NationStates Jolt Archive

This forum has a fairly high proportion of people advocating liberal ideologies, and many of these people despise not only the republican party, but also the democrats. I'm about to turn 18 and want to be informed politically, so as a liberal I want to know what other liberals specifically think is wrong with the democratic party. Please try to limit generalisations in your responses. Thank you.

The democratic party has this much >| |< backbone.

I'm liberal, by the way.

Could you elaborate on that for me?

I don't like their stance on gun control. As my high school American history teacher (a Republican) put it, decreasing the supply of guns does nothing but increase the demand for guns. Just look at what prohibition caused.

I don't like their foreign policy. Dragging dozens of countries into a war that shouldn't have happened in the first place is not my idea of a good time.

I don't like that nobody under the age of 30 can hope to be represented by our system.

I don't like their economic policy as a whole. Making it harder to start businesses only widens the gap between rich and poor.

Basically, I just want the government out of my life.

EDIT: Oh yeah, affirmative action. Give it up. It causes more hatred than equality.

This is a pretty complex question IMO.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been taken over by extremists (don't know if this is good or bad, just is). I'd like to see more parties but it's possible that we may see, essentially, a one party system in the U.S.
Who do you vote for if you're:
Pro-choice/capitalist
Pro-life/socialist
Pro-union/pro-military
Anti-union/Anti-military
Gay/capitalist
STRAIGHT!!/socialist
etc?
:headbang:

i am an anarchist so all forms of government that try and control me are evil in my eyes

This is a pretty complex question IMO.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been taken over by extremists (don't know if this is good or bad, just is). I'd like to see more parties but it's possible that we may see, essentially, a one party system in the U.S.
Who do you vote for if you're:
Pro-choice/capitalist
Pro-life/socialist
Pro-union/pro-military
Anti-union/Anti-military
Gay/capitalist
STRAIGHT!!/socialist
etc?
:headbang:

Straight, capitalist, pro-military, pro-choice, no opinion on unions

I don't like that nobody under the age of 30 can hope to be represented by our system.

I don't like their economic policy as a whole. Making it harder to start businesses only widens the gap between rich and poor.

Could you explain these two for me? I have no idea what the first one refers to, and I'm not sure exactly what particular economic policy makes it harder to start businesses.

They are filled to the brim with assholes.

This is a pretty complex question IMO.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been taken over by extremists (don't know if this is good or bad, just is). I'd like to see more parties but it's possible that we may see, essentially, a one party system in the U.S.
Who do you vote for if you're:
Pro-choice/capitalist
Pro-life/socialist
Pro-union/pro-military
Anti-union/Anti-military
Gay/capitalist
STRAIGHT!!/socialist
etc?
:headbang:
Could you tell me why you think the democratic party is extreme leftist, because my impression of it is that it's barely left of center.
I'm not exactly sure why you think sexuality effects politics, so I'm going to assume that by STRAIGHT!! you mean homophobic. Please correct me if I am wrong, and elaborate on why you think the Democratic party is anti-military.

They are filled to the brim with assholes.
Could you elaborate on that? Generalizations are inimical to understanding.

There is too little impetus to move on important issues, like gay mairrage and the economy and the creation of a national surplus, and too much extremism in areas like gun control and abortion. Also, all the candidates are weak willed and not eager enough to tear into their opponent with a rusty spork.

Could you explain these two for me? I have no idea what the first one refers to, and I'm not sure exactly what particular economic policy makes it harder to start businesses.
The first one is not explicitly something that the Democratic Party does. In fact, it's even worse for the Republicans. It's just a problem with the system.

The Democratic Party enjoys taxing the life out of companies. Of course, you know that money isn't coming out of the administration's pockets. It comes out of the salaries of the worker bees, which costs them jobs and benefits. It also comes out of the budgets set aside for improving the companies' products.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties believe that American jobs are more important than free trade. After all, look at the living conditions of the average Chinese or Indian citizen. They won't mind the drop. While it may be the US government's job to look after its own citizens' interests, there is no government that mediates these conflicts of interest. The rest of the world holds the US responsible for its economic terrorism.

As your extremely worried and concerned neighbour (a Canadian) the problem w/ the Democrats is that they differ in any measurable sense from the Republican Party. Taxes, military spending, imperialism, health care you name it, under Kerry or Clinton in any substantial way.

So the problem is, there is never any substansive debate on issues that matter to the public, just a lot of name calling and hair splitting. I'm not saying our political debates are any different up here, but there is certainly a broad range of choices of who I want to represent me in Parliament.

With every lost election the Democrat seem to shift further to the right in order to steal 'soft' Republicans, while for some reason about 100 million people don't vote.

If I would be american I would have a hard time finding a party worth supporting.

The Democrats are barely one inch to the left of the centre and I am what americans would call "left-liberal". In most of the countries of Europe we have the Social Democratic parties (Labour of UK) that in a way can be seen as Left-Democrats but it is really difficult to compare. Just look at Tony Blair and his pro-Bush politics.

The Social Democrats are
Pro-Business
Pro-Unions
Military "Undecided" (except Blair)
Pro-Choice
Pro-European Union
Pro-Gay Marriage

They are not the best, but an ok option compared to other parties.
They provide a place to be for all those that are against conservative
right-wing politics without being too far left.
They are Left-Liberals and Semi-Socialists with a working agenda.

