Is America a mainly Conservative Country?

[Decabo]

Mostly mild liberal, it only seems mostly conservative because there and loudest and never shut up...

WHAT? You're joking, right?

Who were the people screaming "We want change!" all over the media? Who are the people who never shut up about how articulate and perfect Obama is? Conservatives? Please. The conservatives are far more quiet with the exception of the Tea Party.

Screaming? They chanted it an Obama rally, yeah. I don't recall them having pictures of McCain as Hitler, Joker, or some tribal African. The conservatives talked about how great he was as speaking more than anyone, mainly in the vain of the celebrity commercial, or Palin poking fun at his teleprompter. Or people in McCain rallies yelling that Obama's a terrorist, or calling him an Arab, or yelling that he's not a citizen. Conservatives under the Obama administration have been louder than Liberals have ever been.

 

[Dexomega]

I'm a liberal just like many of my friends. We are definitely outnumbered at school though.

 

[zenoaugustus]

Okay, I think everyone here is forgetting to mention that America is fucking huge. It is larger than any European country (barring Russia). So, with that said, I would have to say that the Northeast tends to be filled with idealistic college kids and therefore, the Northeast (New England and such) tends to be more liberal. The South and Midwest tend to be more conservative. The West (specifically California) is somewhat known for the hippies (although that was more of a 60s, 70s thing).

Anyway, the point it, I think it is a tad too vague saying the whole country leans one way or the other, as the country is just too big for that. Break down a little bit, and one will see very large differences. In my opinion, the country, as a whole, is rather even.

In the 2000 and 2004 elections, despite the pro liberal media blitz, Bush was elected.

Oh and btw, Bush won the Electoral College (fuck that) in 2000. He isn't who the majority of the country voted for.

 

[RJ Dalton]

America hasn't been conservative for a long time, not if you go back to what conservative actually means, although you do get a lot of people who claim that they're conservative. But when you talk about what America is, it's a giant space of corporate-owned land that people happen to live on.

That corporation being the Government D:

Yes, that was the implication of my post.

 

[drisky]

As for my opinion on america's political standing I think its pretty balanced and in constant flux. After Bush's approval rating was down to like 30% a lot more people wanted to vote democrat, now that people feel like obama hasn't done enough, the country has started to take steps back towards the right. I also feel it has a lot to do with the region, since I am a college student in Mass., almost everyone around me is liberal.

Except the Tea Parties were for the majority old racist homophobic white folk. And that old lady was probably racist, just pointing out. And the fact that they harrowed Senators by calling the n***** f*** might have also had something to do with it. And the fact half of them showed up armed, and with signs like "If Brown Doesn't Do It, A Browning Can."

Yeah but those seem like the extreme crazies I was talking about, I wasn't around any of the protests so I can't talk for the general feelings and actions of the protesters, just that the way Fox covered them had a bias, and sense they were protesting the liberal government, Fox would have called them heros no matter what they did. I do agree that the fact that your old or black automatically prevents you from being a bigot though.

 

[FinalHeart95]

Depends. It seems like everyone I know is hailing for Obama's death from the rooftops, and most of my friends happen to be exceedingly conservative. I'm more mid-left though.

As for the media, it ALL SUCKS ASS. It's either (and usually) extremely biased to the left, and sometimes extremely biased to the right. There is no middle-ground, as the closest thing we have to that is probably CNN. Well... TV is extremely biased to the left, in general. Go onto radio talk shows, and it's extremely conservative. I find this oddly symbolic.

Also, I've tried watching Fox News, but I ended up arguing with the TV every five seconds. Sorry, I'm liberal, it's in my blood to hate Fox News.

