This forum seems to encourage extremists but then again so does everything else.

no.

I'd like to see more conservatives who have the intelligence to recognise that "liberal" does not mean druggie welfare recipient.

who are educated enough to know that nazism, communism, socialism and liberalism are are not synonyms for each other

and who are realistic enough to understand that heir country is superior to everywhere else.

 

I would too.

but its not likely here.

 

I'm not grasping for anything, there is black and white and then there is reality. Many on here believe anyone who isn't with them is against them, but the truth is there are several degrees of rational that are not dealt with if we are only allowed to deal with the extreme points of view. There will always be winners and losers but our government is supposed to be unbiased, and working for what is best for this country as a whole. It's only when you add the human factor, emotions, and selfish greed that things get completely out of whack.

 

Great points, although unnecessary.
Believe it or not, if you keep your cool, your posts don't always get a response , but someone will pm you, or rep you, for speaking for them.
Posting crazy responses may just feed one's need for immediate attention.

Again, perhaps a cry for attention, a game.
Posters who come out swinging from either side are not being taken seriously. Those discussing race relations in a calm and objective manner are.

Its easy to fall for this trap. One should find it possible to agreeing with people from all ideologies.

Certainly, not all Reps are Cons, or vice versa, and often we assume someone to fit a niche, when its not so.
But yes, as soon as we realize that its is us, We the People, being played by politicians, being divided politically for their gain, the better off we are.
We should find common ground, realize that all of us contribute in our own way, all of us make up this great nation of ours, will all its faults, with all its beauty.

 

Absolute nonsense. Democrats are MORE conservative now than tea party advocates are. The tea party is reactionary and regressive. They have no interest in conserving the right to abortion, social security, public healthcare, a sense of community, the EPA, PBS, etc. They want to destroy what has defined American culture for decades. You are all just delusional, and think that your view of what American culture should be, is still prevalent in America. It isn't. The only thing I can actually think of that you are conservative on is gay marriage and the death penalty. Otherwise you all want radical change, the only difference is you want it to be regressive instead of progressive. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but stop the nonsense of pretending that you are somehow moderate and only attempting to preserve that which already exists. Because that is quite clearly a lie.

 

Hey Bubba, don't you think it is silly when really badly uninformed people go around calling other people uninformed? I know I do!!

 

My lord what an absurd delusion!! Democrats and Republicans have never been more similar. At least 50 years ago Democrats used to make some attempt at representing the common person. Now we have 2 corporatist parties, that convince rubes that they are radically different because one side wants to control how much salt you can eat, while the other side only wants to control who you have sex with and what plants you can ingest. Only mindless partisan hacks believe such unbelievable absurdity. There may be little value in moderation, but there is UNDOUBTEDLY value in being non-partisan. Partisanship rots the brain, as evidenced by most of the Republicans and Democrats at this forum.

 

This may be the most idiotic post I have read in a long time. It is like you are attempting to make a caricature of yourself!! Liberals hate Christmas!! Liberals hate America!! Liberals aren't slavishly in love with meaningless nationalistic slogans(something the Communist party of the Soviet Union would have criticized as well). If you could only see your post from an outside perspective, you would be appalled at how mind-numbingly stupid it is!!

 

Blaming it solely on the politicians or the "other" political party is the deception.
　
　
　
Politicians represent somebody, but rarely is it "the people" who elect them, or the individuals they are sworn to represent. They are simply more powerful game pieces in a much bigger game.
　
　
I love it when they say things like, rational Americans conclude this, or that, and things like, true American believes such-n-such, cuz they are only sucking in the irrational thinkers. Not much different than any other sales pitch, using the none thinking part of the brain to accept a particular conclusion. 4 out of five dentists prefer, smart moms know, people who are in the know, know, etc…
　
　
　
Think about it, you could have the same people believe something only because someone from their political party asserts it as the truth, and hear the exact same thing from a different political ally, but think of a dozen talking points (implanted by talking heads) why it's unreasonable, not viable, or conclude it to be a total lie, and excuse it all together since it constitutes conservative/liberal tripe. Just like a child holding their ears and yelling lalalalalala, so as to not have to hear that which they refuse to accept, the truth.
　
　
That's because extremists on both sides of the political extreme don't think, or research (not seriously, or critically anyway), or consider other viable possibilities, they resort back to their primal basic instincts and react. More to the point they do as they have been taught and/or programmed to do when they hear something they refuse to believe in. They act and think irresponsibly. Usually in the best interest of others, and almost never protecting their own interests in the process while foolishly believing they are.
　
No it’s not the middle of the road thinkers, or the fence sitters in most cases that are the irrational thinkers or the complacent ones. These are the nonbiased, rational, critical thinkers that take the time to realize what issues are actually important, and pick and choose their battles based on logic and common sense. Exactly why the propaganda machine targets these individuals as the enemy, which they clearly are. The enemy of irrationality, ignorance, and stupidity at it’s finest.

