Are you conservative, moderate, or liberal?

[Skynet]

The Tea Party started out originally as a group solely concerned with lowering taxes and critics of President Obama's economic policies.  Their original slogan: "Taxed Enough Already Party."

Fox News, fundamentalist Christians, Birthers, and the Koch Brothers hijacked the movement to turn it into a far-right protest group.

[Question Mark]

The Tea Party started out originally as a group solely concerned with lowering taxes and critics of President Obama's economic policies.  Their original slogan: "Taxed Enough Already Party."

Fox News, fundamentalist Christians, Birthers, and the Koch Brothers hijacked the movement to turn it into a far-right protest group.

The irony of that original name is that Obama has almost universally lowered taxes on the middle and lower classes.  Just wanted to point that out.

[ShadowFox89]

The irony of that original name is that Obama has almost universally lowered taxes on the middle and lower classes.  Just wanted to point that out.

Don't tell the vocal Repubs that.

[consortium11]

The Tea Party started out originally as a group solely concerned with lowering taxes and critics of President Obama's economic policies.  Their original slogan: "Taxed Enough Already Party."

Fox News, fundamentalist Christians, Birthers, and the Koch Brothers hijacked the movement to turn it into a far-right protest group.

Indeed.

The "Tea Party" as it now exists is basically an unholy alliance of groups generally seen as being on the right who have managed to (just about) co-exist under one umbrella despite in reality agreeing about very little.

On one hand you have the genuine libertarians (extremely limited government in all spheres) who have become frustrated by the general unelectability and "shooting themselves in the foot" nature of the official Libertarian party.

You then have the constitutionalists such as Ron Paul who cross-over with the above in policies but for different reasons (to follow the Ron Paul example he bases most of his arguments at least partially on his fairly strict interpretation of the constitution).

Then you have the economic libertarians who care far less about social or foreign policy issues (and may actively argue for more government in certain areas) but want lower taxes and less government intervention in the economy in general.

Chuck in the less ideologically severe members who basically agree with the above but aren't quite as radical about it.

Follow them with, for lack of a better term, the exploiters... those who are using the language because it caught it. The perfect example is Palin. She presented herself (and was treated as) a Tea Party representative, hosting high profile events and the like. But look at her record; her time as governor was anything but true to the general Tea Party principles of lower taxes and less government inference. The bridge to nowhere she fought for (and held onto till the last minute) and the money Alaska gets as a psuedo-tax from oil companies run directly against what the Tea Party once stood for.

And then there are those who are simply on the band wagon rather than exploiting it. The people who not so long ago talked about the culture wars in America... but now are chanting "Don't tread on me".

Follow that up with another dozen political sub-cultures and the Tea Party as a set of ideals and (rough) policies disappeared a long time ago.

It is perhaps one of the Republican political machine's best assets; to co-opt into and then take over any political force that rises anywhere near the right, even if originally diametrically opposed to much of what mainstream GOP thought, opinion and policy has been.

[Oniya]

If anyone asks me during these next two weeks, I'm with the Coffee Party.  (At a minimum, it will confuse them.  At best, they might try to find out more.)

[Stattick]

If anyone asks me during these next two weeks, I'm with the Coffee Party.  (At a minimum, it will confuse them.  At best, they might try to find out more.)

Well, pretty obvious if someone takes a moment to think about it. You're against tea. You're for coffee. Nice, hot, black, coffee.... Hmmm..... coffeeeee. It makes me go, "Ohhhh... yeah."

[ShadowFox89]

Well, pretty obvious if someone takes a moment to think about it. You're against tea. You're for coffee. Nice, hot, black, coffee.... Hmmm..... coffeeeee. It makes me go, "Ohhhh... yeah."

New slogan for Democrats: We like our president like we like our coffee.

[Oniya]

Well, pretty obvious if someone takes a moment to think about it. You're against tea. You're for coffee. Nice, hot, black, coffee.... Hmmm..... coffeeeee. It makes me go, "Ohhhh... yeah."

Not entirely.  *sneaky grin*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Party_USA

[sixtiesthrowback]

Personally, I am a revolutionary socialist (Trotskyist).

Although I feel I might be in a minority here...

[SweetKnickers]

Erm... I'm more a Canadian Liberal/Green Party. But I also tend to have moderate/conservative leanings depending on what issues I'm being asked about.

[Morganatic]

Personally, I am a revolutionary socialist (Trotskyist).

Although I feel I might be in a minority here...

trot trot trot

trot trot trot

Hehe, not really. I'm not necessarily a fan of all the ways that Trotskyism's developed over the past seventy years or so, but it's certainly one of the better Marxist strains.

I think I'd describe myself as a radical leftist, both in the sense that I'd sneer at any attempts to call me a 'liberal' (this is the eleventh type), and also in the 'skateboarding and ripped jeans' sense of the word 'radical'. *does a grind off the concept of dialectics*

It's interesting looking at the political demographics of different sites - I'm honestly surprised at the political make-up of this thread. I wonder if it's Elliquiy in particular - do different adult roleplay sites attract different political ideologies - and, if so, why? What are the average political traits of the ERPer? Is there a Maoist Third Worldist version of Elliquiy out there somewhere? 

