Stand up and be counted: What are YOUR politics?

[Sebastian Doyle]

Just for the record. let's say where we're at, and see what the numbers look like.

[Jamastiene]

1. I'm a Liberal Democrat and goddamn proud of it.

:thumbsup:

[nomorenomore08]

2. What about those to the left of the liberal Democrats?

Not that I'm necessarily one of them - I voted "liberal Independent," for the record - but you seem to be leaving out a good chunk of DU.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. I intended for the "Liberal Independent" to cover that part of the spectrum

Odds are, those Liberals who NEVER vote for the Democratic party (even if Dennis Kucinich were the nominee), probably aren't spending much time at DU.

Edit: I just added a clarification to that option in the poll, since it appears all varieties of Leftists are responding. Greetings, all :hi:

[nomorenomore08]

8. Got it!

:)

[JanMichael]

28. It doesn't though.

The hard Left is on DU too.

[murdoch]

78. Yes, Lenin was against liberalism

Other Russian communists used to puzzle why Lenin was so anti-liberal. Lenin generally thought of liberals as his worst enemy - worst than any other enemy.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1912/apr/19.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/may/31b.htm

[JanMichael]

79. I'm very familiar with Marxists.org.

There's a difference in the popular conceptions of "liberal" versus the rubber meats the road of basic human economic realities.

Maybe Stan Goff was right when he said in an interview with Truthout in 2002, 2003, 2004 or 2005 that,"Liberals are just guilty Conservatives, I'm not a Liberal.". Since so much poverty and economic disparities exists regardless of who "wins" I'm not much or a "liberal" either. I'm a personal "liberal" meaning I don't care who you want to bed down (same sex other sex both sexes no sex), what color you are, what sex you are, if you want some weed, you want to drink, etcetera.

I think oppressed working people, and people that can't work but want to or simply can't, need to get their shit together and work together.

[femmocrat]

3. I'm a life-long, bleeding-heart, knee-jerk liberal and damn proud of it.

:hi:

[liberaltrucker]

4. Other

Social Democrat. The Democratic Party is as close
as I can get to that ideal in the USA currently.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. I would recommend you vote for option 2 (if you haven't voted already)

Just to clarify your position, as a Social Democrat, do you vote for Democrats who share at least a decent number of your values?

[liberaltrucker]

12. Voted for DK in the Primaries

He's the closest to Scandinavian-style
Democratic Socialism.

[Sebastian Doyle]

15. I would favor that system myself, at least from what I've heard of it.

Thom Hartmann has mentioned it often, as has Mike Malloy. And I'm pretty much on the same page with them.

[nomorenomore08]

10. Yeah, Social Democrat works for me too.

Though probably not "Socialist" by itself, because to me that can imply authoritarian and/or unrealistically utopian views.

[PSzymeczek]

80. I'm a dues-paying, card-carrying member

of the Democratic Socialists of America.
www.dsausa.org

[dana_b]

40. interesting... i'm a democratic socialist

no real party line here but many Scandanavian countries' politics are kind of where my heart lies.

[JonLP24]

5. I voted option 1

but I wanted to say I never heard of a moderate Independent. I suppose it's not unheard of but I never heard of that label. :)

[SocialistLez]

7. Leftist. NT

[david13]

11. I'm a zig zag independent; I'm over here, I'm over there. But that

last election was like a huge magnet (Barack Obama) that drew me over here, and 2 of the worst candidates I ever saw in my lifetime, and I'm old, that repelled me like a huge anti magnet. So I came flying over here like a tiny metal speck onto a huge magnet. Power beyond my control. Or maybe it's just common sense.
dc

[UTUSN]

13. This leaves out "INCLUSIVE" Democratic voter. How's that for standing up?!1 n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. I thought I included just about everybody.

Who did you have in mind?

