Explain your political ideology.

Over the past year, it seems that ATS has become 90% political, as far as threads go, now, maybe that's just me as I tend to log on, hit the new topics in the morning and log off. Still I do miss seeing threads on bigfoot, black projects, u.f.o's, aliens and everything in between, however, I understand it's an election year...unfortunately, reading through the posts, it seems to get down to my opinion is better than yours, or, I'm right, your wrong.

Thought I'd start a post to describe my ideology, hopefully others will join in...this is not to bash the person above you, just to explain your thoughts, your views, in a paragraph or 2...I'll start.

I tend not to lump myself into the 2 party paradigm...best way I can describe myself would be a non-religious conservative, with libertarian leanings, and some leanings that would be left of center...and a healthy dose of conspiracy theorist

I mention non-religious, not because I have anything against people of faith, it's more the institution itself, just another mode of controlling the masses much like government...when it comes down to the average practicing person...I respect their beliefs, for instance, many of my customers, when I take them to lunch or dinner, want to say grace...I dont get my panties in a bind, nor do I get offended...I bow my head and allow them to say grace...in my eyes, it's a respect thing...my beliefs are mine...not theirs.

Conservative when it comes to size and scope of government...the constitution is an amazing document, sure, it's 300 years old, however, the framers sure seemed to have a grasp on how government can become...overbearing.

Libertarian and/or left of center...there are so many definitions of parties, to me this means...to each his own, government should not be involved, I guess that is the best way to put it, and I'm sure my definitions will not match the "correct" definitions, but they are the best "ideologies" I can use to express my views.

Just a few last bullet points, as the above tends to ramble a bit in trying to keep it short:

Taxation - seriously, look at France...75%??? That is utter nonsense to me

Entitlements - welfare, food stamps, etc...Good programs for people in need, they should not be a way of life, nor should being on them be "comforrtable"...the programs should be designed as assistance...this cradle to grave mentality is crazy.

Social Security - I don't view it as an "entitlement"...more like a govt. forced 401K...when it was designed, probably a good program that was needed, when it went into the general fund...well, bye. I think, at the very least, an opt in/out system...let me take care of my money...you do not know better than I.

Abortion - Not my call...I'm pro choice...not right for me, especially after witnessing the birth of my kids, but you have your life, and your decisions are yours, does not affect me.

Gay marriage - again, does'nt affect me, don't care...should be a state issue...or non issue...I will only say...are you guys/gals insane...do you know what you are asking for, ah well, welcome to alimony and divorce, you silly fools! (it's a joke howdy...I'm married, just trying to keep it light)

Political Correctness - What a load of crap...you are offended and so traditions (think Christmas or holidays in schools), freedom of speech (We are not Egypt, no, we will not come up with blasphemy laws...i hope) and so many other things are eroded...

Illegal immigration - take it to the micro scale...it is no different than someone breaking and entering into your house...and a slap in the face to those that came here the right way...do not pass go, do not collect 200.00, or as it seems to be, taxpayer handouts...no, this is not racist...race has nothing to do with it...get so sick of the name calling based on a opinion.

Ok...I said one or 2 paragraphs, it is a political thread...do as I say, not as I do

Follow your own thought process, don't counter each of my points, or the persons above you...really just trying to lay out some of my basic thoughts, and see others. I tried to keep it simplistic, yet show my thought process.

I wish I could add something but I can't.

I see one world government as inevitable and important to the longevity to our planet and our species.

We will continue killing each other unless we remove borders.

I may have gone beyond the confines of the OP here, I apologize.

I tend to swing between hardcore Marxist and free market fundamentalist, like a Jekyll and Hyde. Mostly I'm somewhere in the middle.

political ideology hmmmm

I like representative governmental parties where EVERY aspect of society is represented.

from the mega-corps to the downtrodden!

reply to post by BigFrigginAl

Explain your political ideology

What would Jesus do?

I guess that would put me in the liberal category.

I am a communist. Some say tax the rich? I say eat the rich.(metaphorically) Sadly us commies tend to get a bad reputation because of some certain state run capitalist nations that may have called themselves communist in the past... If you can visualize our current society as a pyramid type hierarchy then I would want to replace it with a circle.

