GOP frontrunner Rick Perry promotes teaching creationism as a science...

Yup, I don't see anything grand about the GOP right now. Maybe old and outdated.

Politics always attracts nutcases, and it's because of how the US situation is set up that those nutcases are part of mainstream parties instead of fringe ones. That said, I've seen all sorts of such things hinted at before, and nothing ever comes of them. They do it to get themselves into the headlines.

Politics are all about the votes as much as economy is all about the money.

HNM pointed out a hidden truth: if you get people to talk about you, you're making a huge campaign without spending a penny. It's all about the headlines, and whether you believe or not in what you said you can always eat your own words at time.

But even if the promise or threat of closing EPA is real and if the cause they're using as a justification is that it harms the economy, we could also cut out social aid, public education, health care system (the little that's left in the US) and if we got really extreme, suppress working rights in order to rise productivity.

But then, votes.

No, politicians don't give a damn about morals or social or ecological impact. If a measure will make you unpopular, you avoid it. Otherwise, carry on; and this is the case with EPA (safe for green minorities people aren't concerned about the importance it holds or don't really care, since any measure against it won't affect them personally).

I don't know how talking about closing the EPA would help someone's votes exactly :S But then again, I all around avoid politics and find it very hard to understand generally. If someone is being talked about negatively, that shouldn't help a campaign though.

The general public isn't the only target in an election, you can also campaign to get support from political factions, territories, and corporations. I bet the Koch brothers have been taken in count on this political move or, supposing much, that they are financing a great part of the campaign.

Oh, then I guess they'll support the campaign whether or not it's being talked badly about among the general public.

...which is why I, as a socially liberal but fiscally conservative freethinker, seldom find a viable candidate on the ballot. :( I see stuff like this, and then I see my heavily democratic state and local governments dropping $10M on pedestrian bridges and bizarre sculptures for parks in the middle of a recession and I ask myself, "Why do I bother voting?" *keeps saving for ticket to Pandora*

-Aaron

GOP Rep.-Elect Bill Flores: House Republicans Want To Get EPA To 'Shut Down On These Bunny Trails'

Here's on link I found googling Aaron. IDK much about it, I've just heard about it in the news, and read a short article about it in the Columbus Dispatch, but can't remember any names.

Well, first off, the Huffington Post is *hugely* liberal, so I wouldn't accept their read of something like this without my political distortion filter firmly engaged. That said, I don't read this as "shut down the EPA," but rather as "don't impose tough new climate regulations in the middle of a recession." Still grossly negligent thinking, of course.

All kidding aside, Aaron brings up a very good point. This isn't the problem of the Republican Party, per se, but of the two-party system and the emphasis on party loyalty that's ingrained in American politics. There are social conservatives, economic conservatives, social liberals, economic liberals, and every in between and beyond. A lot of times, an economic conservative has to reconcile with social conservatives in order to gain more support due to party affiliation.

The problem with this two-party system and party loyalty is that it severely limits flexibility, and results in the current cluster**** of a political gridlock in Congress right now. Both the Republicans and the Democrats contribute to this problem. For example, I would identify myself as mostly social liberal and economic conservative, with some deviation in certain aspects. As Aaron mentioned, this makes it very difficult for me to vote, because this convoluted political system and culture has left me between a rock and a hard place.

It's easy to point fingers and have someone to blame, but politics aren't that simple, and it's certainly not as black and white as we often make of it.

That's the thing, I have no idea which news sources are liberal or conservative, or unbiased. I know fox news is hugely conservative and CNN is fairly liberal, but that's it.

Exactly. Americans talk about 'their party' like it's their nationality or something - I'm convinced that many vote whichever way without any real understanding of any of the issues or policies (to be fair, that goes for many voters here too, but less so, as well as with a far wider selection of parties to choose from). The US political system seriously needs an extra 6 or 7 parties, so the lunatics (from both sides) can go there and never gain any votes.

There are already alternative parties, but as they say, it's throwing your vote to the dustbin. They're always a minority and they seldom get representation.

HNM, we read a study in my government class that showed that people mostly have 1 key issue, and they pick the party and vote with whatever party is in support for their main issue. Party base voting is slowly dying as independent voters become a larger and larger percent of the population. Which is good :)

ps: this just made me realize, this will be the first year I get to vote.

Even if the number of independent voters are increasing, the dominance of the two-party means that when you vote for the party that supports your issue, you are also supporting other issues that you may not be in favor of.

In my opinion, politicians shouldn't take all of the blame. This is a problem with American political culture, and politicians who don't conform to it will likely not have power or even voted to office. That's not to say they're innocent, but in many cases, they are also stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The following link may offer some insight on American voting behavior.
Party Loyalty Primary Factor in Democratic Vote in 2010