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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (40382)	1/12/2010 9:39:19 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Re: "If your looking for coherent ideological and interest groups within the two big parties you'd have to break it up to more than 2 each." Yep! I agree. And, (IMO), the Libertarian philosophical leaning (expressed by about 15% to 20% of the American public in poll after poll) is currently the LARGEST political grouping that is 'homeless'... ignored (except when some pandering and lieing is required around election time to grab some votes... <g>) and trashed REGULARLY by the policies output from both major Parties.... Still... that being said, I thought the line of thinking expressed in the article was interesting (and new to me), and it made me interested in reading the book: ...political cultures first identified by historian David Hackett Fischer in his classic book Albion's Seed. That book traced the main currents in American political ideology to the folkways and notions of liberty imported from four British regions that provided the population of early America. 1) East Anglia gave us the Puritans of New England, with their emphasis -- "liberal," in today's terms -- on community virtue. 2) The Quakers who settled the Delaware Valley established a society and politics built on problem-solving and compromise. 3) Southern England gave us the Virginia cavaliers, founders of a conservative, aristocratic tradition. 4) And the Scotch-Irish who settled the Appalachian backcountry produced a populist, anti-government, "don't tread on me" mentality. I think that that could explain a lot about American politics even today! (Just look at the politics of the low-country South, of Appalachia through the Ozarks, of the North East, etc.)

To: TimF who wrote (40382)	1/12/2010 2:14:59 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 71588

For some reason I dropped fiscal conservatives from that list. (Maybe because their so hard to find in the government today, but the list isn't just about people actually in the government) There are three flavors of them. Those who care more about budget balance, debt and deficits. They can be found in either party, but don't have much power right now. Those who care more about spending, seeing a lot of taxing, or a lot of borrowing, or a lot of printing money, as all being bad things. And those who focus only on lowering taxes, but their questionable as really being fiscal conservative. If your strategy is to lower taxes now and spending later, than you might be (except 1 - It may not be a realistic strategy, and 2 - deficits are so high now, that this idea is perhaps less reasonable than it usually is.) I'd say I'm mostly in the middle group. And from the categories in the earlier post I'd say I fall under 1 - Free market supporters. 9 - 2nd Amendment supporters 12 - Constitutional originalists with some common ideas with, but not a part of 4 - Religious/social conservatives I also support a strong military, but I don't really want it becoming more active, or much stronger, because of the cost and other issues.

To: TimF who wrote (40382)	1/12/2010 2:27:20 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 71588

Perhaps I shouldn't do a breakdown for the Democrats, since I'm not one and might be biased, but it doesn't look like anyone else did. (Not listed in order of size, importance or power, just as they popped in to my head) 1 - Extreme left, socialist, even on its fringes somewhat communist. 2 - "Greens" 3 - Labor and its supporters 4 - The anti social/religious conservative coalition. 5 - The type of self-called "fiscal conservatives" who don't seem to care much about how much is spent as long as its covered with taxes. 6 - The supporters of government as manager for the country. More regulation of finance, more government involvement in health care, the type who is prone to see a problem (real or perceived) and insist that if you don't back their solution that you come up with another one. They aren't outright socialists, but they distrust the market and think if you get the right people in to government you can keep its essence and most of its benefits while eliminating its "excesses". 7 - Various identity politics groups, feminists, racial politics, homosexual groups... 8 - Anti-military and/or pacifists 9 - The anti big business crowd. 10 - Anti 2nd amendment rights 11 - Those concerned about the level of inequality in income or wealth in this country, which overlaps with 12 but isn't the same since. "Helping the poor" and "Reducing inequality" are two different issues. 12 - Those pushing extensive social programs for the poor.