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What is the most contentious issue in American politics?

What political issue is the most contentious?

  • Abortion

    Votes: 18 34.0%
  • Gay marriage

    Votes: 3 5.7%
  • Gun control

    Votes: 2 3.8%
  • Budget/spending

    Votes: 8 15.1%
  • Immigration

    Votes: 5 9.4%
  • Separation of church and state

    Votes: 5 9.4%
  • Taxation

    Votes: 2 3.8%
  • War on drugs

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Death penalty

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 10 18.9%

  • Total voters
    53
Abortion and SSM by far the most divisive.

SSM hasn't been around for decades as Abortion is. Most of us on the pro-life side (no idea about the pro-choice side) would happily trade a full loss in the fights around SSM to win the abortion fight.
 
The most contentious is separation of church and state (covering abortion, gay marriage, etc) though it's really the least important.

We've got debt issues. We've got foreign policy issues. We've got domestic economics issues. Yet, all of those are constantly getting overshadowed by religious and racial issues.
 
SSM hasn't been around for decades as Abortion is. Most of us on the pro-life side (no idea about the pro-choice side) would happily trade a full loss in the fights around SSM to win the abortion fight.

You win the abortion fight, every time you birth a baby instead of aborting it.
 
The most contentious is separation of church and state (covering abortion, gay marriage, etc) though it's really the least important.

We've got debt issues. We've got foreign policy issues. We've got domestic economics issues. Yet, all of those are constantly getting overshadowed by religious and racial issues.
I suspect that's because people understand religious and racial issues better.


Or think they do.
 
You win the abortion fight, every time you birth a baby instead of aborting it.

...... I mean, sort of? You win a battle, if the child was in danger, certainly. But we're in the middle of a machinery of mass murder and while saving each individual life is important, I wouldn't call it "winning the fight" while the machine churns on.
 
It has to be abortion. One side thinks you are murdering babies, the other side thinks you are violating the most fundamental of human rights including religious freedom, right to privacy, and ownership of one's own body -- in a manner that is sexist and vulgar, and with a poor outcome.

Abortion. It has to be. There is no possible compromise, and no matter what happens by law the issue never goes away.

I have a compromise. Remove the fetus intact, and let God or science try to keep it alive. After all, who is to say when viability begins with the proper technology?
 
It has to be abortion. One side thinks you are murdering babies, the other side thinks you are violating the most fundamental of human rights including religious freedom, right to privacy, and ownership of one's own body -- in a manner that is sexist and vulgar, and with a poor outcome.



I have a compromise. Remove the fetus intact, and let God or science try to keep it alive. After all, who is to say when viability begins with the proper technology?
Science is not yet capable of supporting a fetus outside the womb before it reaches a certain stage of development.
 
Most of these issues keep us from coming together, and solving the real problem. They are a way to divide and Conquer.
 
Most of these issues keep us from coming together, and solving the real problem. They are a way to divide and Conquer.
IMO the most important (yet, oddly, fairly non-contentious) issue is...Education.

Because with proper education, I think many of the issues we currently encounter could be...prevented...
 
Science is not yet capable of supporting a fetus outside the womb before it reaches a certain stage of development.
I realize this, but that's mostly because they haven't tried very hard. That doesn't make it impossible.
 
IMO the most important (yet, oddly, fairly non-contentious) issue is...Education.

Because with proper education, I think many of the issues we currently encounter could be...prevented...

Well said, education & wealth divide are the real issues. Fix these & we will all have to make-up **** to fight about.
 
I'm curious what people think about this. What issue do you believe is the most contentious or divisive, one that the two sides are least likely to come to any sort of agreement or compromise about.

I think at the end of the day, it comes down to religion. The left are anti-Christian, and they are picking away at traditional Christianity one issue at a time: gay marriage, abortion, drug laws, government paid contraception, etc.

You have to understand that the leaders and thinkers of the democratic party are mostly made up of ex-hippies. In the sixties, as kids, they rallied for free love, free drug use, no war, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.... woo hoo.

They never outgrew it. They relive their youth in the political arena. If it weren't so destructive, it would be sad and I would feel sorry for them.
 
I think at the end of the day, it comes down to religion. The left are anti-Christian, and they are picking away at traditional Christianity one issue at a time: gay marriage, abortion, drug laws, government paid contraception, etc.

You have to understand that the leaders and thinkers of the democratic party are mostly made up of ex-hippies. In the sixties, as kids, they rallied for free love, free drug use, no war, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.... woo hoo.

They never outgrew it. They relive their youth in the political arena. If it weren't so destructive, it would be sad and I would feel sorry for them.

