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Political Survey

B5CB5C Veteran
edited December 2011 in Buddhism Today
What is the political attitudes of New Buddhist Members?

Ideology: Democratic Socialism
Political Party (If any): US Democratic Party/ Democratic Socialists of America (Youth Organization)/ Young Democrats of America

Comments

  • Ideology: Left winged, but don't get involved in politics if I can.
    Political Part: Nope, not one I would vote for that I know of.
    Organization: Again, no.
  • Libertarian... Leaning right on economic issues and left on social issues
  • MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
    edited December 2011

    Ideology: Socially; far left, fiscally; moderate left.
    Political Party: I'd say Democrat, but they don't do a good job representing my views.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited December 2011
    Ideology: compassion progressive tax system, regulation of boom and bust cycles, bottom up management rather than top down, end to political contributions, end to advertising for campaigns, assessing government agencies to see if they are just paper pushers, etc..

    Voting: usually straight ticket democrat since the Clinton witch hunt over a sexual encounter.
  • Non-party, left-ish. I'd like things to be here (Florida) as they are in Canada. As a true southerner, I don't care what the rest of the states do. :D
  • Definitely a bit leftward, but by Dutch standards.
    You’d have to consider that the political spectrum in our country is different from the USA.
    The death-penalty is unthinkable and health insurance is obvious.
    You’d be hospitalized for proposing the “right to keep and bear arms”.

    At the other hand we have debates about “Europe” and about the” integration” of people with a Muslim background which would sound strange to American ears, I suppose.

  • You’d be hospitalized for proposing the “right to keep and bear arms”.

    LOL!! zenff, I watched a show yesterday about how your county "fast-tracks" immigration. Decision on whether or not immigrants can stay are made in 28 days or less. With so many immigrants in a small country, do you ever feel like the county looses its "Dutchness" ?

  • DandelionDandelion London Veteran
    I often find myself seeing both sides of political arguments as equally valid, voting is a nightmare that I usually end up avoiding... I find it very difficult to say whether I'm more left or right. This would either make me a very good politician or an absolutely dire one (probably the latter)... either way the world, and myself are never going to find out!
  • I don't get too deep into politics as I feel that my vote does not matter here in the US. (Get too many votes for the "wrong" candidate? Well then, we'll just throw it away and not count it.). My trust in the political system here is... broken. But it is this way in many places and it matters more how you act within your community than what government is in charge.

    In THEORY I like the ideas within Democratic Socialism. But in practice... unfortunately over time there is always a person/people who get greedy and decide to find a way to exploit the system and its people. There is also the issue of, "Yes, people SHOULD help others but should we make it MANDATORY to help or share with others."

    So, I have made no definite decisions on political systems yet because I still have much deep thinking to do about it and I've only ever been able to see one political system in practice with my own eyes. I have much to learn. :-)

  • You’d be hospitalized for proposing the “right to keep and bear arms”.

    LOL!! zenff, I watched a show yesterday about how your county "fast-tracks" immigration. Decision on whether or not immigrants can stay are made in 28 days or less. With so many immigrants in a small country, do you ever feel like the county looses its "Dutchness" ?

    That’s it.
    In the gym where I used to go, they introduced the rule that all visitors speak Dutch in the gym.
    So you can’t speak Turkish or Moroccan with your Turkish or Moroccan friends because the “native” Dutch feel uncomfortable with that.
    I think we are struggling with a (relatively new) loss of homogeneity in our population.

  • Ideologically, I'm moderate. I have left and right leaning views depending on the topic:

    Party wise, None. all political parties are motivated by self interest and extremely corrupt.. ESPECIALLY the 2 big American parties.
  • I think it's hard to say Buddhists are leftward or rightward - I think you could probably discuss leftward/rightward on particular issue, perhaps?

    For example, I'd imagine many Buddhists are pro-life and anti-death penalty, whereas full-on righties in the States are often pro-life and pro-death penalty.

    This pro-life/anti-gallows thing would also apply to many Christians, even though Christians are often lumped into the "right-leaning" camp.

    I've always felt attempting to categorize people by left/right is about as useful as categorizing them by pumpkin/apple pie.

    I'm a pro-life, ex-service Democrat, whatever that is. And pumpkin.
  • B5CB5C Veteran
    I must get the leftward feeling because I live in the Pacific Northwest. lol
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited December 2011
    Left leaning moderate. Generally socially liberal, regulated capitalism for economics.

    I'm pretty fed up with the political system in the US today. It seriously needs to be cleaned up, money wise especially. When senators and congressmen have to spend half their time on the phone fundraising it skews where their loyalties lie.

