explanation please...

Angela - posted on 02/11/2012

I'm British but I agree with your post. I can't make allegiance with any current political party because none of them have policies where I'd wholeheartedly support every single one!



As for "tolerant" being a dirty word. I'm afraid it IS a dirty word. It's not a good word to describe the essence of what it's supposed to mean in political terms. If you're tolerant of something/someone, you're only TOLERATING them - and it's possibly implied that by using that very word, your tolerance is something you generate against your better judgement - you're merely "putting up with" something/someone. A far better and less loaded word to use is "acceptance". Speaking of one's "tolerance" is demeaning to those whom you "tolerate".

Jenny - posted on 01/29/2012

I agree Laura. We can't be boxed into right and left or Liberal or Conservative. Very few people fit nicely in those boxes. We shouldn't be voting on people anyways, we should be voting on issues. Since the elected officials are supposed to carry out the will of their constituents why do their opinions matter anyways beyond their single vote. This is why I support Direct Democracy, it's the way of the future.

Isobel - posted on 01/28/2012

but if other countries have systems that are better and would end in more people voting, why wouldn't America just implement those systems?



and I think you'd be surprised by how many of us are NOT black and white and cannot be labeled. when I tested my political beliefs I came up almost exactly dead center. I agree with Republicans on some issues but with democrats on others.



I think we label people in an attempt to trivialize what they believe. Ahhh...never mind him, he's just a crazy (insert party affiliation here).

Catherine - posted on 01/25/2012

First - once you register, unless you "change party affiliation" it is permanent... Second - when you renew your driver's license, you have the option to register to vote.

Claiming "I barely have time to vote, much less go register" is crap & a cop out - it is free and the form is easy, some places you can probably even register online. Not having time to vote is like saying, "I don't have time to gas up my car" - You MAKE the time, and it doesn't take long. If you can't go vote on "Election day" there is a nifty thing called early or absentee voting... lasts a whole week in most places. Wow - the excuses for not being informed and involved are stunning.

I realize that is off topic from the original remark, but the replies baffle me...

As far as the original query, most people live in a black or white political world - and it has nothing to do with race. If you are not "conservative", then by default you are "liberal" - and usually, that is pretty much true. It is neither good nor bad... it just is. If you are offended by the label, then perhaps you are unsure of where your beliefs truly lay. You can have leanings in either or even both directions, but over-all, you are probably more inclined to typically agree (or disagree) with one or the other - it is okay.

Pamela - posted on 06/23/2010

That I can believe! I had a friend from the Sidney area who introduced me to the stuff. She put it on a slice of bread. I took a bite and I've never recovered.:o) It gives salty a new meaning.

Kathy - posted on 06/23/2010

No, you have to be born here to appreciate vegemite!

Pamela - posted on 06/23/2010

I tried vegemite once. Key word, once.

Krista - posted on 06/23/2010

Except for that whole Vegemite thing...

Kathy - posted on 06/22/2010

I'm in Melbourne, Victoria, but it's the same all over Australia.
When I said we made a fuss when the kids turned 18, I was just talking about my family, because we've always taken our voting responsibilities seriously and wanted to make sure our kids felt the same way. I don't know what other families do.

Canada and Australia seem quite similar in many ways

Isobel - posted on 06/22/2010

It works the same way in Canada, Kathy :)

Pamela - posted on 06/22/2010

I think that's so smart because it highlights a "coming of age" - it also encourages regarding voting as a responsibility and privilege. We really should implement something like that more formally over here in the states. We take so many things for granted. What part of Australia are you in Kathy?

Kathy - posted on 06/22/2010

We enroll to vote when we turn 18 (that's the legal age for voting) then notify the Australian Electoral Commission when you change address or change your name. You can do this online.

We always made a big deal of it when the kids turned 18.

Pamela - posted on 06/22/2010

I think they like us to indicate our party of choice for marketing purposes. If you're a registered Republican or Democrat, then they'll call you right around election time and give you all the reasons to get out there and vote.

Pamela - posted on 06/22/2010

Kati, you might enjoy a lovely malbec or perhaps a crisp white wine:o) Or just go for a gin & tonic. Yum.

Well as George Carlin points out so accurately, we are given the illusion of choice but really, we don't have "choice" in the sense that we are lead to believe we do. Hence, we can vote Democrat or Republican - both parties tow to corporate power. The other parties do exist but they hold very little sway in the political arena. Crap. I'm depressing myself.

But most of us are all over the place politically (and even religiously for those of us who fall into that category). But don't tell anybody.

Rosie - posted on 06/22/2010

krista, we've had this discussion before, i have to disagree with you about the wine.... blecky!!

it's in my opinion, the fact that the other partys out there other than republican or democrat aren't looked at as real partys. i cannot in modern times recall a president that was independent or libertarian. people want them compartmentalized into a nice box, either this way or that-nothing inbetween. plus some beliefs-like mine, are all over the place and it's hard to put a label on that, so i'm just lumped into the liberal side since i mostly sway that way.

