August 02, 2008
Are Democrats Different Than Republicans?
At the Lake City Pioneer Days this Saturday, there was some antidotal (see comments 6 and 8) evidence that Democrats, at least in Seattle, are different from Republicans. The 46th District Republican booth was festooned with the Stars and Stripes. The Democratic booth directly opposite had nary a flag in sight.
Posted by warrenpeterson at August 02, 2008
08:44 PM | Email This
1. But you know, you can't question their patriotism! /sarc
2. Patriotism is a measure of how many flags you have.
3. The number of flags is not the measure of patriotism but you'd think that a major political party in the United States of America would display at least one flag. Maybe they are just not as proud of America as Michelle Obama.
4. Thank God for that antidote. And thanks for pointing out another difference between your ilk and the rest of us.
5. I have alway thought it somewhat curious how different people could share so many political (and religious) views on diverse topics. For example, what do the topics of abortion, traffic, immigration, taxes, etc. all have in common? On the surface, the answer is not much.
But why then, do those who have strong similar views on one of these topics share the same views on many other seemingly unrelated topics? If, for example, 50% support & 50% oppose abortion, and 50% support & 50% oppose the use of nuclear power generation, you would think that the general population would have 25% support both abortion & nuclear power, 25% support abortion & oppose nuclear, 25% oppose abortion & support nuclear, and 25% oppose both. However, what we see is more like 47% supporting both, 47% opposing both, and 6% supporting one or the other but not both.
It's because when you get down to the crux of a person's belief system, it all depends on one's world-view. Your world-view ties all of these issues together. In the political spectrum, Democrats share one world-view and Republicans share another.
6. anecdotal?
7. @Michele:
Good guess!
8. Ooops! I should have used "anecdotal" instead of "antidotal" but then again....
9. "But then" what? You'll enroll in a grammar course? You'll go on believing that not waving the flag to rouse jingoistic emotions is antipatroitic? What exactly?
10. For most Democrats; political correctness is more important that factual correctness. (They are the irresponsible party).
The Republicans - they may own up more to legal blunders, but in the area of political astuteness, they are more often than not the stupid party.
11. For most Democrats; political correctness is more important than factual correctness. (They are the irresponsible party).
The Republicans - they may own up more to legal blunders, but in the area of political astuteness, they are more often than not the stupid party.
12. So the Republican Party is proud to use the flag as a cheap prop, then? Wow... how many other ways can you debase this country?
13. So the Republican Party is proud to use the flag as a cheap prop, then? Wow... how many other ways can you debase this country?
As opposed to what? Spitting on it? Burning it? Stepping on it? Maybe flying it upside down? Removing it from an "official plane"?
Oh wait! Barry and his good pal the bomber did all that!
14. #12: I've noticed that when Rs use the flag, it's because they love and respect it. They are proud of it. They are proud of their country. Sorry if that offends you. There are worse things to be offended by.
15. #14: You mean like this?
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/bush911.jpg
16. flags! we don't need no stinking flags!
unless it's the rainbow flag, peace flag, hezbollah, la raza,any flag other than the one we were born under. Don't you know flags cause wars.
forget about the great and continuing contributions to the world and humanity this country has made, greater than any other. Let's concentrate instead on the evil and the negative.
viva l'europa
17. Hey stan, The error wasn't for the President. The error was that it was ever made into a floor mat in the first place. Since we don't have the context of the photo, I'll bet that some twit lib like you probably put it there and then made sure the traffic was routed there for a "good" photo op. Contrary to what the left thinks and crows, the President does love and honor the flag and this nation. And I don't drink koolaid nor do the vast number of posters here.
18. You found a Republican in Seattle? You found a flag in Seattle? Now there is real hope and change!
19. There are clear differences between liberals and conservatives. However, both Republicans and Democrats just use the flag as a prop, and the dollar as economic toliet paper. I think the poster is confusing a Republican with a Conservative. A Republican is simply a person in one of the two major political party in this country. Republicanism means NOTHING.
Current leading Republicans are Economic socialists with interventionist foreign policy.
Current leading Democrats are Green Party socialists with isolationist foreign policy.
I suspect this will change in the next four years, because the Republicans will have to develop a brand to they will continue to lose power.
A little ray of sunshine as the Republicans are fighting for offshore drilling.
20. The problem with the whole patriotism discussion is, that like so many of our political discussions in the USA, it misses the point because our language assumes we are the same as every other country and we are not. Those of us who are labelled "conservatives" are not so much "patriotic" in the sense of love of a nation (an entity based upon shared ethno-linguistic characteristics regardless of the legitimacy paradigm applied to its form of government). We are instead those American citizens who still subscribe to the ideology of the American Revolution - the only real revolution in human history IMHO. That makes us revolutionaries. And it makes the collectivists of various stripes, including those who have made their home in the Democrat party - counter-revolutionaries. That is the correct term to apply to those among us who strive to reverse the gains of the American Revolution and transform the USA into one more Western-European-style social welfare collectivist society where a person is not so much a free self-governing citizen who delegates limited authority to the government and the political class, but rather a subject whose "needs" are provided by the modern bureacratic collectivist state - a mere substitute for the previous monarchies. The legitimacy of government action to us is based on whether we have delegated power to the government and whether it is within the limits required to secure our liberties and unalienable God-given rights. To the others the legitimacy of government action depends instead on the intent of the political classes to care for the needs of its subjects, as a group, subject to the requirements of so-called "social justice." So when you see US flags at a "conservative" booth you are observing revolutionary zeal more than patriotism, and its absence - or even counter-revolutionary zeal - in the booths run by the counter-revolutionaries.
