Liberal Republican or Conservative Democrat?

As I try to think of which party I belong in I am reminded of a fun 80's song by Eddie Murphy. It is a bit of a stretch to connect this to this post, but since this is my blog I am going to do it anyway.



I wish we didn't live in a two party system, but in the United States that is what we have. There are of course other parties, but unless one wants to be left out of voting for individual candidates during the primaries then it is necessary to choose a party. This is the time a difference can be made in regards to who is going to hold office in California. The districts are so gerrymandered that after the primary the contest is basically decided based on whether the district is Democratic or Republican.

So the question left for me to answer is whether I consider myself a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat. I am pretty liberal when it comes to social issues such as gay marriage and legalizing marijuana. However, I am anti abortion which is socially conservative. Economically I believe in keeping a close eye on budgets and not spending any more then needs to be spent. I don't believe unions are nearly as necessary as they were in the early 20th century and may actually not be needed at all. At least when it comes to public employees there are serious issues. Of course it would be great if everyone could have an excellent retirement like with the public employee's and the teachers unions. In California the unions are so powerful that they can fight any legislation that tries to adjust their retirement many times under the auspices of doing what is best for children.

This leaves me back where I started which is trying to figure out where I fit in politically. It is not as important as I used to think. During college I was a member of the Young Democrats and I believed that someday I would run for political office. After I graduated and saw all the underhanded activities that are involved in politics I completely lost interest in being elected. One time when I was still considering running for office I had lunch with an elected official I knew. This individual proudly told me how he/she was able to find out details on a competitor by hiring a private investigator. After gathering some dirt he/she used the info to get the other candidate to drop out of the race. I was advised that with $300 I could find out whatever I wanted to about my competitors. Politics was much different than how I had naively thought and now I knew this was not meant for me.

I am currently registered as a Republican and after writing this post I feel I am going to stay that way for now. This is not a major decision as there are many contests that are non-partisan. Then there are many contests in which the incumbent is running unopposed. For the few where there is a choice of candidates I'll be voting for the most liberal of Republicans, but in this time of extreme politics I am probably going to be voting in the minority.