Originally Posted by **********

First, I'm a Canadian who just happens to have discovered his inner political-nerd. I watch and read alot of news and find the US politics really interesting.

I have a question that I can't seem to get an answer from and I was hoping to get some feedback here.

From everything I have seen and read, it APPEARS that there are many republicans that seem to be ... well... evil!

Please tell me where I am wrong and / or correct me on the following:

- Republicans seem to favour big oil over anything.
- Republicans care nothing for the environment.
- Republicans favour the Bible and blind faith over science and base all of their decisions on it.
- Republicans SEEM to be homophobic, as they SEEM to want to deny civil liberties to homosexuals and use the Bible as some kind of justification for their decisions despite the whole "separation of church and state" thing.

- Republicans SEEM to hate higher education.

- Republicans SEEM to hate contraception in all forms, despite the threat of overpopulation, disease, family planning etc.

- Republicans SEEM to be racist. They are making it harder for black people to vote, deny illegal immigrants to naturalization services, and seem to hate President Obama. It seems that no matter what Obama wants to do, they will oppose it.

The last point really has been curious. John Bohner and the rest seemed to want to block every single thing that Obama wanted.

I say the word SEEMS because something does not make sense to me. From my (A Canadian's perspective), how can a political party in the US of A seem to be so... evil? Republican nominees like Santorum spew hate. Romney and Gingrich seem to throw up lies. Is what I am seeing, hearing and reading, real?

I watch alot of MSNBC, but to get some perspective I also watch Fox News and even listen to Rush Limbaugh. It is easy to find the lies that Rush Fox News pours out of their channel, and I totally understand that Fox may not even be real news, and is owned by Murdoch, and I get the fact that the Koch Brothers have interests, etc.

But is it all this clear? Is everything that easy to polarize? From my point of view, the democrats look like the good guys, and the republicans look like the evil doers.

Is this really true?

Originally Posted by raymor

Politifact rated as completely true the statement that the republicans "fought very hard to get the civil rights bill passed, as well as the voting rights bill".

Politifact also notes that some democrats were strong supporters, while mentioning that 3/4 of the opposition was democrats.

Originally Posted by kane

Old school republicans actually want smaller government, less taxes and more personal freedom.

Originally Posted by porno jew

it's an odd view of "personal freedom" that wants more cops, prisons, law enforcement, military, social conservatism, racism, the subjugation of women, religion permeating every corner of society and the the country dominated by big business.

Originally Posted by kane

Those are more the new school republicans that want that. True, real old school republicans want you to be able to do what you want so long as you aren't hurting others. They want you to be free to live your life as you see fit. They want a tiny government and less taxes.

The newer breed decided to wage the worthless war on drugs, sell out to the religious right and do all the things you mention here.

Originally Posted by porno jew

i just described the intellectual and theoretical history of republicanism in a nutshell. post an example of an old school republican who is like you describe. there must be ample examples.

Originally Posted by kane

Well, there is Abe Lincoln. He freed the slaves and he and the republican party worked to outlaw slavery, then past the 14th and 15th amendments that allowed equal protection under the law for everyone and allowed black people to vote.

The republicans also played a major role in getting women the right to vote.

The Republican party was founded on the idea of ending slavery so that all labor was "free" meaning done by free men who choose to do the work. They also believed in "free land" meaning that everyone should have the right to purchase land and work it as they see fit and that the government shouldn't just sell it all to big plantations and "free men" meaning that everyone should be free to live out their own destiny.

They also believed in the gold standard for strong money, high tariffs to keep our economy strong, high wages, high profits and generous pensions for union veterans.

The founding beliefs of the republican party are a hell of a lot different than they are now. I guess the same can be said for the democrats as well.

Originally Posted by porno jew

all you have is abe lincoln? point proven.

Originally Posted by 12clicks

You seem to be an idiot. If you came to these conclusions by "watching and reading alot" you're not bright enough to hold an intelligent conversation with.

Originally Posted by **********

Thanks for the insult. I didn't say I came to a conclusion. I am simply asking a question, then reading what everyone has to say. Nice gut reaction you've got there. Remind me to tell you to go fuck yourself . Oops pardon my gut reaction to your comment. You seem to be someone who doesn't read a thread before posting.