Curiosity: What are your political bullet points?

Social anarchist, fiscal conservative.

Long story short: leave me the hell alone, and quit spending so damned much of my money on stuff I don't use.

I am a registered Independent. Though I vote primarily Republican for lack of better choices, I will vote Libertarian and Constitution party in state elections when I think they are good candidates.

I am not evangelical, but I was raised Nazarene and went to a nondenominational in college. I had a stint with atheism then came back to Christianity after realizing how empty and nihilistic atheism is. I don't claim a denomination. I believe God is the architect of the universe and is the ultimate scientist, mathematician, biologist, physicist, etc. I honor Him in the Christian tradition, though I do not claim to understand him. I believe that the OT/Torah is a mix of allegories, songs and family oratory.

I am a conservative, grown up with a wandering family. I lived in multiple states growing up - an average of a different home every year of my life up to my 18th birthday. I've met a lot of people, saw a lot of things with an outsider perspective. I learned to think for myself instead of following the crowd. At 18 I went to college and my family kept moving so I had to make it on my own. I'm an introvert who can make himself socialize when he has to. I much prefer a computer game or MMO with my wife, spending time with my son, and avoiding other most people on my off time. I'm a gamer, I have a few close friends from high school that I still hang out with, and am now helping bring up a new generation of gamers in a semi-regular monthly PnP session as the game-master with one of my friends and his sons.

I don't believe gaming and computers lead to violence in and of themselves. If they did, I would have been suspect number one based on my personality. It takes multiple factors in my opinion - especially the level of family support, strength of values, and mental health.

Abortion: I am the result of a 16-year old girl deciding that her child was not a punishment, and chose to adopt me out to a loving family. I was conceived in 1971 and born in 1972, one year before Roe vs Wade. I am decidedly pro-life, though I concede there are arguments for the abortion procedure: reasons of physical health/mortality, rape, and forced incest. When I met my wife, she was pro-choice and came over to pro-life once she really began to think about the issue. I have determined the point of no return for abortion is when the blastula implants on the woman's uteran wall. Prior to that, there is no way the proto-embryo will develop into a child. As such, I am okay with the morning after pill and other means to prevent implantation.

Homosexuality: I have no problems with gays, they are people like everyone else. In college in the 90s several gays came out of the closet with me, because they felt I was a thoughtful person of faith who never spoke ill of gays. I appreciated their trust and assured them that I do not consider them to be abominations. While I do not agree with the idea that homosexual unions are 100% equivalent of heterosexual, in no way would I want to impede two people who wish to commit to each other. I do support religious liberty and freedom of expression by non-participation; no one should be forced to participate in an event or ceremony they do not agree with. If any of my college friends were to ask me to participate in their unions I would accept the invitation so long as the event did not incorporate any Christian religious traditions. I support Kim Davis' stance, though I think she needs to realize she is not an ordained minister and her certificates are not a recognized sanction of the union by God. As a biologist I have the opinion that homosexual orientation is a non-pathological mental disorder of their hormonal pathways in a developing child. Much like people with ADHD, autism, etc these are people who have some wires crossed in their brains who can participate in regular society despite their developmental problems however we should not re-engineer society for them.

Alien life: as Carl Sagan said... if we are alone in the universe, it seems like an awful waste of space. I see no reason why other life cannot exist in the universe and it does not conflict with my faith.

I support the second amendment, and believe the People have the unalienable right to bear arms with any military weapons and munitions of the era. There are some people who are not mentally fit to own guns, and in the older days each community did not have to worry about political correctness and could identify the trouble-makers as non-trustworthy with little to worry from PC police. The second amendment is not for hunting. I support any law abiding citizen who is of sound mind and body owning a fully automatic rifle, cannon, tank, or attack helicopter - assuming they can afford it.

