27 August 2008

And if elected...


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If it walks like a duck...

I am in a heated conversation with Capt Jack in the prior posting.  I contend that Delaware, Sen. Joe Biden's state of residence, is a left leaning state.  He contends otherwise.  I point out that the overwhelming majority of the statewide offices are held by democrats.  I point out that Sen. Biden is ranked as the third most liberal senator in Congress.  I further contend that Delaware is comprised of many commuting citizens who are more kin to their big city neighbors (Philadelphia, Newark, New York City, Washington).  It is less than one hour from Wilmington to New York via train and slightly longer to DC.  The realities of the northeast corridor make commuting not only practical but essential to avoid the onerous costs of living in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. 
 
The Captain points out Delaware's "free market" tax structure.  There is a reason that Delaware has established itself as an economic haven - otherwise it would likely cease to be a viable governmental entity, unable to sustain it's tax base.  Delaware has a population of about 850,000.  Of these, 637,000 are eligible to vote.  The population centers (Wilmington, Dover and Newark) have 70, 30 and 30 thousand inhabitants respectively.  In the last primary, only about twenty percent of eligibles chose to exercise their right to vote.  Thus, I submit the result of the recent presidential primary;
 

Machine Absentee Total Percent
Votes Votes Votes Votes


PRESIDENT



313 of 313 Districts Reported

DEMOCRATIC PARTY
     JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR. 2789 74 2863 3 . 0 %
     HILLARY CLINTON 39984 776 40760 42 . 3 %
     CHRISTOPHER J. DODD 167 3 170 0 . 2 %
     JOHN EDWARDS 1116 125 1241 1 . 3 %
     DENNIS J. KUCINICH 183 9 192 0 . 2 %
     BARACK OBAMA 50467 681 51148 53 . 0 %
REPUBLICAN PARTY
     RUDY GIULIANI 1161 94 1255 2 . 5 %
     MICHAEL D. HUCKABEE 7577 129 7706 15 . 3 %
     JOHN MCCAIN 22228 400 22628 45 . 0 %
     RON PAUL 2083 48 2131 4 . 2 %
     MITT ROMNEY 16060 284 16344 32 . 5 %
     TOM TANCREDO 174 1 175 0 . 5 %
 
Out of a total of 130,000 plus voters, democrats enjoyed a two to one majority.  Support for Barack Obama soundly eclipsed Hillary Clinton and traditional "conservatives", Huckabee, Tancredo and Guiliani, were soundly trounced by McCain and Romney.  Delaware was ranked 21st most liberal state, by virtue of laws protecting women, reproductive rights and homosexuals.  Wilmington ranks 134, versus a national average of 100, for gays and lesbians.  This is a measure of same sex households versus a national average.
 
Given all of these aspects, I believe it is safe to conclude that Delaware is a democrat controlled, left leaning state.  Economic policies notwithstanding, it should remain so for many years to come.
 
Data Sources:
 
 
 
 
 
 

23 August 2008

Biden his time...

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Sweet nellie potellie. Joe Biden?

Did I hear correctly?

The eternal senator from Delaware? Posing windbag who had previously said he would never accept a nomination to the VP slot?

Barack, is this a joke?

He may have "strong foreign policy experience", but another way tosay this is that he has presided over a lot of hearings.

I don't think this is going to give him the edge he wanted.

Besides, Biden is at times left of Obama.

15 August 2008

Full Disclosure...

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PoliticsMatch

Your Political Philosophy
The below is a way of thinking about your political philosophy by dividing your PoliticsMatch answers into "personal" and "economic" questions.  It is only a theory - please take it with a grain of salt!

Personal Questions:  Liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers.

Economic Questions:  Conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers.
 

Your Score

You scored the following on the PoliticsMatch questions:
 

Personal Score 48%
Economic Score 72%
 

Where You Fit In

Where your Personal score meets your Economic score on the grid below is your political philosophy.  Based on the above score, you are a Libertarian Conservative .