[Lux12]

I lean far to left. I am an anarchist and for those who don't know, we do not advocate for mass violence or any other such things.

[Skynet]

I lean far to left. I am an anarchist and for those who don't know, we do not advocate for mass violence or any other such things.

Are you an anarchist without label, or do you adhere to a specific subset of anarchism (anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-syndicalism, etc)?

[Lux12]

I often use the term communal anarchist to describe myself which is closer to the syndicalist and similar strains of anarchist political philosophy.

[Bayushi]

Do you agree with the following statements?

1. The entire wellfare system should be done away with or retooled and restricted because the vast majority of those on it abuse it.

2. Non-white immigration into the country is a serious threat to national security.

3. A woman should keep her legs closed if she doesn't want to get pregnant, and if a rape got her pregnant she obviously secretly wanted it.

4. Affirmative action is an example of 'political correctness gone haywire'.

5. Feminists need to shut their damn mouths and get back in the kitchen.

6. Education is not half so important as beefing up the military. America is constantly under threat, you see.

If you answered yes to any or all of these, congratulations! You're not only a Teatard, you're a terrible person!

I shouldn't bother answering any of the above contrived bull shit, but what the hell.

1. Done away with? No. (A term that Callie will recognize) Waste Fraud & Abuse needs to be squashed, however. The abusers make it more difficult for those of us truly in need (I am permanently disabled, and constantly have to deal with bureaucratic bull shit because of the rampant abuse of the system).

2. I don't think non-whites (immigrant or not) are serious threats to national security simply for their ethnicity. I resent your assertion, given that I am non-white myself, asshole. My mother is an immigrant (married an American).  /spit

3. What's stopping you from buying your own fucking birth control? $9 at Wal Mart! Condoms aren't that expensive! I won't comment on Mr Akin's retarded comment(s).

4. Affirmative action is indeed an example of 'political correctness gone haywire'. I didn't need it, as a 'woman of color'. What's everyone else's excuse? Lazy? Stupid? All of the above? I worked my fucking ass off to get through school, and I did well until I became disabled. Grow up.

5. Yes, Feminists do need to shut their damned mouths and get back in the kitchen. Notice I said 'Feminists', not 'women'. "Modern" Feminists are quite often female supremacists and/or eugenicists. Go have a look at RadFemHub (Google it). Those bitches be crazy.

6. As someone who grew up with the US Military, and served in a foreign nation's Defense force (Dual-citizen, US/Japan), I understand the military and why it's needed. You apparently do not understand. The world isn't a happy fun place with unicorns rainbows and puppies. Constant war is not the objective, while national defense is. Pro Tip: The Federal Government has ONE (1) enumerated power, which is to provide for national defense.

[Vekseid]

I shouldn't bother answering any of the above contrived bull shit, but what the hell.

You really should not have.

2. I don't think non-whites (immigrant or not) are serious threats to national security simply for their ethnicity. I resent your assertion, given that I am non-white myself, asshole. My mother is an immigrant (married an American).  /spit

3. What's stopping you from buying your own fucking birth control? $9 at Wal Mart! Condoms aren't that expensive! I won't comment on Mr Akin's retarded comment(s).

4. Affirmative action is indeed an example of 'political correctness gone haywire'. I didn't need it, as a 'woman of color'. What's everyone else's excuse? Lazy? Stupid? All of the above? I worked my fucking ass off to get through school, and I did well until I became disabled. Grow up.

5. Yes, Feminists do need to shut their damned mouths and get back in the kitchen. Notice I said 'Feminists', not 'women'. "Modern" Feminists are quite often female supremacists and/or eugenicists. Go have a look at RadFemHub (Google it). Those bitches be crazy.

6. As someone who grew up with the US Military, and served in a foreign nation's Defense force (Dual-citizen, US/Japan), I understand the military and why it's needed. You apparently do not understand. The world isn't a happy fun place with unicorns rainbows and puppies. Constant war is not the objective, while national defense is. Pro Tip: The Federal Government has ONE (1) enumerated power, which is to provide for national defense.

...pretend to be Japanese on the Internet when you are not... fine. Whatever. Might help to know Japanese, first, especially after going through a phase pretending to be really bad at English.

...pretend to be female on the Internet when you are not... fine. Whatever. Might help to learn something about female contraception, first. Protip: Female contraception is not 'condoms', is used for far more than just preventing pregnancies, and often involves something you might have heard of called a prescription. You might - shock horror - try asking what women go through to get birth control, and get a response that you might learn from.

I don't know whether or not you actually served in the JSDF, or actually hold dual citizenship, but considering your IP address faithfully traced to the West Coast of the United States when you claimed to be in Japan, and you were asking me about guns like you'd never touched one before in your entire life after Obama's first election, let me find a grain of salt for you.

Whatever fantasy version of yourself you want to pretend to be, fine. I bit my lip for years, because, you know, whatever.

As long as you did not use your fake identity to try to manipulate, I saw no reason to create drama over the matter.



And you chose to cross that line.

I don't know what the hell made you think doing so was a good idea.

As for your own incivility, whatever. If you choose to continue to be a part of this community after this, I hope you have learned a lesson, and perhaps decide to act, in the future, with a bit more self-reflection, and when discussing reality, focus on reality, and leave fantasy to role-playing.