Summary of political beliefs

[Mint]

....

wow I hate myself

I've advocated worse. Almost as bad as Dole, actually.

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General Philosophy: Liberal

LOL.

Ben still thinks he has one?

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I like this.
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Yeah because obviously giving all kids a chance at an education is bad.

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For all it's flaws universal education is still better than nothing at all. Believe it or not some parents don't have the time to home school their kids or the money to send them to pretty little private academies.

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For all it's flaws universal education is still better than nothing at all.

Whose to say that people wouldn't get educated if they didn't steal from others to get it?

Obviously some people wouldn't learn anything, because that's why we established public education in the first place. Before the late 19th century most people worked on the farms or the assembly lines. It's in part due to the establishment of public schools and child labor laws that we enjoy our current standard of living. And even that's struggling, because increasingly you need some sort of post-high school education in order to get most decent paying jobs.

Besides which, a large part of why private schools tend to be better is that they don't have to accept everyone. They can turn down people and their customer base is somewhat limited. If we privatized education completely instead of, say, implementing moderately free market policies like vouchers then there would still be terrible schools out there. Except they'd be bargain-brand type things which in addition to being sub-par weren't even affordable for everyone.

Also if we didn't pay taxes to provide for basic things like, say, police or sanitation I'm pretty sure most of us would be dead by now...

[Mint]

Social Issues

Abortion: I reject the idea of abortion on demand, and I would strongly support a ban. The only case in which it should be allowed is when it is necessary to save the life of the mother.
Separation of church and state: A nonsense term that liberals use to censor religion. While I do believe in freedom of religion, and oppose the idea of a national religion, liberals are going too far here.
Affirmative action: A euphemism for discrimination (no "reverse discrimination" nonsense), end it.
Hate crimes: Nonsense legislation, get rid of it. (Neutral)
Gun control: I reject it, the second amendment is not negotiable. It grants us the right to own firearms, and I oppose increases on firearm/ammunition taxation that try to chip away at that right.
Death penalty: Keep it as a sentencing option.
Flag burning: Strongly oppose.
Euthanasia: I would strongly support a ban.
Prostitution: Must not be legalized in any way.
Immigration: Maintain immigration while enforcing against those here illegally and who have no intention to apply for legal immigration.

Economic Issues

Taxes: Lower, flatter taxes across the board. Reduce as much as possible for everyone.
Trade: Generally support free trade.
Spending: Reduce it as much as possible.
Welfare: When discussing welfare, we should remember this quote: "Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence".
Education: The public school system is a disaster, and that has nothing to do with money or the lack thereof. I am against mandatory public school attendance, and I support private schools (school vouchers included) and homeschooling.
Regulations: Significantly reduce. (Mixed)

Foreign Policy

Military Involvement: We must have a strong military to defend ourselves and fight the war on terrorism, and we should never put military action off the table.
United Nations: Negative opinion, but withdrawing is pointless.
Israel: Strongly support.
Foreign aid: Reduce it.

We agree more often than you would think.

[Mint]

We need more people like you.

[Mint]

Social Issues

General Philosophy: Individual Rights

Abortion: Keep it legal on demand until late term.
Secularism: We shouldn't have 'faith based initiatives' or faculty led prayer. Or blue laws.
Marriage: The government shouldn't be involved in 'marriage.' Of course I support gay marriage regardless.
Affirmative Action: Discriminating for or against minorities is unconstitutional.
Gun rights: It's a constitutional right.
Death Penalty: Support.
Censorship: Abolish the FCC. Also, obscenity laws make no sense.
Flag burning: Is protected speech, barring safety concerns.
Hate crimes: Don't really care to be honest.
Hate speech: Oppose since it's unconstitutional.
Smoking: Should be legal but kept out of bars and restaurants.
Alcohol consumption: Get rid of blue laws and the drinking age.
Euthanasia: Legalize for the terminally ill.
Drugs: Legalize marijuana and most other drugs. Maintain tight regulations on the use and production of methamphetamine.
Gambling: I don't want more casinos in my state. Otherwise, I don't care.
Prostitution: Legalize brothels.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Support, especially given recent HIV breakthroughs.
Immigration: No amnesty. Secure the borders by ramping up ICE presence, use of barriers and reforming the identification process.
Civil Liberties: Some balance is needed (and I don't care about Guantanamo to be honest), but the sort of spying we've had under the Bush administration is unacceptable. We could use some reform of the Patriot Act as well but the worst of that bill sunsets this year.
Language: English should be the official language of the US.

