BTW, It was you and holden who "derailed" this thread. The rest of us have discussed this to death. Just weird how you guys would pop in to make quickie, bumper sticker style digs at the pro-choice crowd and then act like us "bleeding hearts" are dying to talk about abortion for the millionth time.
I think you misread or misinterpreted my post. I was apologizing for taking the thread into abortionville. My other comment was both in jest (hence the smilie) and about returning to the discussion of "Why are you a Democrat?"
Issues the Democrats are correct about- 1. Abortion should not be dealt with through prohibition. 2. Drug laws are archaic. 3. Tort reform is evil, unless you want to hand the judicial branch of our government to big business. 4. Corporate welfare is as big a problem as individual welfare. 5. Religion and government don't mix. 6. The death penalty is not a deterrant, and is too expensive to implement. 7. We should, IMMEDIATELY, put all of our resources into replacing both the internal combustion engine and the use of fossil fuels with cleaner, safer alternatives. Don't ask me what I think the Democrats are wrong about- I don't have the time.
yeah, youre right i was out of line... i shouldnt have used examples like those, linking murder and abortion...i got carried away, and off topic... my original point was just to simply say that people have their right to choose taken away all the time...so "pro-choice" didnt seem like the best 'choice' as a title.... anyway...i see both sides...we will agree to disagree and all that garbage.... i like democrats, anyway..ive had sex with some of them...
Sorry for the delay fadeaway. I didn’t get back to this thread until today. I have voted for different parties at different times and in different parts of the country. I’ve lived in SK, ON and AB and have noticed that the character of the parties is different in different regions. In Saskatchewan the NDP is quite focused on social justice, but is also very practical, quite small business friendly, and not averse to partnering with multinationals in the right situations either. Its sense of social justice has/had very Christian, Social Gospel type overtones. This isn’t surprising considering that Tommy Douglas was a minister and this was his primarily motivation. In Saskatchewan I was always a supporter of the NDP. In Ontario, however, the NDP had more of a humanist, politically-correct flavour. When in government they didn’t seem to understand that to achieve lasting social reform you also have to have a healthy economy. Bob Rae ran up huge debt on his pet causes, and it all crashed on him because he didn’t implement the changes in a sustainable way. He was not thinking big picture or long term. In Ontario I voted for Peterson, who was a Liberal, because he was a pretty good guy, had a fair amount of compassion for the less fortunate, and had policies that I felt were fairly sensible. In Alberta the NDP is a fringe party that is largely a protest party with very few practical, constructive ideals. The Liberals are only a little better, but I won’t vote for “King Ralf” so I vote Liberal by default. Western PCs tend to be quite right wing (although Joe Clark is not too bad), typically not much different from the Alliance. Most Alliance members are/were PCs but left the federal party because of Brian Mulroney and his various escapades. (How could someone possibly call Quebec a “distinct society” without also acknowledging Nfld as distinct?! ) In Saskatchewan the PCs were quite incompetent and crooked, and many of the 80’s governing party (13 or 14 of them?) were eventually convicted of various offences involving the misappropriation of funds and several did jail time. That government was soundly defeated and the party has since disappeared in SK. They have no seats and I don’t think the Provincial party even exists anymore. Meanwhile, in Alberta, King Ralf’s court has had some very shady characters as well, but when you’re rolling in money like Alberta is, people just overlook it. This government, including the years it was lead by Getty and Lougheed, has been in power for 30 years! Power corrupts, etc. This is a very unusual place politically by Canadian standards, IMO. In the East, I’m told, the PCs tend to be much more centrist, often behaving much more like Liberals in other parts of Canada, but I’m really not that familiar with the politics on the east coast. I think it’s a good idea to vote for the best person, as long as their party isn’t outside the spectrum of your beliefs. Ideology, although important, is not the be all and end all. Simple competence and wisdom are very important considerations, and often not considered enough, IMO. I might even have voted for Peter Lougheed if I was a voter in Alberta in the 1970’s. To relate this to the original question, if I was an American I’d probably be a Democrat, but it would vary somewhat from issue to issue, and would depend on the candidate. I might have been tempted to vote for Ralf Nader in the last election, but I don’t really know that much about his platform.
And I think you are mostly wrong about this. In fact both parties strive to be seen as the party that restricts government from intruding in private lives--the intrusions they are watchdogs for are often different though. Further, as I said before, culpable for one's health conditions (whether you caused the auto accident, caused your lung cancer, caused your heart disease, caused your liver to fail, etc) or not--society generally make no distinctions in the right to speedy treatment and treatment choices. Concerning persons health, we don't restrict choices and we don't factor in culpability or personal responsibility or whatever you want to call it.