P.S. sorry if this seems like it was written oddly I wrote it quickly on a phone.

reply to post by BigFrigginAl


Interesting.

General Political Views -- Libertarian Conservative.

Taxation -- Income tax should be illegal, other forms of proper taxation are required in a society that expects to have essential services provided. The US as we know it today was built at a time when taxation was about 90% and the rich still lived like Kings.

Entitlments -- Again, this is about essential services. You can have programs like welfare and medicare, medicaid etc, but they CANNOT be run by the state. They must be privately run with government oversight. Anything that involves tax payer money should have a clear record of transactions, policies, proceedures and all terms & conditions of those programs should need to be approved by the people by vote.

Social Security -- Pay out for those who paid into it. Allow younger folks a means of opting out and alternative retirement programs provided by the private sector. No subsidies from the government unless you opt in.

Abortion -- Pro choice, anti abortion. I know it's tough to figure out, but I don't think we have the right to legislate a person's body and the choices they make. I may think it's morally wrong, but legally is an entirely different thing.

You'd cause more deaths among women and babies if you made abortion illegal.

Gay Marriage -- I'm gay and married. Canadian as well, we decided a long time ago that who you slept with was none of our business and that voluntary forms of association were ok among consenting, legal aged adults.

Political Correctness -- It's BS.

Illegal Immigration -- Provide a path to citizenship for those born here of illegal immigrants. Provide a path for their parents as well through education and work. Maybe work out some form of extra tax they have to pay for sucking on the boob of the legal citizen while they were here. It's a complicated topic for sure, I don't have the answers.

I do know that closing the border, or shooting them all, or deporting them all is not the answer.

The bulk of my ideology surrounds a government that exists ONLY for essential services and that stays the hell out of your personal freedoms so long as you aren't harming others, or infringing upon their rights.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I'm adopted, and wondering if you are my long lost brother...LOL. Very similar thoughts.

Interesting replies from all...thanks to those that have joined in!

I support complete liberty from all coercive authority, political and economic.

I support worker ownership, socialism, over capitalism because capitalism is coercive authority. Worker ownership is also the only way to run an economy without having to have a state system, as capitalism requires. Worker ownership solves the problem of the economic boom and bust of capitalism.

Some call it anarchism, some call it libertarian socialism.

I despise liberalism being incorrectly labeled socialism, libertarianism being called right-wing, and socialism being misrepresented as a state system.

"Liberalism is not socialism and never will be", Winston Churchill, 1908.

"Anarchism is stateless socialism", Mikhail Bakunin, 1814-1876.

"Anarchism is really a synonym for socialism. The anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the exploitation of man by man. Anarchism is only one of the streams of socialist thought, that stream whose main components are concern for liberty and haste to abolish the State" Daniel Guérin, Anarchism: From Theory to Practice (1969).

"Anarchism can be conceived as a kind of voluntary socialism, that is, as libertarian socialist or anarcho-syndicalist or communist anarchist, in the tradition of, say, Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin and others." Noam Chomsky, interviewed by Peter Jay , in "The Relevance of Anarcho-syndicalism" in The Jay Interview (25 July 1976).

"Being an Anarchist I am also a Socialist. Socialism is the antithesis of Anarchy. One is the North Pole of Truth, the other the South." Elbert Hubbard, in "The Better Part" in A Message to Garcia and Thirteen Other Things (1901), p. 132.

"A number of persons claim that an anarchist cannot be a socialist, and a socialist not an anarchist. This is wrong. The philosophy of socialism is a general one, and covers several subordinate teachings. To illustrate, I will cite the word 'Christianity.' There are Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, and various other religious sects, all of whom call themselves Christians. Although every Catholic is a Christian, it would not be correct to say that every Christian believes in Catholicism. Webster defined socialism thus: "A more orderly, equitable and harmonious arrangement of social affairs than has hitherto prevailed." Anarchism is aiming at this; anarchism is seeking a more just form of society. Therefore every anarchist is a socialist but every socialist is not necessarily an anarchist." Adolph Fischer, as quoted in Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis as Defined by Some of its Apostles (1887) edited by Albert Richard Parsons, p. 78.

