Is James Kirk a Republican?

star trek was beyond politics. but yes I would agree..Conservative-ish

One of Kirk’s biggest realisations of shame was the moment at the end of the episode “An Errant of Mercy”, when, in an argument with the Organians, who had previously disabled all their weapons, for his and the Federation’s right to wage interplanetary war, to which the Organians responded with “To wage war, Captain? To kill millions of innocent people? To destroy life on a planetary scale? Is that what you’re defending?”
Kirk realised then that he was wrong.

That right there is why Kirk would not be a republican.

Why would I care? The party of Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb has never gotten much done (right) and never will….I just stay clear of the redacted less I have to clean my shoes.

He would have to be an independent; he is not conservative enough to be a Republican.

But, come to think of it, he could be conservative enough to be a modern Hillary Democrat.

Kirk and anyone else in the future is going to look back on this period in the history of Republican politics with considerable embarrassment. And the democrats aren’t going to be spared the ridicule they deserve, if for no other reason than failing to emphasize the enormity of the stupidity to their right!

1. “Republican” means a member of the US Republican party. That’s the only real meaning of the word. It’s a team in the political game. In absolutely no way is it a well-defined meaningful general political philosophy, even if you pick one particular day in history. The political positions of that party (and the Democratic party, and practically every political party anywhere) changes over time, and in the case of US Republicans, quite quickly. People point out for example that the positions of Ronald Reagan were “more to the left” (though that too is of highly dubious real meaning) than Obama, whom ridiculously high numbers of Americans think might be a foreign agent , an evil Muslim, or even the Anti-Christ . Republican President Eisenhower (and former World War II 5-star general) would no doubt have deplored most of the current Republican positions, not to mention President Lincoln. So the question doesn’t seem well enough defined to really be answerable, except as no that doesn’t make much sense.

2. If we take the question as “in the current general compass of US politics in 2015, would Kirk’s sentiments be sort of like the current Republican Party”, I’d tend to say one reason not is that Kirk tends to mostly be intelligent and make sense, while the main thing I notice about current Republicans is that they tend to be sort of bat-shit crazy, suggesting that most scientists are conspiring to invent global climate change, for instance.

3. Now, Kirk was often a pretty hard-core bad-ass starship commander who was almost always out to assert the Federation’s “foreign policy” and regulations. But even in the original Star Trek, the Federation was astronomically more “liberal” that current US Republicans. The Prime Directive, for example, puts non-interference with less developed populations above the survival of Star Fleet units. As in, you’re supposed to let yourself die before you even let natives see that you have space-age technology, so as not to interfere with their development. (of course, if you mean the Kirk of JJ Abrams’ films, then THAT Kirk pisses all over that because he’s an immature narcissistic snot that TOS-unviverse Kirk (and TOS-universe Star Fleet) would never let command an away team, let alone a starship, but that just makes JJ Kirk a loose cannon, not a Republican.) And if you want to see how much tolerance Kirk has for entrepreneurs, see how he treats Harry Mudd or the tribble merchant.

4. On the other hand, Kirk really didn’t appreciate that time space hippies hitched a ride on his ship. On the other hand, he tried to be patient and the guy in charge had brain problems that made him a jerk and there was that whole hijacking issue . Still that just makes Kirk a non-space-hippie ship captain, not a Republican.

Today’s Republican Party would be the darling and champion of the Romulans, and even they would find the selfishness and contempt for intellect defining the party, too obtuse for their tastes.

It’s cute when people try to shoehorn fictional characters in with their own modern political views. I’ve heard arguments about why Frodo Baggins would definitely be a Democrat, why he would definitely be a Republican and why he would definitely be a Libertarian.

@stanleybmanly Interesting. Given their frequent war mongering, a connection to the Klingons also fits for the Republicans. The Democrats, on the other hand, I tend to see as more like the Cardasians, given that both tend to get too mired down in bureaucratic minutia that little to nothing gets accomplished.

