Conservatives and Liberals? Why can't we all just get along?

Question

I hate how everyone has to identify themselves and others by labels. I don't care if we have a Republican or Democrat to run this country, we need someone GOOD. Why are people so focused on labels and not on REAL issues. Do not vote for someone just because there are a part of a particular political party, vote because they are the best candidate on all sides. We should just throw out the terms, Conservative, Liberal, Democrat or Republican...I think this will make people more focused on the issues that count.

Answer 1

I use to vote for the best person years ago...I am a republican but I would vote for a democratic if I thought he was the best candidate...but then the democratic party got so left...I vote party...throughout

Answer 2

Unfortunately I think it will take a great deal of time and some effort among high ranking officials in both parties to make this happen.

It seems to me that the general nature of politics changed dramatically after Ronald Reagan left office.

Up until and during this time many Dems and Rep. were friends outside of work, but fierce political rivals. They had respect for each others beliefs, and valued the other persons character, inspite of politics. In fact Reagan and Tip O'Neil were great friends but polar opposites politically.

Both parties shoulder the blame. Personally I think with the advent of talking heads on TV such as Rush, O'Reilly, and their Liberal counterparts, politics became personal and personal attacks became accepted.

The Clinton Years were marked by this. Also the New Congressmen used to have orientation together at the Kennedy school of goverment and many Congressmen lived in Washington or shared flats in Washington during the week and went home on Weekends to see family members.

When Gingrich took control as speaker he isolated the new Rep. Congressmen, discouraged them from fraternizing with the Dems, and helped bring about the growing rift.

Sadly the American people are the most to blame I believe, because we allow personal attack adds to influence us and tune into the smear merchants on tv.

To call a Senator, President, or Congressmen by their first name, ie Hillary, etc. shows you how low we have all lowered the bar.

There was a time when we treated the position with respect and referred to the person by their title regardless of our politics.

Answer 3

How about just abandoning the labels.  Everyone has a little as a tiny bit of the other.  We're all related.

Answer 4

The problem of course is that GOOD people do not populate the Republican party...

Answer 5

people will never agree on abortion, war, immigration, economics, etc. we have to have different parties to represent us. i think we need a new party.

Answer 6

Labels are symbols  - Labels allow us to think less...once we label somone they stand for all that we know or  think we know about the label.  In today's age of soundbites labels save time.  I think they also lead to a huge amount of misunderstanding...but people find labels useful or they would stop using them.

Answer 7

Good old marxist race and gender identity politics!

Excluding millionaires might help.

Answer 8

You are correct.  Intelligent people do not vote Republican or Democrat they vote the issues.  It just so happens that no Democrats support my view on how to address the issues.

I will not vote for anyone who thinks its OK for  a woman to murder her unborn child.  I will not vote for anyone who thinks we should condone homosexual marriage.  I will not vote for those who say I will raise taxes and create more federally controlled projects.  I will not vote for anyone who wants to cut funding for our military.

That said I guess my options are pretty limited to a couple of conservative Republicans.

j

Answer 9

Like everybody in America... we love a good fight. Most of the petty bickering you see displayed on these pages is good natured jesting and teasing.  I honestly believe that the people on these pages will vote for the right candidate (for them) rather than the party candidate.  I think this simply because them being here makes them aware of the other candidates and opposing viewpoints.  Of course there are the Diehard fanatics in both parties that will vote along party lines no matter the qualifications of the other candidates.

Answer 10

there is a bigger picture

its healthy to argue both sides and find a balance ... to compromise in some places and have an understanding that people have different belief systems

but until we get special interest money out of Washington, we will never get down to solving 'real' issues

Answer 11

I agree!  Throw out the Conservatives and Liberals and get back to moderate Democrats and Republicans.

Answer 12

Well, as a conservative let me tell you this: most of us work hard for our money, we don't claim government services and we don't like paying higher taxes.  If Democrats win, we're going to be paying more money into government programs and services, and we don't personally see any benefits from it.  We are going to spend our hard earned money on everyone else that doesn't work as hard.  Why should we support candidates that only want to take what we make, essentially bribing the lower class to vote for them like they are a bunch of do-gooder Robin Hoods?

Answer 13

Well, I agree that we should all look at where the candidates stand on a given issue and base our votes on that. Many of the candidates fall into certain categories based on their beliefs though. Like the fact that you won't find many republicans or conservatives who are all for abortion, and you usually won't see many liberals who are for keeping g*y marriage from being legalized. (just as examples). The label doesn't necessarily restrict your candidate to one type of person, it just lets you have an idea of whether or not they think like you do. Then you can do your own research from there.

Answer 14

<<Why are people so focused on labels and not on REAL issues.>>

Um, people who agree with my views on the real issues are CONSERVATIVE.  Therefore, I will bash LIBERALS.  See, labels make sense.