"All good men are anarchists. All cultured, kindly men; all gentlemen; all just men are anarchists. Jesus was an anarchist." Elbert Hubbard, American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher, 1856-1915.

What is my political Ideology!

I am for peace, equality, and justice for all man kind! This means getting rid of monetary slavery, wars and unjust laws! We need an economy that is sustainable not dependant on infinate growth and infinate debt! I believe only those that are sane and violent need be locked away! We need to clean up our world of the pollution that is wreaking the ecology! We need to create an agriculture system that's not dependant on Oil, a system to extract
fuels that does'nt destroy our environment or kill our people, we need edjucation system that is about increasing knowladge, We need a social system that edjucates us about understanding, acceptance and caring! We need a world that is opposite of what we have now, where people come first, then environment, then advancement!
We need to understand that selfishness is detrimental to our needs as a group! Noone should be persecuted by the group and no people should be shoved into a group! We are all individuals, all created differently and we need to celebrate those differences! Illiminate ignorance with edjucation then understanding and finally acceptance! I believe hate is a result of insecurity and misedjucation, When these are things of the past we will eliminate them! I realize these views may be quite different than those of many people!
I don't know if this is what the OP wanted from me but it's what I see our world needs to change into!
As long as people continue to allow themselves to believe in the right and left paradigm we will continue down the road of destruction, persecution, selfishness and war until we destroy all that has been built! Until there are only a few of us who don't remember squat and will have to restart again! We need to make big changes in this world beyond any politically concieved ideas of today! Thinking outside the box of todays heirarchy is the only way i can see as far as a way out of inequality, selfishness, arrogance, ignorance, destruction, pollution, envy, poverty, war and hate!
"Those that don't remember the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them!"
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!"
Maybe it's time for something different?

And some more interesting thoughts...appreciate you guys joining in. In my OP I stated near the end, do as I say, not as I do, which was really meant to poke fun at myself for going on much longer that I initially thought I would...Mostly, just don't want this to fall into the typical pit of name calling, etc...with all the political posts and ideas, I just felt the need to lay mine out and also hear what others think/feel in an intelligent manner...again, thanks for joining in all!

I basically subscribe to the redneck hillbilly party.

I most closely identify myself with and admire classical liberalism as defined by those such as Locke, Hume, Mill, and Hobbes. Practically, I'm a registered Libertarian. However, I feel that modern libertarianism tends to be a more extreme version of classical liberalism. So, I believe in limited government and no intervention in the economy (especially when compared to the main two political parties in the US)- but I think modern libertarianism wants to go too far with it into anarcho-capitalism, which I just can't really fathom as being tenable in the long term. I can't really call myself a modern liberal (Democrat) or a modern conservative (Republican), as I think that the best ideas of both parties comes directly from classical liberalism anyway (civil liberties and economic liberties respectively).

reply to post by LeSigh


Isn't that a bit of a contradiction though?

How can liberalism be limited government, when it requires government for it's social safety-net?

How can American "libertarianism" be limited government, when it supports capitalism?

How can libertarianism support an authoritarian economic system? The very definition of the term is liberty, freedom-from and freedom- to. Freedom from coercive authority, and freedom to develop and express your abilities, talents, and potentials to the fullest possible extent compatible with the maximum freedom of all.

Capitalism is coercive authority.

"The liberal capitalist is like a kind donkey owner. He will do everything for the donkey -- care for it, feed it, wash it. Everything except get off its back!" Leo Tolstoy

"Some people giving orders and others obeying them: this is the essence of servitude. . . . Freedom means more than the right to change masters." Bob Black, American anarchist, The Libertarian as Conservative, 1984.

"[w]e stress the advantages of the free enterprise system, we complain about the totalitarian state, but... we have created more or less of a totalitarian system in industry, particularly in large industry." Robert E. Wood, the chief executive officer of Sears, quoted by Allan Engler in Apostles of Greed, p. 68

The only true economic system that can be truly free from authority of the state, is socialism, the workers ownership of the means of production. Libertarian socialism.

