Summary of political beliefs

[Hash]

Some might be strongly influenced by French politics.

Social

Abortion: Pro-choice
Gay Rights: Support gay rights, although neutral on marriage.
Separation of Church and State: I'm a proud secular and oppose any and all attempt at all to give religion a role to play in politics.
Affirmative Action: Oppose
Gun Control: Support, I don't see why anybody needs a gun.
Death Penalty: Generally oppose, but would support it for serious crimes against the state.
Censorship: There should be no censorship.
Flag burning: You have the right to burn a flag, its freedom of expression.
Smoking: I support smoking bans in public areas. Outside and inside.
Alcohol consumption: Should be maintained at 18, but there needs to be some kind of regulation to avoid excessive consumption at that age.
Euthanasia: Should be legal
Drugs: I strongly oppose legalizing marijuana or any other drugs.
Gambling: With moderation!
Prostitution: Should be illegal.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Strongly support.
Immigration: Oppose legalization of illegal immigrants and support stricter rules on allowing immigration. Immigrants should speak the language of the country, should find a job within 6 months of arrival, and of course follow ALL laws (or else, expel them)
Environment: Serious issue, should take immediate action to stop it before its too late.
Patriot Act: Vigourously oppose

Economic Issues

Taxes: Current levels are fine.
Unions: Support unions, as long as it doesn't become an excuse to go on strike for everything the company does that they don't like.
Free trade: Strongly support except in military equipment.
Social Security: Support universal, public healthcare.
Space Program: Continue to invest, albeit less than right now.
Welfare: Continue attempts at reform

Foreign Policy Issues:

Democracy and Trade: Suspend trade with dictatorships.
United Nations: Strongly support, although there is an urgent need for reform.
Iraq: A complete disaster. Leave. Fast.
Israel: Strongly support Israel and its defence of it's people and territory. Support establishement of Palestinian State under democratic leadership.

[Hash]

Social

Abortion: Generally pro-choice if done within the first 16 weeks or so
Gay Rights: Apathetic. I don't really care if gays get married or not because it doesn't affect me and most of my gay friends don't seem to care much either.
Separation of Church and State: means different things to different people; i dont mind if the pledge is kept or ten commandments at courts, but do I want an established "American Church"? Of course not
Affirmative Action: Support
Gun Control: Oppose for rifles, shotguns, and handguns
Death Penalty: Generally support
Censorship: Oppose
Flag burning: Freedom of expression.
Smoking: Smoking bans are for nazis
Alcohol consumption: 18 years of age
Euthanasia: Support legalization
Drugs: Support legalization of soft drugs
Gambling: Oppose
Prostitution: Support legalization
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Support relaxing restrictions and allowing it to occur, but no federal funding.
Immigration: Support stronger border security, the fence, no amnesty, send illegals home and don't let them come back, make it easier for honest immigrants to enter legally.
Environment: Oppose Kyoto, support more restrictions than exist now with regards to wildlife protection, no federal funding to stop "Global Warming"
Patriot Act: Generally oppose

Economics

Taxes: Federal flat tax at a rate around 18%(Russia's is 13%), sales tax for the states.
Unions: Support
Free trade: Oppose
Social Security: Keep it public and federal, divert money from other places to keep it afloat.
Space Program: Ridiculous waste of money, almost sickening considering how much of that money could help the less fortunate. Thousands of kids will die of hunger so that a space shuttle can launch for no discernable reason. Private companies are starting to do it anyway, so there's no reason to continue with NASA.
Welfare: Support reforms

Foreign Policy

Democracy and Trade: Oppose trading with dictatorships
United Nations: Oppose, what a joke
Iraq: Leave immediately and take as much oil with us as we can when we go.
Israel: Support the State of Israel's right to exist and defend itself; set benchmarks for Palestinian statehood(democracy, seperation of church and state, stable military to control Islamists.)

[Hash]

Abortion: Pro-choice of course, but a non-issue for me.