Political Map

 
Personal Score

This measures how much you believe government should intervene in people's personal lives. Personal issues include health, love, recreation, prayer and other activities that are not measured in dollars.

  • A high score (above 60%) means you believe in tolerance for different people and lifestyles.
  • A low score (below 40%) means you believe that your standards of morality & safety should be enforced by government. 

Economic Score

This measures how much you believe government should intervene in people's economic lives. Economic issues include retirement funding, budget allocations, and taxes. 

  • A high score (above 60%) means you believe in personal responsibility for your financial matters, and that free-market competition is better for people than central planning by the government. 
  • A low score (below 40%) means you believe that a good society is best achieved by the government redistributing wealth. You believe that government's purpose is to decide which programs are good for society, and how much should be spent on each program.
Examples

The chart below indicates how four "hard-core" political philosophers would answer the questions. From this example, you can see how you fit in with each philosophy.  Your answers are on the left.

  • A "hard-core liberal" would answer personal questions to minimize government involvement, but would answer economic questions to include government intervention.
  • A "hard-core libertarian" would answer both personal and economic questions to minimize government involvement.
  • A "hard-core conservative" would answer personal questions to include government intervention, but would answer economic questions to minimize government involvement.
  • A "hard-core populist" would answer both personal and economic questions with proposals that include government intervention.

 

= Strongly Support    = Support    = No Opinion    = Oppose    = Strongly Oppose
 

Personal Issues You Hard-core Liberal Hard-core Libertarian Hard-Core Conservative Hard-Core Populist
Abortion Is a Woman's Right
 
Sexual Orientation Protected By Civil Rights Law
 
Teach Family Values in Public Schools
 
Death Penalty
 
Mandatory "Three Strikes" Sentencing Laws
 
Drug Use Is Immoral: Enforce Laws Against It
 
Allow Churches To Provide Welfare Services
 
The Patriot Act harms civil liberties
 

= Strongly Support    = Support    = No Opinion    = Oppose    = Strongly Oppose

Economic Issues You Hard-core Liberal Hard-core Libertarian Hard-Core Conservative Hard-Core Populist
Require Companies To Hire More Women/Minorities
 
More Federal Funding For Health Coverage
 
Privatize Social Security
 
Replace coal and oil with alternatives
 
Decrease overall taxation of the wealthy
 
Illegal immigrants earn citizenship
 
Support and Expand Free Trade
 
Replace US troops with UN in Iraq
 
You Hard-core Liberal Hard-core Libertarian Hard-Core Conservative Hard-Core Populist

= Strongly Support    = Support    = No Opinion    = Oppose    = Strongly Oppose

Issues Not Counted In Philosophy You Hard-core Liberal Hard-core Libertarian Hard-Core Conservative Hard-Core Populist
Absolute Right To Gun Ownership
 
Parents Choose Schools Via Vouchers
 
More Spending On Armed Forces
 
Stricter limits on political campaign funds
 
You Hard-core Liberal Hard-core Libertarian Hard-Core Conservative Hard-Core Populist

= Strongly Support    = Support    = No Opinion    = Oppose    = Strongly Oppose

Final Notes

To ensure balance among political viewpoints, we arranged the wording of the questions so that half the time, the answer involving more government is answered by "support", and half the time by "oppose." Hence, each of the "hard core" philosophers would choose "support" for 3 or 4 of the Personal questions and for 3 or 4 of the Economic questions.

There are four questions which are not counted in your political philosophy. Those questions do not fit this theory -- for example, Democrats typically oppose unrestricted gun ownership, while a 'hard core liberal' would support it on grounds of the government not intervening in a personal issue. These omissions ensure that the theoretical definitions match with current-day politics.

Many of these statements cross over the line between personal issues and economic issues. And many people might answer what we call a "Personal" issue based on economic reasoning. But we have tried to arrange a series of questions which separates the way you think about government activities in these two broad scales.

Political Map and some content from Advocates for Self-Government.

 

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