Comments on: CNU survey part 2

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:54:58 +0000

Well said, Dr. Tabor. My inner libertarian has been breaking through since about 1992.

By: Don Tabor

Don Tabor — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:56:38 +0000

Brian’s inner Libertarian is breaking through. But you are touching on a fundamental difference in how Liberals and Libertarians see compassion.

Liberals see compassion in terms of how many people they help.

Libertarians see compassion as creating the conditions under which able bodied people need no help.

We see no compassion in maintaining people in a childlike, dependent state.

OK, back to my own place, tidewaterliberty.com

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:21:05 +0000

Amen, brother. To hell with the people who lose their jobs in the coming recession! That’s what you all get for working in a phony industries like “manufacturing,” “customer service” and “retail.”

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:59:32 +0000

Hmm – Brian wants to cut Social Services. Says a lot, I guess.

Primarily, it says that I am not fond of being forced to subsidize the lives of others. Is that such an unreasonable position?

By: vjp

vjp — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:36:34 +0000

Hmm – Brian wants to cut Social Services. Says a lot, I guess.

anon – I have some of the crosstab data, but it doesn’t show the breakdown by geography, only metro, small town, and rural. Remember that the 55% is the top two choices combined. On that basis, metro ranked transportation 50%, small town 61% and rural 57%.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:12:48 +0000

I agree that the actual language of the answers provided undoubtedly influenced the results. Only one answer included the words “don’t raise taxes,” and I’d wager good money that if the first answer had also included the words “don’t raise taxes” (along with cut some spending, tap rainy day fund) it probably would have scored higher.

I wish the memo had provided a geographical breakdown for the next part of that question where people were asked to prioritize what to cut. I would find it hard to believe that 55% of voters in Hampton Roads or Northern Virginia wanted to cut funding for fixing roads and improving infrastructure so people spend less time in traffic. But I would easily believe that 80% of voters in Southside and Southwest wanted to cut spending on transportation problems that aren’t in their area.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:18:25 +0000

Cutting social services sounds good to me. I’m heartened that raising taxes finished a distant third, but the three choices provided as answers probably hurt the reliability of this poll.