Death Penalty: I support it for the most heinous crimes such as high treason in wartime, recidivist rapists and serial murderers

School prayer: Strongly oppose

Separation of church and state: Strongly, strongly, very strongly support.

Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Strongly support

Gay Marriage: I oppose gay marriage (but I oppose an amendment in the constitution) but support civil unions. Also, I'm all for letting the states decide.

Sex Education: Teach the children what they need to know.

Gun Control:  I support tougher gun controls to prevent former criminals etc. for getting guns.

Drug War & Marijuana: Legalize medicinal marijuana, and that's it.

Voting access: Uhm, what? I don't see any reason to change current laws. But I'm skeptic about electronic thingees.

Illegal Immigration: I support a path to citizenship, or regularization of status, if that immigrant has learned English, found a job, and has no past criminal record.

Economic issues

Social Security and other Entitlement programs:  No opinion

Medicare:  No opinion

Medicaid: No opinion

Welfare: Increase a bit, but encourage other options

Education: Provide free, good quality, public education to all.

Taxes: Lower taxes a bit for the lowest classes, and increase a bit for those higher up.

Minimum Wage: Increase, but no need for a timetable or stuff for increasing it

Energy Independence and the Environment: Oppose ethanol fuel, support Kyoto, support renewable energies for cars and so forth. Oppose ANWR drilling and support more public and railway transportation.

Foreign Policy

Iraq: Phase, timelined withdrawal of troops

Afghanistan: Focus the fight on terrorism in Afghanistan. The problem is there.

United Nations: Support, o/c. But also support reform

Iran: Tough stance with Iran, but war as an absolute last resort.


Region-specific issues for France:

35-hours workweek: Strongly oppose. Either scrap it, or depenalize companies with employees working more than 35 hours.

Institutional reform: Support all parts of it, but also support looking into a directly elected Senate (elected Senate in both France and Canada)

EU: Support it. But oppose bureaucratic tendencies and bureaucratic rules and regulations. Oppose Turkish entry into the EU.

Environment: see above, and support all recommendations of the Grenelle. And apply them too.

Immigration: Oppose mass regularization of all illegals, but support a strict case-by-case system and implement a system to allow only the needed legal immigrants.

and Canada:

Afghanistan: see above

Senate: Support triple-E Senate. A Senate elected with MMP or PR would be perfect.

Electoral reform: Support referendums on electoral reform modes such as STV or MMP (prefer MMP)

Liberal carbon tax: support

Stephane Dion: No charisma.

Environment: see above

[Hash]

Abortion: Pro-choice, but a non-issue for me.

Death Penalty: I support it for the most heinous crimes such as high treason in wartime, recidivist rapists and serial murderers

School prayer: Strongly oppose

Separation of church and state: Strongly, strongly, very strongly support.

Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Strongly support

Gay Marriage: I oppose gay marriage (but I oppose an amendment outlawing it) but support civil unions.

Sex Education: Teach the children what they need to know.

Gun Control:  I support tougher gun controls to prevent former criminals etc. from getting guns.

Drug War & Marijuana: Legalize medicinal marijuana, and that's it. I'm very conservative when it comes to drugs.

Voting access: Uhm, what? I don't see any reason to change current laws. But I'm skeptic about electronic thingee whingees.

Illegal Immigration: I support a path to citizenship, or regularization of status, if that immigrant has learned English, found a job, and has no past criminal record.

Welfare: Increase it a tad, but encourage other options

Education: Provide free, quality, public education to all. CB should be a model for public schools

Taxes: Lower taxes a bit for the lowest classes, and increase it for the top classes.

Minimum Wage: Increase, but no need for a timetable or stuff for increasing it

Energy Independence and the Environment: Oppose ethanol fuel, support Kyoto, support renewable energies for cars and so forth. Oppose ANWR drilling and support more public and railway transportation.

Iraq: Phased, timelined withdrawal of troops

Afghanistan: Focus on fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. The problem is there.

United Nations: Support, but reform it.