[hypocrisyandlies]

14. Apparently I'm a member of the peace and freedom party

of California. This is what they wrote in this year's primary election booklet:

The party believes the role of government should be to make sure that everyone has jobs, housing, education, health care, a clean environment, and equal rights. We support marriage equality, immigration rights, organized labor, and universal single-payer health care. We oppose the current U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. We favor sharply increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans who are best able to pay, and reducing the tax burden on working people.
Our top priorities are:
1. Bring all troops home now.
2. Double the minimum wage.
3. One system of free, quality health care for all.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. Sounds like a reasonable platform to me.

I have a feeling FDR would love it, if he were with us today. :)

[hypocrisyandlies]

29. I'm changing my affiliation to that the next time I visit the DMV. n/t

[dmallind]

16. What a pathetic example of projection

What's wrong with "a Democrat who supports the party platform"?

[Sebastian Doyle]

18. Uh, option 5?

:shrug:

[dmallind]

22. So you think the DLC has the support of the majority who vote for the platform?

Then why the gutless whine about corporations if it's the people supported by the majority of grassroots Dems who write the platform (which it undeniably IS)?

[Sebastian Doyle]

25. It ain't Grassroots Dems who put bullshit in the platform

about "clean coal" (which doesn't exist) and "modernizing economic policies because the New Deal doesn't work anymore". Well the New Deal worked just fine until the Bush Crime Family AND the DLC started tearing it up and replacing it with global predatory capitalism.

[janx]

32. The boogiemen eh?

:rofl:

Wait 20 years and get back to me if I'm still alive. ;-)

[readmoreoften]

20. I'm a former Liberal Democrat who is now a socialist who rarely votes Democratic Party anymore.

I would vote for Kucinich--although I think Kucinich is little more than the "left-wing cover" who serves to bring disgruntled progressives into the fold. I may vote for local Democrats when they are decent people running against crazies. I voted for Obama to give him a chance. Will not make that mistake again.

[freddie mertz]

21. Liberal Democrat and proud of it.

[izquierdista]

23. Socialist

Say it. So-shall-ist. Let's try socializing some of BP's profits after we privatize their risks and make them clean up ALL of their mess -- even if it makes them paupers to do so.

I want socialist health care just like my parents had with the VA. I want socialist public transportation just like they have in Europe. I want socialist schools so kids won't be fed Texas lunatic bullshit. I want to see anyone who is "too big to fail" nationalized. I want the government running things, because at least there, I have one vote, instead of the corporate boardroom, where I have no vote.

[JanMichael]

30. +10

[readmoreoften]

44. I'm not a "really liberal" democrat. I'm a socialist. Straight up. 100%. Done with this game.

These categories aren't even function. What is a "Moderate" Democrat? These people are nothing but the Republicans of the 60s and 70s. Corporate shills. On this website, at times, literally.

[socialist_n_TN]

72. YOU'RE ME!!!!!! Brothers (sisters?) from a

different mother! :) Especially that part about "too big to fail". If they're too big to fail, they're just the right size to nationalize! Soy Socialista!

[recoveringdittohed]

24. Former "Reagan Democrat" who has returned from the dark side

Started out a Southern moderate Democrat. Got all geeked up on libertarianism and bought into the premise that the national Democratic Party (in the 1970's) did not represent middle America.

Basically I'm financially conservative and the Democratic Party is the more financially responsible party (took me a while to figure that out). I'm for Civil liberties and the US Constitution. Used to be for "small government" but now realize that for individuals to survive Corporatism a fairly robust Federal Government is needed and while I used to be anti-UN I'm now convinced that some international government and international law is needed.

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. Sounds like one Hell of a recovery

Welcome back to reality. :hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. I guess Liberal Independent was close enough, even though I belong to a party.

[saltpoint]

31. Choice no. 1.

[William Z. Foster]

33. you left most people out

Politics is not about "being" anything, in any case.

We are human beings, we are from the working class, we are fighting for our lives. That is what we "are." All of those categories in your poll are a sideshow, meaningless entertainment concocted up by thinks tanks and the MSM.

[yowzayowzayowza]

46. So the term 'liberal Democrat' is a "meaningless entertainment...

concocted up by thinks tanks and the MSM."

