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What am I? What are you?

What am I?


  • Total voters
    34
My main political belief is:

The only culture the United States government can promote is one of republicanism. Its metaphysics is natural law, its ethics is humanism, and its policies are a synthesis of pragmatism and principle. If individuals feel non-republican values would benefit the community in some way, it is their right to promote them with their own resources. Values irreconcilable with republicanism are regulated, if not outright forbidden.

You would prevent Canadians, British or Australians talking about the benefits of the Commonwealth?
 
I don't think he is talking about the Republican party, but about republicanism (the form of republic government).

Well, technically, a republican government is one that is not a monarchy. So, strictly speaking, communist governments or dictatorial governments could be considered republican.

But I'm guessing he's using the more modern understanding of the term, which is indirect democracy and constitutional limitations of the government.
 
I am a democrat with several beliefs typically reserved for Republicans. I believe that we need a strong military and intelligence community however the way we are going about it right now is incredibly ineffective. Here are my main beliefs right now:

-The military and intelligence needs to be made stronger and better by cutting the fat off of both in ways beneficial for them and the American tax payer (example, closing shop in most countries we are in other than our strongest allies such as Germany and Japan)...Our military is probably 50% stronger than necessary.....the problem is ignorance and fear, ours and the Islamics....Why do we bury the teachings of Jesus under a million tons of religion??
-marijuana should be legalized.........A must ! Tax and control
-We need a public option.........First we need a President with more courage of convictions
-school should be free or have some kind of massive tax write-off....Nothing should be "free".
-China is America's biggest enemy,NOT SO NOT terrorism and they need to be dealt with in the next 10 years or our empire will fall....If we have an empire, we should rid ourselves of it.
-Abortion other than in the cases of rape or incest should be 100% outlawed...I'd agree, but, with the quality of people that we have now, and with our freedoms and liberties, in a democracy, this is not possible.
-Gays should be able to marry nationwide....There is sensitiveity, lets give "don't ask, don't tell a chance...and this should be swept under the rug....there are far more important things to reform/improve..
-All immigrants should instantly get citizenship but should get taxed more for awhile (like several other countries do)Agree, and this is a worthy idea.


I believe if all of these issues were tackled everyone would be much happier and our deficit would go away within 10 years.

Edit: oh and one more, welfare, food stamps, etc all of that needs to be carefully examined. In these hard times several people need the extra help but I have been witness....pics , using your "telephone" ??? to people rolling up in a brand new Escalade, wearing brand new air jordans, and texting on a iPhone while using a food stamp card and that **** needs to end.
We need to have a lot more people involved in politics, too many do not care, collect their money and run again....But, to put and end to this "stealing", some people will be hurt, even killed...this is where we need our military....they seem to have no fear...
 
Well, let's see, taking the the OP as a reference point:

I too believe in personal responsibility.

I too support the right to own guns.

I'm pro-choice in the first trimester only, pro-gay marriage and/or civil unions with all the benefits of marriage including adoption.

I think society has a responsibility to provide a safety net for the truly destitute and especially their children. It should be set up in such a way that helps people get off welfare as quickly as possible.

I believe in absolute separation of church and state and this includes public schools providing a strictly secular education. I have no problems with religious private schools.

I like my country's political neutrality and don't want this to ever change.

I like the fact that the people hold the final say and that nothing major ever gets decided without a referendum.

I like our fiscal conservatism and social liberalism.

I believe health care is a right and that there needs to be some kind of universal health care in place. I like the Swiss system as it keeps health insurance in the private sector, while ensuring that everyone is covered.

I think that's pretty much it on the major issues I care about.
 
I believe you're a moderate libertarian. You generally want a limited government, but aren't opposed to a limited safety net or public education.

I believe in personal responsibility
I believe in the right to bear arms
I believe in the right to freedom of expression
I believe the free market, while not perfect or infalible, is the most efficient way to allocate resources and create prosperity
I believe the free market can fail or be corrupted and then government needs to step in to make corrections
I believe any business that is "too big to fail" no longer needs to worry about risk, since they can count on bailouts and therefore should be broken up.
I believe in ending subsidies, protectionist tarriffs, and most other forms of "corporate welfare".
I believe in a limited safety net for people who fall on hard times
I believe we'll never defeat poverty by simply throwing money at the problem
I believe we'll always have some poverty becasue some people insist on making poor decisions
I believe government and religion should be seperate, but I refuse to get up in arms about towns displaying nativity scenes during the Christmas season or court rooms with the 10 commandments on display or the motto "In God We Trust" being on our money. I prefer to focus on things that actually would affect our freedom of religion.
I believe fixing education in America starts at home.
I believe deficit spending is allowable in times of economic crisis or war, but should not be a long term policy.
I believe we need to abolish laws and practices that help the two major parties maintain a stranglehold on power.
I believe in term limits for all elected officials.
I believe life is the most fundamental right and even the unborn should have that right protected.
I believe marriage is a cultural and relgious institution, in addition to a legal one, and the courts have no business trying to redefine it against the will of the people.
I believe civil unions are a fair compromise on the issue of gay marriage.
I believe our foreign policy should be based soley on furthering our national interests.
I also believe our interests are usually best advanced by not actively intervening in the internal affairs of other nations.
I believe we should end drug prohibition.
 
