I see some of our inveterate Drug Warriors are making the rounds. Isn't it funny to watch these people scream like hell about big government one minute, then come around and dismiss pot legalization out of hand? I bet they're drinking beer when they post, too.

Brit you sound suprised......after all this is the party that screams about big spending yet lauds every war escalation no matter how pointless, the party that screams about government intrusiveness into our lives yet champions telling us who we can sleep with and whether or not we must have an unwanted pregnancy.

The conservatives are best explained by the late great George Carlin. Its not that they are really any different from the democrats in terms of spending...its just that our stuff is shite and their shite is stuff. At the end of the Bush regime we learned that he had outspent every democratic president in history....."conservative" appears to not mean what they say it means.....

Real RML, you will find that to be true to a greatly diminishing degree...as a younger generation of GOPers begins to turn over the party, it will lean a good deal more libertarian than conservative and bring about, if nothing else, idealogical consistency.

It's also a matter of Darwinian politics--winning candidates will focus on points where the GOP can win (i.e. spending, the perception of creeping gov't intrusion). But you can't really win on wars or gay marriage anymore.

Except that the "spending" question is a non-winner because the GOP has spent as much or more than the dems and worse, has chosen to cut taxes rather than actually cover their spending (think put it on the credit card). The GOP talks a good game but walks with a wiggle and a laugh when it comes to this topic.

And government intrusiveness--same problem. They have been the real intruders, in our bedrooms, our marriages, our choice of recreation, and eventually illegal wiretaps falls there too.

So the GOP seems to be the party of hipocrasy hands down. I dont know that the age of its membership matters.

so true, the conservatives want to call obama a socialist simply because the followed through on bushs bailout of banks and car companies.

it is such hypocrisy.

.after all this is the party that screams about big spending yet lauds every war escalation no matter how pointless

Too bad Dems are too chickenshit to do anything about it. Dems had control of purse they could have stopped it anytime.

the party that screams about government intrusiveness into our lives yet champions telling us who we can sleep with and whether or not we must have an unwanted pregnancy.

as opposed to the party that tells us where we can smoke and what we can eat and where we can pray? Both parties do it so get off the high horse.

At the end of the Bush regime we learned that he had outspent every democratic president in history....."conservative" appears to not mean what they say it means.....

yes that is why the teaparty folks are turning on the GOP. Fiscal discipline or bust

I live in the worst of the nanny states, republican Utah. They won't tell what kind of beer you can drink, as long as it only has 3.2% alcohol. And want to buy a bottle of booze, you've got to buy it from the state liquor store, just like in the good ol' soviet union

[[They did finally got rid of the arcane "private club" law, where you had to pay the state a membership fee to go to a bar.]

Actually, conservatives are very poorly represented by the Republican Party. If Republicans were actually conservatives, then government spending, programs, and involvement in our lives would actually be reduced dramatically. The problem is that conservatives simply don't exist in practical terms inside Washington. But there are plenty of conservatives out here ready to vote for limited government. It's time to give it a try.

FBH,

If these mythical financially conservative republicans really exist where are they and why do your fellow "conservatives" all back Bush-like candidates? The historical record keeps showing that you like the likes of Nixon, Bush, and Rush Limbaugh. If you really like the Libertarians why dont we see that at the voting booth and how did Bush get two terms? I find it hard to believe your claim based on the outcomes of elections since WWII.

As for Gunsmokes comments:

.after all this is the party that screams about big spending yet lauds every war escalation no matter how pointless

Too bad Dems are too chickenshit to do anything about it. Dems had control of purse they could have stopped it anytime.

######## Actually Gunsmoke Bush's wars were on for six years with republican majorities in place which made it impossible for dems to do anything and eight years with a commander in chief of the con party in charge. The needed power to stop the war requires stopping something ongoing for eight years and to simply stop funding the troops would of course be ugly and you would be the first in line to say we didnt support the troops, left the nations in question defenseless like we did in Vietnam, etc. In the short time he has been in office Obama has begun reducing our presence in Iraq and examining our presence and goals in Afghanistan.....so now with a dem majority and CIC, I would say we are doing what can be done realistically with the correct goals and thought in mind.

the party that screams about government intrusiveness into our lives yet champions telling us who we can sleep with and whether or not we must have an unwanted pregnancy.

as opposed to the party that tells us where we can smoke and what we can eat and where we can pray? Both parties do it so get off the high horse.

####### I will stay on my high horse thank you. The dems dont stop you from smoking but do ask that you not take others down with you--smoke with other smokers or by yourself--dont subject others to your smoke against their will. And we let you pray in your church and in privacy-again all we ask is you dont make others listen to your services, especially in school where they havent got a choice.

