• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

I'm getting pushed and I am tired of it...how about you?

Do you feel like your party is pushing you away?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 42.9%
  • No

    Votes: 7 33.3%
  • Other, let me explain

    Votes: 3 14.3%
  • Lerxst this thread is dumb

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • Total voters
    21

Lerxst

U mad bro?
DP Veteran
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
17,108
Reaction score
5,786
Location
Nationwide...
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Liberal
I will admit I was excited about Obama becoming President and the idea that the democrats would tend to issues I felt were most important to me at the time (the war mainly, healthcare, increased funding to public safety agencies at home).

I was wrong. I was so wrong it has embarrassed me to no end. I share in the blame for what is happening to our nation...I was part of the problem.

The Obama administration and Congress (both sides of the aisle) have been such a dismal failure in my opinion that I am bewildered. But to the extent that I can logically figure, the only hope for any semblance of movement from the radical (yes I have some liberal leanings, but come on...we have to reasonable) left wing liberal extreme we seem to be headed is that the conservative Republicans must regain control of the House and the Senate. In my mind this needs to happen.

Yes...I said it. I hope the GOP regains control of the House and Senate. The only way to stop the "too extreme, too fast" political thuggery that is taking place is to even the playing field. The pendulum is moving too fast and too far in one direction. This is not what I wanted nor what I envisioned would happen.

I have been completely underwhelmed by our President and his administration. He has done nothing by my estimation to actually improve our standing in the international community (one of his supposed strong suits). The health care plan is on the fast track to being a monumental failure (because it won't result in what most people who support it are hoping for...decent universal health care for all citizens). Immigration...hell our states are getting desperate because of our federal governments incredibly milk toast approach to border security. The war...wtf, I don't even know where to begin but I do know that they are going after our defense budget so that's just not going to help at all. Obama is trying to zero out several public safety funding programs that are important to homeland security.

I know I'm not being incredibly specific and I don't intend to. I"m pissed off and I'm finding that I don't have a party that actually stands for what is important to me. It's not even a case of being able to say "I'm Dem or Rep" because one side or the other addresses issues important to me.

I"m desperate for representation and I don't know where to find it.
 
Last edited:
You're not alone. Hence, the Tea Party movement. Lots of people feel they aren't being represented by either party.
 
Slowly, but it had been happening for several years.
 
I will admit I was excited about Obama becoming President and the idea that the democrats would tend to issues I felt were most important to me at the time (the war mainly, healthcare, increased funding to public safety agencies at home).

I was wrong. I was so wrong it has embarrassed me to no end. I share in the blame for what is happening to our nation...I was part of the problem.

The Obama administration and Congress (both sides of the aisle) have been such a dismal failure in my opinion that I am bewildered. But to the extent that I can logically figure, the only hope for any semblance of movement from the radical (yes I have some liberal leanings, but come on...we have to reasonable) left wing liberal extreme we seem to be headed is that the conservative Republicans must regain control of the House and the Senate. In my mind this needs to happen.

Yes...I said it. I hope the GOP regains control of the House and Senate. The only way to stop the "too extreme, too fast" political thuggery that is taking place is to even the playing field. The pendulum is moving too fast and too far in one direction. This is not what I wanted nor what I envisioned would happen.

I have been completely underwhelmed by our President and his administration. He has done nothing by my estimation to actually improve our standing in the international community (one of his supposed strong suits). The health care plan is on the fast track to being a monumental failure (because it won't result in what most people who support it are hoping for...decent universal health care for all citizens). Immigration...hell our states are getting desperate because of our federal governments incredibly milk toast approach to border security. The war...wtf, I don't even know where to begin but I do know that they are going after our defense budget so that's just not going to help at all. Obama is trying to zero out several public safety funding programs that are important to homeland security.

I know I'm not being incredibly specific and I don't intend to. I"m pissed off and I'm finding that I don't have a party that actually stands for what is important to me. It's not even a case of being able to say "I'm Dem or Rep" because one side or the other addresses issues important to me.

I"m desperate for representation and I don't know where to find it.

I feel the exact same way you do. And I voted for John McCain. My party has let me down. That goes for the Federal and state levels. My national government is bankrupt and so is my state (Illinois). Bankrupt in more ways than one. Our representatives are whores. They will say or do anything to get elected. Once there, they concentrate on building alliances toward getting re-elected and feathering their own beds. They are thieves to the 10th power. My vote means nothing. My voice means even less.

The few good ones? Well, they may be Mr. Smith when they get there....but they're Mr. Hyde in no time.