Another one of these I believe threads...

I believe the state should be subordinate to the people, and companies subordinate to the state and no alterations thereof.
 
I had to put myself down as "Other."

On the one hand, I hold in my mind an ideal America where the government is much smaller than it is today. This would be because:
  • The social safety net stuff is handled strictly by private charitable organizations
  • We find a sensible solution to the health care question (personally, I kinda like Switzerland's system
  • Rather than answering to big-money interests which want the government to use its clout to manipulate the market, regulatory authority is limited to that which is actually necessary to protect the American public
  • We stop handing out military bases like cookies to foreign nations, maintaining only those installations which are absolutely essential for our own national security
  • We stop acting like its our job to right all the wrongs of the world
  • We stop borrowing against our grandchildren's future and budget accordingly
On the other hand, I'm enough of a realist to recognize that we can't have this stuff overnight, over one term of Congress, or even over one Presidential term of office. This is stuff that will need to be backed up by a fundamental change in the way our society looks at itself, at its individual members, and at the world outside our borders.

We need to actually educate our kids rather than prepare them to be good little consumers and corporate drones. We need to take our civic responsibilities seriously, and actively participate in the electoral process. We need to start thinking outside the box for ways to effect change in our government -- we can't just keep passing the baton back and forth between the two major parties.

It is change that will happen gradually, if we want it to happen at all. In the mean time, I believe we're going to have to couple tolerance for short-term expansions in the power of the government with the beginnings of the preparations necessary to ready the nation for a steady shrinking of the government over the course of a generation or two.
 
I believe:
  • Guns are OK, as long as you have the proper training.
  • Religion has no place in schools. It is a personal decision and as such it should remain in the house. If you are to teach a religion you do so either in a historical or literary sense.
  • The public education system we have is terrible and are in need of a new one.
  • People from time to time do need help and we should offer it to them with reasonable conditions attached.
  • Marriage in the legal sense is between two people and the state. The gender of these people does not matter.
  • Abortion is between the mother, the father (if he so chooses), and the doctor.
  • Regardless what some people say we are not a Marxist, Nazi, Communist, whateverist country. We are however the United States of America and a country I am proud to be a citizen of.
  • There is no reason why the world needs us for everything and why we need to stick our noses in everything.
  • Yes, taxes suck, but because of things that happened before my generation, we are going to get stuck with most of it. So, you older generations fix what ever the hell you guys did wrong so my children can have a better life, than what I am most likely going to have.
  • There are certain responsiblities that belong to the parents and not the State or the schools.
  • Boston College, the Yankees, the Jets, the Flyers, and the Lakers are in fact the reason the world will end in 2012. If you want to stop it destory these teams/school.
  • Regardless of what people's religious feelings are not everything belongs in a science class.
  • People, while in general are incredibly stupid, can at times be good natured.
  • Just because you don't like a ruling doesn't mean the judge is an activist.
  • For now, finally, the role of the government has changed since the Founding Fathers. We cannot go back to the way things were no matter how hard we try. The world is a different place. The programs we have now will probably never go away. What we can do is work to make them better and waste less money.
 
I believe in many of those things, however, as such, at a significantly less degree than you may. Part of it is what I would like for myself: I would like to be personally responsible, I would like to be self-reliant, and so on. I agree with you that people need a hand up, the only problem I saw was some people just can't "get up" in the way we may expect no matter what, and depending on who they are and what they have holding them back, I do believe in helping them still. My own perspective is mostly just complicated to explain without derailing the thread.

I believe that the schools shouldn't be instructing sex education, but the reality will dictate otherwise. I believe religion should be expressed in the schools, but not dictated by religion by any means (respect is a way I think of it, and at least some level of acceptance of the community's moral virtues). I am not entirely convinced that the education system needs an overhaul (even more specifically, just what that overhaul should be), nevertheless, I encourage more and more use of the free market to create variety in our education system. I am completely fine with Mathematics and Science being stressed. That is rather status-quo. Americans are a very practical people who want to know how to use information rather than specifically for its own sake. That being said, I will personally be stressing social studies (in particular, History) in order to give a twist to the American experiment.

