Given Homer's hedonist ways, I'd think he's be a Libertarian. I think he'd like their philosophy of being able to do what you like as long as you don't harm others ... though Homer would probably ask if that has to include Ned Flanders. *laugh*
Given Bart's desire to do whatever he wants, I at first thought he'd also be a Libertarian, but whereas Homer does occasionally see a need for government, I think Bart doesn't at all. Thus I think Bart would be an Anarchist. An Anarchist with a good heart though. I don't see Bart actually wanting to hurt others. Make fools of them. Rock the boat. Take on the establishment. But time and time again, Bart has shown that he doesn't want anyone to really get hurt ... not even emotionally ... unless it's Skinner.
Marge would probably be a conservative Democrat ... or possibly a Republican due to her conservative views on dating, sex, social etiquette, family values, financial responsibility, etc.
Lisa has been portrayed as basically a liberal Democrat, but then again, she has shown time and time again that she's too much of a realist (cynic for some) to possibly be that. I just don't see her putting with the Limousine Liberals in the Democratic Party. And because she's such a realist, I don't think she could be a member of the Green Party. Sure, I could see her joining both (afterall, she admires JFK and doesn't pick up on fact that he's currently burning in Hell), but her cynicism would kick in and she'd bail. Naturally, she's not a Republican. She seems to believe most of the time in Big Government so I doubt she'd ever consider being a Libertarian. Hmmm. I'd peg her probably as a true Independent.
Maggie is probably a card-carrying member of the Baby Party. ;-)
Hmmm. As for the other regulars. Hmmm.
Burns is naturally a Smokestack Republican.
Smithers is a Republican and due-paying member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.
Lenny and Carl are of course members of The Undecided.
Chief Wiggum is a NRA Republican.
Skinner is a conservative Republican. He has to be this for Bart to play against.
Krapbappel is a liberal Democrat. That she and Skinner have a thing for each other is simply (as far as politics go) an example of opposites attract.
Barney is a member of the Beer Party.
Diamond Joe Quimby and Phil (the newscaster) are classic Limousine Liberal Democrats.
Krusty the Klown is another Limousine Liberal. However, he's not part of the Democratic Party simply because he cannot read thus doesn't register or vote.
So do you agree with the above? Disagree? Care to take a stab at other characters on the show?
Herman has got to be a part of some right-wing militia.
We know definitely that Grampa is a Communist, from the stuff in his wallet in "Homer The Great". But then again, he's also an Elk, a Mason, a Stonecutter, and the president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance for some reason....
Grandma Simpson? Green Party.
Sideshow Bob definitely has right-wing tendencies. LaRouche Democrat?
Ralph Wiggum? Rhinoceroes Party. ("I like rhinos - they're cute and cuddly, and those horns deal death!")
Moe? Any right-wing party that would allow him to carry a shotgun at all times and allow him free reign to sell exotic endangered animals to anyone he chooses. He probably listens to a lot of Rush Limbaugh.
"Daniel Dreibelbis" wrote in message news:[email]...
Nope, Bob is a Republican. He ran for mayor on the Republican ticket. Homer may very well be a Republican, given that he supported Monty Burns in his run for governor, and since Burns is a Republican. This could make Marge a democrat, since she voted for Mary Bailey, Burns' opponent.
Homer didn't support Burns because of similar political ideas. He did so because Burns is his boss. Homer is most likely a member of the lazy nonvoter party.
Any party, esp. Libertarian, is too intellectual for Homer. :) Homer goes into no party at all.
Lisa is of either the ultra-liberal social democratic persuasion, or is an outright socialist. (Though many episodes have contradicted this, esp. the early ones.)
OTOH many episodes have justified the words of that old Satmar troll, who called her a marxist PC thug.
Whichever she is at any moment, she's also a card-carrying Green party member. And also, whatever party abhors and lambasts omnivores.
To make it easier, we can just caller her a member of the Average-American- College-Student party. ;)
And a card-carrying member of the GOA and NRA. =)
Wouldn't that clash with his "alternative lifestyle?"
No, think about it for a second. What if Homer had insomnia, stayed up real real late at night, and saw one of the Libertarian Party ads that run on such popular cable networks as Watching Grass Grow Channel or the TV Test Pattern Channel? I think Homer would be quite turned on by a party that so resembles his personal philosophy ... minus libertarian economic theories, of course. I could even see Homer deciding to run for President on the Libertarian ticket. Afterall, he could always get pointers from Howard Stern, who ran for NY governor on the LP ticket. "Homer, the key to success is ... lesbians. Yup, lesbians. Kissing fondling lesbians. The more, the better."
