Sam Spade
SamSpade
Atlas Star
Posts: 27,547
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« on: March 23, 2005, 10:37:13 PM » |
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Hmmm... I'm bound to forget my beliefs on some things, but here it is:
Social: I am against abortion, except in rape or incest or endangerment of the mother's life. I am fundamentally against gay marriage, civil unions, hate crimes and all this other garbage. My caveat here is that I believe that all of this should be left up to the states. The federal govt., the courts, etc. should stay out of these two issues. This means overturning Roe v. Wade, Lawrence v. Texas, etc. DOMA is still the best solution for the gay marriage issue, though I fear it will be overturned someday. Only (and I repeat only) in that situation will I support a constitutional amendment.
I am anti-euthanasia (and I believe the Constitution strictly outlaws it), but am pro-death penalty for serious crimes; though my position on that has gone to the left over the years to me, there are just some crimes that do deserve the death penalty, sad to say. This whole Terri Schiavo thing does make me re-think that, because this innocent woman is receiving a much more horrible death than any death row criminal.
I am actually in support of school prayer (which might surprise some people), but this is should be a state issue. I oppose affirmative action, but this is also a local issue for me. I am pro-marijuana legalization and drug legalization in general, but once again it should be left up to the states. I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. I think the anti-smoking advocates are far too powerful and that we shouldn't be outlawing smoking in public places.
I am in favor of vouchers. Prostitution should be illegal, gambling should not. (both state issues, imo) I oppose Internet filtering in schools and public libraries. I oppose prescription drug importation from Canada.
Economic: I support strong spending cuts and putting those towards eliminating the federal budget deficit and debt. Chief of those programs to eliminate to me are Medicaid and the prescription drug plan for Medicare, as pointless socialism. The health care funding issue is in many ways a more pressing issue than Social Security and the continued intereference of government in these things and the power of malpractice lawyers will continue to drive prices up ridiculously.
I do not support tax cuts at this time (except maybe some targeted ones), nor do I support tax raises, except if a separate higher tax bracket were created for those who make over $1,000,000 a year. This would keep nearly all small business owners out of the higher tax brackets, which a raise for simply the higher tax bracket wouldn't.
Tax simplification, at a revenue-neutral basis, would be a very good thing in the long haul. I would support a flat tax, but I don't think it is feasible in the present-day US. Tax simplifcation might be.
I am for trying to eliminate corporate loopholes, though I recognize eliminating them may create new ones. I continue to support the welfare reform that Clinton signed at present.
I am anti-Balanced Budget amendment, anti-term limits and pro-Line-item veto.
I am for a total privatization in certain government programs, like Amtrak, postal service, etc.
Foreign Policy: Fundamentally, I am a old-school realist, but I realize that the War on Terror has changed a lot of our prior assumptions. This is one of the reasons why I supported Bush, though I despise his domestic policy. For that, I did and do still support our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I certainly do think that at some point soon our troops will have to come home.
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