I Learned Something Today

[Dakatsu]

I was reading up on the history of the Democrat and Republican parties.

Wow...

If I didn't have any foreground info on them, I would vote republican. The democrats voted pro-slavery on almost everything. They were the leaders of the Confederacy. They also tried to prevent projects such as the Panama Canal. They seemed like the gestapo...

But for some reason, the 1950's rolled along...

This is when I noticed the republican party turns into what it is today. Evangelical Christians, McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Nixon, Ford, Vietnam, poor rights for black people, all seem to show the nazism I think of the republicans today. Odviously the democrats changed over to what it is now.

My question is, what the f*ck happened? Its as if in the 1950's the Republicans decided \"Hey, lets tack on Evangelicalism, conspiracy, propaganda, and all that fun stuff!\"

...or am I just stupid and they have really been exactly the same forever?

[Testiculese]

There is no difference between the two parties, it's just the facades that are painted differently. Both are traveling towards the same goal of stripping your freedoms and taxing you (if you are middle-class) out of everything they possibly can.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself where 50 cent per gallon taxes go, when the roads are so bad? (Hint: they are supposed to be collected to pay for roadwork)

[Will Robinson]

Testi's right, on the large scale they both weigh the same, the packaging is different but it's shiny design comes from the same company.

When the southern, old school segregationist peckerwood democrats saw their party chip away at their equal but separate way of life they jumped ship and went to the republican side, probably out of spite more than any other reason.

One thing is clear either branch of the one-party-disguised-as-two will take in any faction that swells their constituency and they will rationalize and talk in circles to justify accepting that group. So don't be fooled by anything they say, instead keep watching the money they control and the votes and personal rewards they buy with it....

[Immortal Lobster]

The way Dakatsu described the republicans is almmost the way I describe democrats lol

[Will Robinson]

The way Dakatsu described the republicans is almmost the way I describe democrats lol

That's because the one-party-disguised-as-two has been very successful in driving you toward one of their two divisions....
You think 'Tastes Great' is better than 'Less Filling', others disagree and buy the 'Less Filling' brand. Either way it's the crappiest,cheapest product they can get the masses to swallow.

It's time to shop around!


Free The Pee! Free The Pee!

[d3jake]

Heh, I guess Minnesota may be just an odd state, but I actually partially disagree with the whole \"both-parties-are-the-same\" thing.
About...3 years ago in the Minnesota legislature there was a big crunch of money due to Pawlenty's whole not going to add any more taxes point, and the Republican controlled legislature so there was a ton of number crunching going on, and the only new tax, or \"fee\" as it was called, was passed to help balance the budget. Now due to the voters we have a Republican Govener (same term) and a Democrat controlled Legislature. Okay, where last session there was a ton of cutting projects to make the budget balance, now we a CRAPLOAD of projects that are being proposed, that's great, but guess where's the money coming from.... you guessed it, new taxes.
This proves (at least for Minnesota) that there are separate ways that they operate, they're not necessarily the same.

[Will Robinson]

Well my \"one-party-disguised-as-two\" label isn't literally accurate, it's more a hyperbolic tool to get people to consider just how the same they are in some really important areas. Obviously you can find differences, they pretty much exist on maintaining just a few key differences and get their panties all in a knot whenever they have to expand their platform to adopt a new stance.

Lower taxes, less government intrusion, right to keep and bear arms, strong national defense...
You know who I'm talking about there right?

Welfare, right to have an abortion, equal rights...quota's...affirmative action, government programs to help anyone out of anything....
And again you know who that was right?

How about this party though:

*Keeps independent candidates from appearing in national debates with their candidate.
*By way of their members in congress they keep the cost to compete in a national election in the hundreds of millions of dollars per candidate.
*They make sure their members in congress vote against the members own states best interest if the party needs the vote to sustain it's own power.
*They take hundreds of millions of dollars in trips/gifts/cash and take soft and hard money contributions to fund their campaigns and in return that party's members in congress make sure the tax code stays obtuse and ever flexible to allow them to use our tax dollars to pay back those contributors with all sorts of loophole deductions and corporate welfare schemes.
* They put their campaign contributors needs and desires above those of the citizens.

