curious as usual.


Okay, I'm a little bit biased.

I haven't bothered to vote in quite some time (I just might this time if Hillary Sodom Clinton is a candidate), but my REAL ideological choice would be Libertarian,

But if I was forced to pick a realistic candidate it would be an authentic Conservative who is for small government, lowering taxes, and little government interference in economic and social issues, not one of these new age "Republicans" who are merely the Democrats of 20 years ago......

My key issues are (not in any specific order):

Small government,
Lowering taxes and eliminating the graduated tax scheme
Cutting all but the most essential government programs
School vouchers or school choice
Opposition to gay marriage and pro family
Free market as much as possible
Elimination of Affirmative action and other racist, sexist and discriminatory programs.
Anti-Abortion
Find a privatized alternative to Social Security so that people actually have feasible retirement options.
Break the Arab Oil cartel as much as possible, by putting major emphasis on alternative energy sources.
Stop policing the world, unless they are a DIRECT threat to American Security (Iraq is NOT that)
Stop the War on Drugs which does far more damage than all the drugs in the world combined.
Freedom of Speech, fight the RIAA and revoke draconian laws such as the Patriot act and the DCMA.
Anti Gun Control
Withdrawal from the UN and ejecting them from American Soil (yes I know it will NEVER happen).
Open immigration, but at the same time elimination of minimum wage laws and welfare benefits....
Banning Women and Old People from driving (just kidding)

I'm a Democrat but only because NYC is such a Democratic city that it's very important to be able to vote in the primaries since a Dem will win anyway, no matter how many times I pull the Republican lever in the general election.

Libertarian.

none of the above.

I am a registered Democrat and usually vote Democratic. I am not a gung-ho Democrat. It's just that the Republicans' policies are consistently worse.

Thanks to whoever edited the title.

What then?

Im toying with the marijuanan party.

I like their slogan : let's roll!

One issue parties are stupid. So let's say they actually legalize pot, then what?? Or were they too stoned to think of that???

That said, I almost voted for Ale Yarok last time in Israel but they had some questionable positions on other issues.... Why can't there be more radical right wing militant hippies???

i am not affiliated with a party.

You are an "Other (explain)".

that was the explanation.

Thanks.

US: Democrat.
UK: I hate them all. The Lib Dems are anti-Israel (not to mention in cloud cuckoo land), half of the Tories are 70 years old and stuck in the shires, and Labour is divided between new Labour who stand for nothing (other than meddling in everything) and old Labour who are old school lefties. And none of them will advocate the forced abolition of selective schooling! (Down with grammar schools I say!)

What I stand for:
Pro-civil liberties, separation of church and state
Stronger public education - not standardised tests and union bashing either
Pro-globalisation and market liberalism - for real, not preaching free markets to laid off workers while handing money to companies - the government's job is to ensure the market works effectively. Sometimes that requires regulation or intervention, sometimes not.
Pro-universal healthcare (NOT THE NHS thank you!)
Pro-environment, but not radical
Pro-women's rights and promoting families (flexible working, maternity leave)
Pro-choice (because the law is a lousy way of dealing with the issue)
I don't believe the government can or should do everything but it should do its jobs competently, not in some half-a**ed way.

mosheshmeal
.

Reagan Republican.One cannot without complete disconnect be a frum Jew and a Democrat. Judaism teaches the worth of the individual and individual responsibility. The Demonrats are opposed to both those things, preferring instead that gubermint should be responsible for fixing all problems. Further they condone and push the feminist and gay rights agenda. Any party with both Teddy Kennedy and Barney Frank cannot be a party that a Jew (or anyone with a scruple) could support.Reagan Republican.One cannot without complete disconnect be a frum Jew and a Democrat. Judaism teaches the worth of the individual and individual responsibility. The Demonrats are opposed to both those things, preferring instead that gubermint should be responsible for fixing all problems. Further they condone and push the feminist and gay rights agenda. Any party with both Teddy Kennedy and Barney Frank cannot be a party that a Jew (or anyone with a scruple) could support.

I have always voted Republican in the past but I have come to disagree with them on many issues. I'd like to see major changes in the way we deal with certain issues such as energy, health care and the justice system.

Our energy policy requires a complete overhaul. In vehicles, we need to move toward technology such as Plug-in hybrid vehicles which get 100 mpg. For the rest of our energy infastructure, the are similar technologies are out there right now waiting to be exploited. We need regulations and incentives to steer the marketplace in that direction.

