How have your political views changed due to the politics forum?

[ojc02]

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If anything, prolonged exposure to rabid ACers makes me even more disinclined to look favorably upon their views.

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I see you posted in the modding thread, which means I assume you read it. Isn't this the kind of name-calling reply that everyone agrees is ruining the forum?

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I look down on AC with the same sort of disdain that I have for communism. Most of the time, I am fine with just ignoring ACers, because I consider them to support a philosophy only slightly more legitimate than Scientology. When forced to co-exist with ACers, suppressed memories of why I loathe AC come back and it becomes too annoying to ignore. So, I usually read this forum a few days, get sick of it, and take a break for a few days or a week or even a month.

I'm actually being mild here. I have gotten a suspension before for a comment (not related to AC). I am quite capable of wording my feelings much more strongly, but you're just a faceless screen name, so why bother?

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Yeah, I might've been a bit itchy on the accusation trigger there. It's just cause the whole trolling issue was fresh in my mind and I was really disturbed by this comment from Case Closed:

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Turns out when every topic debated devolved into a debate of AC the ACers win. All the non ACers leave because they don't like being harassed.

I came here liberal and I am still liberal.

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I mean, obviously I knew that it went on but all the snarky comments and name calling (by either side in the debate) just give one side an opportunity to throw their hands up and ignore the quality of the argument.

[Broken Glass Can]

I'll tell you one thing I have learned from this forum.

I have learned that the political correctness and indoctrination in our high schools and colleges is a lot worse than I imagined.

On the most basic of ideas around here, there are always plenty of posters who spout the political correct dogma that their teachers have drilled into them.

It takes years for people to break free of indoctrination.

How sad.

[Vagos]

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Via forum discussion in general, my views have completely changed, but not in any of the ways listed above. I used to be very much libertarian about all government, but I've shifted to more of a decentralist philosophy (which is really simply MORE libertarian). The thing I've learned is that we're never going to all want the same things and none of us will ever be happy living under any other system than our own. Thus, logically, the only solution is to decentralize and let each group have their own government (or lack of) in their own local communities. As such, I largely only oppose the federal government now rather than all government. The level of tyranny associated with any government action is directly proportional to how many people it affects. In a land where half the people think the color purple should be illegal and everyone should be forced to always wear green and the other half thinking that green should be illegal with everyone always forced to wear purple, separating them and letting each live under the rules they want is the only sane solution. Trying to have socialists, liberals, libertarians, conseratives, fascists and everyone else all live by the same rules is flat out absurd. Yes, this means that pro-choice people have to allow parts of the country where prolifers live to ban abortions (AKA overturning RvW), and yes it means that anti-gay marriage people have to let people in other parts of the country allow gay marriage. DEAL WITH IT.

Note that I came to these conclusions before coming to this forum, but it's all the same. Well, except for libertarian/AC philosophy being much more present on this board anyway. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Alex, I'm kind of confused on your position, maybe you could slightly clarify it for me. So you're not really an ACist, as you still would support government coercian, so long as it's on a smaller scale? Or if you're referring to a decentralization of VERY small states, it seems that you might be referring to voluntary institutions (you used the term "local communities"), allowing competition and thus they wouldn't really be "government." Just trying to understand what your saying exactly. Thanks.

[Vagos]

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Most of the time, I am fine with just ignoring ACers, because I consider them to support a philosophy only slightly more legitimate than Scientology.

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Yes, this wild and wacky philosophy of preservation of individual liberty and non-aggression is right on par with the idea that a warlord from another galaxy dropped alien captives into volcanoes on Earth and that those dead aliens spirits now haunt the human psyche for all time.

Congrats, first person to make my ignore list.

[Mickey Brausch]

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Free hookers, blow and ponies?




[/ QUOTE ]Now that's a poll.

[AlexM]

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So you're not really an ACist, as you still would support government coercian, so long as it's on a smaller scale?

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If government is completely decentralized to the county level, you can have AC/libertarian in counties. I would live in one of these counties. How does me letting people in other non-libertarian counties do their government thing translate into support?

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Just trying to understand what your saying exactly. Thanks.

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What I'm saying is I'm not interested in fights I can't win. Converting enough people to AC to make it happen = unwinnable. Convincing enough people to super-decentralize so that AC can co-exist alongside communism or whatever = hard, but possible. A decentralization platform is one that is both more libertarian than what the LP currently supports and one that statists can potentially support. Win/win.

[Barcalounger]

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A decentralization platform is one that is both more libertarian than what the LP currently supports and one that statists can potentially support. Win/win.

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Hear, hear! All politics is local.

[Vagos]

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If government is completely decentralized to the county level, you can have AC/libertarian in counties. I would live in one of these counties. How does me letting people in other non-libertarian counties do their government thing translate into support?

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Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth, thank you for clarifying.

[MayorHerb]

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I was a liberal and still am.

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Same here...