What is the political makeup of Prii drivers?

I used to be a conservative until conservative became something different. And I find myself being fiscally conservative, but recognizing that the government can't run without taxes, and if you are going to spend, you might want to tax so you have the money to spend. So I guess I have liberal leanings.

If you look at the "media" definition of liberal, I must be a left wing nut...IMHO, the only vehicle that ought to be sporting a "support our troops" jingoist ribbon is the Prius, Insight, or HCH. I support them enough to try to reduce the demand for oil to a point where they don't need to be over their "defending my liberty" to drive Hummer to the grocery store.

 

I am an independent.

I refuse to be saddled with a predefined name and believe in stuff like:
honesty, working in the best interest of everyone (not just the well-off), sharing the great wealth found in this country with people who can't afford basic necessities, conserving energy, bringing soldiers home, maintaining separation of church and state without violating the rights of either, progress in science, progress in medicine, better health care and health insurance

I think that removes me from the 'republican' category though...

 

An article in today's NY times says:

The blue-staters, not surprisingly, are a lot more likely to put hybrid cars on their list: buyers of the Toyota Prius hybrid were Democrats by a 35 to 22 percent. Democrats in general are more fond of smaller cars (the Ford Escort and Dodge Neon both skewed blue by about 34 to 20), although energy efficiency is hardly the only reason. Besides having fewer children, Democrats tend to be younger, less affluent and more likely to live in cities where small cars are easier to park.

 

Very, very liberal. This leaves me out of modern American politics, I suppose, but I vote to try to slow the country's mad rush toward corporate domination of our lives.

I think that until we get the money out of our government, we will see more and more legislation bought and paid for, and those of us with no millions of our own will be increasingly left out in the cold. I think we're seeing the return of the robber barons, and this time they own all the media voices that might, in a different era, have exposed and thereby mitigated their crimes.

If we ever banish the money, we might then find out what "conservative" and "liberal" really mean. We have more in common with our political opposites, I believe, than Big Money wants us to realize.

Isn't it nice that there's a car that makes so much sense that everyone can love it?

 

Peace and love are wonderful. Wars and warriors are necessary. Individualism and initiative are foundational. Empathy and self-sacrifice are essential. Bad guys suck, good guys don't.

I learned that all in the 60's.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanP\";p=\"65893)</div>

Which is to say you are one thoroughly confused individual.[/b][/quote]

Interesting - my response to the comment above disappeared from this forum! Hmmmm.

Well, the answer was something like this:

Dear DanP,
I'm sorry that you're unable to fit me into any of your ideological shoeboxes - however, I don't think that does make me confused individual.
Observation: if you can't understand something, very rarely it is fault of the subject - most likely, it's you.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pepa\";p=\"78075)</div>

I understand you pretty well. I understand that you're confused in some way. In this case the difficulty lies in your misuse of terms. You may consider yourself "conservative" in some sense of the word; you may be a registered Republican. But in American political discourse "Conservative Republican" connotes a range of philosophical positions that simply do not go with the positions you espoused. You are, of course, free to invent your own definitions of such terms as "Conservative Republican" and then go around acting like you're enigmatic in some very special and wonderful way. Or you might even want to argue that the word "conservative" has been misappropriated by the forces of environmental degradation. But you really ought to acknowledge in some way that the term "Conservative Republican" is a common term with a generally-recognized meaning in our time and place.

I would prefer to use terms in a way similar to the way they are used in a larger community of discourse (larger than, say, one or two persons)--even if that means also taking issue with the way a word is used. And I would suggest that you either find a more precise term that better describes your social philosophy than "Conservative Replublican," or, alternatively, make clear why the people who generally wear the badge of "Conservative Republicanism" are neither conservative nor republican (that such people are, in fact, laissez-faire liberals and oligarchists).

 

Pro-Democracy * Anti-Fascist * Anti-Communist * Social-Conservative

 

that was pretty interesting.

It says there is no match for an existing political party.

I was pretty much in the center of everyone.

I wonder if there is a Centrist Party? One that is actually...moderate and centrist? Maybe I should join?

 

I vary from issue to issue. Some conservative (particularly financial issues), some liberal (conservation).

If there was a category saying "open minded" (i.e., wanting to hear various sides of an argument -- and getting the facts -- before making a decision), that'd be me. Or at least, that's my goal.

 

First, I apologize for not responding sooner - I noticed your response only now.

Sir - you say that you understand me pretty well. I really don't think so - furthermore, I don't think you understand the majority of your fellow countrymen, either.

