I started out (around 17-18 years old) as a conservative. I lived in a third world country (and this will be very short and simple
and I "sort of blamed the people themselves." After sept 11th I bandwagoned to conservatism, was for the iraq war, etc. It was difficult going to an international school with those politics behind me, and lots of internationalist english, australian, and kiwi teachers. They attempted to explain to me how I was wrong in many respects, but I didn't take heed. I wouldn't listen when they tried to explain what the Israeli lobby was on Sept 12, 2001.
Eventually I cam back to the states and was in some contact with domestic conservatives. I became a radical liberal very fast, and was even moreso after Bush's re-election.
Since then studying international relations has turned me into a mix of conservative and liberal values. I am a traditional conservative in that I believe that the state as an entity is the result of a history of evolution, is a being in itself embodied by the spirit under which it was founded... and... i lost my train of thought... but at this point tends to be more rational than most of the people it governs. I have faith in the selected professionals that run the country, in that they are educated and trained... unless of course theyre appointed for ideological beliefs :roll: like under the previous administration. I believe that domestic surveillance (with oversight) is necessary as we have no choice but to establish a mild police state. This also means that I am a secret government loving communist.
I understand that neo-liberalism doesn't work for every nation.
I believe in more liberal drug laws, now.
I believe that everyones labor has value and a floor should be placed to keep wages liveable.
I know that a degree of socialization can mean a higher standard of living.
I hate privatisation.
I think guns should be illegal other than for recreation.
I think people who fear a world government are politically insane.
I think alot of the speech that goes on by beck and limbaugh fuels an environment of political insanity through misinformation and is dangerous speech, it is, of course, not dangerous to the two party state or it would be illegal.
As for the militaries of the world, my opinion is that they are there and not going away, as far as Im concerned we can disarm in the next few centuries with greater interdependence, (which , ill admit is radically neoliberal)
I'm for gay marriage, pot smoking, keeping god out of school and everywhere else we can.
I believe that the free market works but those who believe that it does not need regulation are market fundamentalists.
I believe what people perceive as liberalism is largely an ideological perception. Im certainly a liberal and possibly even a radical one in the general sense. Im quite a mix of things and still learning about it presently so I cannot even say exactly where I stand conceptually in the scheme of things.
I dont know I believe in alot of things...