Iran: Tough stance with Iran, but war as an absolute last resort.


Region-specific issues for France:

35-hours workweek: Strongly oppose. Either scrap it, or depenalize companies with employees working more than 35 hours.

Institutional reform: Support all parts of it, but also support looking into a directly elected Senate. Especially like the initiatives, but I'd prefer a lower number of signatures necessary to actually make it a real thing.

EU: Support it. But oppose bureaucratic tendencies and bureaucratic rules and regulations. Oppose Turkish entry into the EU.

Environment: see above, and support all recommendations of the Grenelle. And apply them too.

Immigration: Oppose mass regularization of all illegals, but support a strict case-by-case system and implement a system to allow only the needed legal immigrants.

Specific to Canada:

Afghanistan: see above

Senate/Electoral reform: Elect Senate by proportional representation and elect Commons by current FPTP. Support referendums on electoral reform modes such as STV or MMP (prefer MMP)

Stephane Dion: Happy birthday Steph!

Stephen Harper: Is useless, incompetent, and humiliation. Like his cabinet and his party.

Alberta: Sucks and can secede anytime.

Environment: see above

[Hash]

Oh dear, more quantity.

And less quality.

[Hash]

Support destroying Palestinians

Everything else I kinda expected in some way shape or form, but this part sounds very dodgy to me...

I sincerely hope you're just over-exaggerating there.

Not Over exaggerating. If they won't let my religion live in peace ,then they should either die or get a big ass-whooping.

Oh dear, oh dear.

[Hash]

Social and Institutional Issues

Ideology: Social liberal or soft social libertarian

Abortion: I'm obviously pro-choice, but it's a decision to be made by a woman and only by her. The government has no business telling her what she has to do with her body and so forth. However, I support a kind of 'education' campaign saying that abortion is a tough decision to make, and that it isn't a everyday normal thing to do for fun.
Death Penalty: I support it for the most heinous crimes such as high treason in wartime, recidivist rapists and serial murderers.
School prayer: Strongly oppose. The public school is a secular institution.
Separation of church and state: Strongly, strongly, very strongly support. Religion has no role in the state, and vice-versa. The state has no business funding private religious schools.
Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Strongly support
Gay Marriage: I support gay marriage. People who love each other, regardless of their sex, have the right to get married.
Euthanasia: Strongly support if patient is of sound mind.
Prostitution: I support legalization, if only because it would be easier for prostitutes to find and seek help if needed.
Gun Control: I support tougher gun control to prevent former criminals and the like from getting access guns. I oppose a gun registry due to exorbitant costs attached to such a program.
Drug War & Marijuana: Legalize medical marijuana and other soft drugs that can be used for medical purposes. That's it.
Institutional Reform (France and/or Canada) I support further de-centralization in France, as well as the direct election of Senators and the introduction of MMP for elections to the National Assembly. Reform electoral systems for local, regional and European elections. In Canada, I support either an elected Senate or abolishing it pure and simple. I support MMP or PR in elections to the House.

Economic and Domestic Policies

Ideology: Centrist

Illegal Immigration: I support a path to citizenship, or regularization of status, if said immigrant has learned English, found a job, and has no past criminal record (murders, robberies and the like) in his country.
Welfare: I support welfare, but people should be encouraged to actively search for jobs and welfare should be reformed to be made more efficient.
Education: I strongly support public education.
Taxes: The state should lower taxes on the lower classes when it can afford it.
Minimum Wage: I support increasing it and providing a tax credit for small businesses who find it economically tough to cope with a high minimum wage.
Energy Independence and the Environment: I oppose the use of ethanol fuel, but I support extensive research immediately in renewable energies. Kyoto has proven generally useless, but I favour global concerted efforts against global warming, which is a major problem and must be addressed seriously. I favour expanding public transit.
Healthcare: I strongly support universal health-care.
Unions: They may serve a purpose, but their powers need to be curtailed and their internal structures need democratization and de-centralization.
Trade: I support free and fair trade with nations that respect solid labour rights and environmental legislation.
Regulations: I support regulations on financial institutions to prevent abuse as we have seen in this era.
Affirmative Action: I opposed race-based AA, though I might support it if based more on incomes.
(35-hour workweek: The length of the workweek is the decision of each business. I support repealing the law.)

