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Young Barbelith Republicans

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22:30 / 01.10.04

All this "Bush loses" business with the fictionsuits has got me thinking, are there any Republicans on Barbelith? Probably not, but I’m curious.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

18:06 / 02.10.04

Eh...I thought I was for a minute, and almost had a heart attack (how am I going to tell my family? Answer: "Dad, will you please pass the salt...to a Republican"), but I was just really high. I agree with most republicans about some things but not others. Really, I'm with whatever party will help me accomplish my plans. All Hail Eris and all.

18:55 / 02.10.04

So I guess not.

22:22 / 02.10.04

Come on out, y'all! We only want to give you huggles and candy and UP AGAINST THE WALL, MOTHERFUCKER!!!

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

14:33 / 03.10.04

Ugh. I am registered as such at the moment, but I have been scrutinizing my political affiliation a lot lately. The hijacking of the party by the religious right has made me realize that I am more of a libertarian than anything. Unfortunately, there will only be two names on the presidential ballot in my jurisdiction, with no space for a write-in.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

14:33 / 03.10.04

I'm probably a Republican in the UK sense, if that helps.

Well, okay, it's irrelevant, but I felt sorry for the thread.

22:12 / 03.10.04

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:39 / 03.10.04

Mr mink sir... I've always found that kind of funny, that what is classed in the UK as a Republican is generally on the left... yup, I'm one too in that case.

(Note to concerned US 'lithers... we still have a royal family to get rid of. We'd like a republic so we could worry about it. Hence the difference in terminology.)

08:00 / 04.10.04

You should try it in Australia, Stoatie. Our conservative party is called the Liberal Party. WTF?

14:02 / 04.10.04

>> Come on out, y'all! We only want to give you huggles and candy and UP AGAINST THE WALL, MOTHERFUCKER!!!

LOL!!!! Nice one.

02:47 / 05.10.04

Yeah, totally hilarious to threaten violence to people who don't drone into your specific political world view.

Viva democracy.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

03:41 / 05.10.04

Dude, it's a only a fucking cartoon strip...

We're The Great Old Ones Now

06:39 / 05.10.04

Or you could assume that Jack's saying this thread is like the cartoon. Kinda "come out so we can yell at you" kinda thing.

Just a thought.

Foust is SO authentic

10:11 / 05.10.04

Well a few years back, I voted for Canada's conservative party. Ban gay marriage! Viva guns! Rape our medical system!

I was young.

Haus of Mystery

14:53 / 06.10.04

Beard, wasn't Nun responding to the previous 'UP AGAINST THE WALL MOTHERFUCKER' post?. The knee-jerk reaction of that post is depressing and, frankly, childish.

15:01 / 06.10.04

I think to take that post entirely seriously is childish. Barbelith is a place where people joke around as well as - or even while - giving their opinions; it's not always an official Serious Debate Site. Is there some valid hostility here towards conservatives? Sure. Was the post in question tongue in cheek? I think it's pretty safe to say yes.

15:11 / 06.10.04

Having said that, I find myself longing for a time when I could have interesting discussions with Republicans about issues where I didn't feel that the Republicans were clueless or denying reality. I think that during the Reagan years, even though I'm not a big fan of Reagan, you could at least argue intelligently and have some valid points on both sides for his admin's policy. I think back in the days of Bush Sr., I could dislike Bush Sr. but didn't feel such strong feelings of negativity towards those who liked him. I think we have to acknowledge that this President has gone more to the extreme right and polarized more people (and nations) than in recent Presidential history. Certainly, W. has proven anything but "a uniter, not a divider."

I also think that people expressed some intelligent observations about Cheney's debating skills and good points Cheney had in last night's debate - people discussing it weren't too lefty or too full of hatred to deny that Cheney made many intelligent points and was far more intelligent than Bush. So I guess I'm saying I have faith in Barbelith to have intelligent discussions/debates about the differences between Republicans and Democrats in 2004, despite a cartoon and a joke made in the thread.

Plus, not all Republicans are as extreme as Bush is. I have a lot of respect for the many more moderate Republicans who have stood up during the Bush admin. and said "hey wait a minute, even WE feel the Bush admin. is getting some things wrong, and we're going to say so."