I support Freedom of Religion, which is not the same as Freedom from Religion nor Separation of Church and State. I believe our Founders advocated Separation of State from Church as they had fought to escape the influence of the Church of England and its strong ties to the Crown. I do not advocate a theocracy, but people of faith should be in politics and base their decisions on a moral compass derived from their faith so long as it does burden other people to join a particular faith. I would vote for an atheist conservative so long as he or she could explain where we derive our unalienable rights from (hint: not government) and accepted that the freedom to proclaim their disbelief in God in public comes from when our Founders did place their lives on the line due to faith our Creator and reliance on divine providence.

I believe the Progressive era heralded by Teddy Roosevelt then Wilson, followed by further damage by Franklin Roosevelt, is the main source of social/political/economic problems in the USA today. Obama is a symptom of these problems, not a source.

I believe the individual states have been shafted since the 17th Amendment and that it should be repealed. We are a union of States, not a group of territories under one central planning authority.

I also believe we need to repeal the 16th Amendment and implement the Fair Tax or a modified VAT tax.

I support free market capitalism. We have not enjoyed anything close to true capitalism since the Roaring 20's. We currently are operating under a bastardization of cronyism and over-regulation that is killing our ability to compete in the 21st century global economy. We aren't living in the post-WW2 world anymore, where every other 1st and 2nd world country had been bombed back to a pre-industrial infrastructure. The rules and regulations (and tax plans) that worked in the 50's are not applicable today. Other countries have commodities and assets to invest in and profit from overseas.

Illegal Immigrants are criminals and do not deserve any legal recognition. Their children are not citizens of the USA. Legal Immigrants who come to America should not be offered any special treatment for at least 10 years. Anyone who comes to America should be ready to contribute, not take from others through government force. We are a charitable nation and can offer assistance outside of government programs.

a reply to: Christosterone

dont trust any of them

I want to play.

1. I'm a white, 30 year old veteran, married to a black 25 year old woman, with a 4 year old mixed daughter f4om Missouri.

2. I'm a conservative atheist. 99% of the time I vote Republican, but I'm pretty burned out on the 'Who believes in Jesus More' dick measuring contest.

[SNIP]

3. I love guns. I build, own and have no intention on registering any. Any non-#ty person should have the same right to do so without governmental interference.

4. There is a difference between a hand up and a hand out. Intergenerational dependence on government assistance is an indication that it isn't society that failed, but that your "culture" is failing you.

Assistance should come with an expiration date.

5. I hate most politicians. For the most part they are gutless #heels that are terrified of saying something evenly mildly offensive. I'd love to hear just one person to tell Elija Cummings to go # himself.

6. I'm cool with abortion to an extent. While I personally believe that it is wrong, I see it as a net benefit to society. It comes down to cost savings and crime prevention.

7. I like being "green" because I like saving money. I recycle literally everything and have a compost pile. When I incenerate my garbage (because incenerate sounds better than burn in the burn barrel) all I'm burning is personal information. A kitchen trash sack lasts over a month in our home.

8. Continuing on the "green" theme my house is a 100+ years old brick house that I'm remodeling myself. When it's all done it will be very efficient. The poibt isn't to save the world, but to save money in the long term.

9. There is no such thing as too big to fail. The repurcussions of #ty business decisions shouldn't be paid for by tax payers.

10. I hate pressing 1 for English. My grandparenta don't get to press 8 for German, but then neither did their parents when they came here.

[SNIP]

Learn English. Speak whatever you want inside your home.



12. I have no issues with immigrants, just illegal ones. However when you come here you're no longer a ______-American, you're just an American.

13. I believe in fiscal sanity, a return to a Constitutional-centric federal government and the neutering of most tax dollar financed NGOs. States need to retake their power.


Honestly though I could keep going but I'm going to end here. If you've read all this and don't hate me then we're probably going to be friends.

a reply to: Lipton

1. I'm a white, 30 year old veteran, married to a black 25 year old woman

I agree with pretty much every point you listed, but at first I read this line as you were a 30 year veteran, not 30 years old and I was thinking, you old dog you

originally posted by: kenzohattori69
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic An abortion isn't a surgical procedure.

Actually, it is, but you call it whatever you like.