Foreign Policy

Ideology: Centrist

Iraq: I support the phased withdrawal of American troops, once and for all.
Afghanistan: I support Canada's commitment to Afghanistan until 2011, but would favour a phase-out of troops by mid-2010. As attractive as pulling out might look to some, it would throw the whole region down the sh**tter and you would encourage massive geopolitical problems in the region.
United Nations: I support the UN as an institution, but I disagree with the current structure and I favour a major overhaul.
Iran: I support imposing sanctions on Iran.
North Korea: I support the current sanctions. Welcome refugees.

[Hash]

Centrist isn't a viable option for foreign policy, hash

Then find a word to describe somebody who isn't an isolationist nor an interventionist.

[Hash]

I'm bored, so I'll do this baby again.

Overall Philosophy: Ideologically, a mix of social libertarianism and economic moderate Keynesianism influenced by the liberal and radical tradition. Ironically and paradoxically, however, I happen to have a more pessimistic Marxist and Weberian analysis of history.

Social Issues:

General Philosophy: A dangerous and evil social libertarian. I like to rehash Trudeau's quote, and thus I believe that the state has no place in regulating personal lives. Persons should be free to do whatever they wish as long as it doesn't infringe on other people's liberties, security and wellbeing and they should also suffer the consequences of their actions.

Abortion: Strongly support, pro-choice and all. It's a women's choice and the government should have no say in this kind of stuff. But the government could and should do public campaigns to educate people about the issue and what it represents.

Affirmative Action: Generally oppose, especially in the case of race or gender though I might support income-based affirmative action.

Death Penalty: I support the death penalty as a rare and absolute last resort for the most heinous of crimes such as mass murder, recidivist child rapists and so forth.

Drugs and Alcohol: Legalize, regulate and tax medical marijuana and other soft drugs. They're similar to alcohol and regulating it would make it far easier to control.

Euthanasia: Fully support and all. People of sane mind should do whatever they want with themselves.

Gun Rights: I support some sort of gun control and background checks. I support the long-gun registry.

Immigration: I support a path to citizenship or legal regularization of an illegal immigrant's status on the condition that they speak the language, have a job and have no past criminal record on universally-recognized crimes such as murder in his/her country. Deportation of illegals who have jobs, have a family and have settled down is vile and inhuman. However, there needs to be stricter guidelines for legal immigration.

Gay Marriage: Fully support. People who love each other, regardless of their sex, should be able to get married. Once again, this is a personal issue and the government should have absolutely no say in this issue. Moralfags who insist on shoving their heads in everybody's private life disgust me.

Prostitution: Prostitution should be legalized if only because prostitutes should be treated as victims of circumstances and not criminals, and legalizing it would make it easier to regulate and control.

Separation of Church and State: I fully support the separation of Church and State and I am deeply attached to the tradition of laïcité. The state should fund or support no particular religion, and no religion should be allowed to play a major or special role in any state. In France, I support the abrogation of the 1805 Concordat in Alsace-Moselle and, by consequence, the extension of the 1905 law to Alsace-Moselle. In Ontario, I oppose provincial funding of Catholic schools. I obviously strongly oppose school prayer in public schools, which should be secular institutions.

Stem Cell Research: I support embryonic stem cell research and all that stuff.

Economic Issues:

General Philosophy: An economic centrist. I believe that the state has a role to play in economic and fiscal issues, but it should not be overarching and should serve largely to right wrongs and control those who ought to be controlled. I oppose excessive spending and state intervention; but also neoliberalism's savage slashing-and-cutting dogma and 'small government' rhetoric.

