<p>I believe maryland has the fourth most registered liberals of any state. Behind NY, Taxachusetts, and Cali.</p>
<p>I dunno, pearl, I would have to disagree and say Massachusetts is the most liberal state, but they are close. Both our governors are Republicans coincidentally. I LUV living in such a liberal state, and I am proud to be a native of the first state to legalize gay marriage, we have made history. That is funny that Texas doesnt show much of the bad stuff going on in Iraq, no wonder they are so for this ridiculous war.</p>
<p>Well greendayfan, it works both ways. I'm sure the massachusetts coverage is decidedly unfavorable towards the war, although I would assume most citizens there are against the war anyway. Interestingly enough, Maryland also now has a republican governor. It's quite odd, New york does too. It's rather ironic in a non alanis morrissette kind of way.</p>
<p>Hey Pearl, we live in the same state, but California's big. It's like five of the New England states put together! I know there are a lot of liberals up north, and you're in Davis, which is way different than down here by the border. I'm reading of the city gov. in San Francisco and thinking, this is where I live?. But it might be a lot more liberal than I thought.</p>
<p>Well, Mass. may have a Republican, Mitt Romney (I hope he does not run for President in'08), but we have Senators J.Kerry and T.Kennedy....</p>
<p>and kerry went to my school. then he spoke there, all top level politicians are excellent speakers and quite engaging.</p>
<p>Well, I agree with GreenDayFan - living in a liberal state is awesome. In Maryland, we don't have to deal with the religious Christian right. The difference between liberal and conservative states is the right to choose and be accepted for who we are. I personally support abortion, gay marriage, assisted suicide and other issues involving a right to choose. I'm glad I don't have the conservative right breathing down my neck and pushing their opinions on me. I'm not a Christian and I strongly oppose people who want America to be a Christian land. Personally I view conservatives as haters - indifferent to the rights of individual people. American is a land of immigrants and diversity. I support Christianity and all religions. Liberals simply can accept change and other view better than conservatives.</p>
<p>Also, I'm a left leaning moderate and not an ultraliberal. There are many things wrong about liberals. However, liberals do respect difference and the freedom to choose more than conservatives.</p>
<p>GreenDayFan - If I had a choice, I would live in your state. I want to be able to choose to live my life the way I want to and not have the teachings of Jesus, as interpreted by the right imposed on me.</p>
<p>I applied to Andover, which George Bush went to (not that I am proud of that), but sadly I was waitlisted. :(</p>
<p>imh- kind of a generalized statement about the christian right don't you think? The extremes of both groups are bad, and I feel just as pressured by the liberal left as you would if you lived in Texas with the conservative right. I hardly think conservatives push their views any more than liberals. I'm inebriated and I wanna pack a lip so peace out :)</p>
<p>I disagree with your comment meateater. Are you familiar with what is happening at the Air Force Academy. Christians are forcing their opinions on other cadets (i.e. commanders supporting Christianity in the military, cadets verbally attacking Jewish cadets because the Jews killed Jesus, etc.). My question to you meateater is where is the separation of church and state? Another example of the lack of separation of church and state would be when Bush attended the funeral of Pope John Paul IIl. This in my opinion this violated the separation. Also, to further my case, correct me if I am wrong, no president in U.S. history has visited the funeral of a pope. This is just a little example but clearly Bush and conservatives are trying to spread Christian ideals to non-Christian people (i.e. the right to marry who you love, man/woman, man/man, woman/woman - which is opposed by the right, the right to choose to have an abortion, etc.) Also, the right oppose stem cell research which could save and/or better the lives of millions of people. Tell me all you conservatives, how does using stem cells from embryos violate the right to life. Stem cells are just cells. These embryos have no characteristics that define life. Finally my last question is why is Bush putting too much religion in government. Every decision he makes has a religious reasoning. So there meateater, religion plays a major role in government, and conservatives are not accepting of others. </p>
<p>Meateater- I do agree that the extremes of both groups are bad. However, I disagree with your comment that you would be pressured by the liberal left in any liberal state. I'm sure if you do voice your opinions too loudly in a liberal state, you will have lots of people in opposition against you. However, I doubt you will have your house set on fire due to your opinions in liberal states.</p>
<p>To do stem cell research, one must kill the embryo. Just cells? You are made up of cells. You are alive because your cells are alive, if they die, you die...all life should be respected. You were once an embryo. Everything that makes you yourself comes from the DNA within that embryo (you can go into environmental factors in development, but without the genetic predisposition you still wouldn't process them the same). That's like saying a kitten doesn't in the least resemble a live cat. It's further developed than an embryo, but it's the same idea.</p>
<p>I advocate stem cell research for the same reason as you, to save other lives, but I don't agree with saying the embryos have no characteristics that define life. The scientific definition of life is that it can reproduce. It's more refined than that, but that's the long and short of it. This is to say that life is not what currently exists, but that it has the potential to exist as something more. The embryo grows, the cells divide, it goes through all those wondrous stages of differentiation to produce a human being. I wish there was a way to further medicine without destroying life, but as of yet there isn't. I feel so hypocritical, but it must be done.</p>
<p>I kind of agree that one would be pressured in a liberal state. I live in a conservative town, but my German teacher is a full-blown left-winger. I spend hours in his class listening to him rail on the US government, the Christian establishment, etc. It's a small class, and the others agree with him, going on and on about how stupid and blind conservatives are. I don't dare contradict them, because I tried once, and was followed around campus for days being told what a horrible, selfish and closed-minded person I am for opposing euthanasia. Each party tends to think the other is worse, but in my experience as a middle-of-the-roader, they can be equally beligerant.</p>