21. Sullinsea:
You are right that patriots in the US are different from other patriots in that we beleive in the founding father philoshpy. Unfortunately the Republicans displaying the flag in seattle and across the country are not really displaying patriotism. They are displaying nationalism.
Unfortunately the democrats not displaying the flag are neither patriotic either. They are just the same as the republicans except maybe a little more socialist and a little less nationalistic.
I support neither (unless the Republicans move in the direction of Ron Pauls movement)
23. I'd say flying or waving an American flag does not prove you are a patriot; however, avoiding all contact or display of the flag pretty much proves you aren't.
24. this could be OT - it must be seen.
To see the logical end of all this liberal, feelgood groupthink, please go to zombietime.com
and look at the pictures of the "up your alley fair"
It, too, probably started years ago as innocent as the Fremont naked bicycle ride. My, how progressive we have become!
25. I was in Seattle in late 2006 right after I went through basic training (where we were taught the only time a flag is flown upside-down is when you're "in distress") and I saw, right near Broadway on Capitol Hill, an American flag, in the middle of the day, being flown on a flag pole in front of someone's house UPSIDE-DOWN. I was going to run up and bang on the door to make sure everyone inside was okay. Then I noticed the Kucinich sign on the lawn.
Ugh. It makes my blood boil.
26. @21:
Unfortunately the Republicans displaying the flag in seattle and across the country are not really displaying patriotism. They are displaying nationalism.
Correct. However... I would also argue that Republicans' flag fetish is blatant disrespect.
Let's see. How about when John McCain autographed a flag in January? Didn't quite see mass hysteria from "flag lovers" about a Republican desecrating a flag under the Flag Code. And, of course, T-shirts with flags are not permitted, nor should the flag be pinned up or attached to anything. It shouldn't be used for advertisements, it shouldn't be made into napkins, and it shouldn't be marked up with anything.
And, to the best of my knowledge, there are a large number of members of the Republican Party that haven't read these rules lately, because festooning your party booth with these things is not a sign that you're patriotic. It's a sign that you're an idiot and a hypocrite, and that you don't know how to treat your flag.
Now, I'll agree that there are some clods out there on the left (and right!) that are quite willing to use it as a means to protest. They certainly have that right, and I can't force someone to respect a symbol. No one should. But if you're so affixed to the idea of wrapping yourself in the flag, you should get it through your thick heads that the flag actually should never be used as clothing.
@22: The pics are priceless... and disgusting.
Hmmm... so a grouchy right-winger goes to a county fair, sees things that he doesn't agree with, and tries to use that as proof that the Left is unpatriotic? Please. There are plenty of people with causes out there, and they'll use whatever means they have to get their agenda enacted, right or left. Every conservative family group that tries to ban a video game is just as much of a threat, if not moreso, according to this fellow's definition. And stating that alternative fuel vehicles is a threat to American democracy is akin to me stating that hardline conservative opinions about immigration are a threat to that same democracy.
But overall, it has always seemed to me that Republicans are not committed to the idea of America, unless the only obligation to America would be to salute the flag and spout cliches about the military. Case in point? The demonization of the ACLU. This is an organization that has worked for the protection of rights specifically granted by the Constitution, exactly the rights that this fellow outlines, and right-wingers seem willing to use it as their pinata. Never mind, of course, that they have advocated in favor of religious expression, on the same side of many conservative groups!
27. At this point, both parties appear the same and leading this country to hell. The difference is the Democrats will get us there faster.
28. In '02 the Ds were flying the flag of the UN. At least they aren't flying any now.
29. I don't see any flags on your web site, why do you want the terrorists to win?
30. I don't see any flags on your web site, why do you want the terrorists to win?
31. You just don't get it, do you ub?
32. Hi all,
I think you all are on to something.
I don't fly a flag or put any flag decals anywhere.
Here is one example of my reasons for not: The aggressive flag-flying of people who want to send American kids (and moms and dads) over to the middle east to stand in 122 degree heat and get shot at and blown up by IEDs has created a situation where, if I fly a flag, EVERYONE, left and right, will assume that that's also what I want for our nation's youth and even for National Guard moms and dads with 3 kids at home.
Of course, that's not what I want for them, I'm a true friend of theirs. And I can't afford to be misunderstood on this crucial issue, so I'll forgo any cheap symbolism that would impede my ability to support our troops by pulling for them to come home ASAP.
Thanks all,
New Left Conservative #1
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