As a "hard core" liberal and long-time lurker, it figures that this would be the thread that prompted me to register.
6_gunner said:
They want the government to control EVERYTHING;
No, we don't. You're going to have to search long and hard to find a single liberal who thinks the government should be producing Xbox 360s. There aren't very many of us who believe in planned economies, either. We just recognize that profit motives mean people get stomped on, and in some cases that's unacceptable.
Phil DeGraves said:
If you pro-gun Dems are still voting party line for your party's anti-gun candidates, then YOU ARE ANTI-GUN also!
So liberals should ignore all the other issues? Our system means that there is virtually zero chance that there is a candidate in a two-party election that exactly matches 100% of your policy positions. You have to make the best decision you can, and that usually involves trade offs.
Technosavant said:
One hates the liberals, the other hates those with religious beliefs.
Ridiculous. The vast majority of liberals are also people of faith. We just don't like people who think
their faith is the only one that there should be space for in the public sphere. So while Romney has to defend himself as "Christian enough" to GOP voters, Mormon Harry Reid serves as Senate Majority Leader with nary a peep about his faith. What church you go to (or don't go to)
doesn't matter to liberals - your policy positions do. (Aside: every Dem candidate for President is some flavor of Christian.)
Ohio's governor - who won in a landslide and is wildly popular - is a liberal Dem who is an ordained minister and very pro-RKBA. And being courted by H. Clinton as a possible Veep running mate because of his approval ratings in Ohio (Republicans are 54%/19% approve/disapprove on the guy).
Omaney said:
[Libertarian Socialism] is the biggest oxymoron I have read in years.
Only if you don't understand socialism. Socialism is not state-control of people's lives. Libertarian Socialism is a flavor of anarchism - there is NO government. If you made me pick a single political theory and say "that's my favorite", I'd pick libertarian-socialism - and I've voted for Libertarian candidates in my youth. Like most political theories, it's probably unworkable in the real world because people suck too much.
As for gun control, I think most liberals look at the 16k people who commit suicide with a gun every year, and the 12k people killed intentionally by a firearm every year, and think "that really sucks - how can we try to reduce that?" The goal of gun control for most liberals is about trying to keep firearms out of the hands of those who would intentionally harm themselves or others. Some people think that can only be accomplished by banning all guns, which is
ridiculous. But when I think you get down to brass tacks, pro-RKBA folks probably don't disagree that if we can find a way to keep those with ill intent from acquiring firearms, that'd be a good thing. The problem is that's a very difficult task.
BTW, I don't shoot much - I was a "city boy" growing up, and only shot .22LR and trap when I was in Boy Scouts. Now that I live in a more rural area, and have a small farm, I'm looking to get in to shooting more - partially for varminting on the farm (damn groundhogs), partially for defense, and partially for the unlikely event of a zombie apocalypse. I'm taking a basic pistol class next week.
Oh, and finally - many firearms websites that I've browsed are openly hostile to socially liberal people. This one is less so. Anything that promotes RKBA as a separate issue from, say, gay marriage (to pick just one social conservative firebrand) is in the best interests of RKBA. If you tie it to other issues, you're going to get increased pushback.