In the Netherlands elections are on Nov. 22, so the politcal debates are everywhere here, on TV, on radio, in the newspapers. These are really weird elections. (Although it may also be the case that it's me who's 'weird' this time.) We have many parties, some leftwing, some rightwing. All parties take stances that I like and take stances that I (principally) dislike. It is virtually impossible for me to give my vote to one party without me be inconsistent and betraying at least one of my basic principles. This is true notwithstanding the fact that we have so many parties. I wonder whether that would be an even bigger problem with only two serious candidate parties, like the Democrats and Republicans. Or perhaps my dilemma would be even less severe because both these parties have less stances that would make it principally impossible for me to vote. For example, one of the Dutch parties is notoriously against Israel. This fact alone makes it impossible for me to give them my vote. I assume that both the Republicans and the Democrats have moderate stances in that issue.

>Very true. And once again everyone will switch political parties because, as in the past, the Democratic party will become the new Republican party and vice versa. Something interesting, the Democratic party used to be known as the Democratic-Republican party. Interestingly, the original 'liberal Democratic party stance' was based on Harry Truman's 'Fair Deal' which included national health insurance. I don't think any of his proposals passed congress though.
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>>>>>>How conservative you are. :)
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>>>>>"Backward", right?
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>>>>Sorry, I didn't say you are retarded. :)
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>>>I meant "backward" in the sense of old-fashioned.
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>>Well, if I would have been you, I'd probably have replied:
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>>"Peter, aren't you the one who is conservative, as you are still sticking to ideas of the sixties."
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>>The problem with 'progressive versus conservative' is that it all depends on what the current mainstream is. At the moment that a so-called progressive political party has reached all its goals, it will become a conservative party, because it will set as its new goal the preservation of the status quo.