 

[Treblaine]

Yes I have. I have seen Glen Beck cry crocodile tears and make ridiculous anagrams and picking out specific letters from peoples and organizations names and pointing out that anyone with the letter N in their name that isn't a Republican is a nazi. I have heard the radio broadcast where Rush Limbaugh said Michael J Fox was probably faking his Parkinson's to get attention. I have seen the Tea Party protesters, the biggest grass roots organization in America funded by Americas biggest media outlet. I have seen them make up facts, call me a socialist nazi commie, and calling me anti-American, all the while they're Christian and go against everything Jesus did. Such as thinking rich people should obviously pay the least taxes, and people should greedily horde all their money and that the Government should just pull money out if it's arse. I've seen Glenn Becks book Arguing With Idiots where he dressed up as a Nazi and the entire book is him making up shit. And to quote Ver Batem, Rush:

"The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without weapons. There, I said it."

"They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares?"

Glenn Beck:

"This president I think has exposed himself over and over again as a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture....I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."

"So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research. ... Eugenics. In case you don't know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. ... The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening"

And never mind the fact that Rush Limbaugh looks like a slight less overweight version of King Pin from Batman. Also, he plays a song called "Barack The Magic Negro"

And don't you dare fucking tell me the media isn't conservative, I live in the fucking Midwest. All I hear all the goddamned day is people spouting out the word "******" like it's their lifeblood. All the media outlets in the Midwest are either conservative, or they just constantly doubt and point out ridiculously FUCKING STUPID shit that the party in charge does. And by ridiculously stupid shit, I mean stupid shit to point out.

And everything Silva pointed out.

Hmm, seems less "conservative" and more "Fucking Crazy"

I mean Glenn beck's conspiracies, accusing racism and nazism seem more like old socialist ploys to a Brit like me.

Also you kinda missed the reference on "Barack The Magic Negro" as the term "magical negro" was actually coined by Spike Lee:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_negro

if you actually look deeper you'll see it is actually another accusation of Racism against the left by the right... a particularly shallow and ham fisted one as most people just hear the title of the song and think: "they called Obama a Negro... they Must Be Racists!"

To be honest it is an absolutely bullshit argument but a weak argument is totally different from a "racist hate song" that many people think it is from the title.

To spite the Republican's white-bred and right wing roots they have seem to be surprisingly anti-racist. Remember it was the Republican North that fought the Democrat south in the US Civil War. The Southern Democrats were where all the slave owners, opposition to civil rights and where support of Jim Crow laws originated. I am still amazed at what the Democrats have been able to shrug off.

But while the Republicans don't seem to be hateful racist like the KKK, they sure do hate the gays...

And they are idiots about it too. Grr, with most things I can accept there are reasonably balanced arguments to be made for both sides of an issue and the problem is balancing it. But the republicans just resort to cheap shots and fundamentalist ideology.

That's what I can gauge from the US. Prejudice and hatred against gays is the most open, common and violent Bigotry today while racism seems to have been reduced to "small pockets of resistance" to the point where I think people need to get some perspective that the priority civil rights concern in America, which is not racism but homophobia and prejudice towards other non-typical sexuality/gender.

I mean Xbox live got away with banning openly gay users for YEARS, I don't know of any openly gay comics who appeals to America's mainstream and why is it more of an issue that a politician meets with a gay prostitute than one of the opposite gender?

But I think reform in that area is going to be longer and harder to achieve that anybody wants.

 

[Meggiepants]

This is a difficult question to answer, but some of your facts are missing some key points. Although we have had a number of Republican Presidents over the last 50 years, for most of that time we have had either a Democrat congress or a congress that is so close that the Republicans have a bare minority. This fact should certainly be taken into account when you talk about elections over the years. The President is only one part of our political system.

As to your question, some have already mentioned it depends on where you are viewing America from. It also depends on your own politics. If you are very liberal, you are always going to say America is conservative, and vice versa.

And I wouldn't base anything on that Tea Party movement. Until they actually affect a large election and say, win ten seats in the Senate or 40 in the House, they are just a bunch of people with the biggest bullhorns. If they manage to keep their shit together in the 2012 elections, then I might pay attention to them. But right now, it's hard for me to judge because of all the hype they've been getting.

 

[Scde2]

America is as conservative as the conservatives want it to think.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

The people are slightly to the right, the government is naturally left. Ask the people whether they want more or less government intervention in their lives, and usually you will get a less response.

Actually, polls show that 50something% of Americans support the Health Care Bill.