15:49 / 06.10.04

I really hoped that the original question was tongue-in-cheek. I would also hope that hunterwolf realized that Jack Fear's posts here are dripping in sarcasm.

17:01 / 06.10.04

I did - I was responding to MacGuyer's post.

20:29 / 06.10.04

Quote FinderWolf: ... I find myself longing for a time when I could have interesting discussions with Republicans about issues where I didn't feel that the Republicans were clueless or denying reality...

While I don't like Dubya I don't think we can lay the divide on his doorstep. The change came when the RNC found it could say whatever it wanted through mouthpieces like Limbaugh, Coulter and O'Reilly without suffering the stigma that would arise from saying it directly. The second the NeoCons started peddling right wing spin as entertainment all chance for rational debate ended.

Jack The Bodiless

11:15 / 07.10.04

It's clear that Mr Fear had his tongue in cheek, was being sarcastic, was joking - whatever.

Of course, this thread was set up for any Republicans posting to or lurking on Barbelith to come and out and - presumably -discuss their affiliation and the current political climate, election, what-have-you. So Jack's jokey posts above are wholly inappropriate and almost guaranteed to derail the purpose of the thread. Which was, as far as I can see, to persuade US Republican 'lithers to de-lurk and contribute to the discussion, when they might have felt awkward doing so previously on what is a predominately leftwing/liberal/Democrat message board with some very strong and angry views on the current Republican administration. Yeah, I think in that light, two posts with the 'jokey' message "come out so we can take it to the parking lot" might have been... inappropriate.

11:34 / 07.10.04

Wait, we're a Democrat message board? Damn.

*packs*

~L :P

11:58 / 07.10.04

Jack the bodyless - Far be it from me to speak for Jack Fear, but I think you are totally misunderstanding his posts. I have a feeling that Mr Fear read the initial post as being somewhat disingenuious - his replies, laced with sarcasm as they are, are intended to suggest quite why many right leaning individuals might not really want post on a thread that was likely to become a simple slaging match rather than an issue based political discussion.

13:25 / 07.10.04

But I've always thought of Barbelith as a place where despite strong, passionate views, you can have an intelligent political discussion based on issues, even when people strongly disagree. There's still hope for a non-slagfest!

13:45 / 10.10.04

I would be surprised if we had lots of hard-core republicans here, but not so surprised if we had a Libertarian or two...

Me, I'm an independent, baby!

15:04 / 11.10.04

I'm a republican with the libertarian kind of bent. But I'm not much of a Barbelither these days. I don't come off as especially intelligent (here), sometimes, because I let my emotions get the better of me, so I've been shying away from the site.

I should point out that I thought both Jack Fear's "UP AGAINST THE WALL" comment, and the Boondocks cartoon were pretty funny. That's not what bothers me.

I'm not sure if I'd be considered a hard-core republican. My political opinions, in theory, are pretty conservative, but I have a hard time with the republicans themselves. It's what FinderWolf said. Intelligent conversations are difficult to find. But I don't think Bush is conservative. He's spending like mad (on Education, Health Care, and others). His Iraq war policy seems to come out of the playbook of President Wilson or Truman or Johnson, but with less consistency in the principle. I do think the Patriot Act could rightly be called right-wing, as could his opposition to the ICC, or the Kyoto Protocols, but I think, overall, Bush is a wild-eyed moderate. I'll be voting for at least one republican in the next election here against her quite capable democratic opponent. But I will be voting libertarian for President.

I keep thinking of writing a little essay here about why I think a specific kind of constitutional monarchy could be better than a republic, but I haven't got the energy, just yet.

I hope all of this info is along the lines of Impulsivelad's intent.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:49 / 11.10.04

But I don't think Bush is conservative.

Yeah, but he's not a moderate either... he has, as you say, spent vast amounts, ramped up the deficit, and created more layers of government, with more power, than ever before, which consistently attempt to undermine states' rights...

Bush, I think, is something new and interesting in a US president - a state capitalist, really. Or possibly a syndic...

