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On Surveillance, war on terror, war on drugs and war for fun, Obama is republican. All his policies are continuation of Bush era ones. They diverge on social is

On Surveillance, war on terror, war on drugs and war for fun, Obama is republican. All his policies are continuation of Bush era ones. They diverge on social issues.

vezzy-fnord 12y ago
All besides the second predate Bush significantly. Monroe Doctrine's been out for a while now, War on Drugs officially started with Nixon but had precedents since Anslinger's crusades from the 1930s (staunch drug control laws themselves since the 1900s), mass surveillance started with... Truman, actually. Not necessarily under his supervision, but from that time period. To label policies as "Republican" and "Democratic" sounds very disingenuous to me, given how flexible the two parties have been throughout history. Indeed, until the Southern Strategy in the mid-60s, the Democratic Party was the one with the pronounced right-wing populism. Nowadays they both are, but the Democrats are more reserved it seems.
CWuestefeld 12y ago
Or, perhaps the common stereotypes of American party politics are flawed, and the two parties are not nearly so far apart as they lead us to believe. I've longed concluded that the Republicans and the Democrats are just two sides of the same coin, and there's a whole lot of political ideas that are completely left out of our discourse as a result.
Gregordinary 12y ago
Regarding the war on terror and foreign policy in general: Bush-era policy was actually a 180 from what he campaigned on in 2000. Bush campaigned on a non-interventionist foreign policy while Al Gore pushed for "Nation Building". Nation building was consistent with operations and campaigns carried out during the Clinton administration. Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act making it the official policy of the United States to support regime change in Iraq. A few months after signing we carried out the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in Iraq. There were other operations and similar polices as well. Granted you can probably continue this line back through George H.W. Bush and prior, but my point is I'm not sure Obama's policies on surveillance, war on terror, & war on drugs are all republican stances. Rather they are a continuation and expansion of policy that has been in effect at the national level for decades. Party is irrelevant.
- venomsnake 12y ago
  I stand corrected. Anyway the inclusion of Obama in the debate was appropriate.

On Surveillance, war on terror, war on drugs and war for fun, Obama is republican. All his policies are continuation of Bush era ones. They diverge on social issues.

vezzy-fnord 12y ago

All besides the second predate Bush significantly. Monroe Doctrine's been out for a while now, War on Drugs officially started with Nixon but had precedents since Anslinger's crusades from the 1930s (staunch drug control laws themselves since the 1900s), mass surveillance started with... Truman, actually. Not necessarily under his supervision, but from that time period. To label policies as "Republican" and "Democratic" sounds very disingenuous to me, given how flexible the two parties have been throughout history. Indeed, until the Southern Strategy in the mid-60s, the Democratic Party was the one with the pronounced right-wing populism. Nowadays they both are, but the Democrats are more reserved it seems.

CWuestefeld 12y ago

Or, perhaps the common stereotypes of American party politics are flawed, and the two parties are not nearly so far apart as they lead us to believe. I've longed concluded that the Republicans and the Democrats are just two sides of the same coin, and there's a whole lot of political ideas that are completely left out of our discourse as a result.

Gregordinary 12y ago

Regarding the war on terror and foreign policy in general: Bush-era policy was actually a 180 from what he campaigned on in 2000. Bush campaigned on a non-interventionist foreign policy while Al Gore pushed for "Nation Building". Nation building was consistent with operations and campaigns carried out during the Clinton administration. Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act making it the official policy of the United States to support regime change in Iraq. A few months after signing we carried out the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in Iraq. There were other operations and similar polices as well. Granted you can probably continue this line back through George H.W. Bush and prior, but my point is I'm not sure Obama's policies on surveillance, war on terror, & war on drugs are all republican stances. Rather they are a continuation and expansion of policy that has been in effect at the national level for decades. Party is irrelevant.

venomsnake 12y ago
I stand corrected. Anyway the inclusion of Obama in the debate was appropriate.