"There's nothing individualistic about corporations. These are big conglomerate institutions, essentially totalitarian in character, but hardly individualistic. There are few institutions in human society that have such strict hierarchy and top-down control as a business organisation. Nothing there about 'don't tread on me`. You're being tread on all the time." Noam Chomsky, Keeping the Rabble in Line, p. 280

"[Supporters of capitalism do not understand] the fundamental doctrine, that you should be free from domination and control, including the control of the manager and the owner" Noam Chomsky Feb. 14th, 1992 appearance on Pozner/Donahue.

"Some people giving orders and others obeying them: this is the essence of servitude. Of course, as [right-Libertarians] smugly observe, 'one can at least change jobs,' but you can't avoid having a job -- just as under statism one can at least change nationalities but you can't avoid subjection to one nation-state or another. But freedom means more than the right to change masters" Bob Black, The Libertarian as Conservative

"The place where adults pass the most time and submit to the closest control is at work. Thus . . . it's apparent that the source of the greatest direct duress experienced by the ordinary adult is not the state but rather the business that employs him. Your foreman or supervisor gives you more or-else orders in a week than the police do in a decade." Bob Black, The Libertarian as Conservative

I believe in decentralized community based anarchism. Workers direct ownership of the means of production.
With free market capitalism regulated on a local level by communities.
Taxes are created and agreed to on a community level and are voluntary.(pay higher taxes get more welfare. Pay no taxes get no welfare).
No crony capitalism and crony monopolies.(like the Federal Reserve System and its monopoly on creating US currency.)
No mandatory taxation. Tit or Tat system.
No private ownership of the means of production. Have to work there.

Originally posted by John_Rodger_Cornman
I believe in decentralized community based anarchism. Workers direct ownership of the means of production.
With free market capitalism regulated on a local level by communities.

How can you have the private ownership of the means of production with no government over-site?

What will stop capitalists using slave labour?

What will capitalists use to protect their capital?

Don't you think anarchism would be more logical with worker ownership rather than private?

Capitalism can never be anarchist, as it is in itself an authority. Anarchism is not just anti-government, it is anti-authority. When the means of production are privately owned that gives those private owners authority over non-owners, and puts the non-owners at their mercy, that is not libertarianism. Capitalism is why we have the state we have have, not the other way around. If you want true liberty for all then worker ownership is the only way. If you want to give a minority group of people all the power to control the rest of us then carry on supporting capitalism.

reply to post by BigFrigginAl


Small government, personal freedom, removal of corrupt government (local, state, federal), extreme punishment for all crime, aid for the young, old, disabled (the truly disabled), and veterans. Drastically reduce taxes, remove 90% of all US bases around the world, DEFEND OUR COUNTRY NOT THE WORLD (in other words, don't throw our brave veterans and volunteers into wars that don't matter for people who don't care about us, and don't want us there). Give walking papers to the Military Industrial Complex, and let them know they don't run this country anymore. Return to the gold standard, and eviscerate manipulative bankers and Wall Street.

In other words, Ron Paul, for the most part. I agree with almost everything he has to say, as he usually only has common sense issue forth from his mouth. I guess Libertarian, really.

This is a list of mass-killings and genocides by leftist Governments.

That doesnt need any more explaining. Anyone who believes humans have a soul and life is worth protecting, votes the right way.

Originally posted by lucid eyes
This is a list of mass-killings and genocides by leftist Governments.

That doesnt need any more explaining. Anyone who believes humans have a soul and life is worth protecting, votes the right way.

There are no leftist governments. Those so called leftist governments simply used Marxism as an excuse to take state power, they never had any intention of implementing socialism, which is the workers ownership of the means of production.

The USSR for example had a state-capitalist economy. Their economy was privately owned by members of their government. America is not that much different, as many of your politicians are capitalists and use the government for their own interest, not those of the people.

Most of what you know about the USSR was propaganda, the real issue was over global markets, not "communism". Notice the countries demonised by the west are those who were isolationist, and not part of the global economy western capitalists were trying to create. There are plenty of other despot governments the west have supported because they allowed western capitalist involvement. In fact western capitalists, Rockefeller, supported Lenin in his takeover of the state.

Vote? For who? Please explain how voting changes anything that really benefits working people? Will voting bring all the outsourced jobs back to America? Will voting allow workers to buy out the companies they work for?
Will voting stop the never ending wars for capitalist interests?