In fairness, being lax at our borders didn't start with President Obama. The healthcare plan is a failure, in my opinion; though of all of his promises, this was the one I was 100% behind....but not what they've created. It will be a mess. Our president is inexperienced and a narcicist. He's surrounded himself with people who are too far left for even my sense of fairness.

The sad part is that if you get your wish and the Republicans gain a majority, it'll just be the same old song with different words. Maybe I'll like those words better, but the reality won't change. We are represented by self-serving egomaniacs. The next few generations will define our future. And it looks bleak.
 
While I may be disgusted with everything? GOP regaining control is NOT the answer. The answer is to somehow get rid of all of these asswipes and a strong 3rd Party.
 
You're not alone. Hence, the Tea Party movement. Lots of people feel they aren't being represented by either party.

Which I cannot and will not get behind as they are an extreme group that leans towards the right.

What we really need is a strong group of Centrist to rise up and take control. The Tea Party is not that.
 
While I may be disgusted with everything? GOP regaining control is NOT the answer. The answer is to somehow get rid of all of these asswipes and a strong 3rd Party.

That would merely be a short-term solution. The near-Utopian discussion of desired 3rd party status often leaves out the reality that an entrenched party becomes a familiar problem, as existed in a two-party solution, while conveniently ignoring the further splinter effect caused by dramatic 3 party successes.
 
Last edited:
The Obama administration and Congress (both sides of the aisle) have been such a dismal failure in my opinion that I am bewildered. But to the extent that I can logically figure, the only hope for any semblance of movement from the radical (yes I have some liberal leanings, but come on...we have to reasonable) left wing liberal extreme we seem to be headed is that the conservative Republicans must regain control of the House and the Senate. In my mind this needs to happen.

I'm not sure what makes you think they are better. And in many ways Obama is little more then a mini-me of Bush. And are there really conservative Republicans? Looking at the leadership of both House and Senate, we have Republicans who were in the All GOP years of reckless spending and systematical elimination of deficit hawks within their own party. And now they are posed to be House and Senate majority leaders. IMO, the GOP differs from the Democrats in one fashion: They pretend their beliefs are different.

And Obama is hardly as left wing as people like to say he is. A guy who got a loophole written into the financial reform bill specifically to help hedge funds is hardly a leftist. Not to mention he's still engaging in much of the same Bush anti-terror tactics.

Yes...I said it. I hope the GOP regains control of the House and Senate. The only way to stop the "too extreme, too fast" political thuggery that is taking place is to even the playing field. The pendulum is moving too fast and too far in one direction.

Perhaps. But perhaps not. In terms of balancing the budget, the GOP won't touch the big three items. And when the GOP cuts all unemployment benefits, they'll lose literally millions of votes. And likely when the unemployment benefits get cut, retail will start to hurt as well. Unemployment benefits tend to get spent quickly where rich tax cuts don't. I've said this before and I'll say it again, cutting unemployment benefits
is going to be death to our retail sector. I suspect many Republicans don't understand this. Walmart is showing record numbers for a reason despite significant weakness in the economy.

What's worse? Tax and spend or more tax and borrow? I dunno. I do know however, even with no additional post 9-11 spending and debt we're still financially screwed.

I have been completely underwhelmed by our President and his administration. He has done nothing by my estimation to actually improve our standing in the international community (one of his supposed strong suits).

Not so sure about that. His arms control meetings appear fruitful.

The health care plan is on the fast track to being a monumental failure (because it won't result in what most people who support it are hoping for...decent universal health care for all citizens).

Not to mention it will screw over people in certain insurance pools who no longer can move to the next better pool.

The war...wtf, I don't even know where to begin but I do know that they are going after our defense budget so that's just not going to help at all.

Well, does it make sense to spend huge sums of cash on a plane we'll never use against terrorists? IMO, Gates has done a good job at slashing some costs. And remember that the Air Force has been trying to downsize before 2008.

Obama is trying to zero out several public safety funding programs that are important to homeland security.

Like?

I know I'm not being incredibly specific and I don't intend to. I"m pissed off and I'm finding that I don't have a party that actually stands for what is important to me. It's not even a case of being able to say "I'm Dem or Rep" because one side or the other addresses issues important to me.

I"m desperate for representation and I don't know where to find it.

Ah, partially because Dems and Reps are beholden to each other rather their voters. Our founding Father George Mason had it right when he argued that parties were bad for America. And look what we see now.

We just need to literally throw them all out.
 