None that weren't passed down straight from the White House. The vast majority of polls would suggest upwards of 65-70% against. If it was 50/50 then the House wouldn't have been so scared shitless to vote in opposition of what their constituency had clearly been telling them. But I wasn't even talking about that, I was talking about intervention in general. Excessive regulation and taxation and control over people's daily lives, not just the recent health care debate.

Conservatism and Liberalism can be boiled down to the amount of government intervention you think is right in your life. I, for one, think that the perfect amount of government intervention in my life is to be as little as necessary. Of course, many people in America think that "To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability" is in the Constitution, and was a founding principle, because of how poorly the teaching of our history and founding principles have become.

 

[Beardon65]

I see more Democrats and Liberals than I do Conservatives on the streets and in my school than I ever did. I'd have to say our numbers might be dwindeling. Ha! I actually got to say dwindeling in a sentence. Now to use frivilous...

 

[twistedshadows]

I think we're fairly even between conservative and liberal, at least according to our own definitions of each.

Also (in response to the OP's assertion that more of America's presidents have been conservative), the American definitions of conservatism and liberalism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States#Origins] have changed quite a bit since America was first founded, and have even somewhat crossed definitions at times.

-snipped for length-

You seem to be under the impression that everyone in America thinks the same way and reacts to change in the same way. =/

 

[TheTrojanBadger]

There has been primarily more Republican Presidents than Democratic Presidents. Even in the 1960's, the US has been primarily conservative, despite the very VOCAL liberal members. In the 2000 and 2004 elections, despite the pro liberal media blitz, Bush was elected. Is America a primarily conservative or liberal country? I think it's primarily conservative personally.

Not where I live...

 

[Thwarted]

I really hope it still is. The rest of the western world took a left turn and now our societies are fucked.

 

[Craftybonds]

No. Conservatives just tend to get more publicity, and they tend to be a little bit more passionate about the whole thing.

Considering that Democrats have won the popular vote (not the electoral college vote) for every single presidential election for the last 5 or so elections, and that democrats have more members than republicans in both the house and senate, i'd say our country leads more towards the left.

In all reality, the country as a whole is right in the center of things. almost all of our elections are within a few percentage points of eachother, and there is rarely a landslide in elections. That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but it's true for most cases.

 

[Treblaine]

?????

I'm not sure if you don't understand or if you disagree. After all, that's the Internet-official picture for 'Not this shit again,' not 'I don't get it.'

Either way, I think the three agreeing polls from the three largest statistics institutes in the country should either help edify you or... well, help edify you, whatever the case may be.

Well I google Image searched "confused" and that was the best one I could find. I thought adding a load of ???? would make it obvious.

And although I have no idea what you were trying to say... I still disagree with you.

Why? Because it is my view that America's stance in general is incredibly schizophrenic and even if it is conservative today, it won't be for long. And the views are just so broad and changing in such a large and connected country and can be SO influenced by events, changing circumstances and just a good orator or snappy meme that will swing them one way or another. on election day, every state is worth Visiting... not so in UK. I don't think the Conservative party ever bothers campaigning in Scotland and just seems to hope the left vote will get split.

What you've done is tried to narrow down to a point of consensus when the entire system seems to ABHOR consensus. The range of views is just too broad and shifting to even pin it down to any one point.

That's why you can get Bush one year and Obama 4 years later.

Oh, maybe this face more accurately fits your attempts to explain your "point of centre" of American political dynamics:
????????

?????????

 

[Baconmonster723]

No. The United States (basing Conservative and Liberal off of what we in the states believe to be liberal and Conservative) is neither. Plain and simple the majority of individuals are moderates. While they may lean slightly in one direction the majority of the American public is neither Liberal nor Conservative. This is why there are shifts of power in both Congress and the White House.

Truths about the current American system.

TV News Media is predominantly liberal (Fox is the only Exception)
Talk Radio is predominantly Conservative (Can't think of any well known exceptions)
Politicians are predominantly idiots (I would say they all are but I'm sure there are like 2 of them that are decent human beings)
Conservatives are predominantly stubborn, out-spoken idiots
Liberals are predominantly two-faced, backstabbing idiots

In the immortal words of South Park, each election is really just between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich.

