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[geekchick]

What's Your Political Philosophy? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Old School Democrat Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Old School Democrat 85% New Democrat 80% Green 70% Libertarian 50% Pro Business Republican 30% Foreign Policy Hawk 10% Socially Conservative Republican 10%

Comments

Re: Part 3 and wrap-up

[geekchick]

It appears to me that you've actually validated my original comment, and you've helped show how our motivations for supporting candidates are in fact worlds apart, despite being fairly close on the political spectrum otherwise.

While I don't think I did. Your phrase was "Even if otherwise we're worlds apart, politically"; politically, there really isn't that big a difference between the two candidates.

Just remember how well faith/hope-based politics interacted with the cold, real world over the past few years, on the right.

I don't actually see much "hope-based politics" coming out of the right (or anywhere else, frankly). What I see is "ZOMG, the terrorists are gonna get us!" and "ZOMG, the gays are gonna destroy your marriage!" I see a whole honkin' lot more appeals to fear and confusion than I do to hope. I have yet to hear anything that sounds even remotely sincerely like "We can work together to make things better."

Remember "we create our own reality"?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

The way in which we come to the political process, and decision-making, seems to be very different. Even if our quiz scores place us on the same part of the political spectrum... you may see a video clip and see hope and inspiration, while I see naivety and incipient disillusionment and disaster from the same clip. That comes from our different approaches, which do seem to be worlds apart.

I see Bush and his followers as being motivated by their faith and hope that things will somehow turn out the way they envision. With good intentions, that has been repeatedly a disaster.

All of this -- the ''gut'' and ''instincts,'' the certainty and religiosity -connects to a single word, ''faith,'' and faith asserts its hold ever more on debates in this country and abroad. That a deep Christian faith illuminated the personal journey of George W. Bush is common knowledge. But faith has also shaped his presidency in profound, nonreligious ways. The president has demanded unquestioning faith from his followers, his staff, his senior aides and his kindred in the Republican Party. Once he makes a decision -- often swiftly, based on a creed or moral position -- he expects complete faith in its rightness.

IMO, Obama's hope-based politics has enough similarities, from a distance, that it can be unsettling to watch. Remember "we create our own reality"?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html