At the end of the Bush regime we learned that he had outspent every democratic president in history....."conservative" appears to not mean what they say it means.....

yes that is why the teaparty folks are turning on the GOP. Fiscal discipline or bust

##### As I said to FBH if you supposedly dont support the GOP then stop voting for them. Otherwise you are just blowing more pointless smoke and are a hippocrite.

Real RML, The math is fairly simple. Our form of "democracy" has become a rigid two-party system. If there was a viable alternative to the Democratic Party's redundancy, and the Republican Party's inability to represent limited government, then we wouldn't be having this discussion would we? Seems to me that in order for me to live up to your straw-man standards for authenticity, I would have to live in another country. But such are our real limitations. As it is, hypocrisy isn't as simple as you pretend.

Your implication FBH is that you had to choose a Republican because it was closer to your values than a Democrat. Yet Bill Clinton had a surplus and Bill Clinton lead welfare reform--two clearly fiscally conservative major accomplishments-yet you came down on the side of religious "faith based initiatives" (ie welfare with the church getting a cut), intervention in the choice of whether or not to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the use of the nations military to nation build, etc.....and note these programs are no more free than anything the dems have--I would argue its a lot more expensive in terms of both money and lives.

So sorry friend but you still support the expensive and intrusive aspects of the Republican party and the financial conservatism you claim to seek isnt the first goal or you would be voting for democrats.

RML, So, by your logic, if I had voted for Obama, I would have voted for the more conservative candidate because the Democratic Party is actually the best bet for conservatives? Bill Clinton had a Republican House and Senate to live with. Obama's brand of politics seems motivated by a largely government expansion platform. Hard to see how voting for him would have helped in my desire to keep the federal government out of my life. Obviously, the Republican Party has not lived up to promises. But then, at this point, we're left with two choices: which candidate or party are we betting will do the LEAST amount of damage. It's a tough call, but Obama is doing massive damage as we speak, so...

Actually Gunsmoke Bush's wars were on for six years with republican majorities in place which made it impossible for dems to do anything and eight years with a commander in chief of the con party in charge.

Whatever- look at healthcare. It costs more than the wars combines and the Rs can't fillibuster- yet HC is dead in the water. It can be done, you just need to have the cajones. Which the Ds don't have. Ds were afraid of being unpatriotic so they caved. Do you think Rs give a rats ass if the Ds call them unpatriotic?

In the short time he has been in office Obama has begun reducing our presence in Iraq and examining our presence and goals in Afghanistan

Well, that is one way of stating it.

The dems dont stop you from smoking but do ask that you not take others down with you--smoke with other smokers or by yourself--dont subject others to your smoke against their will. And we let you pray in your church and in privacy-again all we ask is you dont make others listen to your services, especially in school where they havent got a choice.

LOL- which is why the Dems made it illegal to smoke in my own apartment in CA. Lets apply the same rules of prayer to being gay. Only in private and out of the school system.

The Dems like to censor people as well, hate crimes ring any bells. Religious people are treated far worse by the liberals than the gays are by the right. Look at what is happening in CA with the prop 8 aftermath. Vandalism, intimidation, people getting fire for their beliefs or how they voted.

Don't forget the Ds want to dictate what you can drive, how much energy you can use, force you to buy health insurance, how much you should earn, and so on. I am not saying Rs don't do it as well. It just seems hypocritical when Ds complain about Rs "controlling your life."

As I said to FBH if you supposedly dont support the GOP then stop voting for them. Otherwise you are just blowing more pointless smoke and are a hippocrite.

That makes no sense. If I am mad at a R for taxing me 29% I should vote for a D that will tax me 40%? How is that being a hypocritical?

"But then, at this point, we're left with two choices: which candidate or party are we betting will do the LEAST amount of damage. It's a tough call, but Obama is doing massive damage as we speak, so... "

##### Hold on there Hoss. Bush got us into a 13 BILLION dollar per month ongoing war and on top of that put the expense on the public charge card to make our national debt balloon beyond all hope of salvation. He also did something unprecedented in our history by having a tax cut at the same time as a war....so much for public sacrifice for the war effort. Then as if this wasnt enough, he supported the removal of restraints and oversight on major banks and financial houses which were put in place after the Great Depression to stop a repeat of it....and shortly after these were removed, here we are on the brink again.

So now we have Obama looking at the next Great Depression and having the lessons of FDR as his only indication of what did and didnt work....turns out what worked was public works programs--the private sector didnt get involved with the recovery until the start of the second world war--when there were serious profits to be made. So what you see as expansion is in fact keeping us out of a a new depression....if you vote your moron teabaggers into power we will soon see half the work force in the soup line......then you can tell me how great it is to be an American...brother can you spare a dime?