    I'd also like to see ranked choice voting implemented. It'd give outside parties and ideas a chance to be heard.
  • @gniab, I expect the UK has more immigrants than Holland, and that certainly lost it's 'englishness'. But, who cares? Mostly people attached to a way of life. Things change, people move, it is one world and people should be able to live where they like IMO.
  • Things change, people move, it is one world and people should be able to live where they like IMO.
    I agree, but I also appreciate it when people learn the language of the county they are moving to!

  • shanyinshanyin Novice Yogin Sault Ontario Veteran
    I took a spectrum quiz, found out in sort of Slightly left of center slightly more left than population and way farther left than any leader of US or Canada.

    I also agree with Anarchist principles.
  • What is the political attitudes of New Buddhist Members?

    Ideology: Democratic Socialism
    Political Party (If any): US Democratic Party/ Democratic Socialists of America (Youth Organization)/ Young Democrats of America
    Ideology: Classical Liberalism - minimal state intervention into economy, across the board low taxation, free trade.

    Political Party: US Republican Party



  • In the gym where I used to go, they introduced the rule that all visitors speak Dutch in the gym.
    So you can’t speak Turkish or Moroccan with your Turkish or Moroccan friends because the “native” Dutch feel uncomfortable with that.
    Wow, you could never get away with that in the US! But the US is a nation of immigrants. Has it ever occurred to the Dutch that it would be enriching for them to learn a little Turkish or Moroccan?
    I must get the leftward feeling because I live in the Pacific Northwest. lol
    Isn't the Pacific NW conservative, outside of the greater Seattle area, Portland, and maybe Eugene? I've seen the voting patterns on state maps. Seattle votes Democratic while most of the rest of the state (possibly excluding Olympia) votes Republican.

    me: not good with labels. no polit affiliation. I vote for candidates, not parties. But it's really looking like they all belong to the same party: the Corporate Party. :p

  • @ gniab Like I have done. Some languages are a lot more difficult though, but English being the world's second language, it is not hard to find english speaking immigrants in the UK.
  • Has it ever occurred to the Dutch that it would be enriching for them to learn a little Turkish or Moroccan?
    My brother in law learned some Turkish (he speaks a hand full of languages fluently anyway.)
    Turkish people love it, but he’s the exception.

    Most of us speak English, German and some French.
    That’s just being practical because we can’t expect anyone to learn Dutch; and we do want to be able to do business in Europe.
    Maybe this pain of usually being the smaller part (in terms of language and culture) makes us over-sensitive in a way, and could make us less flexible towards immigrants?
    I’m not sure.
    We’re not the only country in Europe struggling with this.

  • SileSile Veteran
    edited December 2011
    China's going through a new push to ban all dialects but Mandarin in the workplace, on-air, etc. Some humorous local rebellions are taking place, as well as some not-so-humorous mass protests.

    In Tibet, Chinese authorities made the surprise move to ban Tibetan textbooks (which the authorities had placed there in the first place), a decision which led to unprecedented middle schooler-led protests through the streets in many Tibetan towns.

    Also being banned now are shows (in any dialect) depicting time travel. (?!)
  • Apolitical - formerly Democrat - left coast native.

    America is undergoing a language shift with the preponderance of Spanish speaking people streaming over the Mexican border. Clearly, with 330 million worldwide native English speaking people taking a back seat to 346 million worldwide native Spanish speaking peoples - the birth rate between the two will decide eventually which language will predominate.

    Americans may not be able to get away with insisting on English - but there are probably more cultural and socio-economic racial restrictions that persist than elsewhere globally. One need only look at racial profiling by the justice system and the resultant disproportionate ethnic prison population (overall prison U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations) to draw this conclusion.

    In recent trips to Canada for business I realized that had I fled the draft in 1969 and gone to Canada I would have been immensely happier with the politics of a country I would have had to change my identity to reside in. Politics aside, Canadians seem more social - more friendly - than Americans. Maybe that is naive but that is definitely the impression.
  • Centerist. The middle way. :)
  • Centerist. The middle way. :)
    O, snap. There it is. :)
  • To elaborate, since I was in a rush during my last post...

    As a classical liberal, I believe in free markets, low taxation/regulation, free trade, and minimal state intervention into the economy. I place the highest value on liberty; the freedom to do whatever you like, so long as you do not infringe on another person's liberty. (See John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism) I'm mostly indifferent to the "culture wars" and social issues. I'm opposed to abortion except in limited cases, ambivalent about the marriage debates, and think gays should be able to serve in the military.

    The inspirations for my political views today stem from Mill, Frederich Hayek, Herbert Spencer, Thomas Sowell, and Calvin Coolidge.

    Today, I live in an overwhelmingly Democratic part of Ohio, though I vote Republican.
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