A post on another blog got me to consider how I see the political parties. I am not talking about objective specifics, just how I see them very subjectively.
Republicans are the moralizing father. Strong and a little harsh. He wants order and obedience out of all those unruly children around him. He is deeply religious, but many times must insist "do as I say; not as I do". He will never "spare the rod" on those he thinks need a good whipping, "for their own good" of course. He only wants "what is best" for his naughty children and feels that without his guidance they will turn into smelly, lazy hippies.
Democrats are the permissive mother. At least she will make you believe that while she guilts you into obeying her desires. She may use some of the same methods as the father, but she is sneakier about it. In her heart she wants everyone to just get along. She believes everything should be fair, and will impose fairness, as she sees it, on everyone around her, even if it means forcing a child to share his most charished toy with a sibling who will break it on purpose. She is slightly neurotic and delusional and can't understand why anyone would disagree with her, since she only wants what is best for the poor, slightly stupid children around her. After all, without her to protect them they would poke their eyes out.
Libertarians (the LP) are the cool uncle who you can tell all your secrets to. He knows how things really are, but he doesn't want to offend the Mother and Father, so he tries to downplay the truth around them to avoid causing problems in the family. He might smoke a joint with you when the uptight parents are not around, or discuss things your parents would rather pretend don't exist, but often will keep his mouth shut if the family starts scolding you for your wayward behavior. After all, it is his family, too and he still wants to be recognized as a relative. He will also give you a hand or bail you out of jail without subjecting you to a lecture.
Then there are people like me. This is obviously the least objective description of all. We are the black-sheep of the family. We see where the others get off-track and try to avoid their mistakes. We also see where the others are right and embrace those positions fully, although we may not admit it if they thought of it first. We try to stay consistent instead of holding one position for one person and the opposite position for another person, as we see the others do. We know what we want, and we actually live it day to day in our personal lives, but we get really tired of hearing that our concrete reality, where we actively live, is a fantasy or "Utopia".
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