It has come up that there are many different ideologies under the Republican umbrella. For those of you who shelter the rain there, how do you view Bush? Cheney? McCain? Palin? the religious right? the founding principles? the diversity within the party? the party's future?
(This would be the essay portion of the blog! :) )
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Of those 4, Palin is the only one I would consider truly conservative. Bush ran on more conservative issues, but he has since shown a more liberal side. To rank them, I would say Palin, (conservative), Cheney, Bush, McCain (most liberal).
The "religious right" is a term the media came up with to try to explain why us "crazy religious people" vote the way we do. Up until recently, the "religious right" didn't vote. The thinking was kind of a "render to Ceaser that which is Ceaser's" philosophy and God will take care of the nation. However, in recent years we have realized that by not voting we have allowed the country to be swallowed up by immoral policies causing a multitude of problems. Yes, God is ultimately in charge, however he uses us mere humans to work His Will and if we aren't willing to do our part, he will let us "reap what we sow". We now feel that it is our duty to get people into public office who share our views so we have a voice....so the "religious right" has gotten much more vocal and it scares the "liberal left".
Originally the Republicans were set up with the belief of limited government involvement. This has obviously been tainted over the years.
I have no idea what the future holds. I think that we will probably see a split (hopefully not this election!) between the moderates and the conservatives... and I think the moderates will become democrats and the democrats will become something else.
Thank you for the history on the Religious Right. I didn't know how they got so involved in politics.
Your first and last paragraphs I need some more clarification on- mainly because of the terms conservative and liberal- and democrats and democrats! :)
What do you think of the four leaders mentioned? Would you want a Cheney Whitehouse for example? Do you think Palin is more of a neoconservative than McCain? Or is she more of a reflection of the Religious Right? Are those basically the same thing?
Do you think moderate Republicans will join with the Democratic party or will their be three parties? What would they call themselves? (as Democrat is already taken- what's in a name anyways!)
I am not a political major!!! :-D You are asking me questions that go outside of my "area of expertise" :-D.
In my OPINION....
As I've stated before, I am not a fan of McCain, I USED to be a fan of Bush and I still am proud of the leadership he showed after 9/11... but I don't agree with a lot of the economic policies he has put into play. I am not a huge fan of Cheney either.
I am becoming a fan of Palin...considering I'd never looked her up before this election. I believe she is a strong conservative and I've liked what I've seen of her so far.
I am still not comfortable using the term "neo conservative" since I'm not sure Wikipedia has it right. I think she falls under the religious right category (as do I).
I personally vote based off of the issues...since I am voting for my representative, I want someone who views things like me. GENERALLY speaking, the people who share the same views as me are Republicans.
Obviously no one is going to agree with me 100% so I have to rank my beliefs. There is absolutely NO WAY I could vote for someone who is for abortion or for homosexual marriage. These issues go DIRECTLY against Scripture and are not a gray area for me.
After those two, I look at their economic views. I believe less taxes strengthens the economy. I believe that the government has too much power. I believe that individuals are better at helping the poor than government-run programs. I believe when the government gets involved in issues, it messes them up. There are many problems that need to be fixed, but I think the "government" caused most of them and shouldn't be in charge of fixing them. The government should be there solely for our protection--not to "run" us.
Then I look at immigration policies/ foreign policies.
If there is more than one Republican running, that pretty much narrows it down to my choice. Then I look at voting records to make sure they have voted the way they've said they voted (surprise, surprise, politicians lie!).
I am not going to claim to know what the future holds for the parties as I am not a political analyst. However, I think that it wouldn't be too far-fetched to go from a 2-party system to a 3-party system...liberal, moderate and conservative.
I believe when the government gets involved in issues, it messes them up. There are many problems that need to be fixed, but I think the "government" caused most of them and shouldn't be in charge of fixing them. The government should be there solely for our protection--not to "run" us.
Oh! So interesting!! I'm still formulating how to explain how Canadians see their government and underlying assumptions of Canadian culture, and this whole idea of government in the copied passage is central to that- I think! Could you explain more fully what you meant here? Are there specific historical events that have lead to this view? I'm not really sure which other questions to even ask since these ideas are totally foreign to me.
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