Post your most controverserial oponions

[Mopsus]

Oddly enough, I support allowing at least children who are old enough to read a ballot the right to vote.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely think there's no valid reason to prevent children above 10 or 11 (isn't that around when the capacity for abstract thinking develops?) from voting.

Other than or in addition to the fact that they have no idea how a county/state/nation should be run?

I mean, most adults don't possess that knowledge either, but at least they possess the capacity

12-year-olds also very clearly possess the capacity. Congrats, you've done a very good job debunking your own argument.

12-year-olds can regurgitate abstract ideas, but they don't have the life experience to know how things ought to be.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Oddly enough, I support allowing at least children who are old enough to read a ballot the right to vote.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely think there's no valid reason to prevent children above 10 or 11 (isn't that around when the capacity for abstract thinking develops?) from voting.

Other than or in addition to the fact that they have no idea how a county/state/nation should be run?

I mean, most adults don't possess that knowledge either, but at least they possess the capacity

12-year-olds also very clearly possess the capacity. Congrats, you've done a very good job debunking your own argument.

12-year-olds can regurgitate abstract ideas, but they don't have the life experience to know how things ought to be.

Neither do most adults.

[LLR]

TL;DR nobody should vote

I think this makes sense

[Antonio the Sixth]

TL;DR nobody should vote

I think this makes sense

No. We just have to accept that one of the implications of democratic principles is that "competence" or "information" or "intelligence" is not a legitimate grounds for restricting suffrage, and that this applies to age limits just as it applies to literacy tests.

[Mopsus]

Oddly enough, I support allowing at least children who are old enough to read a ballot the right to vote.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely think there's no valid reason to prevent children above 10 or 11 (isn't that around when the capacity for abstract thinking develops?) from voting.

Other than or in addition to the fact that they have no idea how a county/state/nation should be run?

I mean, most adults don't possess that knowledge either, but at least they possess the capacity

12-year-olds also very clearly possess the capacity. Congrats, you've done a very good job debunking your own argument.

12-year-olds can regurgitate abstract ideas, but they don't have the life experience to know how things ought to be.

Neither do most adults.

Which, I think, is a good segway into my most controversial oponions:

People aren't competent to regulate activity that doesn't affect them directly. The modern nation state pretends that its laws are objective, but they inevitably reflect the interests and ideals of the dominant class; this contradiction will only be solved when people are allowed to form and reform the bonds of community in accordance with their goals - and respect the right of others to do the same.

[SATW]

I'll divide my positions into ideological categories:

Conservative:
- Abortion (Pro-Life; supports leaving exceptions for mother's life and rape)
- Minimum Wage (more like conservatarian)
- Environmental Issues (Oppose cap and trade, oppose overzealous EPA regulations etc...)
- Social Security (somewhere in between W's proposals and the libertarian stance on it)
- Crime (Support Law-and-order policies)
- Free Trade (again, somewhere in the conservatarian quadrant)
- Taxes (closer to libertarian on taxes, but not quite there officially)
- Healthcare (mostly conservative on these issues)

Hawkish:
- Israel (Strong supporter of Israel, support a limited two-state solution but also strongly support settlers)
- Iran (Oppose Iran Deal, support sanctions, but oppose war)
- War on Terror (Believe we need a strong, more aggressive, stance against ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc...etc...)
- Radical Islam (Islam has a big problem and its community needs to fight off the crazies and reform its religion)
- Russia & China (U.S. needs to remain the world's policeman and counter the negative voodoo of Russian and Chinese geopolitics)

Moderate:

- Immigration (Oppose amnesty, but support a compromise immigration reform bill; supports securing borders)
- Government spending (I support balancing the budget, but rather keep defense, foreign aid and natl security budgets well fed)
- Marijuana (whatever the moderate hero position on recreational use is...that's my position lol. If you push me hard enough, I support it. I support medicinal marijuana being legal)
- Education (education benefits society as a whole....so let's stop being stupid and work together to reform the system in a beneficial way for all of society)

Liberal/Progressive:
- LGBT Rights (Not a surprise, but I'm a stalwart supporter of LGBT Rights, with my focus currently being on promoting a federal ENDA bill and also finding ways to slowly, but surely, move anti-LGBTers into the growing Pro-LGBT camp)
- Women in the military (support having women in infantry, support having women in selective service etc...)


