'08 Obama Voters

Satori1977 said:

Exactly this. Congress is the big problem. I wish we could kick them all out, change how they are able to do their job, and just start over. Make them work for the American people for a change, instead of their own agendas and best interests.

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kaitie said:

The scary thing is that it seems like they're being kicked out and replaced by even more extremist people. I hate the fact that compromise makes a person a traitor these days. We need to be moving more to the center and recognizing that different political viewpoints don't automatically make someone evil or immoral or wrong and back toward the center.

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DeleyanLee said:

True that, but the pendulum has to swing to an extreme before there's a popular push back to center. History does repeat itself. I'm just really hoping that the push back from this extreme happens faster than I fear it will.

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robeiae said:

My parents--now both retired--are good examples. Lifelong Democrats, both were active in local and state politics, raising money, contributing their own, working for campaigns, etc. My mother even worked directly for a state rep for a number of years as his chief of staff.

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robeiae said:

In my view, you have it wrong: this is the pushback, the "extremism" of the Tea Party crowd.

The Federal Government has been growing steadily, assuming more and more power, for decades now, all thanks to "compromise."

To put it another way, large numbers of people who accept the idea of limited government have--in the last six years or so--come to realize that they've acquiesced too often, that the government is no longer properly limited.

My parents--now both retired--are good examples. Lifelong Democrats, both were active in local and state politics, raising money, contributing their own, working for campaigns, etc. My mother even worked directly for a state rep for a number of years as his chief of staff.

Now, both are completely fed up with the Democrats. And not really happy with most Republicans. Why? Because the government has just gotten too big in their eyes, too involved in too many things. They find more common ground with the "far right" and libertarian oriented folks than with most people currently in power.

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Chrissy said:

I think Republicans and Democrats are like pro-wrestling. They pretend to hate each other and fight and bicker and want to annihilate each other for our benefit, and then they go out and party afterwards (with our money).

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robeiae said:

In my view, you have it wrong: this is the pushback, the "extremism" of the Tea Party crowd.

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kaitie said:

This is funny because for me it's been the opposite. My parents have always been republican, I was raised republican, my father is actually active in the tea party, and so on. I voted for Bush (twice, though I came to regret that by the end of his second term), and yet while I always considered myself a fairly moderate republican, now I'm so fed up with the party that I'm pushing back the other way.

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kaitie said:

This is funny because for me it's been the opposite. My parents have always been republican, I was raised republican, my father is actually active in the tea party, and so on. I voted for Bush (twice, though I came to regret that by the end of his second term), and yet while I always considered myself a fairly moderate republican, now I'm so fed up with the party that I'm pushing back the other way.

I could go into the reasons why, but I don't want to tangent, so I'll just say I'm no longer proud to call myself a republican, and from what I've seen it's been less a matter of my views changing as a shift more and more right. I'm not sure I'd call myself a democrat--I'm registered independent--and I sure as heck have problems with both sides, but there has definitely been a noticeable shift in the republican party.

And I don't really think the size of the government can be blamed solely on democrats. I think both are responsible. For instance, Homeland Security, the defense budgets, the Patriot Act, and the increase in power given to the executive branch, were supported by republicans. I'm not placing the blame solely on them--just stating that both sides can be held accountable. Especially considering both sides have had to work together in the past to get anything done.

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Chrissy said:

I think Republicans and Democrats are like pro-wrestling. They pretend to hate each other and fight and bicker and want to annihilate each other for our benefit, and then they go out and party afterwards (with our money).

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muravyets said:

They used to do exactly that, but for several years now, members have been complaining in the media that the off-duty friendliness is gone. Apparently, they don't socialize. They don't talk face to face. They hardly spend any time in DC at all because they are campaigning all year round. And the ideologies just get more and more entrenched. In the old days of the DC party circuit and after-vote drinks, they got to know each other personally, and it was a lot harder to demonize each other and a lot easier to find common ground.

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Bird of Prey said:

An excellent post and I think your experience and conclusions are more common than major party politicians would like to believe. I also think that term limits would be a huge step toward a solution. . . .

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kaitie said:

This is funny because for me it's been the opposite. My parents have always been republican, I was raised republican, my father is actually active in the tea party, and so on. I voted for Bush (twice, though I came to regret that by the end of his second term), and yet while I always considered myself a fairly moderate republican, now I'm so fed up with the party that I'm pushing back the other way.

I could go into the reasons why, but I don't want to tangent, so I'll just say I'm no longer proud to call myself a republican, and from what I've seen it's been less a matter of my views changing as a shift more and more right. I'm not sure I'd call myself a democrat--I'm registered independent--and I sure as heck have problems with both sides, but there has definitely been a noticeable shift in the republican party.

And I don't really think the size of the government can be blamed solely on democrats. I think both are responsible. For instance, Homeland Security, the defense budgets, the Patriot Act, and the increase in power given to the executive branch, were supported by republicans. I'm not placing the blame solely on them--just stating that both sides can be held accountable. Especially considering both sides have had to work together in the past to get anything done.

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Bird of Prey said:

An excellent post and I think your experience and conclusions are more common than major party politicians would like to believe. I also think that term limits would be a huge step toward a solution. . . .

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Chrissy said:

I think Republicans and Democrats are like pro-wrestling. They pretend to hate each other and fight and bicker and want to annihilate each other for our benefit, and then they go out and party afterwards (with our money).

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DeleyanLee said:

I'm with kaitie ont his one, Robeiae. According to my family legends, I have ancestors who were in Battle Creek for the creation of the Republican party. Voting Republican has been ingrained into us as children as much as the value of unions. I was the first person in the family to vote Democratic in over 100 years and was ostracized by many older family members for taking that stance.

Yet, by the time it was a choice between Obama and McCain in '08, every member of my family voted Democratic. Even my grandmother. And now, with the Republican governors around the country have been doing in their own states, (including my home state of Michigan), various members of my family are actively campaigning for the Democrats, including Obama.

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