Homer could go to the Libertarian Party's national convention ... which would naturally share the convention facilities at the hotel with a Star Trek convention. An inside joke the writers could put in is how the Objectivists (Ayn Rand's people) hate the Libertarians and freak whenever the Libertarians claim Ayn was a libertarian. Homer's campaign slogan could be ... hmmm ... "Do whatever, just don't hurt whoever." or some silly spin of the Libertarian philosophy. The shorter, the better. How he wins the nomination would need to be humorous. Oh I know! They could remember that Homer has the same name as the main character in the pilot of a TV series (the one where Homer ended up changing his name to Max Power). Objections would be of course made that the character was later changed into a buffoon on the series, but the winning argument being that still more people know of Homer than all the other Libertarian presidential nominees combined. Lisa could also ask why the LP doesn't allow the general public to has a say in who becomes their candidate by having their nominees do primaries just like the major parties. "What?! And let non-Libertarians vote for who represents us?!"
Additionally, Lisa could bring up the dreadful state of how the major parties have tried to keep out third parties. Guest appearances could be made by John Anderson (who was going to be allowed into the presidential debates by the League of Women Voters, but instead the major parties simply set up a bipartisan organization which took over the debates and kept Anderson out), Ross Perot (which showed how it took a guy with over a billion dollars to force the major parties to allow a third party candidate into the presidential debates by throwing millions of ad dollars at the major networks), and Ralph Nader (which showed it really does just take money to buy your way into the debate via major advertising on the major networks and not simply celebrity status). A mockery could also be made of the restrictive ballot access requirements made of third parties but not the two major parties and how this is done to purposely eats up all the money of third parties so they don't have any to spend on advertising. But because Lisa is honest to a fault, she should also rip into the third parties for not working to build up county parties to give a grassroot base for their organization instead of trying to always just go for the gold ring of the US Presidency. Lisa pointing out to them that if they just had each county party focus on helping an neighboring county start up its own county party that within only a few years, they'd have the massive grassroot organization needed to take on the major parties. Naturally this falls on deaf ears at the national Libertarian Party headquarters who are instead spending money on how they'll redecorate the White House once Homer gets elected into it.
Meanwhile, Homer goes on the campaign trail ... on a shoestring. The major party candidates fly around in custom 747 jets whereas Homer ships himself around the country via Federal Express. How the major press covers the most self-serving meaningless photo ops of the major party candidates with live prime time coverage and Homer is only covered by a pimpled kid from MTV. How Homer gets an enthusiastic cheering audience only to learn he just spoke in front of convicted marijuana users that are behind prison bars and thus cannot vote. "Doh!" He could also get the support of an "environmentalist" organization called C.O.Y.O.T.E. ("Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics" ... which is an organization that's trying to decriminalize prostitution ... hmmm ... Homer might be even more in favor of them once he learns what they really are. *laugh*).
And there could be guest appearances by famous libertarians like Clint Eastwood, Hugh Downs, Dave Barry, John Laroquette, Kurt Russell, Tom Selleck, Milton Friedman, etc. All done humorously of course. Their image managers telling Homer what photo ops their clients will and won't do. Homer doing anything to please these celebrities thus ending up giving a shameful pitch for the next Clint Eastwood movie. Dave Barry trying to do a Will Rogers routine (who campaigned for FDR) and failing miserably. Milton Friedman being initially very supportive of Homer until Milton learns Homer doesn't know anything about economics.
Now I could see Lisa not being in favor of this because the LP is so anti Big Government. However, I could also see her being overjoyed that her father is at least politically active and "taking part in the great institution of democracy". I could see her fighting on behalf of Homer to get him represented in the press ... which could be where most of her moral messages come out of.
I could also see Homer telling Bart on the side to do dirty tricks to the other presidential candidates and Bart simply not getting the true meaning of what Homer wanted and instead simply doing childish practical jokes on the other candidates.
Marge would probably have the hardest time defending their home life to the intrusive press ... a high school intern from the Springfield classified ads newspaper ... or, going to opposite route, from the major news media and Homer wondering: "Why the press would rather dig up dirt on my family than cover the points on my campaign platform?" She could also expose the underside of the lives of the politician wives. These wives could even stop by and let her in on the secrets of surviving these campaigns.
Hmmm. As for Homer's vice president candidate, I'd have him have none. "If I cannot bum around all day in my underwear waiting for me to die or get assassinated so I can take the presidency, no one can!" He could even spin a joke on Al Gore's vice presidential campaign to get rid government waste and ask him why Al didn't start by eliminating the worthless office of the Vice President.
