What are you politically?

[Beet]

I am pretty moderate overall but tend to lean into the Social liberal / Economic conservative category.

Socially, I feel that much of politics in this area is just about trying to control other people's lives, and this is unjust. I support civil unions and lean towards support of gay marriage, mostly because this act of gay marriage does not harm anyone inside the marriage or in society. On abortion, I think life begins at first consciousness, I guess that would qualify as middle of the road. I am against government censorship, whether it be from the right or left. While I think that schools should not have mandatory prayer time, I strongly support allowance of voluntary prayer. I don't feel strongly either way about "under God" in the pledge.

Economically, you cannot avoid coercion, whether it be direct or indirect, but excessive government control over the economy is generally worse than too little control. I think I have moved to the right on this issue recently, but still disagree with neoliberal market dogma. Ideology has no place in economics, whether it be communism or market fundamentalism. Economics is an empirical science that does not always conform to accepted theories. A strong private sector is the core of any economy, but the government should provide humanitarian services to the poor and try to provide for equal opportunity for all.

On foreign policy, I mainly believe the civilized world must be united in the war against terror. Trying to change the Middle East is a noble goal, but shrouding a war in false WMD and threat claims, and pretending to avenge Saddam's crimes from 15 years ago, is smacking of dishonesty and disrespect to your allies in the war on terror, and to your own people. You underestimate people's intelligence with such crap. Especially when you aren't fully finishing your job in Afghanistan & supporting dozens of brutal dictatorships all over the world. Just come out and say you want nation-building, and you want to make the Middle East a better place. Finish the job in Afghanistan. Stop butting into the Israel-Palestine conflict by giving billions of dollars to one side. Schedule elections so they're held on time, for Pete's sake. And abandon Hobbesian statecraft for true leadership of a civilized world.