Is Captain Kirk a Republican or a Democrat?

[Mutley]

Poll question: Is Captain Kirk a Republican or a Democrat?

This is vital information.

[deucemagnet]

1. Well, Gene Rodenberry set Star Trek in an idyllic future.

An idyllic future would have no Republicans.

edit: typo

[Mutley]

2. True.

The elimination of poverty alone suggests that Republicans don't exist in the Star Trek world.

[Book Lover]

3. As much as we would like him to be one of us, Kirk is Republican-lite

Don't let the eyeliner and easygoing manner fool you. He favors and implements government arming of "our" side in a proxy war; holds true hatred in his heart for the officially designated enemy; and pays only lip service to the Prime Directive.

[Mutley]

4. Would you say, then

that the society in which he lives is also Republican-lite since they share the same values (Except that Prime Directive part)?

[billyskank]

11. I thought Kirk's society had abolished money?

That doesn't sound very Republican to me. :D

[Book Lover]

15. You mean the Federation as a whole?

I would call what we know of the political structure of the original series Federation moderately liberal with light wisps of authoritarian paternalism.

[Mutley]

42. That works for me.

:P

[Zavulon]

5. Yeah, but he has no problem with premarital sex.

I'm also betting he wouldn't order a nude statue on the Enterprise to be covered up.

[billyskank]

9. Neither do Republicans...when it's THEM doing it

They only have a problem with OTHER people doing it. ;)

[Zavulon]

18. Ah, right, my mistake.

Jury's still out, then. :)

[Radical Activist]

20. Spock and Bones are the liberal Democrats.

Kirk was a moderate.

[Book Lover]

22. I wonder if Spock would consider political parties in a democracy logical

Surely it would be more logical for every candidate to state their views and positions on important issues of the day, short- and long-term, and then let the voters decide on Election Day. Using paper ballots that are hand-counted!

Bones, on the other hand, is a Truman Democrat and no mistake :-)

[Bombtrack]

25. Certainly Sulu as well

Oh my.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China" and only Kirk could go to Klingon.

[billyskank]

8. Kronos

please. ;)

[trogdor]

14. Paris.

The Federation capital was the original location for the peace talks. After the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon, the negotiations were moved to Camp Khitomer. The only time any Starfleet people (Kirk and McCoy) were at the Klingon home world was to stand trial for Gorkon's assassination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_VI:_The_Undiscovered_Country

[billyskank]

7. What

The
Fuck
mutley

:P

[Mutley]

32. What?

I was bored. :P :D

[billyskank]

33. I like it when you're bored

you're fun. :*

:D

[Mutley]

34. Well, boredom does make me do strange things.

:7

:*

[billyskank]

35. Whatever you do

I always go :woohoo: when I see you. :hug:

:loveya:

[Mutley]

36. Now I'm bored AND hungry.

And too bored to decide what I want to eat.

:D

:loveya:

[billyskank]

37. Pringles and chocolate

Cornerstone of any nutritious lunch. :D

[Mutley]

38. Indeed.

Sounds a lot better than the leftover pizza I was considering. :bounce:

[Broken_Hero]

10. He is a Democrat

with a long history of military service.....:D

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

12. This thread would have much funnier responses

if we could hear people combining Shatner and Dubya's voices.

[PVnRT]

17. Iraq... has... sought... yellowcakefromNigeria...

n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. 'We come in peace; shoot to kill'

Sounds pretty W-ish to me. :shrug:




He's dead, Jim.
Dead, Jim.
Dead, Jim.
Dead, Jim.

[NYCGirl]

16. Roddenberry wrote Kirk as a Kennedy Democrat.

Edited to add:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/opinion/18moore.html?ex=1316232000&en=5a60c3e7bf30ab1c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

“Star Trek” is often reduced to kitsch: Kirk’s paunch, Spock’s pointy ears, green-skinned alien girls. But it was more than escapism and rubber-suited aliens. It was a morality play, with Capt. James T. Kirk as a futuristic John F. Kennedy piloting a warp-driven PT-109 through the far reaches of the galaxy.

Kirk, for me, embodied an American idea: His mission was to explore the final frontier, not to conquer it. He was moral without moralizing. Week after week, he confronted the specters of intolerance and injustice, and week after week found a way to defeat them without ever becoming them. Jim Kirk may have beat up his share of bad guys, but you could never imagine him torturing them.

A favorite quote: “We’re human beings, with the blood of a million savage years on our hands. But we can stop it. We can admit that we’re killers, but we won’t kill today.” Kirk clearly understood humanity’s many flaws, yet never lost faith in our ability to rise above the muck and reach for the stars.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Thanks - great stuff

I think Trek, in general, has been fairly liberal in its various incarnations over the years.

[underpants]

19. *

This has DU classic written all over it.

Bookmarking

[Mutley]

40. Always wanted to start a DU classic.

Don't think it's gonna happen at this point, though. :(

[ikojo]

23. Are you asking about whether William Shatner is a

pug or a Dem? or would the character of Captain Kirk be a pug or a Dem?

[Mutley]

39. Captain Kirk.

I couldn't care less about Shatner's politics.

[Pierre.Suave]

24. LOL

I feel seriously underqualified to comment in this thread.

[YankeyMCC]

26. Probably a libertarian

Believes in power, and highly territorial, but also in treating everyone (regardless of skin color or DNA arrangement) as equals, shuns even the strong central authority of star fleet but holds himself and others to a strict code of conduct.

But then he can't be a free-marketer given the Federation's economics, although we can't say what that is exactly I think we can be pretty sure it isn't a capitalist free market like libertarians envision it.

[Deja Q]

30. I must agree

Kirk likes giving freedom. (and teaching green women how to looooooooooooove, but that's another story.)

He dislikes totalitarian empires, or civilizations ran by computer. When he believes people cannot be free, he will break the prime directive. Especially when the totalitarian force is about to destroy his ship and crew. (Picard would simply let everybody on board die for the sake of a gaggle of brainwashed morons to remain brainwashed and moronic... maybe that's why he didn't get into any situations; he could be nice and self-righteous and pretend nothing really exists. It's no wonder Q had great fun manipulating him.)

Money is rarely mentioned in TOS; but the concept of being free and being one's self is. Even when money is mentioned; people are paid out of merit and ability. Not because of a so-called "market influence" (which too often isn't anything of the sort). :)

There was a quote, I think he said it in "The Apple", which is eye-opening. While "The Apple" is fairly dorky in some ways, the underlying message is far clearer and more poignant than just about any message coughed up by any of its spinoff series. (it's about freedom and being in control of one's own life...)

[uppityperson]

27. which continually takes shirt off and mates with opposite sex being?

[Kat45]

28. Don't know about Kirk, but Denny Crane's a Republican.

:rofl:

[JVS]

29. Independent

[rurallib]

31. Born in a small Iowa Farmland town

that has been republican forever. Parents politics is still a large reason why we vote the way we do. I know folks over that way and it's very Republican. James T. will be born there in a century or so.

[baldguy]

41. He respects & fights for individual & civil rights,

Fights injustices, fights for workers rights,

And never once said, "What's in it for me?"