As for a financial backer of Homer. Hmmm. Burns. Yes, Burns. Burns would peg Homer as what he is. Someone Burns can control if he gets into office. Burns could even volunteer to be Homer's Secretary of Energy if Homer gets into office. In fact, Burns could show another ugly side of elections about how big moneymen control it from behind the scenes. Now why would Burns back Homer and not bribe the major party candidates? Hmmm. Burns could just be pissed off that the current President isn't willing to allow him to repackage his glowing nuclear waste as Night Lights for children and making mention that the last "buffoon" in office (i.e., Clinton) also wouldn't let him do it. Of course, Burns gives Homer peanuts for financial support though to Burns, he's giving Homer a fortune to blow.
As for the rest of the regulars. Hmmm.
Moe could hold a fund-raiser at his bar for Homer ... and naturally the same number of patrons show up for it that normally hang out at Moe's ... and sum total of the contributions is a handful of change at the bottom of a big glass jar.
Not sure how other regulars could work their way into this episodes. Anyone got suggestions?
Now the creators could go two ways with Homer's campaign. It could never build up to anything or it could start off a tidal wave of support. The tidal wave would probably open itself for more jokes as the Washington power brokers must then do real dirty tricks to stop Homer and the LP from running them out of town. As for what dirty tricks. Hmmm. The simplest is to simply rig the "new" electronic ballot booths to give a false count in favor of two parties. And/or the two parties negotiating who gets the White House and who gets the Congress then the appointed loser of each election sabotaging his campaign so to insure he doesn't get many votes. And/or they could try to assassinate Homer when he's visiting Dallas but the bullets could just bounce off of Homer's head. Maybe the one-armed gun store man could be the assassin.
Regardless which way, naturally, Homer loses. Lisa consoles him and give her final moral message. Homer is just sad the party's over.
Better yet, Homer wins the election! And then it's revealed that he's only 38 and not the mandatory 39 to be president thus he gets kicked out of office after only one day. Thus Homer can add one more occupation to the numerous ones he's done over the years. :-)
Somebody claiming to be "Scott T. Jensen" wrote in news:[email]:
Actually, you only have to be 35 to be US President.
FWIW, I'm a Libertarian, and I laugh heartily at the joke in "Citizen Kang" where a crowd member says he won't vote for either Kang or Kodos and one of them replies, "Go ahead -- throw your vote away!"
Doh! Hmmm. Wasn't Homer convicted of a felony at least once? If so, wouldn't that prohibit him from being president? If memory serves me right (note the mistake I've already made about minimum age to be president), the Democrats and Republicans made this a law to prevent a very popular progressive candidate from being allowed to run for the White House. That being during the progressive era in the US.
Just trying to figure out a way for Homer to win the election but get kicked out of office so everything returns to "normal" at the end for the series. Anyone got a better suggestion?
On Tue, 01 Oct 2002 23:22:11 -0700, Spambot wrote:
"Montana's Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease.
"Stan Jones,a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, said he started taking colloidal silver in 1999 for fear that Y2K disruptions might lead to a shortage of antibiotics.
"He made his own concoction by electrically charging a couple of silver wires in a glass of water.
Because the article says there's no harmful known side-effects and that the color change is permanent, I wonder how long until one of the cults has their members take the silver drink to further isolate them further from society and keep them longer under in the cult. Think about it. It's better than having them shave their heads and dress in orange clothing. They'll marked as a cult member for the rest of their lives. Hmmm. I wonder what they'll call these members of their cult? Hmmm. Royal Blues? Blue Lights of Purity? I know what we'll likely call these blue cult members. Blueberries. ;-)
Homer I think is not intelligent enough to really be on one side. I would imagine him getting suckered into an underexposed third party.
Yeah, Bart's views are highly Libertarian, but who knows? You could be right about him not caring either way, but Bart from past episodes does know the importance of the society he lives in, and might vote in some form or another.
Marge seemed to start out more liberal at the shows beginning, but I think in recent years, the character has grown more conservative. I would think though that she would still vote Democrat for her views of the equality of everyone, mainly because of the episode where she defends John, the gay guy.
I see her voting Democrat because Lisa is the kind of person who realizes the importance of a political party system. Independents are better as just voters but those who really want power to their voice have a better shot with a political party.
lol
True
Influenced by Burns of course
Okay...
Yeah, I guess
Are you sure that it's about Bart, but not his patriotic views and previous devotion to the military?
Who's to be sure about this one?
lol
Of course Quimby has become more influenced by Clinton in his behavior in recent years.
According to www.snpp.com in the episode where he runs for congress, he falls right in line with conservatives.