Which party is that?!?
Now you know where the 'one-party-disguised-as-two' comes into play.
You are free to choose the left branch or the right branch but you aren't allowed to vote for anything else. They control the very process, you will never get to vote for a candidate that doesn't conform to the one-party standards and it is our fault for not firing the bastards in congress who sell their souls to the one-party so they can have a piece of the power. How do they keep us from doing that? They trick you into thinking you'll cause the other party to ruin everything if you abandon the one you've been supporting.
It's our blood, sweat and tears that builds and maintains this country, but the 'one-party' owns it all.
The American political hard drive needs a serious defrag and the message on the screen says \"Don't do it, you'll never get the drive to work again\".

I'm ignoring the warning on the screen and listening to the voice that says \"Don't be a gullible chickenshit, do what's right. Flush the bastages!

[Immortal Lobster]

The way Dakatsu described the republicans is almmost the way I describe democrats lol

That's because the one-party-disguised-as-two has been very successful in driving you toward one of their two divisions....
You think 'Tastes Great' is better than 'Less Filling', others disagree and buy the 'Less Filling' brand. Either way it's the crappiest,cheapest product they can get the masses to swallow.

It's time to shop around!


Free The Pee! Free The Pee!

Accctually, I don't affiliate myself with either, I consider myself a fence sitter, take what I need from bot, there are many ideals that the democrats push for that I like, and many that the republicans push for that I like, I don't like anything the conservatives or liberals put on the table, they both give me the desire to want to pummel their asses.

what really gets my craw these days is how no-one can get along. first question most people ask anymore is political affiliation, after that its either a match made in heaven or a blood fued,it drives me insane.

[Will Robinson]

what really gets my craw these days is how no-one can get along. first question most people ask anymore is political affiliation, after that its either a match made in heaven or a blood fued,it drives me insane.

That is the result of generations of programming their members to believe that the party is more important than the people. you don't have to pay attention to the issues and think about all this stuff. You just need to know where your branch stands on the issue.
When you look at republican and democrat congressmen debating an issue you're not looking at two different groups trying to solve our problems. You're looking at two different members of the same company trying to out do the other side to get the next promotion.

[Foil]

Well said, Will.

That's exactly why my wife and I are registered as \"unafilliated\". It would probably drive both our families nuts if they knew, as they are very much the straight-party-voting types, and would probably feel that we had \"gone to the other side\" simply because we no longer voted blindly for their party.

[TechPro]

Well said, Will.

That's exactly why my wife and I are registered as "unafilliated". It would probably drive both our families nuts if they knew, as they are very much the straight-party-voting types, and would probably feel that we had "gone to the other side" simply because we no longer voted blindly for their party.

Yes, it is always best to vote according to what you feel would be best, not according to party lines... which implies one should always learn about the persons running for office and what they truly would try to do (not necessarily what they would say).

The challenge is pushing the bullcr_p aside and getting to the Truth.

[Jeff250]

edit: gah @ spelling

What is more interesting to me is this evolution of conservativism into this neo-conservativism. A good ol' conservative like Burke would have barfed all over the idea of invading another country and usurping its state, mostly because of exactly what happened after we did that.

[TIGERassault]

Pah! I always pitied the American voting system! Here in Ireland, we have coallitiong governments; which allow even the individual candidates to be part of the government!


And I agree with Will, the American Republican and Democratic parties are the same! This is because the Republican party does what they say they do, but the Democratic party gets pushed around by the Republicans on most major issues. On the odd occasion, they'll have the balls to stand up for what they were supposed to do, but that usually doesn't last long at all!

[Kyouryuu]

It is often amusing how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Go to Wikipedia and start going through the Bush family tree, for example. It's like a real-life Back to the Future because the Bush clan shows up repeatedly in government at different periods of time.