I tried typing this response yesterday, but there was an error, and the message was gone when I clicked back. Let's see if I can retype what I wrote as eloquently as before:Originally posted by mart_man00
im not trying to be offensive here, but your one of the few people i know of that actually thinks about this stuff in a logical way, why do you tend to go for the democrats? like you said they all change and sometimes its a lesser of 2 evils deal but what tends to make the democrats a better choice?
maybe a real discussion here would work out.
If a person is repulsed by the Republican Party's interpretation of, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," that pushes the person to the party that generally opposes such a view. If a person feels a Republican president has contempt for the diplomatic process and prefers using U.S. might to solve the world's problems, the person is pushed further to those who have an alternative. If a person believes a tax cut is irresponsible considering huge defense costs and the need to protect certain federal social programs, the person is pushed toward the opposition.
The Democrats certainly aren't angels, and I don't agree completely with their platform or the actions of each Democrat, but the Democratic Party seems more willing to use the government to better society. I'm not talking about an unlimited, authoritarian state, as some conservative pundits insist; I'm only talking about society, functioning through its government, using its collective resources (i.e., tax revenue) to address social and economic problems that cannot be well addressed "by letting the market do its thing." Some good examples in recent history are civil rights for racial and religious minorities, women, and homosexuals. At the same time, the Democrats have been willing to use tax money to provide federal grants and loans to college students; regulations protecting employees, consumers, and investers from corporate abuse; and environmental protection and antipollution measures. The Republicans only seem willing to use tax money to buy more missiles and aircraft carriers and to subsidize religious charities and schools--oh, and of course farmers.
Democrats and Republicans, in a bipartisan effort to ........ me off, have passed legislation not at all to my liking--the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the USA PATRIOT Act are good examples--but you cannot expect parties that get their campaign money from wealthy corporate donors to be truly democratic voices.
All in all, it's what you believe is important and valuable. I can't see how decisions could be made "realistically" without some sort of ideology because ideologies are really beliefs about which values should weigh heavier in making decisions (e.g., liberalism, probably closest to what I am, considers individual rights and freedoms, equal opportunity, secular democratic government, etc.; conservatism values traditional solutions, which means the free market, family, and religion in America; socialism values equality in condition, state ownership of industry, collective before individual, etc.). Often if a person believes in one thing, certain other beliefs naturally follow, and that's what ideologies are.