<p>You can't take one report in a newspaper of cadets behaving badly and say that because of this say that the conservatives are somehow more oppressive than liberals. You're trying to tell me that because a few Christians are making anti-semitic comments that that makes the entire christian right bigoted? Puh-lease. For example, go to almost any college in America and I guarantee that you will find yourself being severly pressured, even ridiculed, by extremely liberal professors if you are a conservative, don't even try to argue with that one. And yes, Bush is not shy about discussing his religious values, however, I don't think he is trying to make america christian persay, the christian values that he speaks about integrating into the american moral fabric are more universal values than anything else, not exclusively christian. And also, to tkm, I support stem cell research.</p>
<p>i'm quite moderate. Socially SUPER conservative on like SEX while liberal in the fiscal section. I support stem cell research but it has to be done very carefully so it won't get out of hand. I found that liberals seem to have a exclusive definition in the term "life" when it comes to abortion. idk this is what i observed.</p>
<p>"Personally I view conservatives as haters - indifferent to the rights of individual people. American is a land of immigrants and diversity. I support Christianity and all religions. Liberals simply can accept change and other view better than conservatives."</p>
<p>me thinks you ought to figure out what exactly 'conservative' and 'liberal' mean(in the political sense obviously).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Personally I view conservatives as haters - indifferent to the rights of individual people. American is a land of immigrants and diversity. I support Christianity and all religions. Liberals simply can accept change and other view better than conservatives.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>how wonderfully biased?</p>
<p>I live in Midland TX, home of pres bush and a Christian/conservative hotbed. I prefer to call it thoughtless city though. I myself am a Christian and I have conservative leanings, but I never blindly accepted these things as truth just because everyone else did. I think a lot of liberals are that way too. I guess it's just following the argument that if everyone is doing it, it must be right. I just wish some people would stop and think about something more than how to cheat on the next test or when's the next time they can party.</p>
<p>I have no idea why I wrote that.</p>
<p>I want to address some stuff someone else already eloquently replied to.</p>
<p>the idea that conservatives who are against abortion are against women's rights is flawed. Yes the women is important and her wants and needs need to be taken into consideration. But so do her child's. Conservatives opposed to abortion come from the viewpoint that life exists previous to a child exiting it's mother's womb. There is no difference between a fetus that is 3 months old and a newborn baby, just like there is no difference between a kindergardener and a full grown adult. No one on this board will argue that a mother should be allowed to kill her newborn baby because it was her "right". Conservatives against abortion just extend this logic to a baby in the womb.</p>
<p>and conservative opposition to stem cell research is connected to this. When does life begin? When you can talk? when you have a heartbeat? when you can feel pain? The instant before this life event, are you not human? Conservatives opposing stem cell research believe life begins at fertilization. And taking this premise, they do not believe it is right to kill one life to alleviate the pain of another.</p>
<p>liberal conservative here!</p>
<p>Well, in respnse to your comments, I have the following responses:</p>
<p>tmk256: Your assertion that life is defined as cells that can reproduce. I agree with that definition a little bit. Life is defined as in humans, having a pulse, respiration, brain activity. A person can be declared dead without anyone of the above characteristics of life. Using your definition, a person without a pulse/respiration/brain activity is essentially living - after all cells do keep on dividing for a while after the heart stops pumping. I stand by my statement that an embryo is a beginning to life with living cells but not essentially alive like a living human being.</p>
<p>Que: Could you explain your comment please? I don't understand what you mean. Anyway, if you look at the key issues dividing conservatives and liberal, the latter in my opinion supports pro choice (i.e. personal rights in abortion, assisted suicide, gay rights/marriage, etc.). As said before I am a left leaning moderate especially ultraliberal in personal choices/decisions but conservative on quite a number of issues. Any other comments/questions for me to reply to?</p>
<p>imiracle911: My response to your comment is look back into history. Are you aware of the Catholic Inquisition, Crusades, or even Pat Robertson.</p>
<p>Pat Robertson (Christian Evangelical) - "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."</p>
<p>He is also behind "Operation Supreme Court", a mission to rid the Court of liberals by any means.</p>
<p>Also, are you familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church? Their website is <a href="http://www.godhatesfags.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.godhatesfags.com/</a>. This is a Christian right organization. How wonderfully tolerant and accepting of others!</p>
<p>Isn't the KKK a Christian right group too? How many liberal groups support these kinds of stuff? I don't know of any. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>this seems a little scary. kinda long, but if you read it, please read the entire thing to get a more balenced picture</p>
<p>Grooming Politicians for Christ</p>
<p>imh,
You are coming off a little extreme. You're attacking conservatives by attacking the KKK? You're right, conservatives all hate gays and are bigots (sarcasm). Stop like looking up racist websites and then using them as "evidence" against conservatives. Your sweeping generalizations make you look like a child. Anybody should be able to ascertain from the information on these websites that these are not the majority of conservatives. Yes, you are right, there are some churches are based in racism, does that mean you should say all christians are like that? Clearly no? Using your methodology, I could just as easily go find some anarchist websites and use them as evidence for the evils of liberals. Learn to argue towards the middle, not the extreme. Your attempts at "evidence" are rather pathetic. Also, to say that the KKK is a christian right group with any sort of affiliation is absolutely preposterous. In case you didn't notice, the KKK hates everybody besides WASPS. The more I look back at your argument the younger I think you are.</p>