I'm actively involved in politics my entire adult life, ranging from politics of opposition to communist regime, through politics of EU to ever-changing American politics. I'm hardly "confused", as you may think.

In addition - I'm far from being alone. There are many folks out there with political makeup similar to mine - that is decisively conservative on some issues, yet very liberal on others. I'd venture to say (and recent election figures and exit polls seem to indicate the same) that people with similar opinions make for overwhelming majority of US voters. Many of these people do call themselves, perhaps for lack of better term, conservatives. It is because their conservative values and views are the decisive force in their vote. That simple.

You guys on left just don't seem to get it though - with your demonstrated condescending, insulting tone, you're turning away millions of potential voters that may have been your biggest asset. To you, whoever doesn't fit your agenda on ALL issues must be necessarily confused right-wing idiot - unworthy of any attempt to understand his point of view. I run into your types daily.

But in last 10 years, you guys lost every single position of power there is! Hint, hint , hint!

How you ever intend to get any of it back while considering majority of American voters to be confused morons - that really is beyond me.

To bad - because this government of ours needs to be balanced and involved in constructive debate rather than stupid filibustering - that's the way it was designed, and that's when it is on it's best.

You're letting us down all - left AND right. Wake up.

 

> First, I apologize for not responding sooner ...

Well, you still haven't really responded. After all, I never took you to task for being "conservative" or "liberal" or "middling" or any other philosophical position. So your vague rambling tale about about what this country needs and why the Democratic Party lost power and why you're part of some majority and so on is hardly a "response."

Rather than finding fault with your politics, I merely pointed out that you were misusing a common term in American political discourse and that you might want to use such terms more carefully to avoid misleading others and yourself. Based on what you have said about yourself, it is plain that you are no more a "conservative Republican" than you are a fundamentalist Muslim. I'm not saying that's either good or bad. I'm just saying you need a term that has not already been taken by people whom you clearly oppose.

All the best,

Dan

 

Libertarian/Reform

 

Right - that's because you can't. How could you possibly take me "to task" on anything I said when you did not offer your own political opinion yourself?

With exception of your preaching about what this or that term means, and how confused I am, you really did not offer anything at all.

You can't possibly consider yourself to be standing on some higher moral ground, waiting for me to "respond" to you, when you don't have enough courtesy (to say the least) to present your own position.

 

This is growing comic. Now you're angry because I didn't argue with you about politics in the first place? You're angry because I did not say anything at T1 to which your "response" at T2 could possibly have been related? I think I've seen this Star Trek episode before. And I think you're more confused--or simply foggy-headed--than I had suspected.

 

Democrat to the core. I am very left.

I don't believe the republican party especially as it is currently being run is good for the United States. I believe they are ruining our country.

I believe the republican party is not very good for our nation but only for the wealthy, corporations and the religious zealots.

Someone mentioned that we need to have debate....we cannot have debate because the republicans control all three branches of our government. Fillibusters have been happening in our government for I believe about 200 years. Now that the Democrats are wanting to use it to stop the 10 judges Bush Jr. wants to have as judges the republicans want to change the rules. The republicans used fillibusters when the Democrats were running Congress.

Someone also mentioned exit polls. The exit polls for the last election contradict the end results.

I still laugh when I see the headline from an English paper stating after Bush Jr. was re-elected "how could 52 million people be so stupid!" Oh boy did I laugh when I saw that.

The United States to me seems like we have jumped back in the McCarthy era which was a very bad time and a very negative time for us. Makes me very sad.

The black cloud started to cover the United States when Reagan was elected, and the sun shone when Clinton was in office and hell broke loose when Bush Jr. was elected.

The people who voted for Bush Jr. had their reasons but I believe that they will regret their vote. The "red states" finacially speaking I believe will be hardest hit from the downturn that is going to be happening in the next few months.

Guess I will have to wait and see if my predictions hold water. I really hate for people to suffer but then maybe they will "see the light" and change their vote next time.

 

Yes, entering the next phase - name calling. You're so predictable it's not even funny. And since you apparently have nothing more to say, I'm done here.

Have a nice day.

 

I am a registered Rupublican, although I may be the only one in the US that voted for Nader 2000 and then voted for Bush in 2004.

 

I'm like my parents, a "classic" Conservative. First and foremost, that means a SMALL government that stays the hell out of the lives of the people. The closest that comes to now is Libertarian.

I'm not sure what the current Neocon George Dubya Bush Republican party is about. They seem to be expert at spending money like no tomorrow, also appear to like to tell folks what to do in the privacy of their bedroom, etc.

I guess the days of fiscal responsibility are long over ...