically reside in the middle but each party insists on pandering to their respective unthinking, robotic bases for purely political reasons rather than actually accomplishing anything for the good of the majority. Personally, I would be ashamed to claim affiliation with either party since both parties have become an embarrassing joke.

I’m an old school democrat. Kind of in line with the party of the thirties and forties. I would likely be a green party member today if I thought there was any chance in Hell of making a difference with them. I feel this country needs to embrace a little more socialism to survive. Expanding capitolism much more just leads us down a path towards fascism. Hell, we are nearly there now. Help us Obama!
—although I would prefer Kucinich.

That should read Kucinuch and
capitalism.

Not a Democrat. Not a Republican. Just a thinking voter.

I’m a thinking democratic voter.

ketoneus, its horrible that people actually believe that abortion is a reasonable alternative than having to deal with the decisions you made (besides of course if a woman is raped)

Here’s a reason I am not a Democratic. I like the money I earn and I want to keep it for myself.

Democrats want the well to do people/hard working to finance poor/lazy peoples health care. Give the poor/lazy more food stamps and welfare. I can’t stand Democrats and Liberals.
The only time in ones life that it is OK to be a democrat or a Liberal is before you are of voting age.

@AstroChuck – expanding socialism leads us down a path to communism, having lived in France for a while, I’ve seen the deleterious effects of rampant socialism. I don’t think unchecked capitalism leads to fascism, but it can lead to some ill social effects if left entirely to the free market. The problem is that democrats typically latch onto disingenuous populist themes to demonize capitalism. For instance, Obama’s idiotic call for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. Exxon’s net profit margin in 2007 was 10.04%, in contrast Apple’s net profit margin was 14.56%. So using Obama’s logic, he should rally the democratic base to take up their torches and pitchforks and storm Apple’s headquarters, drag Steve Jobs out and demand that they pay a windfall profits tax on their outrageous earnings! Think that will happen? Of course not.

@vectorul Did you get a college loan from the government or to start a business? People who need government help are not necessarily lazy and being poor is not a crime. My hope is that with your level of compassion for your fellow humans that someday when you need help, your party will be in power and you can experience it for yourself.

@reed How about we simply cut some of their tax breaks? American corporations are not good citizens. They take short-term profit-oriented views. Regulation is required to stem their abuses. Or did you think Enron was a one-off occurrence? I also think that Obama’s position is less idiotic than Bush & McCain’s to begin drilling offshore in the U.S.

@Reed, I don’t know how gas prices are set. But I do know I have a choice when I want to buy a computer, and I don’t have to buy a Mac. Sure, I don’t have to buy Exxon/Mobil either, but when I need gas, I don’t experience much choice in price. I think Obama is just representing the outrage many people feel at the steep gas price increases – while the oil companies are still making huge profits.

Marina, No I paid for my BA with a 50+ week Job and now i pay for my undergrad with a full time job. No loans. I work. I have no compassion for lazy Americans or who think they deserve everything because they are Americans.

Your right being poor is not a crime until you start collecting free health care, free food, and benefits that I work my @ss off to pay for.

Good work ethic = a good job = good income.

@vectorul What advantages in life did you have? Did you pull yourself up from poverty or were you born into a middle class or better family that provided you food, education, complete medical care and the luxury of options for your life? These things make a difference.

reed- are you oppossed to public schools, police, fire dept., libraries, roads, and on and on? These things are a form of “socialism” as would be universal healthcare. Look at other developed nations and see how much better off the public is. Yes, their taxes are higher but they are better off as basic services are provided for them . And I’m not just talking about socialist governments. As for communism, there never has been a true Marxist state and it’s unlikely we will see one. If everyone was alike then communism might work. But unrestrained capitalism is evil. Then all you have is a tiny minority with all the power and money, and a huge working poor class with nothing.

@ waterskier I believe that abortion is a reasonable alternative to many out there who don’t have the means to raise a child. Having sex is in our nature, it feels good. It feels good so that we will keep doing it and keep our species going. Now, I dont know how many people inhabit this earth but I think there are damn plenty. So if a woman gets pregnant unexpectedly, if she doesn’t feel ready to have a child because of any reason, why should she have to suffer 9 months of pregnancy, childbirth, and 18+ years of trying to feed/clothe/provide for a child she wasn’t ready for?

@Marina – Yep, I agree that oil company tax breaks should be ended. As for American corporations not being good citizens, some aren’t, but some are astonishingly good citizens, to paint all American corporations as evil is ignorant. Your way of life, and indeed even your ability to carry on this conversation was provided by a corporation (your computer company, your internet provide, your software company, etc. etc.) Hell, even Fluther is most likely structured as a corporation and is out to make a profit from the advertising. If you are concerned about the evil U.S. corporations, stop buying/using their products.