This is a pretty complex question IMO.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been taken over by extremists (don't know if this is good or bad, just is). I'd like to see more parties but it's possible that we may see, essentially, a one party system in the U.S.
Who do you vote for if you're:
Pro-choice/capitalist
Pro-life/socialist
Pro-union/pro-military
Anti-union/Anti-military
Gay/capitalist
STRAIGHT!!/socialist
etc?
:headbang:

The democratic party does not support socialism and I get sick of hearing that they do. Many liberals support socialism, many liberals are democrats, but the democratic party does not support socialism. The democratic party is also not anti-military.

Could you tell me why you think the democratic party is extreme leftist, because my impression of it is that it's barely left of center.
I'm not exactly sure why you think sexuality effects politics, so I'm going to assume that by STRAIGHT!! you mean homophobic. Please correct me if I am wrong, and elaborate on why you think the Democratic party is anti-military.

First, let me clarify my political stance briefly as social-libertarian/economic (pretty much) leftist.
I didn't say the democratic party was extreme left, I said it was taken over by extremists. This is extremely complex, but to give an example, IMO no self-respecting leftist would be in favor of gun control, leaving themselves defenseless.
Eleven states voted to deny homosexual married couples the same legal rights and protections as heterosexual married couples. Blatant majority discrimination.
While I consider myself a democrat (okay, the Green Party is certainly attractive to me), Jimmy Carter, whom I have a great deal of respect for as a person, certainly hurt the military and the Clinton administration, likewise.

First, let me clarify my political stance briefly as social-libertarian/economic (pretty much) leftist.

When I did an american test I got that result too.
In social issues I want total freedom.
In economic issues I am to the left.

*warning - this is comming from an american anarchist*

there are several big problems with the democratic party.

number one, they are largely a pack of rightwing capitalist appologists - their main plus side was that they used to hold a couple social democratic positions that made them somewhat tolerable comparatively. bring on some real political choice already, and not just the washed up and watered down version of the other party.

number 2, they just plain suck at politics and wouldn't understand a winning strategy if it bit them on their collective ass. so they just keep doing the same stupid shit in a lame attempt to appeal to people who won't ever vote for them, surrendering all of the rhetorical ground that they should be defending and alienating people who might otherwise vote for them who see through the bullshit and are disillusioned enough to give up.

and they don't even attempt to engage the public in intelligent political discourse - they simply pander to various interest groups (and really frelling poorly, i might add) and let others set the field of discourse, even when the other side just makes shit up.

on the plus side, they've gotten really good at bootlicking and cowering in fear of delusional extreme right fanatics. and making the occassional symbolic stand to convince african americans and the sierra club and such that they are still the only option.

While I consider myself a democrat (okay, the Green Party is certainly attractive to me), Jimmy Carter, whom I have a great deal of respect for as a person, certainly hurt the military and the Clinton administration, likewise.

and by 'hurt' you mean, "still spent more money on it than the next dozen or so nations in the world combined, and actually increased its funding"

The democratic party does not support socialism and I get sick of hearing that they do. Many liberals support socialism, many liberals are democrats, but the democratic party does not support socialism. The democratic party is also not anti-military.
I must say I did fall into the republican trap of calling any interference by the government with business as socialism.

Well ... I'm a liberal (see sig) ... and I believe that the Dem party is trying too hard to become the Republican-lite party.

I believe we need some serious progressive/populist reform in this country before anything can come to fruit.

But, hey, what do I know ... ask Rush Limbaugh and I'm exactly what's wrong with this country.

Perspective, I suppose, but then ... I'm poor and Bush/Neocon doesn't care about "poor".

Edit: Oh yeah ... Howard Dean for KING! :D

and by 'hurt' you mean, "still spent more money on it than the next dozen or so nations in the world combined, and actually increased its funding"
Nope. That's not what I meant.

I must say I did fall into the republican trap of calling any interference by the government with business as socialism.

Yes, the current administration's massive tax break for corporations is also a form of socialism. So Republican support of wealth redistribution back into corporations is support of socialism as well, but socialism is only bad when it benefits the poor.

Yes, the current administration's massive tax break for corporations is also a form of socialism. So Republican support of wealth redistribution back into corporations is support of socialism as well, but socialism is only bad when it benefits the poor.
My sarcasm detector is not working today. :confused:
:p

Bump.
Come on, I know there are more liberals on this forum with complaints about the democratic party.

This forum has a fairly high proportion of people advocating liberal ideologies, and many of these people despise not only the republican party, but also the democrats. I'm about to turn 18 and want to be informed politically, so as a liberal I want to know what other liberals specifically think is wrong with the democratic party. Please try to limit generalisations in your responses. Thank you.

I have been a voting, active member of the Democratic Party for nearly 25 years.

No more.

The Democratic Party is just the flip side of the two corporate parties in this country. As the liberal columnist Alexander Cockburn pointed out, the Democrats and Republicans had little or no public discussion or disagreement on:

the role of the Federal Reserve
trade policy
economic redistribution
the role of the budget of theCIA and other intelligence agencies
nuclear disarmament
reduction of the military budget and allocation of military procurement
roles and policies of the World Bank, IMF, WTO
crime, punishment and the prison explosion
the war on drugs
corporate welfare
energy policy
forest policy
the destruction of small farmers and ranchers
Israel
corruption of the political system
occupation of Iraq

We have two corporate parties in the U.S.; one in favor of abortion rights and one opposed. Beyond that they are basically whores for their corporate masters.