Jack The Bodiless

11:36 / 12.10.04

I have a feeling that Mr Fear read the initial post as being somewhat disingenuious - his replies, laced with sarcasm as they are, are intended to suggest quite why many right leaning individuals might not really want post on a thread that was likely to become a simple slanging match rather than an issue based political discussion.

Yahhhh. So, what, he decides that the above is probably going to be the case, and then posts twice (as above) to ensure it is? I'm not being pissy about it, I just reckon it was inappropriate, that's all.

18:55 / 19.10.04

I always considered myself a republican until I actually started paying attention to politics. Now I realize that although I agree with Republicans a lot more than democrats on most issues, there are some issues, like stem cells etc. that rebublicans are closed minded about. Really, I think we should consider every issue independantly, regardless of affiliation. And, can't we ever have a president who is not controlled by either the democratic or republican agenda?

22:04 / 02.11.04

The problem is, the Republican party lost track of what it means to be "conservative". That is, limiting the involvement of government. Not imposing socialy conservative morals into law. That's actually liberalism, by the governmental definitions of it.

So if the Republicans actually were what they should be and used to be, I'd be supporting them. I fall around economic conservatism, limited government, and social liberation. And gun freedom, possibly the last vestige of the Old Party left. But this puts me now somewhere between Democrat and Libertarian, or violent revolutionary, depending on the climate.

As a Conservative, I vote Democrat. America is fucked up.

00:12 / 03.11.04

(Before anyone gets angry about this post, just think: is it REALLY worth your while to get angry about something which could just be a joke, and won't really have any effect on the election outcome at this stage?)

Aren't both the American parties more right wing (whatever that means) than either of the British main parties? I mean, we have national healthcare an' all.

Also, if i was American, I'd vote for Bush.

Not just to piss you all off, but because voting for Kerry won't change Iraq, and could mean in four years Arnie will be President, whereas with Bush in government theres a higher chance America will be so fucked in four years, economically and in terms of global diplomacy, that the next vote won't matter.

Not that this election really matters, two sides of a coin, puppet on the left vs. puppet on the right, et cetera et cetera.

Viva Bush!

12:19 / 03.11.04

>> The problem is, the Republican party lost track of what it means to be "conservative". That is, limiting the involvement of government. Not imposing socialy conservative morals into law. That's actually liberalism, by the governmental definitions of it.

Hear hear, cusm.

And as we've said many times before here, the whole "they're all corrupt, elections don't matter, we're all well fucked all the time" view isn't very constructive.

13:55 / 03.11.04

And as we've said many times before here, the whole "they're all corrupt, elections don't matter, we're all well fucked all the time" view isn't very constructive.

Obviously not, I mean, if people saw politics as more than just an archane ceremony which comes around every four years, they might actually take action to bring about changes on a daily basis. Clearly its better to leave it as a nice, orderly function which brings about a few style changes in press releases, and leaves people alienated enough from the process to drop any practical interest after election hoopla has calmed down and get on with their ordinary lives as contented consumers.

And changing your name to "Kerry Wins blah blah" was oh so constructive.

14:02 / 03.11.04

I respect your opinion, but I still feel that not participating in the process because it has its flaws is no excuse for apathy. And I happen to have done a number of other more significant things besides changing my username on a message board, but I needn't list all the time, money and energy I put into the Democratic party for this election to prove something to someone on a message board.

14:08 / 03.11.04

>> Obviously not, I mean, if people saw politics as more than just an archane ceremony which comes around every four years, they might actually take action to bring about changes on a daily basis.

Perhaps those people are wrong and politics actually matters somewhat, and they are depriving themselves of a viable forum in which to have their views make a difference. Sure it's flawed, but there is some power to be had there, however small. Perhaps cynicism breeds apathy, which breeds inaction, which keeps the big money powers happy since few people challenge them.

You have every right to your opinion. I don't want to get into a message board squabble here...that's a waste of our time. It's pretty rare that a message board discussion/argument actually causes someone to change their mind. I just strongly disagree with the stance that it's not worth trying to use the system to affect change and that we may as well just do nothing because it's all pointless anyway.

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