It’s been a while since anyone has used this thread but I'd like to revive it and add some detail to what I posted back in June when I was really new to this site. I mostly changed the economic and foreign policy parts since those were skimpy:
Social Issues:
Abortion: I am pro-life, even in the case or rape or incest. I believe abortion is murder. This is the single greatest issue I base my vote on for national elections.
Death Penalty: I believe it is only morally justifiable to take a life if doing so it required to ensure the health and safety of others. In virtually all cases in the US, I believe capital punishment is an instrument of revenge rather than justice.
Drugs: I vehemently oppose any further legalization efforts because I think doing so will just cause more people to use drugs. I would like to see the drinking age either changed or enforced. I also do not believe that drug legalization would lead to a reduction in violence because most violent drug dealers aren’t in it to express an act of civil disobedience, they’re in it for a greed that cannot be satiated by their capacity to earn money otherwise.
Euthanasia: I believe that human life has a certain value that cannot be compromised out of depression and selfishness. I do not accept the idea that other people are not harmed by a suicide. The legality is largely unimportant since it is not likely a major concern of anyone considering suicide but I would like to see it remain illegal in all forms.
Gay Marriage: I think the entire reason marriage has a place in civil society is because it is the traditional environment to produce and raise children. I think legal recognition of marriage is a form government social intervention for the purpose of promoting an environment to produce and raise children. Gay relationships are clearly incapable of producing children, so no governmental recognition is necessary. That being said, I don’t think the government should go around and look for sterile people or anything of that sort.
Gun Rights: I think people should be allowed to own and carry guns with proper background checks. I think it should be illegal to carry a gun under the influence of alcohol.
Immigration: We are a nation of immigrants and immigration should be encouraged by raising the number of people we let into this country legally. I support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants current in the US, provided they have no criminal background and have a job while giving preferential treatment to those with families. However this alone is meaningless without better border enforcement in the future.
Prostitution: It is disgusting and should remain illegal where it is currently illegal. It is not the answer to economic desperation.
Separation of Church and State: I believe that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” should be taken to mean that Congress cannot favor one religion over another or force people to join a particular religion. I think this is an area where the government should not be very involved, but that the level of secularization currently being discussed (ie. Deleting “Under God” from the Pledge of Alligence) is asinine.
Stem Cell Research: I support adult stem cell research and oppose embryonic as it is currently practiced. A professor (who does embryonic stem cell research) told me once that we could get embryonic stem cells from live embryos inside their mother rather than aborted embryos if we really wanted to but that this is not the way research is currently conducted. If this practice was changed to remove abortion from the equation, I would support it. Just to note, I do not support outlawing embryonic stem cell research as practiced, but would not like to see government funding of it. This is a funding issue, not a law issue.
Economic Issues:
Affirmative Action: I consider this an economic issue rather than a social one and am more or less neutral on it. On one hand, I want the best person available to get the job. On the other, I find it irritating that many white kids use affirmative action as an excuse for their own failures. Every person should strive to not only meet the standards of acceptance (if to colleges) but to exceed them.
Education: Education is mainly a state issue and one that no blanket nation policy can be effective on. I think that classroom size has a greater effect on quality and success than does technology or textbook quality, or the building itself. The necessary components to a good education are: parent who discipline their children, students who want to learn, and a qualified teacher who cares. I do believe standardized testing has a place in education but that place is not the central purpose.
Environment: The environment can best be approached by researching better, more cost-effective technologies to address environment problems. The strictness of the EPA is both a blessing and a curse, since it helps to improve American quality of life but also hurts businesses.
Fiscal Policy: In general I think that Ricardian Equivalence is correct, such that increased spending today is just a way of stealing from tomorrow. There are some circumstances where increased government spending over a short period of time can provide a needed boost to the economy. I oppose the hijacking of fiscal stimulus to serve ulterior motives such as funneling resources to environmental causes that are not a cost effective means of job creation.
Health Care: I support a fully private healthcare system with a safety net for those who cannot afford it. I am not necessarily opposed to an individual mandate though I have some question about its constitutionality. In any case, the government needs to look carefully at whatever proposal enacted to ensure it does not force small businesses to cut employees’ healthcare by making the minimum standards so high that a fee is cheaper. I oppose a single-payer system because I believe such a system will inevitably lead to euthanasia in the mid-to-distant future.
Monetary Policy: I mainly take the side of the Rational Expectations school of economics, thus placing me primarily on the side of the Republican establishment and somewhat opposed to the Tea Party. I am opposed to an audit of the Fed on the grounds that doing so would lead to a loss in the fiduciary trust in our current system. I am also opposed to the idea of Congress running the Federal Reserve. I also oppose the gold standard because the purpose of it is that gold supposedly has an “objective value” when it really doesn’t and it’s worth is decided by the market just like anything else.
Social Security: In many ways, this is the key budgetary issue set between the US and long-term fiscal sustainability. The system was created for an era where the average person had four children and lived just past the retirement age. Now, the average person has 1.8 kids and lives to be 77. We have a few tough options: dramatically increase the retirement age, privatize the system, cut it, increase the payments demanded, or cut the benefits received. Social security may be politically untouchable but we will soon face the reality that it must be reformed.
Taxation: Taxes should be kept as low as reasonably possible to promote economic growth; however, they must be raised now, in addition to spending cuts, to avoid budgetary disaster. I am not necessarily opposed to a flat tax, but would rather see something along the lines of an exponential decay function used to eliminate discontinuities in the derivative of the overall tax rate.
Unions: This is a personal issue for me since my mother is a union member who went on strike when I was in high school. Thus, I do think union have an important place in American society although I dislike the way most of them serve as blanket funneling organizations for socially liberal agendas. I do, however, support right to work legislation.
Foreign Issues:
American Exceptionalism: In short, I do not accept the idea of American exceptionalism that the US is somehow morally superior to other nations or that we are predestined for some kind of greatness as the world’s last superpower. I see the US as a country looking out for its interests like any other country would do. Many policies the US enacts will be the right thing to do and many will be wrong.
China: There are some serious issues remaining in the relationship between the US and China from currency manipulation to religious freedom, but I still see China as an odd sort of ally to the US in the long term. Too much of our economic futures are linked to each other’s success to become enemies.
Diplomacy: Unlike many in the GOP, I have no problem with the president talking with terrorists, or anyone else for that matter. If President Obama wanted to meet with the Kim Jong Il or any of the various rouge Middle East dictators, I’m not sure what he could possibly have to say that will make a difference, but I don’t mind them talking.
Iran: This is an incredibly tough situation because the United States cannot afford another military conflict at the moment and our “sanctions” don’t seem to be doing very much. This is a common theme throughout our handling of the Middle East.
Israel: A part of me deeply respects Israel because they quite frankly don’t care what the world will think when they do something. They aren’t trying to be popular; the world already hates them. That being said, the only possible answer to their issues with Palestine is a two-state solution.
Military: I greatly respect all the sacrifices made by our soldiers and support them. I do agree that the military is not above our budget problems but that special care should be taken to ensure the safety of our service men and women.
Intervention: If I’ve learned anything from the Iraq mess, it’s that great care must be taken when making a decision to go to war. Still, I almost always oppose withdrawal in the middle of a war.
Nuclear Weapons: I don’t like nuclear weapons a whole lot and would oppose using them in just about any circumstances I can see happening. But, I also think a worldwide disarmament is a fairy tale because there really are evil people out there who want to kill us.
^^^ This. Though I am probably a little more conservative on the affirmative action section. I am also not sure a two state solution is the only workable solution for Israel, but am not necessarily against such a solution.