Education: I strongly support public education. I support increased funding for education, but it's not an issue I know that much about. Obviously, I support lowering university tuition fees

Energy and Environment: For our own sake and that of our planet, we must take urgent steps to move to alternative energy-based infrastructures such as wind, solar, nuclear, hydrogen, geothermal and so forth. Regardless of consensus on global warming, I believe it's undeniable that mass exploitation of the earth is destructive in the long term and that continued exploitation of environment-destroying things like oil sands are wrong and should be strongly controlled.

Fiscal Policy: I'm largely a moderate Keynesian. Some privatizations in the 1980s and 1990s were useful and good for the economy, but government should still play an important role in controlling market excesses and during economic recessions. While I believe running up large deficits is bad, I don't support the neoliberal dogma of cutting and slashing at every living thing and, by consequence, hurting our healthcare, education and other essential services. We've seen what Mike Harris' ridiculous ultraliberal policies and privatizing everything under the sun led to - Walkerton.

Health Care: In the American context, and largely influenced by my nationality, I support some sort single-payer universal health care. At any rate, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are largely rackets and crooks who need to be strictly controlled lest they a) charge exorbitant rates and b) sell us a load of sh**t (eg: the H1N1 fraud, the Mediator in France).

Social Justice: I strongly believe that government should provide to those in need through various welfare programs. At the same time, I believe that those leeches who are happy to live off welfare while not doing jack are destructive to the system and should be fought through measures which make welfare payments conditional on active job search or active participation in government training and vocational programs.

Taxation: I support the progressive income tax as the best tax system to place a proportional burden on all levels of society. I support corporate taxes but also sin taxes and taxes on big polluters.

Foreign Issues

General Philosophy: As much as they're cute, broad declarations of love, peace, democracy and human rights are in reality extremely hard to follow through. The world is a bad place, with lots of bad people who in a perfect world would be fried on a barbecue but in reality we need to come to some sort of agreement that the world has always been and will always be screwed up. I suppose I prescribe to a realist or Marxist view of international relations, though with an appreciation of some aspects of liberalism. Aside from that, while I support an active and internationalist view towards foreign policy I'm largely non-interventionist.

United Nations: The United Nations is in need of major reform, but it remains a valuable part of global diplomacy which should be encouraged and strengthened, not mocked and ignored.

War: War is wrong and should be avoided at all costs. The only justified wars are wars of direct self-defense when attacked and wars of direct defense of other people, in cases such as flagrant humanitarian crises such as genocides.

Weapons of Mass Destruction: To the extent possible, all chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons should be eradicated; however, I acknowledge the necessity of keeping a limited nuclear arsenal for deterrence purposes only. The use of such weapons is never moral.

[Hash]

Overall Philosophy: I have rarely taken the time to try and define my beliefs under the name of broad, overarching ideology. From a simple, straight-forward point of view I am a centrist or centre-left progressive liberal. I am an individualist when it comes to social 'moral' issue. On economic issues, I believe in the free-market and the free exchange of goods and ideas, but I shy away from any dogmatic ideology on either end of the spectrum. In this sense, I am centrist who believes in a free, fair and equal economy if such a thing can exist in reality. I am not an individualist if economic individualism is interpreted to mean a certain type of greediness which does not realize the reality and implications of living in society.

From a philosophical point of view, I have a Marxist view of world history and, to a certain extent, politics; but I do not share Marx's political philosophy. I am not afraid to call myself an elitist as is so often derided. Intelligence in all senses of the term is something necessary in politicians, balanced with intelligence on issues and the means to the ends. I have only scorn for politicians who seek to appeal to the masses by idiotic vote-winning scams, faux populism and dumb-it-down talk which ignores the realities. Society has become driven far too much by greed, greedy individualism, sound-bites, artificial constructions and stupidity which stifles sound, intelligent independent thought and philosophy in favour of whatever is quicker and whatever is simplest. To that extent, I am elitist and allergic to Western society as it is currently structured.

In a certain philosophical sense, I have deep affection and common ideas with European Radicalism.