Stephany - posted on 06/22/2010

In the state I live in (Oregon) we have vote-by-mail. There are no voting booths or polls or whatever- just a ballot that arrives int he mail a few weeks before election day. We make our selections and either mail it back or drop it off in one of several election drop boxes. It's really a nice system and it seems to work well for most people. In this system, though, it would be impossible to fully abolish voter registration, seeing as there has to be a known address for them to send a ballot.
I don't like the fact that we have to register for a particular political party. I hate that registered democrats only get to vote for a democratic candidate, and republicans for a republican, in the presidential primaries. There were a lot of people who registered to become a democrat simply for the election in 2008. I wonder how much that cost the government- surely someone had to sit at a computer somewhere and change the information. Not to mention this process actually reinforces the two-party system. If there was a great independent candidate most wouldn't be able to vote for that person in the primaries, so a lot of them drop out before the general election (when people can vote for whoever they want).
My husband tried to make up his own political party. I can't remember what he called it, but he wrote it in on the blank line on the voter registration. When he got his voter registration card in the mail it said "Independent" and he was pissed! Haha!

Isobel - posted on 06/22/2010

I never understand the whole, having to register to vote thing. Here, we are automatically registered. It seems to me you would get much better turn out if people could just show up to vote.

I mean, I am a very busy person, I find it difficult enough to find time to vote on voting day...if I had to register weeks in advance, I would likely forget or not be able to find the time.

Kathy - posted on 06/21/2010

The Plutonian Freedom Fighting Party sounds good - fighting for Pluto's right to remain a planet, eh?

Thanks for that, Pamela. Here in Australia, we just have to enrol to vote, not indicate our party of choice. What's the point of indicating your party of choice?

Pamela - posted on 06/21/2010

We have to register to vote here in the U.S., and on our registration forms we indicate our party of choice. If one registers Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green, or Constitutional (we really only have 2 parties - though in Minnesota we did manage to vote in for governor an Independent named Jesse Ventura who turned out to be a self promoting ass. God save us if anyone from the Constitutional Party gets voted in. There are other parties but really none of them have stood much of a chance), that doesn't mean that we have to vote that party. I can be a registered Dem and vote for Mickey Mouse of the Plutonian Freedom Fighting Party if I want (and sometimes I swear I'm tempted). Sadly, Mickey won't be elected. Did any of that make sense? It's 1 a.m. here in my neck of the woods and I'm getting incoherent.

Kathy - posted on 06/21/2010

I'll have a glass of Merlot, too, please!

My question is, I've heard many Americans talk of being a "registered" independent or Democrat or whatever - what does this mean? Do you have to enroll or something? What if you change your mind?

Pamela - posted on 06/21/2010

I believe I'll pour me a lovely Merlot:o)

Pamela - posted on 06/21/2010

If we put people in a box and label them "liberal" or "conservative" with a pre-canned definition of what those terms mean, then it's much easier to simply write them off. We then no longer have to listen to anything they say because we already know what they believe (and if it isn't what we believe, well then, it's easy to write them off as stupid or immoral or full of moose scat - or all three adjectives at once).

However it is more true than not, that most of us are a compilation of both liberal and conservative, with some healthy libertarianism, anarchy and oh what the heck, socialism sprinkled in for good measure. Some of us perhaps lean more conservative in some areas while holding onto liberal tendencies in other areas or vice versa.

Labels can be helpful sometimes in that they can help us define what this is or what that is in more simplistic terms. But the problem with labels is often they're wrong (or they're wrong in part) and they become more often than not a hindrance to dialogue and understanding. They make dandy strawmen. Most of the folk I know are all over the place when it comes to liberal, independent, conservative, crunchy conservative, libertarian, socialist ideas of how things ought to be done. Which actually makes conversations quite interesting.

~Jennifer - posted on 06/21/2010

I'm having a nice Pinot Grigio, myself.

Pamela - posted on 06/21/2010

Yes - but red or white wine?

Krista - posted on 06/21/2010

Ah wine...the great uniter. We can ALL agree on wine. :)

Kelly - posted on 06/21/2010

It might be surprising to some, but I too am a registered independent. I really don't like labels. I think of myself as a conservative, mainly because I am VERY fiscally conservative. The social issues, I am still conservative, but not as much. I like to see myself as more of a realist. For me, no party has come close to being a "perfect fit" for how I view things. I guess I tend to sway to Republicans because they have in the past come closest.

People do tend to over simplify others and compartmentalize them. No two people are exactly the same on every issue, so I don't think this works well. It does go both ways though. Because I don't believe in social programs like long term welfare, etc. and I feel the public school system should be abolished, I am labeled as a right wing nutcase. I am pro choice, and I couldn't care less if homosexuals can get married or not. That makes me not so welcome on the ultra right wing. I don't have a problem being labeled a "conservative" because to me, I am. But if someone else believes in taxes out the nose, and "free" healthcare and food stamps for everyone, I don't automatically label them as a "progressive" or a "liberal." (I do think they are crazy though.....lol)

I guess to stop my rambling, Krista and Jenn both have made great statements that simplify the answer in an understandable way. Think I will go poor myself a glass of wine, and maybe I can make more sense. :)

~Jennifer - posted on 06/21/2010

I agree with what Krista said in her comment.

I also think that because of people's 'classification' systems, it makes it easier to believe that they are somehow superior in their beliefs and don't even begin to take into consideration anything that anyone with a 'classification' other than their own says.
I can't even count the number of times I have been classified as something I am not simply because of my 'no affiliation' status.

Krista - posted on 06/21/2010

I don't get it either, Melissa. I think it is that people are mentally lazy. They don't want to actually put the time and effort into getting to know someone. So they like to compartmentalize them into these little boxes, based on political or religious affiliation, and can then view anything that person says through the prism of whatever compartment they fall into.