Democrat or Republican

[Gandalf]

I really like Ralph Nader as an Independant. He is someone I have a lot of time for.

[killersheep]

For an American perspective it's interesting to see what you guys are saying here. The logic overall is pretty similar to how many Americans choose affiliation. Both parties are corrupt and inevitably hurt the country when in power for too long. What is essential (and many will disagree with me here) is pendulum that swings from right to left, left to right. Because most Americans are far more centrist that politicians.

[Gandalf]

For an American perspective it's interesting to see what you guys are saying here. The logic overall is pretty similar to how many Americans choose affiliation. Both parties are corrupt and inevitably hurt the country when in power for too long. What is essential (and many will disagree with me here) is pendulum that swings from right to left, left to right. Because most Americans are far more centrist that politicians.

My own take though is that the pendulum never really swings to the left. It wavers back and forth, but always on the right side. In terms of US politics of the past 40 years, I see all too few initiatives that I would class as truly left wing.

[Kev]

For an American perspective it's interesting to see what you guys are saying here. The logic overall is pretty similar to how many Americans choose affiliation. Both parties are corrupt and inevitably hurt the country when in power for too long. What is essential (and many will disagree with me here) is pendulum that swings from right to left, left to right. Because most Americans are far more centrist that politicians.

My own take though is that the pendulum never really swings to the left. It wavers back and forth, but always on the right side. In terms of US politics of the past 40 years, I see all too few initiatives that I would class as truly left wing.

haha it's waaaaaay to the left now. Did you know that in American universities 8/10 professors are now liberals?

I read it in Time a few weeks ago. Has to be true.

[Gandalf]

For an American perspective it's interesting to see what you guys are saying here. The logic overall is pretty similar to how many Americans choose affiliation. Both parties are corrupt and inevitably hurt the country when in power for too long. What is essential (and many will disagree with me here) is pendulum that swings from right to left, left to right. Because most Americans are far more centrist that politicians.

My own take though is that the pendulum never really swings to the left. It wavers back and forth, but always on the right side. In terms of US politics of the past 40 years, I see all too few initiatives that I would class as truly left wing.

haha it's waaaaaay to the left now. Did you know that in American universities 8/10 professors are now liberals?

I read it in Time a few weeks ago. Has to be true.

Academics are typically smart and observant people, but they are not in government nor forming policies. I don't see what that has to do with this.

The left has been attacked and dismantled for a long time now and with so called talk of a deficit crisis we are seeing an expansion of this policy. Politics has been and is firmly on the side of the right. I am sure you can bring up examples of this not being so, but as a whole you cannot say that US politics is 'way to the left'. That is silly talk.

[VictorCharlie]

You left off Libertarian and Green Party. But to answer the question I vote Libertarian.

[VictorCharlie]

To go off of Killer's post I don't think we should swing left or right but have a federal gov't that strictly follows the constitution. Individual states can have varying degrees of left/right gov't but not at the federal level. The Constitution was written specifically to provide the feds with a strict set of enumerated powers and to allow the citizens of individual states to have much more autonomy over their local policies. Once the 17th went into play the whole crux of the system was removed.

[Gandalf]

I was too strong in my last statement, some academics obviously do have influence, but name me one from the left that has influenced government policy. They are few and far between.

[Master]

You left off Libertarian and Green Party. But to answer the question I vote Libertarian.

What is a libertarian?

[killersheep]

You left off Libertarian and Green Party. But to answer the question I vote Libertarian.

Ha I was a card carrying libertarian from 18 - 26, preaching the same things as you are now. The older I get the more liberal I get.