Economic Issues:

Education: Education is fundamental to the construction and maintenance of a strong liberal democratic society. I support public education and public schools should receive more funding when and where necessary. I am wary of standardized testing and No Child Left Behind, but there should be some vague standards set about what one is expected to know, and there should be no shame in forcing a child to re-do a school year. I oppose merit-based teacher pay.
Debt and tuition fees are major concerns for higher education. I support reducing tuition fees as a short-term measure, but in a long-term perspective tuition would ideally be progressive and based on family income and ability to pay. The availability of scholarships and grants should be increased, especially for lower-income students. Student loans only encourage more debt, and any reform based solely on increasing student loan availability is ridiculous and an affront to students.

Energy: For our sake, for our children's sake and for our planet's sake, it is primordial that we immediately take steps to move to away from resource-based energy towards alternative energies including a mix, based on local circumstances, of wind, solar, hydroelectric, tidal, geothermal and other sustainable technologies. I am wary of natural energy but recognize it superiority to coal or dirty oil-based energy. There should be major public investment into research and promotion of electric or hybrid cars, and there should be a tax credit or discredit based on the type of vehicle purchased.
Subsidies to oil companies are disgusting and a waste of public monies that needs to be spent on alternative energies. The Alberta tar sands are destroying the natural environment for materialistic greedy short-term goals which will be of no use to our children and grandchildren.

Environment: We are treating the earth as if it cannot be destroyed and we are exploiting it like if it were our slave. Our natural environment must be protected and preserved for humanity's sake. Climate change exists, and merely delaying decisions to later will not help and neither will ridiculous short-term 'measures'. I support strict targets on carbon dioxide and fossil fuel emissions. I support cap-and-trade or a carbon tax.

Fiscal Policy: I am a Keynesian in the sense that I believe that a state's role in the economy should be to regulate and tame the free market, promote competition and break monopolies, and work to ensure that the free market works in concord with democratic values such as equality, fairness, representativeness and equity. Government spending and intervention is necessary and desirable to a certain extent to work towards those broad aims. Deficits are not sustainable in the long-term, and deficits should be reduced and government budgets should be balanced. At the same time, deficits in this day and age are almost inevitable and I am opposed to dogmatic crusades for the "golden rule".
I have no problems with the principle of austerity as defined by harsh short-term measures which ensure long-term and future economic prosperity. In Hashpipe's utopia, social programs should not instinctively be the first target of austerity, rather government spending should all be laid out on the table and balanced with the goal of efficiency, quality and value for money. My main qualms are with austerity in practice, which turns out to be making the poor pay for being poor by dogmatically attacking social programs as useless and wasteful spending. In Hashpipe's utopia, austerity should be progressive whereby it is an effort shared proportionally by all in society.

Health Care: From a foreign perspective, I have a natural affection for single-payer universal health care. Single-payer universal health care allows all to receive medical treatment without discrimination based on their ability to pay and thus one's income. It is morally wrong, in my mind, that somebody should have to suffer because he cannot bear the costs of seeking treatment. I oppose two-tiered health care and am wary of private health care, but if the case can be made to me, I am open to a dose of private participation.

Social Justice: We live in a society, and we live in a world which is unequal. To a reasonable extent, we have a duty and the state has a duty to help those in need and those who cannot reasonably help themselves. Governments have the largest role to play in offering social justice, but the role of charities and NGOs should not be discounted.

Social Security: I am pretty uneducated on this issue, but social security is crucial and privatization of social security is a horrible idea propounded by irresponsible ideologues. It must be protected for those in need. Raising the retirement age is, to a certain extent, a necessity of the times we find ourselves in. Clinging to concepts of pensions and retirement age established in the 'fat cow' years of the 60s is quixotic and irresponsible.
I support welfare reform to the extent that it fights those 'welfare leeches' who as greedy individuals seek to draw out personal benefits for being lazy at the expense of others. Welfare reform should be carried out carefully and not as a dogmatic attack on broad abstract concepts and groups of people. Those who receive welfare should be reasonably expected to make efforts to find employment which is open to them and which respects their dignity.