Why do you think that intelligence is required to be a member of any political party? If that was the case, there would only be maybe four party members in the Democratic Party and maybe three in the Republican Party. ;-)
Yup, that's my thought. See my post in this thread that's titled "Homer Simpson, Presidential Candidate for Libertarian Party". :-)
There's a fine line for many between being a Libertarian and being a Anarchist. From a "practical" standpoint, I think Bart wouldn't be a Libertarian simply because it's full of geeks. Perhaps Comic Book Guy and/or the very bright blonde geek in Lisa's class could be presented as Libertarians. Whereas being an Anarchist definitely would have major "cool" points for Bart.
First, there's the Republican Liberty Caucus that she could be part of. A lot of gay Republicans are members of it ... thus why I suggested Smithers is a dues-paying member.
Second, this could be another opening for Lisa to point out how southern conservative Democrats would be Republicans if they ran in the north and how northern liberal Republicans would Democrats if they ran in the south.
Well from that standpoint, Lisa could only be a supporter of a third party. Lisa isn't about going with the flow, but being a champion of lost causes. ;-)
But, again, I think Lisa would be a true Independent. Weighing all candidates on their individual platforms and views and not voting for someone simply because they're a member of a certain party.
Possibly without even Burns. Smithers is definitely an elitist.
I think the creators made Skinner this way simply for Bart to play against. Skinner is an authoritarian whom Bart naturally rebels against.
She's the president of the teacher's union and when has a single teacher's union been anything but whole-hearted supporters of the Democratic Party? Nah, she's for Big Government and what it can do for her.
Interestingly, there's actually is such a political party. :-) Or there was the last time I looked into such things years ago.
Hmmm. I was going off that Hollywood is dominated by Limousine Liberals. Toss in that he's also Jewish and it would be surprising that he's anything but a Democrat.
Somebody claiming to be [email] (Jack Of Spades) wrote in news:[email]:
Of course, Marge got very irritated in �Summer of 4'2"� when Lisa suggested that Gore Vidal had kissed more boys than she ever would. Marge may be a Democrat (voting for Bailey; being against guns in "The Cartridge Family"), but she's also neurotic.
On Wed, 02 Oct 2002 23:12:48 -0000, "Ted S." wrote:
i don't think she was irritated at the suggestion, more that her 8 year old daughter was saying such things. i can see i'm going to become 'that guy who thinks he knows how marge thinks' now.
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Even disregarding the pre-1995-ish stuff, the olden days, when it was just blatantly pro-democratic mindfucks sometimes... i'll justify that later...
it's really hard not to concentrate on the references to 'macronomicon' and the republicans being a devilish underground sect, and "welcome to Dick Cheney's America". When you concentrate on that stuff, it's hard not to see TS as "clintonites, and that's all they'll ever be".
Let me say now that i still really, really like the simpsons, and watch them all the time, and i just mentally-edit-out what i see as political simplifications.
but if you don't concentrate on that stuff, the balance redress that occured 1996-ish was great. It really seemed like the simpsons became more secure politically, and were happy to talk like real people (who became more and more real, great).
I'd better just justify the mindfucks comment then wrap it up.
In the first few seasons there was a constant psychologyLITE thread of anti-republican, pro-democrat. It was nicely redressed in later seasons, but after the 2000 election it seemed to have a little more political comments again? Starting with Boy Band Bart?
The writers felt so guilty about their pro-democrat bias in the early days, that they felt that they had to cover it up! When Bart gets Stampy the Elephant, Stampy goes on a rampage through political conventions. The republican convention has people cheering, and the banner 'were just plain evil!', and the democratic convention has people booing, and the banner 'we hate life and ourselves' and 'we just cant govern!'
The misrepresented cheering & booing is simply to confuse you. The keywords are 'GOVERN!' and 'EVIL!' and are written in the larger print. As I said, psychologyLITE.
I was really happy when it rebalanced out to sanity in later years. My heart dropped an inch or two when it was back to comments like "Welcome to Dick Cheney's America".
On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 13:45:50 -0500, "Scott T. Jensen" wrote:
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On Fri, 4 Oct 2002 21:08:34 +0000 (UTC), Diesel wrote:
It's easy for me, as a conservative, to enjoy the show (the older episodes; I think the show jumped the shark around season 10 or 11).
The *Simpsons* writers know next to nothing about politics. This allows me to feel vastly superior to them when they start bleating about sociopolitical issues.
It's the *smart* lefties that are annoying.
Incidentally, has anyone noticed that the personal slams on real politicians tend to be worse when they're about Democrats (JFK in Hell, Clinton and "real, no-foolin' pigs")? Overcompensating for their leftism on the issues, maybe?
that's all cool. i thought i was in for a flamin'. real, no foolin' pigs! instead of overcompensation, maybe it's the brilliance, the reason we watch the show.
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