@Trustinglife – then I suggest you educate yourself on just how gas prices are set before you render judgment. Those “huge profits” you speak of also resulted in a huge tax bill ($30 billion for Exxon alone) to which the democrats should cheer since that gives them more options for spending.

@AstroChuck – basic public services such as schools, police, fire, etc. are institutions of a civilized society and not particularly an explicit example of rampant socialism. As such, of course I’m not opposed to living in a civilized society.

@Reed, to paint Dems as the only party that spend tax payers’ money is not only absurd, but just plain played out. The current administration has done as much if not more to grow government and spending. In fact, with a Republican president, house and senate this may have been as good as any example that a Republican agenda fueled by the religious right is simply not good politics.

As far as socialist tendencies go, I point to the new economic “superstar” formerly known as Europe. Of course, only time will tell in the long run. And I do understand countries as a whole ebb and flow.

Lastly, I’d just like to say that j don’t believe Dems have an issue with making money. But greed is pretty gross I must say. There is certainly enough money in our economy to guarantee that no one falls through the cracks. We are our brothers keepers after all.

@reed Just to be perfectly clear, nowhere in my post did I use the adjective evil or the term evil corporations. Only you did that.

There is a large continuum between benevolence and evil. Corporations, for the most part, are founded primarily to make a profit. They frequently do not do things willingly that cut into that profit. That can include things like charitable contributions, environmental stewardship, employee welfare, and even safety of products. It depends on the people that are running the corporations, and whether they take the long view on business such as that quality products are good business, and happy employees are productive employees that are a large part of the bottom line.

It is simply my contention that for some aspects of corporate business such as consumer protection, environmental protection, and honest operation of accounting and stock, independent oversight through the government is beneficial. Should that oversight be carefully monitored and routinely overhauled to make sure it does not add unnecessarily to the paperwork, reporting and compliance burden of the businesses? Yes.

Finally, I do not owe corporations in any way for my “way of life.” Any products they have created that I use in my life, I have compensated them for by handing over my hard-earned money, making us even. Further, many of their products and services come from innovations from pure research conducted either by the government or universities. If not, say a drug, you can bet your bottom dollar I am already paying for that research along with other buyers!

reed- rampant socialism? I suggest you read up on liberitarian dogma. These services (schools, police, roads, fire departments, libraries, even the military, to some extent) are all things they wish to privatize. I don’t know how you can say that these things are not socialized. The current administration has tried to privatize nearly everything. This results in conflicts of interest; eg- Blackwater possibly providing bad intelligence which leads to more war and conflict which in turn leads to record profits for Blackwater.
Unabridged capitalism wraps itself in nationalism and religion, which leads to corporate control and thus, fascism.

I am a Democrat because I believe that that party is rooted in values that I uphold: respect for multiple points of view, freedom of and from religion, freedom of speech (and yes, I know that most speech today is in the hands of fewer and fewer big corporations), respect for the rule of law at home and abroad and (at its best) rejection of -isms, such as racism, sexism and so forth.

I am a Democrat because it is not a party of ideologues.

I am a Democrat because I think it represents the best qualities of being American.

I am—and I will continue to be—a Democrat despite (or perhaps to spite the so-called wisdom of those who have told me (all me bloomin’ life) that as I grow older, I will become more conservative… In fact, as I grow older, I become wiser and more radical. I intend to be a wild-eyed radical old man one day.

I think Republicans who choose to “vote blue” in 2008 are perfectly justified in refusing to support what the modern GOP has come to represent. Today’s “party line” Republicans support torture, preemptive warfare, financial irresponsibility, social intolerance, regressive taxation and so on. I’m very happy to learn there are so many people who can’t bring themselves to vote for that.

No way I am a rebel…. Go Republicans!

Ahhhh! I hate George W. Bush!!! Does anyone else ever just want to scream that?I had a sudden urge to just now….

@Trustinglife Gas prices are set based on the price of a barrel of Light Sweet Crude. Refinery capacity and transportation costs also factor in. Of course, each state adds their own HUGE gas tax, plus the federal government’s gas tax. The breakdown is roughly (per dollar):
* Taxes: 15 cents
* Distribution and Marketing: 11 cents
* Refining: 7 cents
* Crude oil: 67 cents

The price of LSC is usually set by OPEC. I’m sure Obama does have a great interest in keeping the price of gasoline low, as evidenced by the fact that we are still waging an offensive in the Middle East. I think @reed point was that Obama is playing on people’s fantasy that our society is being taken advantage of by “evil” corporations that “don’t deserve” to make so much money off of us. But it is not true. All businesses make money off of consumers – that is the definition of the business cycle. And in turn, they are the ones who employ workers. Take away their profits and they will just cut their costs (maybe by cutting their workforce?). A “windfall profits tax” is the government psychological ploy to make “main street” feel like they are getting “revenge on the bad guy.” It is not democratic to arbitrarily decide whose profits are too much. That’s more like fascism.