Health Care, it is a shame that our health care system looks the way it does. The most powerful and prosperous nation in history has very little to show in this area. Doctors have gone from being care takers to pill peddlers. Hospital rooms are some of the most depressing and inhumane places for people to be in, let alone recover in. Patient get wheeled out of high-tech multi million dollar operating rooms into dilapidated and cold recovery rooms where staff mistreatment and abuse is the norm. We need to have government regulate the caring heart back into medicine. Most of the problem comes from the customer not paying the hospital directly. If patients could somehow control the payments made by their insurer, then hospitals would have to provide better treatment if they want to get paid. Also, alternative medicine needs to be seriously studied and incorporated into mainstream medicine where it is found to be effective.

Finlay the prison system is immoral and unjust. I'd argue that as it is now, it is unconstitutional and fits the cruel and unusual punishment profile very well. Personally, I see a system of lashes over prison time as a more effective means of deterring crime and preventing recidivism.

As of now, I don't see any political party take these issues seriously. For the sake of all of us, I hope these issues are addressed in a sensible fashion soon.

Same.

You vote in American elections?

I'd suggest that your knowledge of these things is extremely limited.

Nu, I pay taxes.

What she said.

So you're also Other (explain)?

I think I voted for a Green guy in 2000, and a Libertarian in 2004. Or vice versa. Not that it mattered.

on those rare occasions that i vote in national elections, i vote libertarian, less because i think the party's onto something ideologically or policy-wise than to do what i can to relieve my curiousity about how a movement premised on minimal government fares when it's actually given the reins of a very large one. maybe i should start rallying people like you to help me out in the endeavor...

Wow... libertarian... never would have guessed it.

Imagine that! Politico and K-Rebbe voting the same way...

why?

My political and moral views are VERY different. And it's more of a practical concern, that government = corruption, bureaucracy, inefficiency and waste. Not to mention abuse of privacy and rights. Whatever the government touches goes to pot, so the natural conclusion is to limit what they are permitted to touch to the bare necessities. If there were a "good government" possible it might change my vote, but as that won't happen until Moshiach comes, I guess I will have no choice but to support Politico for public office......

Also the way I would vote in the US would be strikingly different for how I would vote in Israel.

Why don't you renounce your citizenship?

Why should he?? (or anyone else for that matter?)

no worries - if drafted i will not run; if nominated i will not accept; if elected i will not serve.

I'd say libertarian (what can a former intern of Cato Institute say...), though I don't claim my voting was always perfectly consistent with those ideals.

I don't like to (always) vote for parties that have no chance of wining, so in practice I choose parties which are the most liberal on economic issues and do not try to curtail the rights of specific groups of people in name of their moral/religious world view. Though some other issues also matter - mainly those related to foreign policy and the EU.

The last election in Quebec gave me a headache. I do vote in every election in which I am entitled to vote (I simply feel bad when I don't), but in Canada we have the single-winner voting system which often complicates choices. I would vote conservative, but this is not an option in Quebec. The closest we have to a libertarian party is probably ADQ but I'm not crazy about the leader and I didn't like the candidate in my district so in the end I voted liberal to prevent the PQ candidate from winning. I still felt guilty for not having voted for ADQ and my only consolation is that the liberal candidate had such a majority that my vote would not have changed much.

In Polish elections I vote for the liberals or moderate conservatives (bear in mind that the usage of the word liberal is different in Europe than in North America).

I don't think he should and I don't think he shouldn't. But I imagine he's given it some thought and I'm curious to know his thoughts on the matter.

I dont understand how a religious Jew can support Libertarians. If Libertarians had been in office in 1940 we never would have gone to war against Hitler.

It's not like the US was in any great rush to do so anyway. And even when they DID Roosevelt REFUSED to do anything to help the Jews (like bomb the railroad tracks or crematoriums) despite repeated pleas from the Jewish Community....

The US didn't enter the war until Pearl Harbor and didn't declare war against Germany until they did first...

America didn't care about the Nazis until they posed a threat to their own rear ends. As far as they were concerned Hitler could have lived and been well, he just overstepped his bounds and became a danger to US interests and security.

And a Libertarian government would NOT have turned Jewish refugee ships around condemning the passengers to death.....

That;s an alibi, not a defense.
Point is, Libertarians would never have gone to war against Hitler, even if he had made it to Palestine and was exterminating Jews there.

And the Democrats (or Republicans at that time) WOULD have??? No one cares about the Jews, only the Jewish VOTE....

According to your logic a religious Jew can't support ANY party and we shouldn't even vote....