:shrug:

[William Z. Foster]

53. correct

It may have once meant something, but no longer.

[yowzayowzayowza]

57. Co-opted not concocted. n/t

[William Z. Foster]

61. the label and the reality

Even right here, where there are many people who self-describe as "left Democrats" there is no consensus as to what that means. Arguments always break out here as to the "true definition" of words - as though the words were more important than the reality they are supposed to be describing. Rather than observing objective reality and then using names to describe the things we see, we start with a word and then try to get reality to fit the word. That effect is a direct product of the right wing think tanks. So the words "left Democrat" are offered up in multiple choice fashion, and people are encouraged to figure out what they "are" and select one of the labels from the list. This allows the propagandists to define the words, and as they define the words the people who identify with those words then take the positions and spout the rhetoric that has been scripted for those who think they "are" this that or the other.

So, yes, the words "left Democrat" are defined by the right wing think tanks and injected into people's minds by the mass media. This makes those who identify as "left Democrats" easily co-optable into being shills for the ruling class, and makes them potent and effective enemies of the left and of the working class people. It makes it impossible for them to even know what "left" means, and they can then take right wing positions all day long and defend them, as we see happening here every day on every thread.

[yowzayowzayowza]

62. Sorry, none of the "left Democrats" I know are that stupid. n/t

[William Z. Foster]

64. backward

Many of the people you happen to know who happen to identify themselves "left Democrats" - as selected from some dumbed down multiple choice list - may well not be stupid.

I didn't accuse your friends of being stupid, of course, yet you responded just as though I had. That proves my point - the label has become more important to people than reality.

[yowzayowzayowza]

67. No, none of the "left Democrats" I know are so stupid as to be lead around by the MSM...

as you describe.

[William Z. Foster]

68. but you admit they have

If they think they "are" this or that - some label that we cannot even define - then of course they are being defined by the MSM. Everyone is.

[yowzayowzayowza]

74. Dude, I'll leave you to symantic purgatory.

Good luck with that.

[William Z. Foster]

77. "semantic?"

I am suggesting that we are already in semantic purgatory and recommending that we get out of it. Describing reality is not what creates it. However, that assumption - that the situation I am describing is not complex and that it is my description of it that is the problem, and also that it is an issue of semantics, also both support and illustrate my contention. I see a generalized problem in modern society of people being unable to separate out words from the reality the words describe, and inverting the relationship between the two. Words are distorting our observations of reality, the words have more power for people than their own observations.

This confusion probably should not surprise us, since we are being bombarded with commercial advertising imprinting brand names on our thinking. It is no longer a car, it is a Prius, and a "Prius" is about feelings and about self-identity. Similarly, the political labels have little if anything to do with politics anymore, but are brand names we assign to ourselves based on emotional feelings and self-identity.

[Odin2005]

60. +1,000,000,000,000

[Time for change]

34. I'm left of the Democratic Party, but still I'm a registered Dem

I don't see a place for me in the poll.

[Sebastian Doyle]

35. Option 2

You're to the left of the party, but you're registered as a Democrat, which means you vote Democrat, at least to some extent, right?

You do have an actual Democrat in your avatar, after all. One of the few REAL Democrats to be elected in recent years, sad as that fact is.

[NYMountaineer]

36. Independent, but pretty left wing.

I'm more of a Roosevelt-style liberal, IMO. Pro-union, pro-buying local and American, pro-gay rights, pro-expanding Medicare, pro-raising minimum wage and pro-kicking the tar out of robber barons who drive our economy off a cliff.

HOWEVER, I used to be very conservative. I also used to be a practicing Catholic, but I'm practically a raging Atheist now. I'm probably a bit more conservative than most here on some issues. For instance, i'm in favor of the death penalty and strongly in favor of gun rights.

