Posted on 11/30/2006 3:50:25 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
No opinion pieces having particularly incited my ire at my normal haunts of the NY Times, LA Times or Boston Globe this morning, I ventured over to the Huffington Post, and found this beauty by Cliff Schecter, "Are You Psychotic? Because Empirically That Makes You Susceptible To Being A Republican."
It in turn touted a study by a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University purporting to find that there exists "a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush."
And how does the study's author explain the results? “If your world is very mixed up, there’s something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it’s going to be.'”
That in turn raises the question: whose philosophy of government is more authoritarian: the Democrats' or the Republicans'? Forgive me for suggesting that it isn't even close. Though the Republican majority might have strayed from its ideological roots since 1994 - explaining perhaps why it is now the future ex-majority - can anyone deny that essence of Republicanism is a belief in small government and the empowerment of the individual? Over at Free Republic, my 'handle' is 'governsleastgovernsbest,' representing my subscription as a mainstream conservative Republican to the notion advanced by Jefferson [some would say by Thomas Paine] that "the government is best which governs least." If ever there was an expression of an anti-authoritarian philosophy empowering the individual over the state, that is it.
In contrast, haven't the Dems come to be known as The Big Mommy party, exemplified by none other than Hillary Clinton herself? She who contrived a Rube Goldberesque scheme for government control of health care. She who uttered the nec plus ultra of authoritarianism: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." They who want to tell us what we can do and where we can do it on everything from smoking a cigarette to investing in hedge funds?
So I ask: aren't Dems more authoritarian than Republicans - or am I nuts?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
Who's-the-authoritarian? ping to Today show list.
One subject should be enough to demonstrate how right you are:
School vouchers.
The Dhimmis want all education to be controlled by a Central Power. The conservatives (too bad Bush and the Republicans bailed on this issue), want education to be decentralized and allowed to bloom with creativity and choice.
Who's the authoritarian in education?
Excellent illustration!
The demand that we live according to the health tenets of the food nazis is very authoritative. The urge to control personal choices such as smoking and exercise is authoritatian.
And of course, the current effort to control the newsflow is VERY authoritarian.
Authoritarian? You mean like no one can have their own retirement accounts? That type of authoritarian?
Normally find that people who call others insane don't recognize their own insanity.
If you are more of an individualist, such a lifestyle would be claustrophobic. I suppose to some, individualism is a sign of mental illness.
On average I guess Bush supporters are individualists. That might explain why he makes us so uncomfortable in many of his domestic policy plans. In these areas he leans to the left.
About that illness thing. I believe that the Democrat Party will always take you exactly nowhere because the collective is incapable of great thinking, individual or otherwise. Since the New Deal was but a dusted off Bull Moose Party Platform, it says right hear that Thomas Jefferson was the last Democrat that ever actually completed a thought. If that makes me a Bush supporter, so be it.
Also, if you are a Democrat i.e. a Bush Hater, you must see the world the same way as that fat drunken blob from Massachusettes.
More like, how much of YOUR money you are ALLOWED to keep. That kind of authority.
Even TIME magazine remarked that Pelosi had "steel" discipline and that anyone who crossed her would pay a price. Lots of new Blue Dog Dems are going to cross her. Nancy may end up with a very long frenemy list.
"(from womb to tomb)"
LOL!
Yes and it's called socialism
Though if you call any of the Dem Party Leaders that .. it will freak them out and they complain we are calling them names
Why??
Because not all Dem Voters believe in socialism
Not all Dem Voter are liberal loons like the far left
And this past election was proof of that ...
Rahm Emanuel is a Clinton boy .. he had picked their candidates, who ran on conservative issues .. aka Blue Dogs
They lied to the voters because for their Leaders .. it's all about the end game
And the Dems scored a goal this time
I had a conversation with a women at the hairdresser .. she was a Tony Blair kind of Dem
An I am women hear me roar, environmentalist .. but she was also very strong on military
She asked me why I wouldn't vote for Hellary .. cause ya know she is a women and it would be great for women's causes
She said .. is it because of Bill and Monica .. cause that wasn't her (Hellarys) fault
I said No .. I said I couldn't vote for Hellary because she was a Socialist and believed in a Socialist Government
A light bulb went on over her heard .. seems she never thought of that
It's not only opposition to vouchers -- they're cracking down on home schooling all over the place it seems.
I can't believe that thought didn't strike me right away! You're absolutely right, of course.
Whatever the issue, they feel the government would be better at taking care of it than the individual.
That's the whole story.
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