Or maybe the average collectivist is so far removed that they see even the slightest shift towards liberty and it scares them?
I find it quite odd that the left is trying to paint the GOP as extremists, as if the left's policies are so centrist. There are some seemingly crazy conservative ideas out there right now, but they're predictable and principled. Are taxes realistically going to be eliminated? No. Then why is it reasonable, in that same vein, that we make our taxes even more progressive? Now, I agree with one of your other posts - the tax code sucks. It needs to be revamped to eliminate the loopholes. But taxes aren't enough to get us out of this hole. Even if revenues went up a few percentage points that won't come close to putting a dent into the extra 25% that federal spending has ballooned over the past 2 years. In a related note - there's an interesting article about federal employees and how http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/debt-talks-continue-feds-are-hiring-and-never-firing . Are the government's hiring practices so secure that they only let go of 1/6th of the employees compared to private sector jobs?
Part of why I identify with the GOP, and TEA Party, in basic principle, is that when the government expands, it's almost impossible to shrink. What's an example of a major federal program which has just stopped existing? There have been a few name changes and revisions, but whenever a federal job/entity gets created it's generally around for good. That's a definite problem as time goes on - what's the leftist solution? Tax the rich! Even that will only work so long - what happens when there's no more rich to tax and your poor are still poor? Basically everyone is poor then, is that the leftist utopia? I hope not, and I will vote and campaign against it. I still stand by my opinion that if gay marriage and abortions were non-issues the GOP would win in landslides, over and over. Basically, in my mind the collectivists attempt to monopolize feminist ideals and present contradictory economic policys to attempt to rally their base whole heartedly against the GOP.
Finally there's the point of hate and how I feel many of the left have lost their perspective. Now my opinion may be a little slanted, but I cannot find any attempts by conservatives to silence liberals. How many petitions have circulated the internet, however, to 'ban conservative talk radio'. Where is the hate coming from? I don't feel any animosity towards political opposites, but turbo-1 in your ranting post about a slow driver - you made sure to point out that they had TEA Party bumper stickers (and I'm guessing you were seeing red because of it). Now, maybe this opinion is a bit hypocritical and I admit that - but it still doesn't mean I hate those of the opposite political affiliation. There are some that are posting in this thread which have some 'GOP ran over my dog' type hate in them, which is hardly productive - but to me it reinforces that many of the lefts policies are made with the heart instead of the head. This type of reaction is why I feel the argument that the 'GOP has become extreme' is flawed - it's purely emotional and no real basis outside of 'a feeling'.
Unfortunately, the media takes hold of feelings more than it does facts - 'real life has a left slant' when you ignore reason and fact. Now there is a resurgance of intellectualism in an attempt to 'prove' the GOP wrong. It seems I see, from my collectivist friends on facebook, a new 'fact' weekly about how the GOP is biggoted and hateful. (my favorite was a survey of a bunch of folks from mississippi - one of the questions was regarding interracial marriage, 50% self-identified republicans thought it should not be allowed - the democrat data was mysteriously missing for that sub-question (but was present for other portions of the survey results). Of course the leftists immediately draw the conclusion that 'GOP = racist' rather than a more general 'southern more likely to be racist' which is probably the truth).
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