Cuz I like to start my morning with a giant cup of ARRRRRGH

[chaosblue]

So. I'm merrily surfing around, checking my email, when I see "Why Mommy is a Democrat - littledemocrats.net - If you don't tell your children why you're a Democrat, then who will?" in the Sponsored Links section. Now, maybe I'm just *looking* for a reason to be pissy, but

Comments

[flouritephoenix]

I think that if it was the opposite (if you don't explain to your kids why you're Republican...", I would agree with you. However, the leaders and some of the media has currently forced the words "liberal" and "democrat" to be somewhere in the mix with "devil" and "anti-american."

And if you don't explain to your kids that being liberal is just as American as being conservative, no one's going to do it for you. Other than perhaps Jon Stewart.

[chaosblue]

The whole point was that it goes both ways. Democrat or Republican... both sides are contributing to the worst ideological split in the nation (that I can think of) since slavery. Except for the part where I sincerely don't believe that there is a lesser of two evils; that it is in fact two very equal (and oddly alike in some ways) evils.

There's a reason I don't officially associate with a political party, even if it means I'm screwed in the primaries. XD

[flouritephoenix]

Well there are no republicans left in government. Bush (well, starting with Regan) has dragged the party of Lincoln through the mud, making them more fiscally liberal than democrats (more big government, more spending, more govenment intrustion in our lives (though less help for the poor and more for the rich) and yet socially conservative

[thatames]

Also, explaining why I'm a Democrat doesn't involve me saying being a Republican is evil. It just involves me saying why my beliefs are best represented by one political party.

[chaosblue]

Right! And the same with declaring oneself a Republican, Libertarian, etc.

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if the response to this post would have been different if I had left off the bit about my personal leanings. Too late to find out now!

Isn't it interesting how I feel really defensive and actually AFRAID to publicly identify as a Republican of any sort, and you feel the need to defend and identify yourself as a Democrat who *doesn't* automatically condemn other viewpoints? It's downright SAD what the fringe crazies have done to what used to be a workable and laudable system.

[thatames]

No, I would have responded the same whether or not we were siding with the same party or not. And I don't think I was defending myself in that matter, just stating why I don't think telling one's kids why they were one political party doesn't automatically mean you're condemning another one. There is room for many beliefs in this country.

[chaosblue]

I wasn't targeting the response at you personally; you just brought up an opening that I couldn't leave alone. ^_^ I also obsessively lick at any chips I get in my teeth, even after my tounge starts bleeding. Interesting, huh?

I guess I worry that while there is room for many beliefs, it's going to reach a point where that room is segregated. It's like more and more people are getting so sensitive about their beliefs that they are no longer interested in conversing about differences. They would rather surround themselves with like-minded people and shut out dissenting voices. That just feels rather dangerous to me.

[aevalin]

Well geez - imagine having to explain to your children why you're Canadian then :P

My kiddo knows why I'm a member of the New Democratic Party (which is our left wing party). I volunteer and work the campaigns and stuff. I think it's important that he knows my values and stuff. But I also think it's important that he knows if he has different values and beliefs than I do - that's ok too.

That said - I also figure it's my job to educate him why same sex marriage is not going to send us to hell in a handbasket. It's been one of those days....

Um. Yar?

[chaosblue]

I don't think you *can* explain why you're Canadian. XD

Oh maaaaan, the same-sex marriage thing. I'm starting to wonder if it's really a good idea to legislate anything that doesn't have to do with killing or maiming or otherwise physically inflicting harm on another human being. Cuz really, who is REALLY harmed by a same-sex marriage, even if you disagree? Not squicked, not offended, *HARMED*.

[aevalinshabit]

I'm always kinda up in the air about legislating polygamy too (although I canNOT imagine a woman wanting two or more husbands at once). As long as it's not a situation where 15 year olds are married off, I'm not sure I can disagree with it, ya know? Unless there was a extra tax benefit that was hurting a two adult family maybe? Like the more wives the more money. But there's no law that says a woman can't live in a house with 8 men (common sense would say she's whacky but hey), she just can't marry em legally.

[aevalinshabit]

And um - obviously that's me posting with my other personality on LJ. Because you'd never guess by the user name :P

[bluehyacinth]

I guess I am going to approach your post in a completely different way.

At one point you write:
>Why do I not see things like "If you don't tell your children why you're an American, >then they'll never see any point in making it a better place"? "If you don't tell your >children why you're an American, why would they see any point in voting?"

Tell my (hypothetical/future) children why I'm an American?

Er, um, an accident of birth and inertia. Which is probably the same reason that they will be and will remain Americans. And which is also true for the majority of Americans, unless they are recent immigrants.

Which is not to say that I am not generally happy with being an American, but it has only a minimal amount to do with volition or action on my part. And choosing not to be an American would require more from me than continuing to be an American

[jennyo]

I think Emma's basically right, but let's look at this in my own, special contrarian way.

I'm a gay, agnostic/atheist, feminist, progressive intellectual who has no problem with taxes, government services, or taxation that takes a higher percentage of money from the rich, as I think this is the best current way to allow for equal access to financial security and the practice of freedoms that WASPs with money take for granted. I also think that public, government-run services for pensions, education, and healthcare are good things, because pragmatically, the other way has basically failed and failed hard.

People who know me personally think I'm a hoot and a half, a sweet girl, whatever. And yet they support policies and people who basically want my ass in a concentration camp scrubbing latrines before I'm gassed, if half their public rhetoric is true. And so no matter how many times I say, "I understand that you love guns and hate taxes -- who doesn't hate taxes and who among us who understands gun safety doesn't think the gun fear

[chaosblue]

I had a huge, vaguely intellegent reply here, but the power blinked and then it said your comment didn't exist and RAR. But the sum of it was our differences aren't differences... I'm wondering if it's more about levels of faith in our government to function as-is. I also think you give too much credit to the crazy fucking fundie Republicans, just as a large number of conservatives are too damn afraid of the crazy fucking Democrats (of which I admit there are either fewer, or are just less publicly visible).