Your outlier views for your political persuasion

[Link]

Pretty indifferent to the monarchy.

That cracks me up.  I'm glad we Americans aren't the only one with bizarre domestic issues that divide our parties.

[Link]

Depends on how I define my political persuasion, but just looking at my avatar color and pm score, probably something enviromental. I'm pretty skeptical of the "drill, baby drill" stuff, and concerned about the effects of fracking and mountaintop removal - though that's not to say I have a better solution to our energy problems. To the extent possible, trade policy should take into account the effects of environmental destruction and displacement of peoples in production of goods.

Nixon started the EPA so don't worry.  You are still a Republican.

[Link]

I'm a Democrat so it's pretty hard for me to think of any "outlier" positions I have.  The Democratic party is a pretty big tent.  There is no real litmus test for being a Democrat.  It's kind of a holistic thing.  Democrats sort of take a look at the whole person.  There are pro life Democrats and there are Pro Choice Democrats.  There are religious Democrats and there are Atheist Democrats.  It's all over the map.

[BushKenya]

I don't know about outlier views, but my reasons for being a registered Democrat are mostly economical.  I am moderately-liberal economically as I remain a supporter of President Obama's Health Care Law and I care about things like keeping education money in the classroom and enriching the students learning experiences in all grades.  I'm not interested in just improving test scores, but giving the student a well-rounded experience, academically, physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and even spiritually.  I also support affirmative action and believe that a minority candidate should be interviewed in every job search.  They don't have to hire the minority candidate, but they should seriously interview the candidate and not be afraid to hire him or her if they are the right person for the job.  The employer should also not be afraid to not select a minority candidate if they are not the right person for the job.  Those are just some of my reasons for being a Democrat. On social issues, I mostly side with moderate Republicans.

My economic views are more Democrat than my social views are Republican, though, and that's why I am a registered Democrat.

[© Tweed the Younger]

I oppose workers' dictatorship over the sports gambling market.

[Leftbehind]

Pretty indifferent to the monarchy.

That cracks me up.  I'm glad we Americans aren't the only one with bizarre domestic issues that divide our parties.

That doesn't actually divide our parties - they're all pro-monarchy. I meant most socialists like myself are pretty passionate in their opposition to the monarchy, whereas I can't work up the energy to be bothered by them. Unless it's a socialist republic I can't see what good it'll do.

[BugsBunny]

I'm pro-life/anti-abortion.

[TNF]

I consider myself a pretty run-of-the-mill American liberal, with a few exceptions:

1) I totally and fully support the right to bear arms and am against any encroachments on that right, aside from restricting the sale of some military grade arms. I don't want background checks done, I don't want a gun registry, and if you've served your time in prison and are not on probation, I think you should be able to buy a gun like anyone else.

2) I am strongly opposed to affirmative action. I feel that it is sexist and racist and should be abolished in favor of colorblind programs that help everybody, not just a few people based on the color of their skin or their genitalia. I am likewise opposed to multiculturalism and believe very strongly in the American ideal and consider myself quite patriotic, bordering a sort of Rooseveltian liberal nationalism.

3) I think that modern feminism goes a tad too far in some instances, and that we need to redress legitimate concerns by men with regard to this. I believe in true gender egalitarianism (women should have to sign up for selective service) and equality among the sexes, as well as combating the ingrown gender roles that hamper this.

4) I am a realist in foreign policy. Not all wars are bad.

5) I think that environmentalists are off their rocker a good portion of the time. I support the use of natural gas to help us transition to a nuclear-based energy economy and really dislike the whole 'green jobs' canard we keep getting played on us. I also think that Cap and Trade is a huge scam waiting to happen.

[white trash heroes]

3) I think that modern feminism goes a tad too far in some instances, and that we need to redress legitimate concerns by men with regard to this. I believe in true gender egalitarianism (women should have to sign up for selective service) and equality among the sexes, as well as combating the ingrown gender roles that hamper this.

What's the point of equality if people are less free as a result? This is one of the reasons I find Feminism so dreadful even when it is actually consistent. If women don't have to sign up to be put in the meat grinder then good for them.

[white trash heroes]

Well let's see...

I've always been conflicted on the issue of national healthcare. I find the conservative/libertarian position to be wanting even if I agree that the constitutionality is highly suspect.. To say nothing of the cost estimates, naturally.

The electoral college has always struck me as self evidently useless and archaic and I strongly support IRV. Of course otherwise I tend to share the skepticism towards Democracy being inherently good and an end in itself that a lot of limited government supporters have.

I consider phrases like "America is the greatest country on earth," "blame america first crowd" and "love it or leave it" to be highly toxic. People have been conditioned to shout down any criticism of their government and society as un-Patriotic and that's arguably our biggest problem. Of course the faction of the "right" I identify with has no problem arguing the US is in decline, but it's frustrating generally only hearing "the left" openly talk that way.