Economic Issues

General Philosophy: Free Markets

Taxes: Decrease taxes and move toward a flat tax.
Employers and Employees: No EFCA.
Free trade: Expand trade with Colombia, South Korea, and others.
Spending: Dramatically cut discretionary spending, entitlements, bureaus, subsidies, etc. Basically government should be at least half what it is now.
Social Security: Privatize through use of annuities.
Space Program: Privatize space.
Welfare: Limit to the disabled and recently unemployed. Replace Food Stamps with Food Banks.
Healthcare: Require private insurance and subsidize the very poor and disabled. Reform regulations to allow for more choice and coverage (e.g. buying across state lines; pre-existing conditions). Enact Tort Reform.
Education: Expand charter schools and offer vouchers. Abolish Department of Education and No Child Left Behind.
Minimum Wage: Abolish the minimum wage. Enforce labor contracts.
Regulation: Simplify and enforce. Regulations should focus primarily on public health and prohibiting wild speculation (e.g. naked derivatives).
Infrastructure: Scale down highway system and suburbia. Expand public transportation (e.g. bullet trains) and promote new urbanism.
Energy Policy: Expand use of nuclear energy and domestic drilling. Promote research for renewable resources.

Foreign Issues

General philosophy: Country First

United Nations: Get out of the UN.
Iraq: We've made progress. I don't want us to jeopardize that through arbitrary time tables.
Iran: Ramp up economic sanctions. Give Israel the go ahead to do what they want.
North Korea: Don't give them aid and stop wasting our time with them.
Israel: Has a right to exist. Period.
Military Involvement: Is fine if we're directly threatened or attacked.

[Mint]

Country First must be the dumbest international non-policy ever.

My International policy would be Country last.

I'd say America First but the connotations of that are a bit uglier. Of course I'm going to come off as belligerent regardless so maybe I should have.

[Mint]

Country First must be the dumbest international non-policy ever.

My International policy would be Country last.

I'd say America First but the connotations of that are a bit uglier. Of course I'm going to come off as belligerent regardless so maybe I should have.

I agree that basing one's foreign policy on entirely the socioeconomic benefit of Americans and ignoring everyone else is going to look great to the rest of the world.

Assuming of course that the rest of the world exist and isn't just a fantasy thought up by bleedin' heart liberals.

Didn't we have a president just recently who had a policy like that?

Unfortunately, I'd say that we're really in a no win situation and have been for decades now. If we project power too much we'll be condemned. If we stick to ourselves, we'll be seen as callous. I'd prefer the latter generally, especially given how transparent our 'moral' justifications tend to be. Obviously the man child we had before disagreed.

[Mint]

Country First must be the dumbest international non-policy ever.

My International policy would be Country last.

I'd say America First but the connotations of that are a bit uglier. Of course I'm going to come off as belligerent regardless so maybe I should have.

I agree that basing one's foreign policy on entirely the socioeconomic benefit of Americans and ignoring everyone else is going to look great to the rest of the world.

Assuming of course that the rest of the world exist and isn't just a fantasy thought up by bleedin' heart liberals.

Didn't we have a president just recently who had a policy like that?

Unfortunately, I'd say that we're really in a no win situation and have been for decades now. If we project power too much we'll be condemned. If we stick to ourselves, we'll be seen as callous. I'd prefer the latter generally, especially given how transparent our 'moral' justifications tend to be. Obviously the man child we had before disagreed.

How about doing neither and be genuinely internationalist. And no that doesn't mean invading countries for no apparent reason.

Historically the US appears incapable of doing so. And even if we did, I see nothing positive that the UN contributes outside of some humanitarian projects which we could easily administer ourselves or with others privately if we really cared to do so. Which we don't outside of the usual not very subtle attempts at buying loyalty (or peonage).