Taxation: Taxation is a necessary part of civilization and it is a desirable thing if its aim is to provide and ensure a "public good". Those who complain like maniacs about taxes are, for the most part, greedy individualists who want to pay nothing but still get all the benefits in return. Their irresponsible, crazy and demagogic ideas are a cancer on modern political life. I support the progressive income tax as the fairest system placing a fair burden on all members of society. I support corporate taxes and sale taxes.

Trade: Protectionism, in my mind, is a tried and failed idea. I support the free exchange of goods and ideas, therefore I support free trade. But free trade to a controlled and reasonable extent which does not destroy national identities and culture, local communities and their economies and especially the environment and labour standards.

Miscellaneous:

• I support a cap on interest rates for credit cards at something like 20%.
• North American rail transit should be a major priority and be brought up to European standards.
• I support an equal pay for equal work law.
• A public broadcaster, funded by the state and providing balanced news coverage is an asset and a safeguard against the rise of biased media empires which stifle the free information of the public.

[Hash]

Social Issues:

Abortion: I am passionately pro-choice and am a staunch defender of a women's right to choose. While abortion should perhaps not be legal in the final trimesters and while I fully support public efforts to spread the message that abortion isn't a random or innocent choice; it really isn't my business and thus shouldn't be the business of the state to decide what the hell a women capable of rational choice does with her body. In my utopia, it would be a non-issue.

Affirmative Action: I generally oppose it, except perhaps in certain areas of the public sector where representativeness of society is a necessary aim. In other cases, I oppose it.

Death Penalty: I support the death penalty only for the most heinous crimes where rehabilitation is clearly a pipe dream and a waste of public monies more than anything else.

Drugs and Alcohol: While usage of drug and alcohol should be discouraged, it should be an individual's own decision whether or not to use drugs and alcohol and he should live with the consequences of his action. Therefore, I support the decriminalization and taxation of soft drugs, just like alcohol. Individual use of drugs should be seen as a disease rather than a serious criminal offence. I support restricting smoking and legal drug usage in public spaces to protect individuals who do not use these drugs from the (poor) decisions of those who do.

Euthanasia: If a person is of sound and rational mind, that person should be allowed to ask for whatever kind of treatment they want, or lack of treatment if that is their choice. Euthanasia should be a legal option for those patients.

Gun Rights: I support mandatory background checks and banning assault rifles. The Canadian gun registry was perhaps mishandled, but it was spun out of proportion and served a real purpose to prevent crime and help law enforcement. I'm sorry to see it go.

Immigration: I support immigration, and I believe that the right immigration can be great and has proven to be great for our societies. Illegal immigration is wrong and should not be encouraged, but it is morally outrageous that human beings - illegal or not - who have settled in a country, made their life there and have proven otherwise good citizens should be viciously expelled. I support a selective path to regularization of illegal migrants based on employment, language capacities, integration into society and family reasons. Those with no criminal record, decent knowledge of the official language(s) and capacity to find employment should be welcomed as legal immigrants. I support deporting those non-naturalized immigrants who have committed serious crimes or proven to be behaving in a way contrary to what is expected of normal citizens. I am shaky on the issue of removing one's acquired nationality even on the basis of a serious criminal offence.

Marriage: Marriage is an outdated and fairly ridiculous concept. You don't need to be married to love another. From this view, I really don't care if two people who love each other want to get married and it is authoritarian and intrusive if a government or politician think that they have a right to meddle in somebody's private romantic life. I thus support same-sex marriage and I fail to see what is so morally outrageous about two loving individuals marrying each other. One's life is not my business, and it certainly isn't the state's.

Prostitution: Prostitution should not be encouraged or treated as a banality, but it is wrong to treat prostitutes as criminals rather than as victims of circumstance or poverty. While legalizing prostitution could lead it to be seen as a banal thing, I believe that legalization of prostitution would allow us to treat prostitutes as victims rather than criminals and would allow for a more efficient regulation.

