Why are you a Democrat/Republican?

[The Dude 206]

Effing DINOS.

[Robert&Liliya 31]

SS in its current form will have liquidated all reserves and become insolvent by approx 2040. The reason for that is quite simple and nothing to do with politicians

Let’s see, our government decided to change how the surplus was handled. By allowing themselves to borrow this money at very low interest rates to use to pay for other projects they broke the system. So basically what we have is a surplus backed by the US government. And who pays this debt? So taxpayers are paying twice for Social Security as well as paying for the interest on the loans. How is this not the fault of politicians? Yes government debt is fairly safe until the government gets itself into a bind and starts to print money like they have all the printing presses. Then what we have is a dollar that starts going down in value. Check the US dollar against the Canadian Dollar or the Euro. Once our dollar is worth less and we have to borrow from other sources at much less favorable rates the 2 Trillion in surplus gets more expensive on the US taxpayers. The Social Security mess started when baby boomers were just a sway in their mother’s hips and a twinkle in their daddy’s eyes.

[Dagobert 0]

I vote Republican and consider myself pretty conservative in both fiscal and social issues. Some social issues are not as important to me as they are many conservatives. Since I can remember I have always aligned myself conservatively. I can't really nail down a specific reason or cause of my political leanings, but to me the liberal side of the issues seem wrong. I feel that hard work should be rewarded and not those who wish to milk the system. We have too many people in this country who just wait for their government check or food stamps each month without ever trying to better themselves. Too many people feel that they are owed something by those who have worked hard to gain a better place in life instead of striving for that better place themselves. Social programs are going to rot this country inside out and continue to create a society of people who have no initative except on how to get more for less.

I will give you real-world example of this. I am an accountant and had a young lady come in to have her taxes prepared while doing the interview I asked her various questions as to deductible expense, child care, education, mortgages, property taxes, etc... While asking all of this she made me aware that she did not have to pay for her tuition, child care was taken care for her two children, she lived in section 8 housing, received food stamps and hell I can't remember all. Well, I finished up her return and told her her refund and then gave her the invoice for me fee. She then told me "I can't pay" I told her the payment options and she let me know "well last year some one else did them for free". I removed her W-2's handed them back to her and proceeded to shred the return and told her she should go back there.

Only for someone who is getting everything handed to them would they expect someone to render a service and not have payment ready upon completion. I see that as a leech on society. I am sure the liberal would see something different.

I feel taxes are a must for any country to survive, but only when those taxes are spread over the whole of that county. Not just 49% of the people being taxed. I see the burden that a 2,000 tax bill can be for a hard working family. And I also see the inequity of a 9,000 refund for someone who knows the exact "gravy" amount of when to stop their wages. The estate tax has always bugged the hell out of me. Why should a family who accumulated wealth pay taxes on that wealth again when they die?

Darn, didn't intend to write a book for you to read. I will clam up now.

Cheers,

Alvin

[Zero Sum 305]

I believe in hard work and earning one's lot in life, even in the face of reality and circumstance. Pegging a the behavior of members of society onto one particular political ideology is quite off, to be honest. This reminds me of the recent news articles on brain usage patterns- many conservatives tended to use [more] the reactionary-emotional parts of the brain while many liberals tended to use [more] those areas related to higher thought and empathy. This behavior from what I understand can be learned and once so, pretty difficult to unlearn.

[rika60607 215]

Which one is hard to unlearn?

I believe in hard work and earning one's lot in life, even in the face of reality and circumstance. Pegging a the behavior of members of society onto one particular political ideology is quite off, to be honest. This reminds me of the recent news articles on brain usage patterns- many conservatives tended to use [more] the reactionary-emotional parts of the brain while many liberals tended to use [more] those areas related to higher thought and empathy. This behavior from what I understand can be learned and once so, pretty difficult to unlearn.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I believe in hard work and earning one's lot in life, even in the face of reality and circumstance. Pegging a the behavior of members of society onto one particular political ideology is quite off, to be honest. This reminds me of the recent news articles on brain usage patterns- many conservatives tended to use [more] the reactionary-emotional parts of the brain while many liberals tended to use [more] those areas related to higher thought and empathy. This behavior from what I understand can be learned and once so, pretty difficult to unlearn.

And you wonder why Conservatives don't want to support government sponsored "research".

[Vi-Jay 218]

I believe in hard work and earning one's lot in life, even in the face of reality and circumstance. Pegging a the behavior of members of society onto one particular political ideology is quite off, to be honest. This reminds me of the recent news articles on brain usage patterns- many conservatives tended to use [more] the reactionary-emotional parts of the brain while many liberals tended to use [more] those areas related to higher thought and empathy. This behavior from what I understand can be learned and once so, pretty difficult to unlearn.

You might enjoy this article too.