I'm not really sure what made me switch sides. Maybe it was just seeing how badly Bush was blowing it, and how conservative politics were exploding in our faces. Keep in mind, Conservatism isn't mean to be something malicious, not, at least, at the street level. We meant the best, and thought we were helping America. I'm really sorry now for ever having been a Freeper-type, and will probably never forgive the Republican party, because I feel lied to and tricked by them.

[TheKentuckian]

73. Second Amendment rights are liberal, just not Democratic or "progressive"

as I interpete the movement.

Just my point of view on that piece.

[Unvanguard]

37. I'm a strong unabashed socialist/leftist who will probably always vote for Democrats.

Far to the left of the American political mainstream, but I know which party moves in the right direction, and which one invests its effort in obstructing and undermining that movement.

[DiverDave]

38. I belong to the party that brought us

clean water, clean air, kids not working dangerous jobs, unemployment, Social Security,
and pretty much everything good for the people of this country.

I am a Liberal Democrat and damned proud to be one.

Oh, and all the above the fascist republicans voted against, every one of them...Bastards.

Oh, I checked the 1st one...snort.

[Lucian]

39. I'm very liberal and goddamn proud of it.

[scarletwoman]

41. None of the above.

Partisan politics is a con job designed by the Ruling Class to distract the masses and keep them fighting among themselves instead of taking the battle to the real enemy, the financial elites who control both parties and the government.

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Emma Goldman

[krabigirl]

42. left libertarian, vote Democratic as it's the best option.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. Anarchist - aka: Left Libertarian

[ThomWV]

45. When asked I refer to myself as a "Progressive Democrat"

because, as simple as it might sound, I believe that the role of government is to constant progress.

[old mark]

47. Liberal Democrat and beyond...I think we should nationalize the energy companies and large banks,

limit the size of the military and withdraw from all foreign military posts (maybe have some special forces involvement, but no large troop concentrations.)
I belive Obama is a republican in secret, and yes, I voted for him-twice..
Oh yeah, and tax ALL church property...
and leave the second amendment alone.

mark

another armed leftist veteran

[Mendocino]

48. Liberal Democrat

because there is no Green option.

[laughingliberal]

49. Bleeding heart, Great Society, Paul Wellstone, liberal Democrat.

and damned proud of it.

[LWolf]

50. I'm between choice one and two.

I'm a liberal leftist and proud of it, who happens to be registered as a Democrat, but who is independent minded.

[dajoki]

51. I am a liberal Dem...

who is starting to feel left out of my party. I don't know if I'm moving away from the party or if they're moving away from me.

[H2O Man]

52. Other.

I am a Progressive Democrat; this option was unfortunetly not included in the OP's poll.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. Me too

Proud to be a progressive!!

[walldude]

54. Who is Robb?

[Sebastian Doyle]

55. He's a dingbat.

:rofl:

[walldude]

81. A DU'er?

Because this would be the first time I saw a DU'er called out in a thread and it didn't get locked... :shrug:

[harun]

58. Leftist.

[Odin2005]

59. I'm an Anarcho-Socialist.

Capitalism is a cancer that is killing the world.

[johnaries]

63. I USED to be a Moderate Independent. Now I'm a Liberal

Independent. I didn't change.

What happened? :shrug:

[KonaKane]

65. Progressive Heathen

I didn't see a category for that, but I wasn't really expecting one either.

[Donnachaidh]

66. Sebastian -- you really think people are going to be 100% truthful?

Yeah, the batshit crazy ones will step up to the plate and say yes, right? :sarcasm:

[awoke_in_2003]

69. Hmmm, Robb hasn't voted yet...

or maybe your instructions confused him :rofl:

[socialist_n_TN]

70. What????? No socialists?

:)

[MrScorpio]

71. I'm a radical peacenik European style Social Democrat and Noam Chomsky enthusiast

Basically, I'm to the left of Gandhi.

Exactly what the hell I'm doing in this country is a complete mystery.

[iamthebandfanman]

75. im a liberal democrat

but only because being a liberal independent would take away my primary fun.

[marmar]

76. Small "d" democratic socialist

nt