I'm sure some of these positions piss off someone, somewhere

[progressive85]

I think prostitution is nobody's business but the two consenting adults involved.  Therefore sex work should be legal.

I think there's nothing wrong with two cousins getting married if they're in love.  It's nobody's business but their own.

I think pornography is just fine.

I think kids should have private sex education - with a very thorough, comprehensive program on an iPad - and it should talk about EVERYTHING.  (The parents should also get the same iPad because I think there's a lot of ignorance about sex, gender, and sexuality.)

[Kingpoleon]

Oddly enough, I support allowing at least children who are old enough to read a ballot the right to vote.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely think there's no valid reason to prevent children above 10 or 11 (isn't that around when the capacity for abstract thinking develops?) from voting.

Other than or in addition to the fact that they have no idea how a county/state/nation should be run?

I mean, most adults don't possess that knowledge either, but at least they possess the capacity

12-year-olds also very clearly possess the capacity. Congrats, you've done a very good job debunking your own argument.

Being around the age in question and coming in contact with 10-12 year olds often, I can say that most folks my age shouldn't be able to vote.

I think that will probably be true until we're all long dead. Even then, I'm not sure we should be able to vote.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think prostitution is nobody's business but the two consenting adults involved.  Therefore sex work should be legal.

I think there's nothing wrong with two cousins getting married if they're in love.  It's nobody's business but their own.

I think pornography is just fine.

I wish those views were as controversial as you think they are.

[Santander]

I think prostitution is nobody's business but the two consenting adults involved.  Therefore sex work should be legal.

I think there's nothing wrong with two cousins getting married if they're in love.  It's nobody's business but their own.

I think pornography is just fine.

I think kids should have private sex education - with a very thorough, comprehensive program on an iPad - and it should talk about EVERYTHING.  (The parents should also get the same iPad because I think there's a lot of ignorance about sex, gender, and sexuality.)

You think wrong.

[Del Tachi]

I embrace the military-industrial-academic complex as it have provided my family with gainful employment for several generations. 

[SATW]

I embrace the military-industrial-academic complex as it have provided my family with gainful employment for several generations. 

Good (though, I can easily see this triggering the crazies)

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

There's a legitimate (if profoundly depressing) argument to be made for the decriminalization of the supply end of prostitution, but 'consenting' is an disingenuous way to describe someone who may not eat if she doesn't have sex with enough people.

[Antonio the Sixth]

There's a legitimate (if profoundly depressing) argument to be made for the decriminalization of the supply end of prostitution

Not only that, I believe that there is no legitimate argument to be made against it. Punishing the victims is profoundly immoral and only serves to uphold the patriarchal culture that gives rise to prostitution in the first place. I'd much rather have complete decriminalization that do that.

I didn't specify this aspect here because that's clearly not the standpoint j92185 was arguing from, and because I thought I'd made my position very explicit in the past. If I haven't that's a serious problem, and I really hope it hasn't given any false impression about me.

[Crumpets]

American democracy isn't any worse off just because we only have two major parties.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Women are not oppressed in the west today.

[Antonio the Sixth]

     Women are not oppressed in the west today.

[Sopranos Republican]

Girls like sex too.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Women are not oppressed in the west today.

      Not quite as hot a take as this one:

Oddly enough, I support allowing at least children who are old enough to read a ballot the right to vote.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely think there's no valid reason to prevent children above 10 or 11 (isn't that around when the capacity for abstract thinking develops?) from voting.

[RFayette]

To add a few controversial opinions:

1)  I don't think a monarchy's all that bad and have at times considered it preferable to democracy.
2) I support the military draft and mandatory national service (civilian or military) for all 18-year-olds.
3) I support vo-tech high schools instead of traditional college-prep ones for the bottom quartile of students.
4) I think corporal punishment should be re-introduced in the public schools and used regularly.