I am mostly fine with the tax system, though I proceed to think of maintaining that which exists when I do not know much. It keeps me from thinking big change is necessary without really creating a framework as to why I think that way. That and I was aware that only a few years ago, Americans thought they were being taxed fairly, which was a miracle for the IRS who had never seen such positive reviews.

I think the election process is still fine. That being said, I would warn against any person who believes that electronic voting machines need not provide traditional methods of verification. I am a technology skeptic.

I think there was something to the notion that the deficit "doesn't matter", however, a little leeway does not mean nearly *this* much leeway.

I'm fine with congressional bills being amended as they are. It's part of the game.
Implementing new term limits needs to be thought out carefully. I am completely convinced that a mixture of aristocratic, democratic, legal, and republican principles should be implemented to balance the effects of each other.
 
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To be fair, labels DO have a value in our society. Since we cant wear all our political beliefs out on our sleeves, it's easier and faster to find a group that closely resembles our views and identify with that group. Just as it's faster for others to pigeon-hole us.

It makes communication more efficient but the trade-off is we loose the specifics that make us individuals in our beliefs.

I personally believe in many things, but just to pick a choice few:

- Creation of new unions to unionize workers who currently do not have a union and a reformation and restructuring of current labor unions to focus them better on their actual objectives.

- Creation of two National Voting Days where everyone receives a day off to go and cast their vote, the second voting day being for the workers in key positions who had to work the previous day.

- Repealing the restrictions on certain sectors of the workforce to strike. Workers in key positions will be required to ensure adequate staff is present to prevent lives being in danger, but still reserve the right to withdraw labor.

- Universal healthcare paid for by taxes on earnings to provide all necessary and preventative healthcare. Cosmetic procedures (Plastic surgery, liposuction, implants etc etc) or procedures that serve no purpose other than to enhance the looks of a person are to be paid for solely by the recipient of the procedure except in cases where physical damage is severe and disfiguring (Burn damage, accident victim etc etc)

- Legalization and regulation of selling of sex with a requirement to work being a permit that is obtained by paying a licensing fee, paying of income tax, and a clean slate of STD and communicable disease tests.

- An expanding and re-structuring of OSHA and making random bi-monthly (once every two months) OSHA inspections of all workplaces in the US mandatory to ensure worker safety.

- Restricting organized bodies (Labor unions, corporations, businesses, government agencies, charities, foundations etc etc) from funding or otherwise influencing campaigns (Such as giving endorsements or donating free ad time) for any political office in the US

- Levying a Worker Export Tax on all corporations that out-source US jobs with the tax being determined by the number of jobs exported factored in with the amount the job exported was paid with what the job is now being compensated

- Severe economic pressure placed on countries that practice un-fair labor practices and human rights violations as well as tax penalties placed on companies that do business with said countries, including using that country as a source of cheap and labor-law free materials and finished products

- A massive expansion of all renewable energy generation technology as well as a phasing out of fossil fuel based power generation systems. This includes solar panels on the roofs of any house and business where it is economically feasible to do so with tax benefits given to anyone who adopts the technology as well as the use of solar water heaters. Areas of un-livable desert will be converted to solar and wind farms.

- An end to the ban on same-sex marriage

- A complete tear down and re-building of the American education system preceded by a study undertaken as a joint venture between the federal government and as many notable expert individuals and institutions on education as is possible to examine education and the education in America on its most fundamental levels. This study will also include large numbers of students (From ALL grade levels), parents (of ALL educational backgrounds and levels), teachers, and ordinary citizens.

- An end to the electoral college system and the use of a popular vote in any and all matters under general election.

- A comprehensive sexual education class to be administered in Junior High and continued until graduation of High School to cover all aspects of sex, sexuality, contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases, social aspects and attitudes of sex, and sexual health. This also includes an end to abstinence-only education but not removing the idea of abstinence from sexual education curriculum.

- A lowering of voting age to 16 coupled with classes beginning in Junior High to educate and inform students of the current political climate and events around them. This class would ONLY be to inform, not influence.

- An abolition of private schools and restrictions on charter schools that they cannot be run on a for-profit basis. Private semenarial schools (Schools which teach religious fundamentals and train clerical staff) will remain open but must be funded by majority funds from a church or religious organization. Funding and resources for private schools being re-directed to the public educational system, this would follow a re-building of the educational system. This would be coupled with a cap on vouchers that they ONLY be used in a situation where a school has completely failed and relocation is required for students.

- A re-formatting of the legal system's handling of drug offenders with a more strong emphasis on rehabilitation centers rather than prisons and Federally funded drug rehabilitation centers with help given free of charge

- Strong pressure to increase auto emissions and fuel efficiency standards in US automobiles as well as restricting the import of any automobile that does not meet US standards.

