Dr. Rand Paul

[Zabiela]

It takes a certain kind of person to be a criminal, and while their motivating circumstances may bring out the worst in them, who they are is still part of the problem.

As much as I hate to think people can be fundamentally, permanently flawed, If you can go through with raping a woman I see no other excuse really.

[Mr. Happy]

I once had views that paralleled those of people like Mayhem and Mr. Happy. My entire belief system was built into me by the insular community I lived in. I was complacent with my own intelligence, arrogant, and certain of my beliefs. It took a little embarrassment for me to begin reconsidering all my previous assumptions.

hell do you know about my views?

I am open minded about all opinions and solutions even if I do come off as an ardent left wing nut case. (I am an ardent left wing nut case fyi)

[MayheM]

Good point Happy. If you look at any other thread you will see Mr. Happy and I normally are one either sides of the spectrum. My views have actually changed on a lot of things in the last year or so. I have become more interested in personal freedom and personal responsibility. This is not based upon being complacent, or arrogant however being certain in beliefs is a different story. I believe what I believe. I am not talking about things that can and can not be proven but rather the way i view the world. Abortion is one of those things. There is nothing anyone can tell me that will make me change my view on it. Most people have the same reaction when it comes to topics like that. You are either for it or not, seldom does that view change. I have spent the last year reading up on American History and the founding of the nation. I have really just begun but I have a collection of books that I am reading one by one. I was never really interested in history, but an interest has been sparked. So maybe at one point I was complacent with my knowledge, but that time has passed.

[joe_rogers_11155]

It's been a long time since I dared read one of these charged-up political threads. I can see immediately here the reason why i started dodging them long ago, and why I remain on the very outside of political discussions. I end up harboring massive amounts of contempt for all parties involved and end up longing for reckless, vigiliante justice more often than some gold-gilded solution to life's brick-wall problems. Oftentimes my points of view are much harsher than could ever be made realized.

When I watch the politics unfurling, I think: Nobody is right, nobody is wrong, and everybody is both.

[MayheM]

Honestly the way I see it now, you are right. Both parties have gotten away from what they stand for. it is obvious when the country has 13 trillion dollars in debt that neither side has been trying very hard to keep this country in good shape. That is my number 1 concern, so anyone who is for cutting the spending is ok in my book.

[Mr. Happy]

Tear apart the parties into 3-5 factions!

[Terr]

It's tricky talking about the "Tea Party" since anybody can lay claim to the name. While it may have originally started with libertarians, they tried to make it "inclusive", which bit them in the ass when a lot of conservatives decided they wanted in on the action, changing the message.

While I have some sympathy for libertarians pissed at the co-option, at this point I assume most "Tea Party" labels imply "conservatives pretending to care about the Constitution now that Bush is out of office".

Tear apart the parties into 3-5 factions!

Our archaic plurality voting system means it'll never really happen, alas. The closest that will ever happen is one of the big-two will die outright, and then be replaced either by another party or by the second big one splitting in half.

[MayheM]

I am a really good example of the average tea party member. I myself did not pay attention to politics much for most of my life. So when Bush was "F"ing up the country i was not paying attention because it did not directly effect me. When i lost my job because of the economy i started to pay attention more and more. I looked back and can now see the Bush was taking us down the road to shit town with his out of control spending. Obama has done nothing to fix that but rather he has nailed the peddle to the metal and spent even more money we do not have. I get into a lot of discussions with people out here, since most of the people i work with are liberal, if i do not agree with them and Obama 100% i am considered evil. Conservative has a negative connotation because people instantly think of social issues when someone says they are conservative. I quickly identify myself as a fiscal conservative libertarian. I may have some views on social issues that are conservative, but not all my views on social issues fall in line. A good example of this is same sex marriage. I am of the opinion it is not my place to tell a person what they can and can not do with their life. I also believe it is not the governments place to do so either. But to get back to my point, many people are like me in that when Bush was in office we did not see the bad things he was doing because we where not directly effected by them. But now we see countries like Greece going into the shitter and states who are bankrupt (ie the one i live in) because of out of control spending and debt. The answer this administration has come up with is, we need to spend our way out of debt. This very concept defies reason.

My biggest gripe about the way people view the tea party is that so many people are lumped in as racist because they disagree with this president who happens to be 1/2 black. Anyone who knows me personally can attest to the fact that i am not racist. It was never brought up that black people who did not like Bush where racist because he was white. The same should not be done when people disagree with Obama. Sure some people out there don't like Obama because the color of his skin, we all know that. Just like a guy like Rev Wright would not like me because of the color of mine. There are ignorant people out there, but most of the people have good reason to be worries for the nation. If people honestly believe the country is financially doing well they are looking at different info than I am.

[Mr. Happy]

It's like saying the word "Jew," people instantly assume your going to be ant-semitic.