What Issues Do You Disagree With Your Party On?

[Blue3]

As a Liberal, and a Democrat, in the USA...

- I'm more understanding of the pro-life side, but pretty centrist on the issue. I know there's some awful, sexist, ignorant, pro-lifers... but there's sensible ones too. When exactly in our development do we become a person in the legal sense, with the right to life? Science has shown how early our brain development and pain receptors are, and I expect science to uncover more about the issue too. I can see the merit behind erring on the side of caution, on the side of life. That's not an inherently anti-women position. Saying all pro-life sentiment means being anti-women is not only wrong, but also hugely divisive when it doesn't have to be. I think we need to focus on providing access to contraception, awareness of contraception, and technology to develop better forms of contraception, to make the need of abortion to be as small as possible.

-I'm understanding on gun rights. Not a gun fan myself, never owned or shot one and don't plan to, but I understand where people are coming from and have friends who collect guns as hobbies and go out to shooting ranges for fun. I want to reduce gun violence, which really is a crisis and tragedy in the United States, but the solutions have to be real and prohibition won't happen (and prohibition never solves anything in the US).

- I'd rather intervene when it comes to severe human rights crises where we can make a difference, like Syria, than not. (And I still think we should go after Assad just as much as ISIS, for a particular example). We need to put humanity before nationalist sentiment, we're people first. (I also wouldn't mind a world government in the future, if done right.)

- Even disregarding the above point, I believe we need to maintain a strong military and military superiority. Cuts can be made, for sure (especially with advanced technology replacing people), but I don't believe in the "cut 90% of the military!" that some liberals do.

- I see the need to consolidate, and minimize unnecessary costs, in government/regulations/bureaucracy/laws in general as well as welfare programs in particular. There is waste. There are a few areas where government should not be responsible. Republicans usually go overboard on this. It shouldn't be a huge issue. But it's something Democrats should recognize and have a reality-based plan on.

- While I support immigration reform, I'm not a fan of people creating their mini-countries and not integrating with the rest of society. While not completely assimilate, immigrants need to integrate, meaning learn English and not stay in very secluded societies. (Like with China-town's... how can your family live in the U.S. for generations and not have learned English or really interact with the larger community? Really? That's just one example.)

- Warren/Sanders talk of breaking up the big banks for the heck of it or as punishment, or punishing bankers or the wealthy for simply being that, as misguided and ugly. I'm for things like auditing the Fed, or breaking up a bank if it's really unhealthy and might need to be bailed out in the future, but doing it for the sake of it... no. I also think we should get rid of anti-monopoly/trust laws in general... I understand them, but I think we need to be more focused on outcomes (like that pharmacy guy raising prices for no good reason) instead opposing mergers on principle.

- I'm open to "right to work." Not a big priority, not completely sold on it yet, but it makes sense to me. Democrats seem to reflexive on it, and focus too much on the end justifying the means, when explaining their support for it.

- We need to focus less on preventing global warming (which is pretty much a lost cause by now) and more now on how we need to upgrade our infrastructure to deal with it, and change our messaging overall.Though of course I still heavily support increasing our Clean Energy use, in power plants and automobiles, and filtering on factories. I just think we need to change how we talk about it and how we focus on it. Belittling the other side for not accepting the science for the last 15 years hasn't worked. Try a new approach to get the same or similar results.

- I recognize we need some kind of Entitlement Reform. I want a more progressive-minded solution, but I recognize it's a problem and we should campaign on our own solutions for it instead of letting the GOP dominate the issue.
Which leads me to the next, and probably biggest, issue.......

- I think our priorities as a party can be pretty messed-up sometimes, and our messaging can be awful.




I think those are the big ones, though I might have missed something else.





And of course I agree on things like
-Tax Reform (effective minimum rate on millionaires around 30%, get rid of subsidies for fossil fuels, unhealthy foods, and companies that ship jobs overseas... maybe a financial transaction tax, carbon tax... analyze every deduction/subsidy/credit in the tax code to simplify as much as possible... limit the mortgage interest deduction... probably expand the EITC)
-Infrastructure Improvement (and not only transportation, also water/energy/waste/schools/houses/etc. and more)
-Raising the Minimum Wage
-making paid Sick/Vacation/Parental Leave a mandatory benefit
-Equal Pay for Women (the Equal Rights Amendment finally passing would be awesome)
-free Childcare
-better and better-funded Education
-Universal Pre-K
-expanded Afterschool/Summer Learning Programs
-affordable College and free community college (free overall would be nice)
-more affordable Healthcare, a lot can be done on pharmaceuticals, allowing importation and Medicare to negotiate prices, stop blocking of generic drugs and unreasonable price hikes, malpractice reform, make Medicaid only federal-run instead of leaving some of it to the states like it is now (single-payer healthcare would be nice too)
-the Equality Act to get rid of all the anti-gay discrimination in adoption/employment/housing/medicine/etc. that's still legal
-decriminalizing drugs and legalizing marijuana, lower drinking age... health treatment for drugs and other addiction, not prison
-investing more in Science and Technology (medicine, clean energy, space, cutting-edge technology, etc.)
-expanding Social Security
-phasing out Fossil Fuels and gas-powered cars
-cleaning up pollution and waste and protecting wildlife/forests
-protections against cruelty to animals (pets, agriculture, zoos, circuses, wildlife, etc.) and euthanasia in most cases that aren't end-of-life for animals
-creating a debt forgiveness program in exchange for some form of completed national/community service
-universal voter registration and updating (perhaps mandatory voting, like in Australia)
-criminal justice reform (cop cameras, disclose whenever someone is killed/harmed because of an interaction with police and how/why with documentation, better police-neighborhood relations, independent investigations, train police to limit the use of force and how to de-escalate and have good public relations, get rid of mandatory minimum sentencing, not prison for nonviolent or low-level offenders)
-end the death penalty
-end for-profit prisons, make it more rehabilitation-focused
-allow more flexibility with intellectual property
-nonpartisan congressional redistricting
-campaign finance reform and disclosure
-extend early voting nationwide, and make Election Day a national holiday
-restore/update the Voting Rights Act
-continue to audit the Federal Reserve (but it's crazy to politicize or abolish it)
-changing arcane rules in the Senate to make it more democratic
-getting rid of the Electoral College to make it popular vote and have a run-off with the top 2
- advocate repairing relations around the world where it makes sense (like Cuba, Palestine, Iran)
- maybe something like a global Marshall Plan to help develop other countries and raise their living/environmental standards
-advocate human rights and democracy everywhere
-protecting Internet Neutrality and increasing access
-more social liberalization, getting rid of laws that punish people when there's no harm
-I've heard there's a program that gave foreclosed homes to the homeless (in Utah, of all places) that effectively ended homelessness. We should try that on a national scale.
-keep illegal torture, extraordinary rendition, imprisonment without trial, search/seizure without warrant, etc.
-prohibit private militaries/intelligence, like Blackwater
-the First Amendment: separation of church and state, religious freedom
-more disclosure from the government in general, and expand whistleblower protections
-expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and CNCS
-universal background checks for guns
-expand access to mental healthcare
-pathway to citizenship for everyone
-incentivize businesses to share profits with employees
-fully fund and expand veterans' programs to make sure veterans receive help on-time
-etc.