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I'm not even sure you can give Bush a coherent foreign policy. It all seems to amount to grudges and graft, more so than usual. Of course we're stuck with the consequences now.

[Mint]

Added a few things people really shouldn't ignore.

Ideology: Paleoconservatism.

Social Issues

Basic Ideas: Federalism, Civil Libertarianism

Civil Liberties: End the Patriot Act, DHS, the Anti Terrorism Act of '96, National Security Letters, etc.
Abortion: Abolish Roe v Wade. Personally I don't think abortion should be allowed for elective reasons but I have no problem with the morning after pill.
Gay Rights: I think this has been framed wrongly because rights belong to individuals not groups. Now of course I support gay adoption, military service, etc. there's no reason not to besides ignorance and bigotry.
Secularism: I don't support blue laws or teaching creationism. On the other hand people should be able to express their religious views/faith how the want and removing things like religious icons that have been near public buildings for decades is stupid.
Marriage: The government shouldn't be involved in 'marriage.' Let individuals draw up their own contracts and stop favoring one group or another on taxes.
Affirmative Action: Discriminating for or against minorities is unconstitutional.
Gun rights: Repeal all gun control legislation enacted since 1934.
Death Penalty: I'm not really comfortable with any government having that kind of power. Of course individuals should have the right to use lethal force if necessary, none of this 'duty to retreat' nonsense.
Censorship: The FCC and 'obscenity' laws make no sense. Abolish them.
Flag burning: Is protected speech.
Hate crimes: Oppose. The whole concept just encourages further 'group' division and resentment. Besides, all violent crimes demonstrate contempt towards the victim. Why treat one 'group' better than another?
Hate speech: Oppose restricting since that's unconstitutional and sets a horrendous precedent.
Smoking: State Issue. Personally I support smoking restrictions for public places.
Alcohol consumption: State Issue. Stop denying states highway funding if they don't accept the ridiculous 21 year age restriction.
Euthanasia: State Issue. I could see allowing active euthanasia in the case of wasting diseases like AIDS.. Passive is pretty much already legal thankfully.
Drugs: State issue. Now ideally, I think pretty much everything should be legal, given how much drug prices have gone down and prison populations have skyrocketed since the 'War on Drugs.' But we shouldn't tolerate things like meth production or people that are obviously out of their minds wandering the streets either.
Gambling: State issue. I don't want more casinos in my state personally but don't really care about a few people playing poker or something fairly trivial like that.
Prostitution: State issue. However, I am personally against legalizing this right now.. While I feel people's sexual behavior is generally their business, the data I've seen on this shows that societies that have legalized prostitution have actually seen the criminal element of that trade (trafficking, rackets, etc.) increase.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Don't have a problem with research.
Immigration: No amnesty, no 'guest worker programs.' Secure the borders by ramping up ICE presence, use of barriers and reforming the identification process.
Language: English should be the official language of the US.

Economic Issues

Basic Ideas: Free Markets, anti-Corporatism.