Most of what you attribute to "anti Christian" are mostly (especially historically) Catholic viewpoints who tend to split fairly evenly nationally.
 
Abortion and SSM by far the most divisive.

Not really that much divisiveness on SSM any more. The issue seems pretty well resolved save a few feet draggers. I agree that abortion is pretty divisive. To me, however, it seems like the divisiveness is larger than the issue itself. At the risk of being slammed with responses, really, from a political standpoint, what's the big deal. It seems much more like a moral issue to me.

Frankly, I think the most contentious issue is taxes and how they fit into the schema of balancing the budget/solving the debt. You want angst, start of thread advocating tax increases as a keystone of balancing the budget. That would get the blood pressure up of many and invite a thousand posts telling you why your an idiot to suggest such a thing...
 
I'm curious what people think about this. What issue do you believe is the most contentious or divisive, one that the two sides are least likely to come to any sort of agreement or compromise about.

I had to select "other" because all those issues derive from the one main issue: Whether the government should be big and in control or not.
 
SSM hasn't been around for decades as Abortion is. Most of us on the pro-life side (no idea about the pro-choice side) would happily trade a full loss in the fights around SSM to win the abortion fight.

I could see that since SSM isn't necessarily killing anyone.
 
...... I mean, sort of? You win a battle, if the child was in danger, certainly. But we're in the middle of a machinery of mass murder and while saving each individual life is important, I wouldn't call it "winning the fight" while the machine churns on.

So the point is that like all the other things that Christians like to cling to, but aren't satisfied with practicing themselves, but wish to impose on others also, it still amazes me that killing people in war, including the "collateral damage" of innocent civilians is readily excused or justified, and yet abortion, which most certainly is not universally recognised as murder becomes the wedge issue, and a GOP candidate litmus test, despite the fact that no president can do anything about it. As with all other principles Christians hold dear, they ought to practice them themselves in good faith. In one of the states that I live in, you cannot buy alcohol on SUNDAY because the Christians vote in sufficient numbers as to impose their "values" upon me. And btw, I do realise that it's not just Christians that oppose abortion. If you don't condone abortion, don't have one.
 
I think at the end of the day, it comes down to religion. The left are anti-Christian, and they are picking away at traditional Christianity one issue at a time: gay marriage, abortion, drug laws, government paid contraception, etc......

Grimm's post is the other side's way of saying what I said: Most issues boil down to whether government and legislation should enforce morals and customs that derive from religion/tradition in addition to those morals/ethics that are intended to prevent harm and are more accepted universally. That is the underlying issue behind abortion, gay rights, many education issues, sex education, drug laws and many more.
 
So the point is that like all the other things that Christians like to cling to, but aren't satisfied with practicing themselves, but wish to impose on others also, it still amazes me that killing people in war, including the "collateral damage" of innocent civilians is readily excused or justified, and yet abortion, which most certainly is not universally recognised as murder becomes the wedge issue, and a GOP candidate litmus test, despite the fact that no president can do anything about it.

:shrug: others not recognizing some people as human deserving of certain protections and possessing inherent dignity and inalienable rights shouldn't stop Christians from recognizing them. Historically, we have generally been glad that they have not. Do you modify your core beliefs if they are not widely shared?

As with all other principles Christians hold dear, they ought to practice them themselves in good faith. In one of the states that I live in, you cannot buy alcohol on SUNDAY because the Christians vote in sufficient numbers as to impose their "values" upon me. And btw, I do realise that it's not just Christians that oppose abortion. If you don't condone abortion, don't have one.

That is an argument with an assumption that presupposes it's conclusion. For someone who recognizes that the unborn child is a human being, the logic is the same as the argument "If you don't like slavery, don't own any" or "If you don't condone rape, then don't rape anybody".
 
I'm curious what people think about this. What issue do you believe is the most contentious or divisive, one that the two sides are least likely to come to any sort of agreement or compromise about.

Depends upon day and location. In some places right now it's homosexual marriage. In others, it's illegal immigration.
 
:shrug: others not recognizing some people as human deserving of certain protections and possessing inherent dignity and inalienable rights shouldn't stop Christians from recognizing them. Historically, we have generally been glad that they have not. Do you modify your core beliefs if they are not widely shared?



That is an argument with an assumption that presupposes it's conclusion. For someone who recognizes that the unborn child is a human being, the logic is the same as the argument "If you don't like slavery, don't own any" or "If you don't condone rape, then don't rape anybody".

Rape and slavery is illegal. ;)
 
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