Liberals and Conservatives: Can We Try Agree On Something Here Sans Blind Ideology…?

Question

I always like to see groupthink in action: it’s like Lord of the Flies, but with grown ups. And there's no place better to see it than politcal debate.

Here’s a stat: the number of soldiers who’ve died defending this country in Iraq (standing as of today at 2,646 (I’m not counting non-combat deaths)) is almost the same as the number of people who died in 9/11 (2,973)? By the way, if you’re keeping count, 60,000+ Iraqi civilians (yes, non-coms, not soldiers) killed so far).

So the questions:
1. Now that the body counts are almost equal, can we all agree that both Clinton (9/11) and Bush (Iraq) are equally f-d up? Blowjobs/perjury and cocaine/questionable motivations for war aside...?

2. Will Americans ever put down their divisive dogma and stop drawing imaginery battle lines over tax rates and gun control and maybe even have an opinion ?

3. Finally - curious: list some things you DISAGREE w/your political party about (scary if you can't).

Let the circus begin.

Answer 1

1. I think that the war in Iraq has been fought poorly but I still support our efforts. There is no way we can back out now without devastating consequences for the people of Iraq. Clinton was not entirely responsible for 9/11 of course if he was we will never know because of Berger. Both presidents probably did what they thought was best at the time. Did they do the best thing out of all possible choices? Probably not but hindsight is 20/20.

2. The Repubs and Dems will never stop drawing battles lines as long one of the two groups is in power. They all have opinions but they are afraid if they voice them they will not be reelected.

3. I am an independent so they only person I have to agree or disagree with is me, therefore, I agree completely with my political party.

Answer 2

Great question. This is exactly why I would vote for a libertarian. In all reality, These things won't get better anytime soon! People care to much about what they believe society should be like instead of giving freedom to families and individuals. The libertarians are often viewed as extreme but extreme in what case? They stand for liberty too much? The truth is people are very controlling. They do not understand competitive markets nor personal responsibility and most people are hypocritical about lifestyles. Thanks for the good question. Seems like no one else wants to answer this negatively about their own political party. At least not truly. To them, that is blasphemy for everything they preach.