Republicans, educate me?

Question

I've heard a lot of Republicans say that the current administration doesn't represent them. What would be better?

Why are you a conservative, and what role does religion play in it? Are there a lot of non-Christian Republicans?

Answer 1

What an excellent question.

In my opinion, conservatism is defined by a few things (which I'm sure I'll forget a few points here)

-Small government
-Minimal government interference in private lives; this means that abortion and gay marriage are not regulated because the government would be putting itself into private lives
-Low tax rates
-Minimal government spending
-Balanced budget (tax cuts must be balanced with spending cuts)
-National debt mitigation
-Flat tax with exemptions for poverty
-Lack of welfare
-Strong military, but not an interventionist one
-Aid delivered to poor through encouragement of charity or rewards for good deeds (ie: Habitat for Humanity) instead of handouts
-Respecting the fact that this country was founded on Christian ideals, but keeping those ideals out of government (ex: it is ok to keep "under God" in the pledge, but gay marriage shouldn't be banned because the Bible says its wrong)

You see very few of these policies in the current administration. Bush and his friends are neo-conservatives.

Answer 2

I am more of a moderate than a true conservative, though I do consider myself a conservative. I am a Christian as a Catholic though many of the Christians I think you're speaking of don't consider me one for some strange reason.

Religion plays little of any part in my choice. I am a conservative out of common sense more than anything else. Most of what I've heard the liberals say just doesn't make any sense to me and sounds like it's more of a "wishful thinking" sort of thing than reality. That said, I am pro-choice and it angers me when I hear someone call us "pro-abortion" because that is just so not true. Generally speaking, I am pro stem cell research except that studies have found that it really has no merit. I am generally pro-war Iraq, but I think that the way it's been done is all wrong. I would have been tougher and paid less attention to what the liberal media, etc. was saying about it and more to getting the job done right. Then again I am willing to admit that I may not have all the details. I think we should do more about Darfur.

Answer 3

I'm a fiscal Conservative. Example: I believe that the government should be a smaller, more effective government. They need to provide for the national security and general well being of the populace (roads, standards, education, etc...). I am not a religious Conservative, I have no problems with gays, gay marriage, and would like to see religion and government separated. My religion is my own, and I don't need to convert the world to make me feel better about myself.

The best description of my beliefs would be that I am an Eisenhower Republican. Or a Blue Dog Democrat. Either camp, they are pretty close together.

Answer 4

Honestly, I don't think most people know what it means to be republican or democrat or whatever. We associate certain things with one or the other... I took an american politics class last spring... toward the end of the semester, our professor gave us all a little questionnaire regarding our various political views. It worked out that our answers would correspond to a number, and after a little simple math, we would have a number that could be plotted on a graph. (I hope I'm making sense here). Anyway, we all lined up to plot ourselves on the overhead projector. If we identified ourselves as republican, we used a red marker. Democrats--blue; populists--black; libertarians--yellow... There were red dots squarely in the democrat corner, blue dots in the populists corner and so on. A lot of people identified themselves as one thing but found themselves plotted somewhere else entirely. It was interesting... Anyway, what was the question? I'm sure there are people out there who identify with some label or other for reasons that have nothing to do with policy. That probably doesn't answer your question...

Answer 5

They said the same thing about his Dad when he screwed up

Conservatives are supposed to be fiscally conservative
Now Bush has gone from a 230 billion surplus in 2002 to a 550 billion defecit in 2004 how did this happen? SPENDING!!!!!!!!!!
in 2000 the US Govt took in about 1.65 trillion that has remained relatively flat what has gone up is SPENDING in 2000 about 1.6 trillion that was why there was actually a surplus
by 2003 SPENDING had gone to 2.3 trillion even tho revenue was still about 1.6 So they borrowed about 250 billion from Social Security called it revenue and the defecit was now about 500 bil
from 2001 to 2006 the overall national debt has gone from 5 trillion to about 8.6 trillion
AND NO THAT DOESNT INCLUDE THE PRICE OF THE WAR
That is a seperate appropriation that stands at about 350 billion since 2003
Military spending has remained flat also as has intelligence spending altho its supposed to be classified
what does this all mean
BUSH AND THE GOP HAVE SPENT MONEY LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS

Answer 6

I am a conservative, I believe in fiscal responsibility, less government intervention into the everyday lives of Americans, I believe in a strong national defense, and sometimes in an offense! I am not religious, but have no problem with people and their religious beliefs, no matter what denomination they are.

Answer 7

The current president is the representative of all Americans, like it or not. So he apparently represents anyone that is an American. That is why he is called Head of State. If these people are saying, I am not represented by George W. Bush, they are just fooling themselves.

Answer 8

The current Administration represents ALL of us because that's what they were elected to do, and I'm not even a Christian, but I'm a Republican.

Answer 9

My husband was raised Lutheran and I was raised Jewish, and we actively practice both religions. We are also conservative republicans. Religion plays no role in our politics, however.

Answer 10

I like republicans for being tough on moral standards. But in the other hand most gays and lesbians that come out of the white house are REPUBLICAN! Why is it like that? Foley? Cheney's daughter? these are the most recent ones. They seem to be the "anti-gay" but they themselfs are GAYS.