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CC Italian wrote:Perfect evidence for the need for a major 3rd party is McCain-Palin;

Palin is certainly what cost McCain my vote.

RoyGBiv wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

Toorop wrote:Gay rights and abortion are also important to me as I am pro-gay rights and pro-choice. I am also pro-gun but it is not the only factor on how I vote.

Does it bother you that a large majority of all voters (regardless of party, and please note that I did not say "all") who are pro-gay and pro-choice would crush your right to keep and bear arms if they could?

Proof? Data? Or just worry, suspicion and fear?
Just because the VOCAL one's may be anti RKBA does not make them a large majority.... or even a small majority.

Here exactly is the problem in politics today... To choose Republican too often means tolerating a lot of social intolerance. And to choose Democrat too often means choosing social progressivism over fiscal sanity. A candidate who espouses fiscal sanity and social tolerance can't get past the primaries. Pity us, for we are fools.

Yeah. Pretty bleak, isn't it? But it's not all awful if you take a longer view.

I strongly believe, and I think the numbers support this unequivocally, that this is a generational issue - we are saddled with the political definitions of the prior generation, who for expediency's sake pretend that their political alliances of convenience are fundamental and writ in stone. One glaring example right now is the political alliance left over from the 70s and 80s between fiscal and social conservatives - people who quote both Jesus and Ayn Rand in the same paragraph are suffering some serious cognitive dissonance (or are just plain ignorant of Ayn Rand's positions on basically everything Jesus ever said).

Another is the alliance on the left between people for social freedom from government force, and people who wished to use government force to promote their notions of equality. That required its own brand of cognitive dissonance and was an artifact of the rise of the antiwar left in the 60s and 70s.

And similarly, opposition to gay rights breaks down generationally even within the Republican party. If you look at polling data, there's a stark break somewhere between the mid-30s and mid-40s year olds.

Newer generations don't have the same fault lines and alliances - we are seeing more socially liberal people who support politically (in the sense of individual rights) conservative positions as well. One of my favorite 2nd amendment groups, for example, is the Pink Pistols. They are an organization that exists to promote 2nd amendment awareness, firearms training, and concealed carry in communities where gay people have proven serious self-defense needs: their moto is "Armed gays don't get bashed." They have an excellent record of reducing random on-street violence against gays to 0, as their program includes publicizing their training and licensing efforts.

Ehn. I'm almost afraid to chime in, as a new guy around here - so I'm saying my piece and that's that. But I'll gladly vote for the first presidential candidate who can manage to resist the temptation to use government power to meddle in my bedroom, or force their religious beliefs on me. I believe in the first amendment and the tenth as much as I do in the second, and the Republican party fails on those counts - I like all my rights, thank you.

Unfortunately, that's none of them this time around. Ron Paul is the closest (so I marked him in the poll), but even he can't resist the lure of government power to force his religious views about foetuses across every state in the nation (Bill S.3 - vote number 2003-530 on Oct 2, 2003; Bill HR 534 - vote number 2003-39 on Feb 27, 2003 ; Bill HR 3660 - vote number 2000-104 on Apr 5, 2000).