Because

[sarren]

Because I am that shallow, finding out RDJ is a Republican made me want to clarify what it is I am dispointed about.

I googled. This was the first site I found. After a while I began to suspect it might be a little biased...

Republicans Believe there can be differences of opinion and that such differences such result in opponents, not enemies.
Democrats Believe that all whom oppose them are to be treated as enemies.

Wiki answers was succinct. It states that the US Republican Party believes in -
- smaller government/less government involvement (which includes reduced government spending and government taxes)
- National security (strict foreign policy/ large role of military/patriotism/support of military on the offense)
- free trade and capitalism
- pro-life and conservative religious values
- vouchers for the education system
- politically fair over politically correct
- proponents of the NRA and all Constitutional rights

Does that sound about right?


Also found this along the way - Obama ‘may be the Antichrist’ Okay, this can't be true - 24% of Republicans believe this?

Comments

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

That list sounds about as accurate and neutral as you can get. I think there is more to their education policy than simply vouchers, but that's probably more complicated than vouchers.

There is a LOT of rhetoric and anger on both sides, but the reality is that most Americans fall somewhere in the middle. The Republican party has ramped up in extremism in the last few years -- fifteen years ago, you could much more easily find Republicans whose primary stance was fiscal responsibility and strong defense, but supported gay rights. Fiscal conservatism used to be the hallmark of the Republican party; now it's social conservatism.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Yeah I figured it must be something like that. Of course, all we hear about are the extremists.

[mardia.livejournal.com]

That list is pretty much dead-on. That being said, there are many Republicans who conform to some of the party's values (fiscal conservatism, national security) which rejecting others (their stance on abortion and gay rights, for example.)

As the commentator above said, the real issue with the Republican party is that the extremism has really ramped up in recent years, either forcing a lot of moderates over to the far-right or out of the party altogether.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

So you can't be a moderate Republican anymore?

[mardia.livejournal.com]

You CAN be, it's just that frankly, you're probably going to get outshouted by the extremists.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

I'll agree with previous commenters. The Republican Party is a loose alliance of groups that come from a variety of backgrounds, but notably small government fiscal conservatives and religious social conservatives.

It is worth noting that, perhaps like many political parties but it seems even more so, some of its beliefs often come into conflict with others. For example, while it claims defence of the Constitution as a major belief, it clearly is willing to weaken parts of the Constitution in the name of national security, and clearly is willing compromise on reduced government spending when it comes to military spending. Some parts of Republican beliefs have become identifying points of difference that distinguish the party from the Democrats (pro-life, the gun lobby, lowered taxes), others are paid at best lip service and not even that.

I think in recent years the Republican party has lost its way very badly, and been taken over by extremist elements. The current Republican party is hard to not condemn. But it hasn't always been that way - I personally have never had much in common with the Republicans, but there have been times when Republican party as a whole was a lot more reasonable than it is now. I think a lot of people might agree with a lot of the principles of the Republican party while not identifying with the current extremism, or the policies of the Republican party over the last decade or so.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

How do you see it's future?

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm really not too sure. In the near term, I'm expecting Republican losses to continue for a while.
I'm kind of hoping that, after a few losses, the moderate Republicans will rally and try to drag the party back to the centre, but it is going to be a hard battle for them to do so, and I don't think it is likely to happen in the near future (in time for the get a decent 2012 Presidential candidate, for example).

But there is a nagging worry that it simply won't happen - the US is quite hostile in its electoral system to 3rd parties, so if the Republican party remains controlled by crazies, and having only one party with a real chance at election isn't very healthy for a state, especially one with a tendency to corruption (just look at NSW!).

[klia.livejournal.com]

I was going to ramble about the incredible levels of Republican hypocrisy, and how so many of them seem to have snapped after Obama got elected because, IMO, they're racists who can't handle having an African-American president, and are doing anything they can think of to "get their country back," but I'll just say I wouldn't be happy if I found out a favorite actor of mine was a member of that party, either. :P

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

I'd go further than Dave in suggesting the current implementation of the Republican party is the party of hypocrisy. The Bush years consistently involved wasting huge amounts of money on big government while trampling constitutional rights.

Given the recent wave of prayer for Obama's death, you'd have to say Democrats believe there can be differences of opinion and that such differences such result in opponents, not enemies, while the Republicans believe that all whom oppose them are to be treated as enemies.