 

It does, I agree. If you post a thoughtful, well reasoned comment you will get less comments to it compared to utter trolling and flame bait.

For whatever reason calling people "*********s, *******s, etc" is OK b/c it invites harsh rhetoric in response and generates traffic on the site.

What should happen, is these people should be thrown out so that we can actually discuss something without all the dumb ass name calling. Problem is, the TOS is to lenient on such people so trolling b/c the norm and an actual topic gets sidetracked after about 8 comments.

 

Lack of consistent moderation.

Not too mention many folks labelled "extremists" here really arent extreme at all, just labelled that way to hinder possible forum credibility.

 

I agree. It gets too personal, even though it is against the rules.

 

As someone outside the moderate box, I wouldn't expect you to give an accurate description of the moderate voice.

It's more like, "Well, you both have good points and bad, so let's weed out the bad from both sides so the good from both sides can take root."

That is a stand.

 

I guess your reaction to the response rate of your depends on reasons for posting. If you are attention-seeking narcissist then you need to post outrageous nonsense to get a reaction. If you have to respond to everything and use a unique font or use bold text to get attention then it's not about political issues, but one's own issues. That being said, a forum with reasonable members posting respectfully can get boring quickly.

 

Since when do Moderates not take a stand? They just don't follow the party line on every issue. In my experience, they are more informed then your average partisan who gets his news from an openly biased media source.

People are convinced now that you can only be a "liberal" or a "conservative". It's like rooting for you're favorite sports team. You don't care what they do as long as they win. We're so polarized as a country because we have a media that hypes up the small differences between the parties instead of the huge similarities.

 

and not only that, they make a whole lot of assumptions about what it means to be a "liberal" or a "conservative".

If I disclose information about myself (eg that I work, have a business, have acquired asets, my personal values) I get told that I have conservative values.

which is untrue.

these are normal values.

but apparently because of my views I should be a lazy druggie on welfare.

 

Nothing can be done in America until a choice is made between leftism and conservativism. There is no middle ground. Every one must choose or a choice will be made for him or her. It has come to this.

 

So the AJCommittee has no-one left to buy?

 

Nothing can be done, until such obviously absurd and uninformed gibberish like this is done away with. There is no choice of any left wing political ideology in America. Our choice is between 2 conservative corporatist parties. Have fun continuing to make that meaningless choice!!


PS. That is conservative with a small c. We do have the choice of a regressivist and reactionary third party as well, but that is controlled by one of the conservative corporatist parties, so it doesn't really matter anyways. However, we certainly HAVE NO choice of "leftism" in this country. Only people completely ignorant of what left-wing politics is, or who are completely ignorant of what are parties stand for could ever believe otherwise.

 

So your a victim? No way a conspiracy? The rise of the tea party was against the republicans. We took some measure of control back from the established party adherents. You can do the same thing. Stop showing up and going along with your party leaders. We did and now were the talk of the nation and the forum !!!

 

You are correct, our two party system seems to blend together, leaving us with very little choice, but that goes for conservative, as well as liberal choices.
Our nation may not be ready yet, but might be soon, to opt for real choices, as soon as we quit adhering to what we know, and venture into something more representative of a nation as diverse as ours.

 

You did NO SUCH THING!! Why do you think the debt deal was such watered down nonsense that didn't actually solve anything? Why do you think every tea party member ran as a Republican? The tea party is just the far right wing of the Republican party that decided to wear a new hat, and then insisted that made them something radically different. It didn't. They were the same people, with a new hat. I wasn't fooled.


I on the other hand reject the parties, and am not a member of either, and never will be again unless there is radical change in one or both of those parties.


PS. Conspiracy? What are you talking about? Who said anything about a conspiracy?

 

I agree. There is nothing resembling actual small government Conservatism in this country. Republicans and Democrats are both corporatists, and both conservative. But that means conservative in that they want to maintain the status quo. There is no party that is left wing in the way social democratic and democratic socialist parties are in Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, etc. There isn't even a party as left wing as many European right wing parties. We have no choice of leftism in this country. It is a false choice between 2 sides of the same coin, neither is radically different despite the nonsense alberto(or whatever his name is) was going on about.

 

It looks like its the same thing only different. It isn't true. The movement is against excessive government. When the republicans go against the agenda of the party for their party.Then you will see another shift away from the republicans. They will end up being an established third party. people always tend to more control not less. Once the tea party figures out they can have it all and not be a member of a generic light conservative movement they will RUN against the republicans and the democrats. ( alberto?)

 

I'm not a Republican and you're probably not a Democrat. But there will be a hard choice between the model of social organization you favor (statism) and the choice I favor (radical decentralization). I don't favor the Big Business/Big Govt. model. Financial instability will bring it down like rotten fruit.