Top shrink: Leftists are mentally ill

'Strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions' cited by veteran forensic psychiatrist

Just when liberal-leftists thought it was finally "their time" to lead center-right America, kicking and screaming, into a stifling socialist "utopia," a veteran psychiatrist is making a powerful case that the "hope-and-change" ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

For more than 40 years, Rossiter has diagnosed and treated over 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases, both state and federal, as a board-certified forensic psychiatrist retained by numerous public offices, courts and private attorneys. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.

Rossiter explains with great clarity why the kind of liberalism being displayed by Barack Obama can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Rossiter. "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

"A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do," he says. "A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which overregulates and overtaxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state – as liberals do."

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

•creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;

•satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;

•augmenting primitive feelings of envy;

•rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

"The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind," he says. "When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious."

Source

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

You might enjoy this article too.

Top shrink: Leftists are mentally ill

'Strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions' cited by veteran forensic psychiatrist

Just when liberal-leftists thought it was finally "their time" to lead center-right America, kicking and screaming, into a stifling socialist "utopia," a veteran psychiatrist is making a powerful case that the "hope-and-change" ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

For more than 40 years, Rossiter has diagnosed and treated over 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases, both state and federal, as a board-certified forensic psychiatrist retained by numerous public offices, courts and private attorneys. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.

Rossiter explains with great clarity why the kind of liberalism being displayed by Barack Obama can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Rossiter. "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

"A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do," he says. "A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which overregulates and overtaxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state – as liberals do."

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

•creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;

•satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;

•augmenting primitive feelings of envy;

•rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

"The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind," he says. "When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious."

Source

You gotta find a source other than wingnutdaily.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Respectable stance. But ..... the perfect is the enemy of the good.

[Zero Sum 305]

Which one is hard to unlearn?

Good question. I guess it depends what kind of learning you're talking about. Learning to be empathic/ unlearning that... or learning to be paranoid/ unlearning that. You might want to ask around but my thought would be that negative thinking like paranoia may eventually drive a brain's circuits into depression mode, and that isn't good from all the reports that depressed brains start to die off faster than normal ones.

[Zero Sum 305]

And you wonder why Conservatives don't want to support government sponsored "research".

Even in my time in school it was no secret science support came by the boatload from Conservatives. I guess when the implication that more conservative thinking may equate to more 'primitive' brain usage found some support... you'd have some conservatives not too happy about that. FWIW I don't think its that simple. We kind of need a little (or lots) of empathy as much as a little healthy paranoia to keep us alive.

[Zero Sum 305]

You might enjoy this article too.

Top shrink: Leftists are mentally ill

'Strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions' cited by veteran forensic psychiatrist

Just when liberal-leftists thought it was finally "their time" to lead center-right America, kicking and screaming, into a stifling socialist "utopia," a veteran psychiatrist is making a powerful case that the "hope-and-change" ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

For more than 40 years, Rossiter has diagnosed and treated over 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases, both state and federal, as a board-certified forensic psychiatrist retained by numerous public offices, courts and private attorneys. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.

Rossiter explains with great clarity why the kind of liberalism being displayed by Barack Obama can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Rossiter. "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

"A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do," he says. "A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which overregulates and overtaxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state – as liberals do."

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

•creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;

•satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;

•augmenting primitive feelings of envy;

•rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

"The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind," he says. "When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious."

Source

Sounds awesome. Also sounds like Dr Rossiter should have his research examined- particularly that which would help him substantiate his claims as a mental health professional.

[Vi-Jay 218]

You gotta find a source other than wingnutdaily.

OK, but I only posted that to rile a few.

[Zero Sum 305]

OK, but I only posted that to rile a few.

Not much to say. Its not like he's making any conclusions that can be verified after all. Sort of goes with the territory of being a hack that panders to other hacks- and one thing that perhaps gives some credence to the stories I mention along the lines of reactionary thinking.

[_Simpson_ 250]

you injected religion into the thread because you're openly hostile toward Islam and singling me out to pick a fight with me because I represent the monolithic anti-American Muslim in you head. My mere presense here offends your sensibilities, so, you're compelled to remind me that I'm strange, foreign, unAmerican and redeemable only if I renounce my faith and heritage so I can become more like a non-Muslim Republican White man and see the issues through your eyes because, for you, that's the only acceptable way to be.

That's what I know.

A lot of unneeded drama in that paragraph. The only thing I'm trying to do is get you to take off your Muslim blinders.

I am not hostile towards Islam. I, unlike you will be honest when it comes to Islam. You are way too sensitive when it comes to this issue.

The only reason Islam got brought up was because of this post you made -

I used to be a flaming Republican. Now, I hate both parties equally coz they're full of stupid people who get the media attention.

We all know why you're not a "flaming republican" anymore. I'm just trying to tell you that your wrong about a lot of us, we don't hate Islam. Now just because were not going to make excuses for a lot of the nonsense that comes out of Islam doesn't mean were haters. I have never said it was all Muslims and I dont buy into your picking choosing what parts of Islam you want to consider Islam.

Edited June 15, 2011 by _Simpson_