As to Earth in the time frames of the 5 tv series and the (now) 12 movies, I have always tended to see the Federation as having evolved beyond the petty Republican vs Democrat partisanship we have today. I doubt James Kirk could be either a Republican or a Democrat because of his habit of ignoring Starfleet orders whenever he felt like it. Thus, he is best considered to be an Independent.

Spock would most certainly be an Independent, if he was anything at all. If he and Kirk were discussing the positions of the various major and minor political parties that exist today, I really believe his sole comment would be “Captain, that is illogical.”

@sahID
The Cardassian Union is a despotic society run by the military.

I wonder if many of you know any actual conservatives/republicans or if most of you think they are what are represented by fox news and talk radio?

@ARE_you_kidding_me Might make a good separate question. I do know people who identify as conservative and/or Republican, as family, friends and coworkers, though I find that no one matches the labels, even if they think they identify with them. When I wrote “current Republicans [...] tend to be sort of bat-shit crazy” I was thinking of the spectacular fails of politicians rather than people I know. I think a major problem with US politics is it reduces to a simple R vs D vote/argument which just keeps the status quo going. People just see the issues they strongly care about and then choose R or D, when really most of both the R’s and the D’s are stuck in a rut and/or in the pocket of various interests, none of which represents the actual issues nor intelligent nor popular opinions on them.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Are you saying that FOX does not reflect views consistent with mainstream conservatism? Why then the deception? Whom do they speak for, or to; or at whom do they preach?

And be true to his rank and duty? No.

@stanleybmanly Of course Fox does not represent everyday republicans or conservatives. They are fear mongers and sensationalists. None of that shit is grounded in reality. They are just a few steps away from Ann Coulter and Michael Moore. Their viewers are a class of people who “side” conservative but are not siding with anything except what makes them feel good. These folks buy in to the conspiracy stuff, tend to be lower class and uneducated. The left has this as well but I’ll go seriously politically incorrect should I continue.

@Zaku The conservatives I know are working professionals, usually educated..often highly. Engineers, earth scientists, chemists, finance… These people are so grounded in what is real and what works is beyond question of the integrity of them. Honestly, some of the most intelligent and skilled people I have ever met. The fields they work in (outside of the university of course) are often void of harsh extremes and bat-shit crazy end of the world/NWO nonsense. If they let ideology get in the way of their thinking, companies fail and people could die. Sometimes that makes them appear harsh and insensitive to people who don’t live in or understand the world these people deal with every day. None of them fit this “model” of a person who sides with the Republicans that so many here seem to subscribe to. Actually, several folks here would fit in well with them.

@ARE_you_kidding_me “I wonder if many of you know any actual conservatives/republicans”

More than I care to.

@Darth_Algar I kind of doubt it.

^^^
Obviously you must know my friends, family and neighbors better than I do.

Explain then, the current republican lineup then, and why people are voting for them.
Explain why Trump is in the lead.
Explain 2x Bush.
Explain Palin almost becoming VP.

James Kirk was clearly gay, camp as fucking xmas.

and his boyfriend was Spock, whose basic philosophy was “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”.
And Spock is the one who Kirk called “the most human” person he ever met.

@ragingloli I’m sure not voting for Trump, I don’t know a single person who is so I question his “in the lead” status. It’s just a spectacle. Why the far right seems to be nuttier than the far left? I think it has to do with the fact that those in the far right act out of fear. Getting those votes requires getting a bit wacky, or at least entertaining those ideas. That has little to do with those in the more center-right.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I respect the (quite a few) people I know who identify as conservative and Republican. Especially the ones who admit that the nuttier positions and representatives of the current batch of politicians are wacky. That’s a big part of why I think the two-party system (as well as “vote for only one candidate”) prevents actual democracy.

The very fact that Captain Kirk has total confidence in his second in command, who is a completely rational scientist, is proof enough for me to say that no, Captain Kirk is absolutely not a Republican.