Separation of Church and State: I am deeply attached to the complete separation of Church and State. Religion is a private choice, and should never interfere with the politics of a secular state. Religious institutions are actors like all others, and they have their right to opinion on political issues. But a political decision should never be guided primarily by a particular religious doctrine, especially that of a single faith, in this day and age in liberal societies. The 1905 Law of Separation was a milestone in the story of human progress and freedom, and it is an inspiration for my political beliefs.

Stem Cell Research: The scientific benefits of stem cell research far outweigh any 'moral implications' that it may raise. I don't particularly care or know a lot about the issue, but I fully support it.

Foreign Issues

Military Intervention: War is a destructive threat to human life and all societies, and should never be an end and only rarely be a mean to an end. A 'just war' are those fought in self-defense or aiding in the direct self-defense of an oppressed people in revolt or threatened by mass murder and genocide. Intervention to prevent genocides and for other humanitarian purposes is fair, but unilateral intervention with the aim of regime-change is wrong. In cases of war, at home and abroad, it is important to protect civil liberties against abuse and respect the human rights and dignity of enemy prisoners and combatants.

United Nations: The United Nations is a valuable actor in global diplomacy which should be embraced rather than mocked, derided or opposed. The UN should be strengthened and reform. Certain institutions like the Security Council should be revamped entirely.

Weapons of Mass Destruction: To the extent possible, all chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons should be eradicated; however, I acknowledge the necessity of keeping a limited nuclear arsenal for deterrence purposes only. The use of such weapons is never moral.

Miscellaneous:

• Terrorism should be dealt with by targeted military strikes, intelligence gathering, and a law enforcement focus. The root causes of terrorism must be addressed seriously and talk of their importance should not attacked as 'unpatriotic'
• I support a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Both states have made terrible decisions and have done far more harm on their own than good. Israel needs to stop behaving erratically and with impunity. In an ideal world, Hamas should stop being retarded hotheads and terrorists.
• I support regulating military-defense contractors and limiting the use of private military contractors.

Electoral/Government Issues

Electoral College: It should be abolished and replaced by a national popular vote system using IRV.

Electoral Reform: FPTP is an aberration which is unfair and undemocratic. It should be scrapped everywhere where it is currently used and replaced, ideally, with an MMP system using IRV for single-member constituencies and party-list PR with the possibility of open lists used for the proportional seats. The proportional component should be on a separate ballot and account for no less than 50% of all seats. I support STV where smaller regional multi-member districts are used.

Redistricting: Gerrymandering is disgusting. It should be up to an independent commission which draws districts on the basis of communities and regions. The commission should be made up of individuals with no political or personal interest in the results of the process.

Referenda: The use of referendum in the United States is far too common. Certain issues concerning human rights and fundamental democratic values should not be in the hands of the people. But I support the use of referendum when constitutions are amended and in certain other cases. Being unaccustomed to its use in practice, I favour to an extent the use of recall, but with strict rules and guidelines.

Miscellaneous:

• Judges should not be elected.
• Allocating votes by CD in the United States is wrong and would only reward gerrymandering.
• I support the rights of all people to self-determination and believe that devolution of powers is to be encouraged. Centralization in our day and age in Western liberal democracies is archaic and wrong.
• Local government in France is a ridiculous mess and needs to be completely re-invented. This is an issue I feel strongly about.
• The set process for calling a by-election should be set in statute and not be in the hands of any elected political actor.

[Hash]

Electing any legislature to a one-year term is an awful idea. Nothing would get done and congresscritters would think about reelection even more than they currently do.

[Hash]

Electing any legislature to a one-year term is an awful idea. Nothing would get done and congresscritters would think about reelection even more than they currently do.

I think it could potentially work at a local level, though not at national.

Why would local politicians care any less about their reelection prospects?