I asked a question, for clarity, because I wasn't sure I understood your post. But I think I get it now.

- Am not now and never have been affiliated with any political party.

- I'm either a weeping, tree-hugging liberal or a jack-booted fascistic conservative, depending on whom you ask.

- Over my voting life (every election since 1976, except primaries. As non-affiliated, have been disenfranchised there) I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Green party candidates. These days I mostly vote Democratic, because in my opinion the current Conservative movement in the US has gone completely off the deep end and should probably be judged clinically insane. My opinion.

- My basic political philosophy is derived from the Wiccans - do as you please (I'm a big fan of individual liberty), but harm nobody in the process (I'm a big fan of responsible individual liberty).

- I am not pro-small-government nor am I pro-big-government. I am pro-effective-government, and I believe a Government has a place in establishing and maintaining an equitable society. But said government must be receptive to input from the general citizenry.

- Anti-abortion, strongly pro-choice. This is an area that provides an example of why I think the modern conservative movement is insane - if you want fewer abortions, then provide effective sex-education, and make it easy to get effective contraceptives. Modern Conservatism in the US seeks to restrict abortions, restrict effective education and restrict availability of contraceptives. 'cause folks are gonna have the sex; any rationale approach must recognize and deal with that.

- Strong proponent of equal protection under law, and that the US is a nation of secular laws. Laws based on religion have no place here. We see how well that works as we look around the world.

- I believe certain industries should not be profit-driven. Things like the military, public utilities, health care, infrastructure development and maintenance, etc. None of these should be profit-driven.

- I believe the current problems we are having with violence in the US is the result of many social factors, not the availability of firearms. We've always had lots of guns in the US, we have not always had these violence problems. I believe both the Conservative and Liberal sides are completely missing the boat on this issue, and will never, until the systemic issues in the culture are addressed, come to any beneficial conclusions or actions.

- I'm a big fan of LOTS of voters. I would use the "purple finger" method, and let anybody who is subject to laws in this country vote one time, with the purple finger of pride. No registration necessary, no ID. All you need to do is have evidence you are in this country living under the laws of this country (living under the laws, not visiting under the laws). If that is the case, you get a say.

- I believe that whatever the original direction of the country was under the Founders, we are now living in an Oligarchy - of, by and for the rich. I believe some segments of the population want a feudal society. I'm not in favor of that.

- I believe it's nobody's business what anybody does with themselves. In other words, you want to smoke pot or meth? Go ahead. Don't drive, don't sell it, don't gas your neighbors out with burning your trash, etc.

- I always get a big laugh when I see this sign: "A government strong enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have". I always replace it with: "A government strong enough to mount a credible national defense is strong enough to take everything you have."

- I think the world would be a much happier place if more people kept their noses out of other people's business.

- Everybody should have at least one dog.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic Semantics. Kill as many babies as you like.

To sum up my most important issues points. From a Brit.

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Choice

Freedom from government interference in personal decisions.

Right to life

Right to healthcare

Right to due process.

Right to education


My biggest concerns:

Corruption from politician.

Corporate favoritism in government

Lack of equal application of laws.

Lack of social mobility.

Bureaucracy

a reply to: Christosterone

I'm probably going to miss a few points but using your OP as a template:

I don't really align myself with any political party, I find the Pirate Party most agreeable due to their thoughts on technology and information, but there's still parts of their platform I disagree with such as direct democracy.

I'm 32 years old which makes me just old enough for every election I've been eligible to participate in to involve electing a do nothing Congress or 2 out of the 5 worst presidents in American history.

I'm more or less a perpetual student having been in college for the past 11 years (1 more to go...), though that's allowed me to gain ample degrees and a lot of knowledge on my field. Having that type of educational opportunity is rather rare and I'm very aware of how lucky I am.

I'm a Buddhist and the two biggest principals in my life are eliminating suffering (individually and for society), and the Middle Way which I take to mean anything in moderation and avoiding extremes. This most often applies to my political views in that I'm a big fan of compromise as it's a great tool to balance out ones own opinions. This even applies to religion itself, look at what parts you believe to be true and don't blindly adhere to dogma.