 

[Superhyperactiveman]

We've been swinging towards liberal as of late. Give it a few more years and we'll be conservative again. Then liberal, then conservative...

Really, I just checked out a while ago. Both ideologies are flawed and supported by parties that don't work. Politics is just bullshit.

 

[Lady Nilstria]

America's definition of conservative and the world's definition are different, as is the word liberal. America is progressive liberal, with conservatives and liberals being two different sides of the same. However, a conservative and liberal in, let's say, England, are completely different altogether.

(Englishmen, I only have a basic grasp on your governmental system. If I'm wrong, please don't kill me.)

Anyway, conservatism in America. You will see a trend with that. On the coasts and big cities, such as Chicago, the people are predominately liberal. Towards the interior, you find more conservatives. Since the big cities of a state are the most populous, they decide who gets the electoral votes in a presidental election. Take New York for example. The countryside of New York state is conservative, but you wouldn't think that looking at the polls, because New York City is liberal, and NYC is so big it can easily override the rest of the state.

I am a conservative. I live in one of the most conservative states in America, Texas (minus Austin, that doesn't count). Unless you go to Austin, Houston, or Dallas, and maybe San Antonio (maybe), you won't see that many Obama bumperstickers or signs.

Is America mostly conservative, though? I don't think so. The closer you get to a liberal's wrong definition of social and economic justice (you'll find the right definition in the Bible), the farther you get from conservative progressive liberalism and go into democratic socialism. So, even if the American are conservative, if the people in D.C. are liberal or socialists, that is what will be reflected.

Also, I'll tell you a story. There was this class of 1st graders. They were playing a presidential election. One kid stood up and promised lower taxes, a better economy, reduced debt, better foreign relations. Another kid stood up and said that everyone would get ice cream. Now, there was absolutely no proof that the kid would be able to provide ice cream to the entire class. However, every single child in that class voted for the ice cream kid. I'll tell you. Americans like ice cream.

 

[Treblaine]

The people are slightly to the right, the government is naturally left. Ask the people whether they want more or less government intervention in their lives, and usually you will get a less response.

Actually, polls show that 50something% of Americans support the Health Care Bill.

None that weren't passed down straight from the White House. The vast majority of polls would suggest upwards of 65-70% against. If it was 50/50 then the House wouldn't have been so scared shitless to vote in opposition of what their constituency had clearly been telling them. But I wasn't even talking about that, I was talking about intervention in general. Excessive regulation and taxation and control over people's daily lives, not just the recent health care debate.

Conservatism and Liberalism can be boiled down to the amount of government intervention you think is right in your life. I, for one, think that the perfect amount of government intervention in my life is to be as little as necessary. Of course, many people in America think that "To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability" is in the Constitution, and was a founding principle, because of how poorly the teaching of our history and founding principles have become.

Look the whole point of democracy is to vote people in who do more than just parrot public opinion, that's what referendums are for.

The point of voting someone in is not "will this guy vote exactly as I will vote" but rather "Will this guy make best decisions overall". You ARE submitting a lot of your decisions to him or her as the masses judge that they will make the right decision, even if it's not the same decision they'd make even as an aggregate group.

If it is somehow a compulsion for politicians to directly follow the poll opinion of the population well then why not just get rid of the Senators and Representatives all together! We have the technology to let every single piece of legislation be decided by referendum, just do it via the internet. But sometimes the majority want what will harm a minority. Sometimes the population has to just take their bitter medicine as their elected leaders realise it is for the greater good.

Democracy is to vote people into power on that basis that they are GOOD people and they care for the welfare of each and every one of their citizens.

Of course 75% will be opposed to to this healthcare bill as THEY WON'T BENEFIT FROM IT because the majority ALREADY have health insurance but what about the little guy? How will the last 10% of Americans get medical insurance?

You are depending purely on altruism with just following public opinion.

One cuts, the other chooses, that's what happens when people vote politicians into power.