This country is too lazy to educate and research themselves about a candidate. They are also much less interested. It's far easier to just pick a candidate with a letter next to their name that reflects policies you might tend to agree with. Alvin Greene is a prime example of where this method gets us.
 
While I may be disgusted with everything? GOP regaining control is NOT the answer. The answer is to somehow get rid of all of these asswipes and a strong 3rd Party.
What makes you think a strong third party wont run into the exact same problems?

Honestly, I'd rather there be a two-party system rather than a single strong party. With a two party system, you at least avoid the strangling control that one party has.
 
To be clear, I don't think the GOP is better than the Democratic Party. I think they can stop the swing left. And I don't blame the immigration issue on Obama. I blame it on our whorish federal government. I don't believe the GOP is the answer to all our problems as they are every bit a part of them as the dems are. However, right now, the reality for me is that the dems/libs in federal government are steamrolling an agenda I do not support and the only certain way to stop them is for the GOP to retake control of Congress. I know that comes with it's own set of problems but much like people said Obama's win was essentially a lesson being taught to the GOP (for abandoning it's conservative base), the Democratic is in desperate need of a harsh lesson.

I think Obama is following in Bush's footsteps only because he (and his administration) lack the capacity to actually come up with a viable plan to change direction. It's that or they never intended to and simply sold us a bill of goods.

I appreciate all the feedback in this discussion.
 
The past three decades have convinced me that, absent leadership with a strong vision of a better (but pragmatic and not extreme) way, we are better served by voting for gridlock.
 
There is no party that closely matches most of my views - thus - I belong to no one.
I agree in part with all of them in many different areas - but there isn't one party or another that really gets me into them.
 
I'm probably a rare breed in that I support liberal values so much I think they should apply to all, so that leaves me siding with the American left when it comes to domestic policy and more with the American right when it comes to many aspects of foreign policy. I don't buy into all the cultural/moral relativism nonsense, as I believe in liberal principles to the degree I am not willing to look the other way as idiots in the U.N. make a mockery of the entire notion.

I doubt whether a party reflecting my views would have any appeal these days, but I'm convinced we are almost experiencing a paradigm shift in the way we perceive the terms liberal and conservative. I want to conserve liberal values, which is, perhaps, a bit of an irony, but I see much the left as having so thoroughly abandoned liberal values when it comes to evaluating the world at large and much of the right supporting them within the same framework, that I find myself feeling a part of neither group.
 
Last edited:
I'm probably a rare breed in that I support liberal values so much I think they should apply to all, so that leaves me siding with the American left when it comes to domestic policy and more with the American right when it comes to many aspects of foreign policy. I don't buy into all the cultural/moral relativism nonsense, as I believe in liberal principles to the degree I am not willing to look the other way as idiots in the U.N. make a mockery of the entire notion.

I doubt whether a party reflecting my views would have any appeal these days, but I'm convinced we are almost experiencing a paradigm shift in the way we perceive the terms liberal and conservative. I want to conserve liberal values, which is, perhaps, a bit of an irony, but I see much the left as having so thoroughly abandoned liberal values when it comes to evaluating the world at large and much of the right supporting them within the same framework, that I find myself feeling a part of neither group.

Thanks for this post, it's very well stated and I think you are on the right track. Even if I don't agree with all liberal values it's the bigger picture you describe about the shift that I can't help but agree with.
 
What makes you think a strong third party wont run into the exact same problems?

Honestly, I'd rather there be a two-party system rather than a single strong party. With a two party system, you at least avoid the strangling control that one party has.

The best solution is to depower the central government. It was never supposed to be this powerful. Republican democracies work best when the day to day decisions of how people wish to live, are left up to the communities in whcih they themselves live. Government, and democracy works best, when the representation is more personal. The overreaching power from the Fed's affects all levels of government in this nation, in a trickle down affect that extorts power from the local representation. It's by-design, and it's been happening since the nation began.


Tim-
 
Third parties won't work, what we need to do both the democrats and the republicans is to regain control of our own party from the current twenty percent lunatics who currently run it.
 
Personally, I am delighted with the progress the Democrats have accomplished in just eighteen months. Universal health care. A new financial services consumer protection agency. Financial regulation reform. Education loan reform. Economic stimulus. And much more. These are big deals. Imperfect in many ways but big. They will help the nation.
 
As a Brit, I'm always amused by people accusing Obama of 'excessive liberalism'. He's practically centre-right on the UK spectrum...
 
