WEBlue

No, not planning on going anywhere for a while as we just moved across the Pond a year ago. To me, politics in both countries is a game of words & ideas. Granted it's played with more intensity in the US than in the UK, but the game will continue in both countries no matter where I happen to be. As a dual, I'll vote the best I can according to my values, which is all I can do. But I don't worry overly & I definitely wouldn't move country to escape a political party's rantings.

One of my first political memories is of the furor in America over JFK's Catholic faith. He was demonised pre-election & the fear-&-loathing ran high. I was a child but still recall clearly American cousins excitedly discussing the "issue". I find watching this Republican Convention coverage infuriating & depressing, but not so unusual in the end. There's not much new in politics IMO.

robin1234

It certainly is very ominous here. We know that the Republicans have done similar things in the past; come up with a radical agenda driven by grassroots crazies, and put up unelectable candidates. The difference this time is that they have Citizens United protection, and people like Koch and Adelson to bankrole the crazy agenda and presidential & congressional slates. So, given a Stupid Electorate, they could just win big. Then, they will pack the Supreme Court for decades to come. I honestly feel this could be the end of democracy and the beginning of fascism .. and I'm afraid the rest of the world will not escape the cataclysm. Big picture, it is probably inevitable as the US was never going to take gradual loss of world hegemony gracefully.

As for personal plans.. yes it will make persuading my wife to move to England easier.

intant

Definitely it's a big factor in my/our decision to move back to the UK this year! I don't think that Romney will actually win but there's an evil undercurrent running through this country and I worry about the backlash when he looses. Perhaps it's a little melodramatic, but when the likes of Bachman, Santorum and Palin can even be considered for high office it's a sick society. Don't forget that all those ignorant 'hill billy' right wingers have guns !

sallysimmons

It's not the same in so many ways. Yes, fiscally they have some of the same batty ideas only to a much less extreme degree, but socially there's no comparison. We hear things all the time that the Tory government is proposing and just laugh at the idea that a conservative is actually saying these things. (for example, the brilliant infrastructure investment that is bringing fast broadband to rural areas or from a social perspective the push by David Cameron for gay marriage). And you never hear a mainstream conservative politician in Britain justify a political stance by using religion.

Now that I've been here a while I'd say the closest comparison would be to Nixon's American conservative party, before Reagen lurched them to the right.

Giantaxe

It's very disconcerting. I'm actually a free market, fiscally conservative kind of guy myself, but even so I'm horrified by some of the stuff the Republicans are running on. For example, I would be more sympathetic to their cutting government expenditures if (a) they were also willing to cut the military, and (b) they weren't simply going to use the money to reduce taxes on the wealthiest. It's crazy. Similarly, they wish to "repeal and replace Obamacare", but are pretty much silent on how they will get to universal coverage in its absence other than platitudes about the free market. Well, the free market has demonstrably failed to deliver healthcare: we have 50 million uninsured and countless underinsured.

The latter is what could push me to leave sooner than I would choose to. Absent a way to stop insurance companies discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions, I would leave if I ever lost my employer-provided insurance.

HighlandPenguin

I couldn't agree more that there is a stark difference between a UK Conservative and what qualifies for a US conservative here. They truly are light years apart.

You hit the nail on the head with what causes such a difference and that is the use of religion here in the US to push conservative agendas.

nun

Sure the Conservatives can't get away with quite as much as the Republicans and I'm glad to say that there are still more moderate Conservatives than extremists. But there are worrying signs that US libertarian ideas, radical free-marketism, and social conservatism based on religious arguments is starting to become more prominent in the Conservative Party, free market ideas have certainly become far more prominent in the Labour party over the years and I think they have led to the syphoning off of tax payer money into private company pockets and a lessening of services. PFI/PPPs championed by both Labour and Conservatives are a disgrace. I also noticed several prominent Conservative Catholics are being more vocal about abortion and there is a growing number of your Tory MPs who have been influenced by US thinking.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...new-tory-right

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...dment-defeated

intant

Here's a big difference between the Republicans and the British Conservative Party........the Conservative Party are not interested in interfering in our private lives! We are a 'same sex' couple of 17 years, I, the UKC am illegal here and have no status (despite 17 years of paying taxes and employing many US citizens).
We have just been granted a Settlement visa by the UKBA for my partner to live and work in England. It may one day happen here with the Democrats, but it will never happen with the Republicans who want to ban any recognition of a relationship that is more genuine and stable than that of John McCain or Newt Gingrich.

nun

I live in MA for many reasons, and healthcare is definitely one of them.

Sally Redux

Yes it is definitely one of the reasons.

I think my husband's area of work, scientific research, will be decimated.

I think health provision will get even worse and there will be more war and international isolation. I already find it hard to fit in here, if it gets more radical that will be hopeless.

Bluegrass Lass

Most of you know me on here, and just thought I'd let you know that the OP is my husband.

We've been talking about our various reasons for wanting to move back to Scotland, with this growing trend of RWNJs running for office is hard for me to reconcile with the country that I grew up with. I simultaneously want to cry and slam people's heads against brick walls over their ludicrous ideas. The big question we've kept asking ourselves is should we stay and fight against this trend, or should we just go. It's a tough decision, but I've come to realize I'm not going to waste part of my life trying to change their minds.

I sincerely hope this trend does not jump the pond, else there will be nowhere to go for us (mostly) sane folks that don't want God shoved down our throats.

Karrie72

Exactly! What right does any politician have to meddle in the private lives of consenting adults, thereby denying them basic legal protection? Give me a Tory any day over a neocon.

Mummy in the foothills

Yes you would be wasting your time there. They just get mad and tell you if you don't like the way we do things then go home!
I had a very nice lady I was chatting to while our girls were in dance class, ask me about the NHS the other day. She was very impressed that you don't lose your health care if you lose your job, and even those unemployed can get health care. Totally new concept for her. I could tell she had more she was wanting to ask but holding back, so we'll see what comes out on Mondays afternoon class. She wished they had that here.

Derrygal

That's interesting - I had a very different conversation with a co-worker. I casually mentioned that I would love to retire back in the UK, but know that I would miss my children and grand-children too much. She said - can't remember her exact words - but implied that the "socialized healthcare in the UK just lets older people die"!!!! I guess she has listened to Sarah Palin too much (although I suppose when you think about it - the majority of the GOP think that way). I tried explaining that she was wrong - that the NHS wasn't perfect, but everyone was covered and also mentioned that my 84 year old mother-in-law is a 15 year cancer survivor - it was going in one ear and out the other. Finally gave up - we really shouldn't have been talking about politics at work anyway - our company frowns upon that.

Tel8

I guess I'm a bit late to the political party, but I have to agree that some of the things I've been hearing from the right are absolutely terrifying. My dad is the only one of us who can vote (mum's working on getting citizenship though) and he'll be voting for Obama. I don't remember ever hearing some of the absolutely outrageous claims about birth control, "legitimate rape" and various other bits of absurdity when I was growing up, mind you, I grew up during the Bush years, so I was lucky to have a day when "2000 insurgents" weren't massacred. I don't like the political climate here at all, and being in the south there's a lot of people supporting the right and they love to get into those 'simmering' racial issues that someone else pointed out a few posts back.

That's the thing about America, those issues are hardly simmering any more- they're about to come to a boil. I get the feeling that this year's election will be just short of bloody and it gives me chills to think just how much of a mockery they're making of this whole "freedom, justice and equality for all" thing. As for the religious aspects- that's always been part of politics here. In fact, it's part of most people's take on social issues- they might never attend church, but they'll quote scripture when asked about Gay marriage and pro choice.