ProggyMan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/fa...o_interstitial
Look at the part about his school, poor kid, I doubt he has much in the way of social interaction.
Edit: Oh, and get this: 'President Obama is the most Left Wing politician in my (14 year old) lifetime.'

dac

Further, conservatism as he preaches it, is actually very agreeable.

- Limit Government
- Value Life
- Personal Responsibility

Now how can you disagree with that? The "Respect The Constitution" thing I'm not so sure about because I'm not completely sure what he means by that.

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Bane of your existence

Same thing could be argued for "ideal" socialism, communism, and anarchism.
All forms of gov't can be made to look great on paper. For actual results of said form of gov't, look around. Eight years of an extremely conservative white house, with quite a few years going unchecked by a republican senate, and we basically managed to clusterfuk the world's economy.

I don't get how people can actually agree that republican ideals are the best fix for it all.

dac

Because those ideals are hardly practiced by the Republican party. This kid makes a point to establish a difference between the Republican Party and Conservatism, which is admirable.

@ Sleepy Jack, the kid isn't that far off of calling Obama one of the most left wing politicians; he's got the most liberal voting record of any relevant politician. I think you over-interpreted his statements. Personal Responsibility does not = a flat tax in my eyes. Now, in Limbaugh's yes, but I'm being rather hopeful with this kid.

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7gaugejames

First let me say that not every thread has to get so serious,(sleepy jack, who i agree with most of the time!) I take it that (proggyman, who makes me laugh most of the time!) is young and is contributing to me wasting time every day, i believe if everyone kept their tongues firmly in cheek, we'd be better off(wayfarer, who makes me chortle most of the time.)and lets face it, my opinion is always right anyway. So it doesn't really matter so much.

And on this Young man, published author and public orator, I may not agree with what he says but I'll defend to the death his right to say it.

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I don't care who you are, Gunslinger, shmunslinger, everyone needs a good purse.

sleepy jack

Those ideas are practiced by the Republican party. Bush let the economy go unregulated and cut "unnecessary" programs (like FEMA, cue poor response Hurricane Katrina.) Limiting government means Wall Street running wild and children go without health care because it's "socialist." We have had conservatives in the White House, the Conservative party is the dominant sect of the Republican party.

He doesn't have the the "most liberal voting record of any relevant politician." The same people that said he has the most liberal voting record in the Senate offered no criteria which they based it off (other than incredibly vague areas) and said the same thing about John Kerry when he became the Democratic nominee (he manged to drop about twenty places from being the most Liberal in a matter of a few years, odd.) Barack Obama isn't that far left compared to Berry Sanders, a socialist and then when you compare him to guys like Kucinich and Stark in the House, then that's just a joke. There's so many things wrong with that ranking and it was so obviously driven by partisanship it isn't even funny.

Barack Obama: The Most Liberal Senator? An Analysis
Is Obama the most liberal senator? - First Read - msnbc.com

Personal Responsibility is exactly what the Republican party and Conservative party argue with when they're talking about eliminating Welfare programs of any sort. Reagan used it as the basis for cutting government programs in the eighties and Bush did after him. They also DO think it means a flat tax in their mind, to them economic equality and "fairness" means a rich guy paying what a poor guy pays and the poor guy, if he's fiscally responsible should be able to deal with it. This kid is nothing but a partisan hack.

sleepy jack

All this kid has done is rehash the same modernized Burkean theories the Republicans have been preaching for the past few decades. It doesn't take any articulation or intelligence. It takes the ability to read an Ann Coulter book and watch a Ronald Reagan speech and then summarize, summarize, summarize! Something most people have been doing since Elementary school book reports.

Proggy is right with his "criticism (though calling that criticism is really pushing the term)" anyway. A fourteen year old kid saying this is the most anything he's seen in his life time is stupid. That aside, calling Obama the most far-left wing politician just shows how much this kid actually knows about politics. All it takes is watching CSPAN once and seeing Kucinich or someone along those lines speak to realize that Obama isn't as far left as it gets. In fact if you look at his policies you'd see he isn't as much a Marxist or Liberal as people think, in fact he's a centrist that leans to the left. I realize this runs contrary to what the media and CPAC tells you, and I don't know how to break this to you, but all mainstream politicians are centrists with slight leanings. People just too get caught up in "What!? He supports abortion and civil unions?" To realize the difference between mainstream fiscal Conservatism and Liberalism comes down to who gets taxed and who gets to reap government benefits.

Now as for your comment, Dac, about conservatism being agreeable...I don't know where to begin. For one, you should know "value life" is just a nuanced way of saying "ban abortion" which runs contrary to his "limit government" sentiment. The conservative party and this associations this kid has, don't want to limit government, they want to limit government when the Republican party isn't in power. Bush went from a surplus to a two trillion dollar deficit and pissed all over the name of constitution in the name of national security. The Republican party, and CPAC, are in no place to talk about limited government and respecting the constitution because historically they never have. As far as "Personal Responsibility" that just means eliminating welfare programs and a flat tax. Modern conservatism has nothing to do with those ideas as they appear at face value, it has everything to do with promoting a society where the rich get richer and the poor stay poorer. That is what this kid is preaching, if it was what you seem to think it is...he'd be speaking at Libertarian convention instead of being Rush Limbaugh's opening act.

ProggyMan

This, although I think you're being too harsh, but that's probably just the internet talking.

dac

I really don't think anyone has hopes of a flat tax actually coming to a reality, not to mention it actually working...

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sleepy jack

Are you joking? Fred Thompson, Rudie Giuliani and Mike Huckabee were all Republican presidential candidates this year and are all in favor of a flat tax, or as they call it a "fair tax."

They weren't remotely relevant to the topic.