Taxes: Decrease taxes enormously. Abolish AMT, Payroll, etc. Ideally we'd have no federal income tax whatsoever but I'd settle for a flat tax (5-10%). We can spend (or save, we need a higher savings rate!) our own money far more effectively.
Bailouts: Absolutely not. Stop encouraging bad behavior and rewarding the politically connected at tax payer (and the dollar's) expense. Besides we call assets 'toxic' for a reason...
Employers and Employees: Unions and striking should be allowed, but regulated. No one should be forced to join a union.
Free trade: No NAFTA, WTO, etc. and no MFN for China. That does not mean however I oppose low tariffs - quite the opposite. What I oppose unaccountable, secretive bureaucracy and corporate welfare masquerading as 'free trade.'
Spending: End discretionary spending, bureaus, subsidies, etc. Cut back at nearly all levels.
Social Security: Privatize through use of annuities, private saving accounts, etc. and phase out the old system. Your retirement should really be your concern.
Space Program: We have a lot to gain from this potentially. Open space up to the market more and allow for some mining of resources like Helium-3.
Welfare: Should be left to the states. The Department of Health and Human Services shouldn't exist.
Healthcare: Phase out medicare, medicaid, etc. and offer up vouchers and real benefits for the un-insurable. Abolish subsidies and other favoritism to the insurance companies. Reform regulations to allow for more choice and coverage (e.g. buying across state lines). Tax healthcare benefits as wages and enact deductions to reduce overuse and offer real savings opportunities. Enact Tort Reform.
Education: We spend more on education and have more federal involvement than ever.. And we have almost nothing to show for it. Abolish the Department of Education and No Child Left Behind. Establish internship and apprenticeship programs. Expand charter schools and allow for school choice, be it through private school vouchers, home school, or other alternative programs.
Minimum Wage: This can be counter productive, but at this point I think we might as well just tie it to inflation and forget about it. It's already at a fairly low rate historically anyway.
Regulation: Simplify and enforce. Regulations should focus primarily on public health and prohibiting wild speculation (e.g. naked derivatives). In general small business is vastly over regulated. If anything, maybe regulation is less necessary than simply realizing just how much power 'charters' give the government over abusive corporations...
Infrastructure: Scale down highway system and suburbia. Expand public transportation (e.g. bullet trains) and promote new urbanism.
Energy Policy: Expand use of nuclear energy and domestic drilling. Promote research for renewable resources.

Foreign Issues

Basic Ideas: Nationalism, Non-interventionism.

United Nations: Get out of the UN.
Iraq & Afghanistan: This is a disaster, we need to begin pulling out immediately. Focus on the borders, our occupation is a waste of time and breeds resentment.
Iran: Let Israel and co deal with it if they're so worried.
North Korea: Phase out troops at the border and end all aid. We've been there for over 50 years, and the majority of South Koreans want us out. It's time to go.
Israel: Shouldn't get any aid either. Beyond that, Israel for better or worse is a sovereign nation now.
Military Involvement: Attack only if attacked or directly threatened.
Military Budget: Massive cuts. End no bid contracts, introduce far greater transparency, close down hundreds of bases. 'National Defense' should be just that, defensive.

[Mint]

Death Penalty: Only should be used when their is DNA evidence or several eye witnesses.

Eye witness testimony is actually fairly unreliable a lot of the time.

[Mint]

This is internally contradictory on so many levels. How can you support a massive stimulus but oppose progressive income tax, for example?

[Mint]

Besides the obvious revenue issues supporting government stimulus implies some underlying belief in keynesian economics working... None of which supports the general economic structure you otherwise want. I think.

[Mint]

Vepres can't claim he doesn't hate the poor yet support amnesty at the same time. One of the claims he made must be a lie.

Do I hate the poor?

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Keynesian economics are useful in times of extraordinary crisis. Generally, the only two instances I would have supported stimulus are the 1929 and 2008 crashes, respectively. I would not have supported stimulus in, say, 2003 or 1982 (though Reagan's tax cuts were in and of themselves a good thing).

It either works or it doesn't. Either you want a robust public sector to weather the economy, or you don't because you find that counterproductive. I may totally disagree with people like beet, lief, jfern, marokai, etc. on this matter but at least they hold consistent views in regards to what sort of economic model they want.

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Ok.. why?

I've already stated before why I think a complete collapse is inevitable - quadrillion derivatives market going bust (not just real estate), open talk of the dollar being dropped as a reserve currency by OPEC and brazil/russia/china/etc., zombie banks being allowed to grow thanks to the bail outs, etc. but I'd like to see your reasoning here.

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Vepres can't claim he doesn't hate the poor yet support amnesty at the same time. One of the claims he made must be a lie.

Do I hate the poor?

Since when do you support amnesty?

I haven't pulled a Lou Dobbs yet.

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Well, I don't mind if Vepres takes his time here. Normally I never question peoples views given what this thread is but I'm honestly sort of confused.

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lol

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Looks like we agree on abortion (well honestly, I'd go further), gun control (ditto), drugs, elections, farm subsidies, transportation and NASA.

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It may be flavorful, but the flavor isn't good.

Totally disagree. Bison is amazing. It's almost always a better cut of meat in my experience, especially when you're making burgers.

[Mint]