We're not talking about Democrats or Republicans. We are talking about Libertarians, a party dedicated to the idea that suffering and oppression and genocide in other parts of the world are someone else's problem. I find that largely incompatible with Jewish belief.

Really, so can you name a historical precedent of Jews as a NATION policing the world and combating suffering or genocide?? Did Dovid Ha'melech send out good will ambassadors and relief aid to other countries (when he wasn't himself responsible for that suffering and genocide)?? What about Chazal, did they create a "Magen David Adom" or a League of Nations to provide aid to all those in need?? I think NOT.

And why is the US NOW doing nothing about the suffering and genocide that goes on all over the world?? Why don't THEY take in the refugees from Africa that are sneaking into Israel every day? Why do they do nothing against the Russians in Chechnya or the Chinese??

Or does it only matter when it is YOUR people who are suffering??? So how can YOU vote for a party that sits and does nothing about worldwide suffering and genocide???

In almost every natural disaster Israel is one of the first countries to offer aid and supplies. As far as examples under the monarchy. life was different then.

The U.S. intervened in Bosnia and stopped to slaughter of Muslims there. The U.S. aided the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Russians. The U.S. has intervened directly and indirectly in many many cases. There is no other country that has done as much with so little personally at stake.
But under the Libertarians all that would end and it would be sayonara. That includes aid to Israel (which imo wouldnt be a bad thing in and of itself) so next time there's a crisis there dont call for uncle.

Offering aid and supplies in case of a natural disaster is very different from committing troops for years to come or from opening borders to refugees. And some Israelis do not seem to be very eager to do the latter:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pag...d=1180960626685



I remember this article because I found the argumentation irritating, maybe more than the conclusion.

This being said, I also part ways with libertarians on issues of foreign policy involvement.

Israel is not in a position to offer troops for years to come or to open its borders. Countries of comparable size and ability have not offered nearly the level of help, even where the recipient country is nominally allied against Israel.

And in any case, they seem to be doing just a tiny bit better than our brave allies in Poland are doing with their own refugees.
http://www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=1523

Fair enough, but the guy used another sort of arguments which I found less convincing. In any case it wasn't to prove anything about how Israel treats its refugees, rather that there are people who would rather stick to "their own business" even in Israel, even among religious Jews.



The fate of refugees in Poland may not be rosy, but I can't help but marvel at your choice of the source When it comes to Israel, this worthy site (Islamic human rights commission!)...speaks about "Israeli apartheid", compares the plight of Palestinian refugees to the fate of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and supports the academic boycott of Israel...

Let's stick to facts.
Are Chechnyan refugees in Poland on a hunger strike because of ill treatment by Polish officials?
If the answer is no then the site is perpetuating propaganda and false.
If the answer is yes, then the source doesnt really matter.
I would guess the answer is yes.

But of course other countries are worse, I'm sure.

They certainly aren't now - the article is from 2005. I don't know what happened then and it's largely irrelevant to the discussion in this topic. And I still think you quoting such sites is funny.

Why don't you think I should? And why don't you think I shouldn't? I imagine you didn't give any thought into the matter and was curious to know your lack of thoughts on the matter.

Yes! It is "old news." I guess 2 years qualifies as old enough to be forgotten, much less 60 years.
It is irrelevant, so let's sweep it under the rug.
Kill the messenger, regardless of whether the message is true.

I see denial runs in the blood.

Yes, it is. Now it's the nurses who are on hunger strike.



And what is the message? Are you able to articulate what it is that you want to achieve by quoting this article?

Oh, and explain this to me - I quoted one Israeli, didn't even make a statement about Israel as such, and what did I get in response?


Look who's using the "you/others are worse" strategy!

Still in denial I see.
The point is the pattern of brutality and insensitivity in your home country, one that has not abated, probably due to the high level of denial which you yourself are exhibiting.
The Germans have had no such qualms and as such have behaved in generally an admirable manner since WW2.
Pointing out that Israel goes far and above the call on humanitarian aid even to countries that are nominally its enemy is hardly making a "others are worse" argument. It is an argument that given its size and resources the country is in the forefront of helping others. This is due to the generally compassionate nature of the Jewish people, sometimes even at personal risk.

You can find such a pattern as well as many different ones if you connect different dots (for example Zegota or the city of Lodz inviting Jewish kids during conflict in Lebanon).

They did a very good job, but if you speak about resources don't forget how much resources they have in comparison to many others.

But trying to shift discussion to problems in my home country in this topic looks just as such a kind of argument.

May be, but other nations believe the same about themselves.