- Clarification and full disclosure of ALL ingredients and production processes of any consumable item in the US avalible from the manufacturers via website or mailed information. This will be in addition to current nutritional information currently provided.

- Institution of public transit requirements for cities based on population and physical size. Federal funding assistance will be given to cities who do not have the financial means to institute or maintain such systems.

- Federal control and regulation of the auto insurance industry.

- Disbanding of the Department of Homeland security and repeal of the PATRIOT Acts

- Requirement that all US military service personnel serve a minimum of one year as part of a domestic program using military resources and personell to aid in domestic crises such as natural disasters.

- Strong review of censorship, anti-terrorism, and copyright laws.

- Ending of No Grow subsidization of crops (Paying farmers not to produce certain goods) and the use of destroying excess produced food to maintain market prices. Excess food will be given as humanitarian donation to an area where there are currently problems with food production

- Institution of a Work To Citizenship program that allows an illegal alien to enter the US, work as a provisional citizen (Paying all taxes and having the same rights as a US citizen but will be deported for any serious crime committed) with fingerprint, DNA, and full input into national databases mandatory. If a person goes a mandatory five year period without serious violations of the law and pays all income tax as due, they are awarded full citizenship in the US.

- Spending for public office capped at agreed upon amount and prohibition of political donations, gifts, or assistance for office as well as a ban on lobbying.

- Establishment of a national DNA and fingerprint database from DNA samples gathered at birth and fingerprints gathered upon entrance to the workforce. The database will be OFF LIMITS to any commercial or scientific enterprise and will be solely for the use of licensed and checked law enforcement personnel.

- A serious and exhaustive review on the methods used for the War on Drugs and a drastic restructuring of how the struggle against drugs is to be undertaken

- A serious and exhaustive review and reform of all aspects of capital punishment in the US. The report is to be issued to the public and widely circulated before a public vote decides on the use of capital punishment.

- Placing full fiscal and legal responsibility of toxic spills and illegal dumping on responsible bodies as well as requirements for cleanup even if costs would cause the company to go bankrupt (if you cant do the time...).

- Expansion of Community Service programs and using them as a greater alternative to jail time

- A serious and exhaustive review of food and food additives in the US as well as re-adjustment of mandatory minimum standards for food quality and banning the import of any and all food products that do not meet this standard. This includes examination into water and water quality and products that contain HFC, Aspartame, and other food additives.

- Use of prison farms and factories to use prisoners as workers to produce goods and food that they need to drive down operational costs

- An in-depth examination of the use of school farms to allow students to produce a supplement to school lunches and include more fruits and vegetables into their diets. The program will be offered as a class for credit that students can take to grow, process, and serve organic foods. This will not be a viable program for all schools such as those in deep urban areas, but rooftop greenhouses can be examined for such situations and greenhouses can also be used in areas where climate prevents widespread agriculture.

- A slow phasing out of the use of tobacco by gradually lowering the amount of tobacco contained in each cigarette until there is minimal levels left and the complete phase out of the smoking of tobacco

- Expansion of water recycling and reclamation projects

- Separation of bio-waste from trash to make compost to be distributed to farmers

- Community outreach programs to help the growing of organic foods in individual homes. This can range from a small backyard plot to a potted plant on a windowsill.

- Phasing out the use of coal as a fuel as soon as possible
 
I think I'm definitely a liberal Democrat...but although I'm probably not a centrist, I consider myself a pragmatist. I am disgusted when Democratic politicians present pristine bills on which they refuse to compromise, and end up with nothing. I'd much rather have them work with their Republican counterparts if it meant that we could actually pass a law that I could 80% agree with.

As for as actual policies, I'm liberal, but there are some issues where I think I buck the conventional left-wing orthodoxy and have more in common with conservatives:

- I support virtually any education reform that has shown proven results...and I'm willing to experiment with policies that haven't shown results yet. Merit pay, school vouchers, longer school days, longer school years, charter schools, deunionization, changing the curriculum, statewide funding of education instead of property taxation...I support it all.
- I agree with Republicans that the social security retirement age needs to be raised. This simple change could save hundreds of billions of dollars. I also would support means-testing social security, so that those who don't need it don't receive it.
- I am a very strong supporter of free trade. I support virtually all free trade agreements the US has negotiated, and strongly favor negotiating more. We should also unilaterally end most of our tariffs and agricultural subsidies.
- I support de-linking employment and health insurance through changing our tax code. This is a drag on our economy.
- I oppose cap-and-trade. It's a waste of money, and wouldn't even do anything to halt climate change.
- I support a strong deployment of our military, albeit in a very different way than we've done it recently. We should be a lot more active in Africa and a lot less active in the Middle East.
 
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