Since I'm very interested in politics, I thought I would start a conversation on it.
I'm personally center left and I prefer socialism to capitalism. It's worth noting though that both socialism and capitalism have their major faults. Technically speaking, I would be a democrat, I don't much believe in conservatism.

It's also worth noting that what's centre in the US is more centre right in Europe.

btw, I voted social democrat. I would include anarchist if more than 10 choices were allowed in the polls.

I'm a hardcore Libertarian in that I believe Government is the problem not the solution. I also feel that the world is over regulated because alot of stuff stems from people doing stupid things and causing something to be banned or modified where I think if someone is stupid enough to get one thing banned, they'd be stupid enough to do something else to hurt themselves. However, if a true Communist World existed, I would honestly have no qualms about it, but I realize the human race will never achieve that unless we really as a unit change our thinking, so I am in favor of something drastically different.

I just vote whoever I think has the best overall plan
Of course I spend a lot of time looking at each candidates ideas, policies, ect.

mayorm wrote:I just vote whoever I think has the best overall plan

Just remember that none of the presidents in the past hundred years have truly carried out their plans.

Cheeseguy wrote:Just remember that none of the presidents in the past hundred years have truly carried out their plans.

Yes, but when it comes down to it, you are electing a person who you feel can best represent you in government. Regardless of whether they actually fulfill their promises made during the campaign.

Yes, I'm fully aware of that, and I'm the same way.
I'm saying that though because even if you vote for one person who promises, say, tax cuts, he might just turn around and raise them.

Speaking of that.. I really wouldn't mind a tax increase. The ones that are barely scraping by or are unemployed get a tax return anyway, at least in the US

Cheeseguy wrote:Speaking of that.. I really wouldn't mind a tax increase. The ones that are barely scraping by or are unemployed get a tax return anyway, at least in the US

So what about those who are working extremely hard (and not necessarily making a big salary) to pay for people who aren't doing anything? You're telling them to pay more?

K50 wrote:

Cheeseguy wrote:Speaking of that.. I really wouldn't mind a tax increase. The ones that are barely scraping by or are unemployed get a tax return anyway, at least in the US

So what about those who are working extremely hard (and not necessarily making a big salary) to pay for people who aren't doing anything? You're telling them to pay more?

What about the ones making a huge salary and barely doing anything for it? Don't get me wrong.. I'm not having this "Make the rich pay their fair share".. that's just plain unfair. That's why I think a flat income tax instead of one that goes up for the middle and high class is a better idea.

then again it would be unfair to make the rich prop up the poor.. so there's no real way for welfare and government benefits to be fair to everyone really.

Cheeseguy wrote:

K50 wrote:

Cheeseguy wrote:Speaking of that.. I really wouldn't mind a tax increase. The ones that are barely scraping by or are unemployed get a tax return anyway, at least in the US

So what about those who are working extremely hard (and not necessarily making a big salary) to pay for people who aren't doing anything? You're telling them to pay more?

What about the ones making a huge salary and barely doing anything for it?

And most (certainly not all) of them worked pretty hard to get there

Exactly, which is why I said that it would be unfair to pretty much everyone. Don't get me wrong, I think welfare and other government benefits are a great idea in general but there's no really fair way to execute it.

I agree.

I don't like the idea of the welfare programs in general. Here in the United States, the first vestiges of it were put in during the New Deal as part of FDR's 3 R's. Unfortunately, his programs for immediate relief were carried over, and are still in effect today, instead of just the ones for recovery and reform. The welfare state in America in particular is quite ridiculous, as many people who can perfectly well work to find a job choose not to do som and instead live on government handouts. There definitely are cases in where people truly do need help, but it can't be the middle class holding up the rest. The megarich aren't affected by having to support the lower, but the shrinking middle class is. Unfortunately, there is no way in current American politics to change this, as neither Democrats nor Republicans differ in much besides social issues, which shouldn't be for the government to decide in the first place. There's my political view in a nutshell

Well, if it wasn't for the three R's we likely would still be a mostly capitalist country.
I'm not saying we're completely socialist yet, but it's more of a mixture of the two.

To me the biggest problem with "handouts" are how much they cost the government.. which is why either higher taxes are needed or handouts need to be abolished in general if the national debt is to ever drop down even slightly.. both would be unfair to some extent.

I'm not blaming the national debt on handouts and our tax rate, just to clarify. Deficit spending (and the deficit alone) plays a big role in that. Our income tax rate for the low class is rather low compared to those in the EU but is rather standard for the middle/high class (around 15% for a person making anywhere from 8,300 to 33,950 (rough estimates) on a yearly basis, and 35% for those over 372,000).

I'm more or less centre-left, but mind you Canada's centre-left is far different than that of the US. I generally vote for the best of the worst (because honestly, our parties all have flaws) - but generally lean to the Liberal Party.

LOL I'm one of those Centre-Left people... but generally I'm neutral towards all parties.

But I'm hatin' Conservatives right now! Love the Conservative MP here though, she's quite nice (Joy Smith, MP)

y u no Centre Right?

because I like Centre Left