I am a moderate liberal. And a very intelligent one at that. I am not unreasonable and do understand conservative views. I just happen to lean more towards the democratic way of thinking.

Part of it being the people around me. My parents vote democrat and 90% of the idiots in my small hick town were republicans (nothing against them, but I really disliked these kids and could never agree with them on anything), so I ended up becoming a liberal because they seemed to accept everything a little easier

I am very conservative and the republican party is the closest to it. Conservatism is the best thing for the country.

Im in the "The rent is too damn high party"
ran by this guy:

LOL

I don't know what I would consider my views. I like guns way to much to be a democrat and I'm not threatened enough by minorities to be a republican lol. Nah but seriously I don't know, I seem to vote with whoever making more sense and is more realistic.

I think I'm a libertarian technically.... I have fiscally conservative views but when it comes to personal life choices I figure as long as you aren't killing anyone or otherwise harming them then you can ruin your life in whatever way you want.

geeogree : What is the libertarian party? I've hear of it but I don't know what they stand for.

it isn't a party.... at least not that I know of. It's all about personal and economic freedom.

The problem is the people. Frankly, most Americans aren't too smart. They want lower taxes, but, they want the same benefits as if they were paying taxes. They complain when the taxes are too high, even though they've been the lowest in years. They vote for the people (like in the last election) who are completely against their interests. But most of all, they are impatient and ignorant. I should stop saying "they". It is "we".

Both of the parties have things about them that I don't like. Republicans love their guns, and guns scare the crap outa me. Democrats are for abortion most of the time and I am severely against it so I had to pick the lesser of the two evils. Other than the abortion thing, I agree with most of what democrats say so I'm a democrat who does not believe in abortion. I don't know what you'd call that...'mostly democrat' maybe? Idk.

I'm a Democrat and pretty much my enitre family is Democratic but I will Vote for a Republican once in a blue moon.

Meh, compared to political parties in other countries in the world, Republicans and Democrats are very similar. I agree with Democrats more, though, because of their stance on abortion, gay marriage, ending the illegal war in the middle east, and social programs. The only thing I disagree with about them is their stance on gun control.

Switzerland has more families with guns, but with a much much lower murder rate/gun-related death rate. Thing is, everyone in Switzerland is a trained soldier. Guns aren't the problem, seeing as criminals don't follow laws, it's education about guns.

Political parties aren't something I believe in. I think all that they serve to do is split people even more than they would be. I have not yet voted for anyone but I've only been able to vote for two elections so far. I just haven't seen anyone that I trust in the system yet. I doubt I will for a while.

I don't think that Americans have the freedom to vote that many think that they do. It's just that there seems to be so little choice between two mediocre leaders, and two mediocre sets of policies. They all seems bad. The worst of all are these "Tea Parties." America was founded on great (at the time) values, and these tea party advocates are undermining that, by comparing two different things. No one seems to be looking at history to predict the future. How was the depression lessened? Economic stimulus. How is Obama trying to end the recession? Economic stimulus. Good job, Obama. You looked at history and based your decisions on that, instead of fear. Here's a cookie.

Time and time again countries in trouble try and use protectionism and laisez faire economics to solve their problems. Time and time again, these practices only hurt the economy. Look at Third Reich Germany's initial economic policies: (Yes, they were an evil organization and let us not derail this thread into arguing about that. The Nazis ate sugar, too, but is sugar evil?) They were in a position where they were losing most of their income to reparations to other countries, and billions of marks were worth one American dollar. An apple would cost 12 marks. (Some people couldn't even afford this!) They decided to heavily regulate the economy, under the guidance of Schact. Schact turned one of the poorest countries in Europe into one that the entire world had trouble defeating.

A controversial example, but the point still stands: government controlled economics work.

"A controversial example, but the point still stands: government controlled economics work."

....

you're not serious. You list 1 example of success and ignore 20 others. Take a look at ANY of the attempts at using Communism as a way to regulate the economy. Those countries have all either failed or have moved towards a more capitalist form of economic activity.

The US was found on a capitalist system and that is the reason that country became as strong as it did.

And government stimulus did not "lessen" the depression.... taking on loads of debt only makes things worse.

I plan on registering as a Republican; I have a mainly conservative political ideology.

Im an independent.

I am a democrat but I never would vote on someone because of their party. But that's the issue with voting. Everyone votes for their party or the person who had the most ads, not the person who should really win.