Hm, another to consider: I am somewhat unnerved by the idea of everyone having "their own home" or the right's obsession with property over all else. The whole idea of "home ownership" to me seems pretty ridiculous when you're just going to wind up breaking your back to pay the mortgage plus property tax even after you're done with that (plus you know, renting would be much more common without subsidies and deductions for "home ownership"). And obviously land is finite so there has to be some limits, even if I balk at the idea of redistribution of wealth for the sake of redistribution or sin taxes and all that.

[republicanism]

- I'm "Pro-life" in a wider sense, as I oppose abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia etc.

- Then I support Israel.
What of course does not mean that I support the Netanjahu government - actually I despise them, I think that Lieberman is a racist and that the settlements are illegal.
But I believe that even the right wing government that rules Israel today is much, much, much preferable to a bunch of rocket-launching islamist paramilitaries whose goal is to kill as many Jewish kids as possible by bombing kindergartens and hospitals.
Strangely enough, this is a rare position to find on the left.

- I also do not hold a strong emotional position on nuclear energy, what is very rare in Germany. I neither think that the nuclear plans will kill all human race, nor that they are the only way to keep our society working. It is just one way to produce energy, with lots of Cons and Pros.

[traininthedistance]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who is normally staunchly left-wing on the environment and social issues, and center-left on other economic issues:

* I'm a huge, *huge* supporter of nuclear power.  Renewables are not going to replace fossil fuels (and no natural gas is not "clean") by themselves, if we want to keep up our standard of living without burning the planet or running out of energy we need nukes.

* The Second Amendment means what it says, whether I think it was a good idea or not (mostly I don't care).  The right to gun ownership is in fact baked into our Constitution.

* Rent control is a bad idea, as are many zoning regulations.  We'd have more efficient, environmentally friendly, and interesting cities (and yes we'd cut back on suburbs too) if developers were allowed to build as tall and as dense as they please, anywhere there isn't a compelling environmental reason such as wetlands, steep slopes, important habitat areas, etc.  A lot of historic preservation regulations are especially bad, though the DC height limit is the worst of them all.

* This isn't really left or right per se, but the mortgage interest tax deduction (and, honestly, the whole idea that owning a home ought to be some ideal that most Americans should strive for) is a bad idea.  It shortchanges the gov't; it is deeply regressive; and it encourages an incredibly harmful misallocation of resources.  Scrap it.

[traininthedistance]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who is normally staunchly left-wing on the environment and social issues, and center-left on other economic issues:

* I'm a huge, *huge* supporter of nuclear power.  Renewables are not going to replace fossil fuels (and no natural gas is not "clean") by themselves, if we want to keep up our standard of living without burning the planet or running out of energy we need nukes.

* The Second Amendment means what it says, whether I think it was a good idea or not (mostly I don't care).  The right to gun ownership is in fact baked into our Constitution.

* Rent control is a bad idea, as are many zoning regulations.  We'd have more efficient, environmentally friendly, and interesting cities (and yes we'd cut back on suburbs too) if developers were allowed to build as tall and as dense as they please, anywhere there isn't a compelling environmental reason such as wetlands, steep slopes, important habitat areas, etc.  A lot of historic preservation regulations are especially bad, though the DC height limit is the worst of them all.

* This isn't really left or right per se, but the mortgage interest tax deduction (and, honestly, the whole idea that owning a home ought to be some ideal that most Americans should strive for) is a bad idea.  It shortchanges the gov't; it is deeply regressive; and it encourages an incredibly harmful misallocation of resources.  Scrap it.

Oh, another one, which puts me as an outlier for everyone both left and right:

* I don't think the bailouts were a bad idea, I mean sure they were bad, but the alternative was just so much worse.

[Platypus]

In the Australian context, I'm broadly left-wing. I don't really know where I fit, but left-leaning small-l liberal might be about right. Anyway, here's where I oppose broadly leftist issues in the Australian context:

I believe Abortion is murder, but I also feel it should be legal at any point for medical reasons and for at least three months, possibly more, for non-medical reasons.

I support ending manufacturing subsidies, over the course of a decade, if they aren't working (and they rarely do).

I think we should be digging up as much uranium as we possibly can, just not in the national parks.

As with most of the left in Australia, I'm conflicted on drug legalisation.

I oppose a lot of the nanny-statism from both Labor and the Coalition, but I think that is still normal within my own slice of ideological comrades. The exception to this is that I support a ban on high-value poker machines, but again I think that's very common within my grouping.

I support Australia's high refugee intake, but I also strongly support strong measures to discourage asylum seekers (plane or boat). Australia permanently resettles a high number of refugees both proportionally and in absolute terms, and this is a good thing, but unless we are a first country of refuge (only possible for, say, West Papuans), I think we should only take those from camps who have waited. I know the whole legal debate, and I hate locking people up in the desert, but I think that's fairer than forcing a family that has spent 12 years in fear and deprivation in a Thai or Kenyan refugee camp to accept that a refugee with the means to pay off people smugglers to get them here will spend three months to two years in immigration detention (the standards of which are awfully poor, but better than a refugee camp) before getting permanent resettlement. If it's the first place of refuge after a plane arrival... I'm still not sure :/

I supported Australia going in to Iraq and Afghanistan, because the USA did. I opposed the USA going in to Iraq, though.