Personally, I am delighted with the progress the Democrats have accomplished in just eighteen months. Universal health care. A new financial services consumer protection agency. Financial regulation reform. Education loan reform. Economic stimulus. And much more. These are big deals. Imperfect in many ways but big. They will help the nation.

They will not only help the nation but usher in a new time, a new era of peace, love and harmony unseen in human history. I will now take off my clothes and run free in the street expressing my joy!
 
Personally, I am delighted with the progress the Democrats have accomplished in just eighteen months. Universal health care. A new financial services consumer protection agency. Financial regulation reform. Education loan reform. Economic stimulus. And much more. These are big deals. Imperfect in many ways but big. They will help the nation.

Ha. I wish we had universal health care. I'm about to lose my medical insurance again.
But really, Obama tried. There's only so much he can do, with the conservatives blocking him every step of the way.
He's made changes, whether or not they've made him popular.
He ended Iraq, and has set a date to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan.
I mean, he's done everything humanly possible, but he's not a dictator. He's the president of a representative republic.
Everything he wants to do, every change he wants to make, has to get by congress.
Many politicians actively oppose him.
There's only so much he or anyone else is going to be able to do, under these circumstances.

:shrug:
 
I will admit I was excited about Obama becoming President and the idea that the democrats would tend to issues I felt were most important to me at the time (the war mainly, healthcare, increased funding to public safety agencies at home).

I was wrong. I was so wrong it has embarrassed me to no end. I share in the blame for what is happening to our nation...I was part of the problem.

The Obama administration and Congress (both sides of the aisle) have been such a dismal failure in my opinion that I am bewildered. But to the extent that I can logically figure, the only hope for any semblance of movement from the radical (yes I have some liberal leanings, but come on...we have to reasonable) left wing liberal extreme we seem to be headed is that the conservative Republicans must regain control of the House and the Senate. In my mind this needs to happen.

Yes...I said it. I hope the GOP regains control of the House and Senate. The only way to stop the "too extreme, too fast" political thuggery that is taking place is to even the playing field. The pendulum is moving too fast and too far in one direction. This is not what I wanted nor what I envisioned would happen.

I have been completely underwhelmed by our President and his administration. He has done nothing by my estimation to actually improve our standing in the international community (one of his supposed strong suits). The health care plan is on the fast track to being a monumental failure (because it won't result in what most people who support it are hoping for...decent universal health care for all citizens). Immigration...hell our states are getting desperate because of our federal governments incredibly milk toast approach to border security. The war...wtf, I don't even know where to begin but I do know that they are going after our defense budget so that's just not going to help at all. Obama is trying to zero out several public safety funding programs that are important to homeland security.

I know I'm not being incredibly specific and I don't intend to. I"m pissed off and I'm finding that I don't have a party that actually stands for what is important to me. It's not even a case of being able to say "I'm Dem or Rep" because one side or the other addresses issues important to me.

I"m desperate for representation and I don't know where to find it.

I'm not disgusted to the point that you are, but I'll admit to being suckered in by Obama's messages of hope and change and disappointed that he's just another typical politician. I still believe he was the better of the two options available at the time, but to be honest he's done nothing that has really impressed me. As far as presidents go he's just another average one. I don't believe that the country will be in substantially better or worse shape due to his actions after he leaves office than it was when he gained office. I would love to find a politician that really and truly represented my views on issues, but I really don't believe it will ever happen.

The best solution in my opinion would be to have a very small democratic majority in one house of congress, a very small republican majority in the other, a president from either party, and a 5-4 majority in the supreme court by whichever party doesn't have the presidency. If we had that sort of makeup over a long term, I think it would be an improvement. Neither party would be able to ram laws down the other one's throat.
 
They will not only help the nation but usher in a new time, a new era of peace, love and harmony unseen in human history. I will now take off my clothes and run free in the street expressing my joy!

That's Awesome! :rolleyes:
 
Eh, I left the Republicans in 04 and only re-registered in order to vote for my guy (if there is one) in their primary. This time around we are trying to get our Gubernatorial candidate in the Republican primary via electoral fusion.
 
Lerxst, I really do wish more people would be like you and wake up to the reality that neither party is representing them anymore. People are too busy playing partisan politics to really see that they are getting the rug swept out from under them.

I don't really get your support for the GOP in the senate. The GOP's moderate and fiscal conservatives have been dwindling rapidly in recent years, only to be replaced by neo-cons who are big spenders and who will sell America to the highest bidder. They are big on corporate welfare. Anyway, we don't need to dig up the specifics so much, but I think you know what I mean.

America has lost its way.
 
Back
Top Bottom