Losing Free Speech?

[bldavis]

all i can say is WTF in regards to those quotes
i am getting more and more scared for this country

[Fridmarr]

It's a rather silly to claim that I've "fallen" for something without even bothering to find out what about him concerns me.

Ok, fair enough. I assumed that since you said "you're right" that it was for the same reason. My bad on that.

If it's not the GGG stuff, then probably for the same reasons that I find him (along with all the rest) scary.

I don't know that I've heard much come out of his mouth that hasn't annoyed me. What pisses me off the most is the media's continued assertion that he's "more conservative" than Romney. People are not voting for Romney for all sorts of reasons, but they sure as hell aren't voting for Santorum because he's "more conservative" unless they are living under a rock.

[Fridmarr]

So case in point...There's an article titled "Rick Santorum wants to ban hard-core pornography" on Yahoo News. Now, aside from the fact that it sounds like that headline is slightly misleading, because Santorum is saying it's already illegal, he just wants to enforce the existing laws (I say "sounds like" because I have no clue about pornography laws), you get this gem...

Wonkette's Rebecca Schoenkopf pointed out it's just another example of Santorum positioning himself as the extremely conservative choice for president.

If you assume the typical scale where you have Republicans to the right of center progressing more conservative to libertarianism at the right end of the scale, then this idea for the Federal Government to ban hardcore porn is not only not "more conservative" it's the exact opposite! They keep trying to push this notion of the concept of the "Religious Right" being very conservative, when in fact they are center left/right. They want their religious morals enforced through government which is a polar opposite tenant to further right conservatism which heavily values personal freedoms.

[KysenMurrin]

When people talk about Santorum being conservative, they mean social conservatism. The left-right scale is a gross simplification.

[Fridmarr]

When people talk about Santorum being conservative, they mean social conservatism. The left-right scale is a gross simplification.

Yes it is overly simplified but it's also the vernacular, and on that Santorum is being improperly placed.

[firstamendme]

I share your wonderment, Fridmarr. I don't understand why people don't see something odd when the 'small government' candidate is preaching intervention on that scale.

You can raise taxes in the US. We get angry. We deal with it with alcohol and sex. If prohibition has taught us anything, it's don't fuck with the accessibility of sex and alcohol.

[Melathys]

I'm on my phone, otherwise i'd post it, but there's a video of santorum saying that if you want someone who is conservative, vote for ron paul.

[Brekkie]

I rather liked John Huntsman, and would have gladly voted for him and even donated to his campaign. But he was forced to drop out when his polls tanked after he made the suicidal mistake of letting word get out that he "agreed that Evolution was factual". *rolls eyes*

Ronny Raygun himself would be completely un-electable by today's republican party, and would be drummed out of the race for the nomination as a RINO by current standards. And yet he is the Republican Messiah. What?

[Brekkie]

Fridmarr, I think you might like Gary Johnson, the libertarian Governor of New Mexico. He's like a not-batshit-insane version of Ron Paul, and has an EXCELLENT track record as Governor.

[Passionario]

if you want someone who is conservative, vote for ron paul.

Or move to Russia.

[Fivelives]

What I hope happens, sooner or later, is that we get rid of the two party system. Hell, get rid of the electoral college for that matter - the electoral college system is a failsafe designed to keep the American populace from being able to "make mistakes", and it encourages presidential candidates to actively ignore certain states during their campaigning. I can think of at least one time in recent history that the electoral college has actively voted against the popular vote.

Anyone who still thinks that America is a democracy, or even a republic, is sadly mistaken. We've become a full blown oligarchy, where our ruling class isn't dependent on who wants to do the most good, or make the most beneficial changes, but rather who has the deepest pockets.

[Melathys]

heh. Looking through this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Was ... ll_Address

It seems that we've become everything Washington warned us against.

[Fridmarr]

I prefer the electoral college actually. I think changing to a popular vote would make the ignoring much worse. Only major cities would really matter at that point.

Reagan would definitely not be considered a RINO by today's standards, just hit up youtube on him sometime. Reagan had a ton of charisma and an ability to articulate his beliefs in a way that confounded the media's idiocy. You can see that ability in Obama too, granted he doesn't have to deal with an antagonist media, but he could handle that just fine. The only person I've seen on the conservative side that can it in a long time is Chris Christie.

[Fivelives]

Major cities get a lot of play in rural areas. Our network television stations are broadcast out of the nearest major city, for instance - that way we'd at least know who all the candidates are (without resorting to reading USA Today or another nationwide newspaper).

It's better than ignoring states, at least. How many politicians have you seen scheduling campaign stops at East Westfuckistan anyway? They always restrict their campaign stops to major cities already.

[Fridmarr]

No, by major I mean major. Nearly the entire midwest would be ignored. By choosing a city model (which is what a popular vote would basically amount too) instead of state, you're just by definition concentrating the focus that much more.

Politicians stop in non major cities all the time.

EDIT: Just look at the county level red/blue map from the last couple of elections, all that anyone would focus on would be the blue section, because it's all that you need and it's way easier to manage.