Originally Posted by Robbie

I think it's a conundrum for people with money who work hard.

Do they vote their wallet and end up losing personal freedoms from the religious groups who control the Republicans?

Or do they vote their social feelings and end up losing other personal freedoms to liberal ideologues who steer the Democrat party?

To me, that has been the dilemma since I started voting.

I voted for Clinton. I still feel pretty good about that one.

I hated Gore, think he's a pussy. So I voted Bush in 2000. Thought it was a good move at the time. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe Gore wasn't so bad. But having said that...the economy was still pretty damn good even after the Internet Bubble burst at the end of the Clinton administration.

I didn't vote in 2004. But if I had, I doubt very seriously I would have voted for John Kerry. He seemed (and still seems) like a fake. If you think Mitt Romney is plastic...well, I think Kerry is 10 times worse. Especially when his wife came into the picture. ugghhhhh

2008...I voted for "hope and change" and jumped on the Obama bandwagon.

And I have to say that I owe Pres. Obama a lot for that.

He inspired me during his 2008 election with what he said. Got me really hopeful.

And then proceeded to disappoint me so badly that I swore off the 2-party bullshit.

So in 2012 I registered as a Libertarian. At this point they are the only party that overall seems to be fiscally conservative AND completely and EXTREMELY socially liberal.

Or as Gary Johnson (the Libertarian candidate for Pres. in 2012) said: "I'm Pro-Everything"

And I like that idea. Personal freedom. Let me choose my own life and what I want to do with it.

I think that most people feel the same. The govt. has managed to scare us into thinking that we just can't survive without them controlling our everyday lives.

I like the Libertarian idea of the govt. serving us, staying small and not RULING over us like children.

Anyway, that's the direction I personally took. And yes, I've been fiscally "conservative" most of my life. And at the same time...like you, I am EXTREMELY socially liberal.

The Republicans and Democrats are neither. The Republicans are not fiscally conservative and they are not socially liberal. The Democrats are less fiscally conservative and not much better at being socially liberal (I'm talking about the lifetime/career Congressmen and Senators in Washington D.C., not the actual PEOPLE who call themselves Republicans and Democrats)