While I do listen to others positions on issues (a necessity for compromise), I have no interest in hearing their logic in why they think the way they do regardless of if they agree with me or not. I think that people should come up with their own solutions and thought process to an issue, rather than being told what to think and why to think that way. It goes to the point that I'm actually disappointed with myself for not thinking up a better solution on my own if my opinion and reasoning is what's echoed by the talking heads.

On abortion I'm pro choice, but I don't think it's a particularly reasonable position to argue. On this subject people tend to be so set in their opinion that any dialogue is impossible. I think it's much more effective to discuss ways to prevent abortions in the first place whether that's through more adoptions, a safety net to care for children so they aren't seen by their parents as ruining their lives, or more birth control to prevent conceptions.

Constitutionally I don't believe any rights are absolute (again, see the avoidance of extremes). Additionally, I think that in hindsight the Anti-Federalists were proven correct and that by enumerating specific rights to the people through amendments we have created a belief that we only possess the rights listed. This has created a culture and a government where we don't have a right to privacy, a right to health care, or a right to travel. On the other hand unlike the Anti-Federalists I don't oppose a larger stronger government, I have no fear of big government. What I do fear is ineffective government, regardless of the governments scope when it is run like a train wreck and we elect people who run on a platform of making it even more of a disaster I have a problem. Government exists to defend us and improve our quality of life, and I support it being whatever size is necessary to optimize that without going too far as we are currently doing on the security side of things.

I'm not a supporter of capitalism, it has some great ideas such as individual benefit but when labor pools of differing economic zones are forced to compete against each other the system doesn't work. We need a new economic system that can combine the individual benefit of capitalism, the production benefits of a planned economy, the quality of life benefits of socialism, and the ability to be regional rather than global.

Like I mentioned earlier, I don't support direct democracy either, I think a Republic is the best system for governing. It has the benefits of a democratic process while eliminating the downfall that society can't be properly educated on every issue before voting. In particular I find a certain elegance in the design of the system in the US with three branches that can keep each other in check in addition to the voters.

I think that taxes are currently too low, even if we were to freeze spending at it's current rate taxes would need to go up by approximately 50% in order to eliminate the deficit and create a plan that could eliminate the debt in ~20 years. Leading the way on this I pay extra into the system every tax day beyond what I owe, though I'm aware it's rather pointless when I'm probably the only person in the entire country that does so.

I believe in equal treatment and have no problem with gays, they're people just like everyone else. The same is true of blacks, whites, middle easterners, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and any other group.

Keeping with what I like about the Pirate Party, far too much information is kept from the public by corporations and government. Transparency is an absolute defense against lies and corruption because it makes each person/group accountable for their words and actions. Just like our checks and balances in our government create a system where each branch oversees the others rather than trusting them, openness of information allows the people to observe those in power rather than trust or distrust them. Though there is certain information that should remain hidden, for a time (for example the JFK files or maybe 9/11, and current military actions).

And to sum this up, I'm against the 40 hour work week. In decades past before productivity is what it is now working 40 hours made sense. Before 1948 the work week was 44 hours and in 1900 it was 50 hours. It only makes sense to me that as we become more productive there is less work that needs to be done. Rather than have a bunch of people working and a bunch of people not working and dependent, lets just reduce the work week so that everyone is contributing. This is the biggest success of Obamacare in my opinion in that it's pushing more people to 29 hour weeks, for the rest of it's flaws this fact is going to be the defining part of the legislation in the future although the transition certainly hasn't been painless for a myriad of reasons.

Much more should be invested into science and education.

We should never get involved in conflicts except to save lives. (which means disarm combatants, don't arm the least objectionable among them.)

We need to do more to ensure our food and environment are safe and healthy.

We need to start acting like the other forms of life that share this world with us are as equally entitled to it as we humans are. We cannot justify the desctruction of life and habitat for our sole benefit. And not just because it will hurt us in the end, but because it is morally wrong.