[blackshoe]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[phil_20686]

hrothgar, on Aug 27 2010, 05:45 PM, said:

Virtually every poll in the US shows that there is a fairly broad middle ground on the topic of abortion. There are definitely polar extremes (I happen to sit at one of them).

I am pretty sure this is untrue:

http://www.gallup.co...6/abortion.aspx

FYI roughly half your population is at one extreme or the other, of the rest most tend to be pro-life. (look at the second poll question)

Seems like america is leaning strongly towards "legal in a few cases only"

Which would be regarded as a strongly pro-life status in most westernised countries. It is way more prolife than, say, britian, where roughly 60% say it should be legal in "most or all" circumstances, compared with only 40% in america.

Re mikes contention of voting intentions, 60% off registered voters think it is "an important factor" with a further 16% saying that a candidate "must share their views".

[hanp]

Fluffy, on Aug 28 2010, 06:21 AM, said:

But anyway, if I was to pick between Bush or say ... Lenin? Fidel? Mao? not sure wich comunist greatest leader was there, but I think I'd still pick comunists .

I dislike Bush too but really? Mao? I have no words, you would pick Stalin and Hitler over Bush too?

I also disagree with:

Quote

I vote for the person, not for his party

I usually vote for a woman.

Quote

Christian Democracy?

Agree gwnn, that sounds like a contradiction.

[hanp]

vuroth, on Aug 27 2010, 08:46 AM, said:

Point me at whoever is proposing the smallest government, and I'll know who to vote for.

When it comes to world government... Nationalists?

[hanp]

Aberlour10, on Aug 28 2010, 07:22 AM, said:

tja

Are you Dutch?

[Aberlour10]

hanp, on Sep 3 2010, 04:10 PM, said:

Aberlour10, on Aug 28 2010, 07:22 AM, said:

tja

Are you Dutch?

[off-topic]I am Pole living in Germany near Dutch border....this word in german expresses not the same as in the dutch language (now).

[cherdanno]

I wonder how many of the "Liberal Party" votes were for a "liberal" party in the American sense, and how many in the European sense.

[hanp]

I voted for nationalists in the anti-globalizing sense.

[hrothgar]

phil_20686, on Sep 3 2010, 07:49 PM, said:

hrothgar, on Aug 27 2010, 05:45 PM, said:

Virtually every poll in the US shows that there is a fairly broad middle ground on the topic of abortion.  There are definitely polar extremes (I happen to sit at one of them).

I am pretty sure this is untrue:

http://www.gallup.co...6/abortion.aspx

FYI roughly half your population is at one extreme or the other, of the rest most tend to be pro-life. (look at the second poll question)

Seems like america is leaning strongly towards "legal in a few cases only"

Which would be regarded as a strongly pro-life status in most westernised countries. It is way more prolife than, say, britian, where roughly 60% say it should be legal in "most or all" circumstances, compared with only 40% in america.

Re mikes contention of voting intentions, 60% off registered voters think it is "an important factor" with a further 16% saying that a candidate "must share their views".

I suspect that we're experiencing a difference in semantics.

Your own polls says that

25% of the population believes that abortion should be banned under all circumstances
20% of the population says that abortion should be legal under all circumstances
55% says that abortion should be legal in some circumstances.

To me, this epitomizes a case where you have a fairly broad center with minorities at either extreme.

If I were to characterize the belief of said center, I'd suspect that most would agree with the following: "Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare".

More specifically, I think that the majority would support almost unrestricted access to abortion during the first trimester and sharper restrictions during the third trimester.

I think that the biggest flash point actually involves parental notification.

[helene_t]

cherdanno, on Sep 5 2010, 10:37 PM, said:

I wonder how many of the "Liberal Party" votes were for a "liberal" party in the American sense, and how many in the European sense.

Or the Japanese for that matter.

In Germany the liberals are quite right-winged although they have sometimes made coalitions with social democrats, but in UK they are arguably overall more left-winged than Labour.

I voted liberal in this poll but, indeed, it would depend what kind of liberals we are talking about.

[Aberlour10]

helene_t, on Sep 6 2010, 02:10 PM, said:

In Germany the liberals are quite right-winged although they have sometimes made coalitions with social democrats

This depends on the subject:

economy : right
social policy : right
education: center-right
domestic policy : center - left
foreign affairs : center- left

The FDP was the leading power in Brandt's goverment in creating the new policy of detente with the Sovjet Union (70's)... for example.

[gerry]

benlessard, on Sep 3 2010, 08:05 AM, said:

Ill vote for whoever has the common sense to understand that perfect government size is 1% and that freedom should be 99%.

Only with a very primitive definition of freedom. Generally less government means freedom for the strong or the rich and a choice between slavery or starvation for the rest.