Political View Check In

• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Overall, a moderate/ independent.
  
  Foreign policy wise, I'm a realist, meaning most of the time I'm just in the right camp.
  
  Domestic wise, it depends on the issue, but I lean pretty left on most domestic issues.
• iclfan2

  

  Pretty conservative. I think people should be responsible for their own lives and the the government should be as small as possible.
• LoganAlumni99

  I'm a strict constitutionalist which is why I abandoned the Republican Party and joined the Constitution Party before the 2008 election. For info on the Constitution Party or its platform visit www.constitutionparty.com
• believer

  

  ptown_trojans_1 wrote: Overall, a moderate/ independent.
  
  Foreign policy wise, I'm a realist, meaning most of the time I'm just in the right camp.
  
  Domestic wise, it depends on the issue, but I lean pretty left on most domestic issues.

  Took you long enough to get over here ptown! Welcome aboard!
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  believer wrote:

  ptown_trojans_1 wrote: Overall, a moderate/ independent.
  
  Foreign policy wise, I'm a realist, meaning most of the time I'm just in the right camp.
  
  Domestic wise, it depends on the issue, but I lean pretty left on most domestic issues.

  Took you long enough to get over here ptown! Welcome aboard!

  Yeah, I know. Busy week last week. I head over Thursday and find the huddle dead. Then, I get some message, and finally this morning I had enough time to find this place. I'm loving it so far.
• BoatShoes

  My opinions on political matters change often and tend to be very flexible. I wouldn't say I have many deeply held beliefs that I'm not open to changing but I suppose it's fair to say that most would characterize me on the "liberal" side.
  
  I'd say I'm a federalist in the Marshall or Hamilton mold and tend to sympathize with social contractarian justifications for government.
  
  As to the specifics:
  
  In regards to Constitutional Interpretation; I tend to favor the Marshall view that it's a great outline and am not a pure textualist like Scalia
  
  Tax Code: I tend to think we ought to try to broaden the base by removing a lot of available deductions and that trying to improve society through tax expenditures is largely not a good policy and distorts market conditions, for instance. I think that the Austrian Economics concept of "marginalism" justifies progressive tax rates because they are an attempt to get each tax payer to pay the same some in terms of their value to that individual taxpayer.
  
  Federalism: I tend to think the union between the states is better served through a cooperative federalism, wherein Congress provides money for the states for programs but that, due to efficiency concerns, States ought to administer and execute such programs.
  
  Gun Rights: Against most Gun Control policies...seems to me liberals mean well with gun control policies but that their policy goals are not often achieved by Gun Control laws.
  
  Death Penalty: I tend to think death by lethal injection does not satisfy fiscal, deterrance or retributive justifications for Capital Punishment and might even think torturing criminals might better satisfy these goals. I realize this is an extreme view.
  
  Defense: I tend to believe in a strong Navy and Air Force and stronger, and better trained reserve forces and a scaling back of Active Duty Army. I tend to think our Global Military presence could be achieved through the Navy and Air Force and that it might not be desirable to have so many bases in other nations.
  
  Trade: I'm currently flummoxed as to where I stand on this issue. Free trade allows for lower prices but also provides incentives for rational capitalists to invest in geographic areas with cheaper labor.
  
  Abortion: I'm not convinced that a fetus has a right to life but even if it does, in my view it is contingent on the mother's personal property rights and that an undesired fetus is an aggressor (albeit, in some strange existential way) against the mother and that it would be unjust to compel a mother to carry the child and would amount to involuntary servitude...Nonetheless, I think an abortion could be unjustified around 20 weeks and beyond when the minimum amount of neural capacity to possibly experience the world and pain is developed...heartbeats mean nothing to me in the debate because a heart is merely a pump.
  
  Gay Marriage: I'm not really sure if the government needs to even recognize marriage at all as the Internal Revenue Code is not neutral in regards marriage and as I said before, I'm not so sure if that's a good thing. IMHO, people being encouraged to marry for tax incentives might create more harmful marriages than say, gay marriage. But, if the government is going to recognize marriage, don't really see the big deal with gay marriage, and would have not problem with gay marriage and perhaps polygamous marriages.
  
  Health Care: I'm ok with a public option but am concerned about the expense.
  
  Education: I'd like to think spending more money would make it better but that's not the case. There's a particular private school in California that is turning inner city kids into Harvard students...I can't remember the name but I'd like to see every public school ran like that one. I've also been sympathetic to public boarding schools, I know, an extreme almost Socrates-like view.
  
  Ultimately, I think the best world would be one with no government and men just acting totally freely...but, we're not individuals alone out there, we integrate and form societies and men are not angels, hence we contract together and form government and would like to see an America wherein people are rewarded for working hard and innovative ideas and entrepreneurship but where people who aren't quite smart enough or don't quite work hard enough have viable safety nets. A strong free-market economy with a strong welfare state...much like the Nordic countries, but with the social programs ran by the States.
  
  But, before any of that could even be dreamed about, to me, the most crucial domestic policy in the coming years is going to be getting the deficit under control. I'd like to see the debt go under a trillion dollars and we're going to have slash spending of all kinds and probably contract our economy to get there.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Good to see you found the real huddle. I know I sent you a PM over there the other day. Welcome.
• majorspark

  

  Boat good to see you here. Always enjoyed the spars on the constitution. I'll set you straight sooner or later.
• dwccrew

  

  LoganAlumni99 wrote: I'm a strict constitutionalist which is why I abandoned the Republican Party and joined the Constitution Party before the 2008 election. For info on the Constitution Party or its platform visit www.constitutionparty.com

  So you voted for Chuck Baldwin too?
  

  ptown_trojans_1 wrote:
  
  Yeah, I know. Busy week last week. I head over Thursday and find the huddle dead. Then, I get some message, and finally this morning I had enough time to find this place. I'm loving it so far.

  Cleveland Buck wrote: Good to see you found the real huddle. I know I sent you a PM over there the other day. Welcome.

  I also sent P-town a PM on the other site under a different name though.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  I was talking to BoatShoes, though I did send ptown one or two PMs as well.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Yeah, thanks for the messages. Otherwise, never would have found this place.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Conservative in nature.
  
  I want as much of a FREE market, laissez faire, as we can get. The less government, the better. Government should only step in to provide public goods (that are needed) and a well monitored system of safety nets (which they don't).
• jmog

  I am not a republican, but I am a conservative. I want someone in office that is about fiscal budgets (Clinton was last President good at this), small government (Reagan was last president good at this), and lower taxes (Buss II was good at this).
  
  Let the Free Market reign within reason, let companies fail if the suck, don't bail them out. If a company is "too big to fail" then maybe its time to look at anti-trust laws against that company.
  
  I am also conservative to moderate with respect to morals. What I mean by this is I am extremely conservative myself, but realize that the laws should not necessarily reflect my beliefs.
  
  For instance, I personally believe homosexuality is a sin, but am for gay marriage/union (whatever you want to call it). I don't think just because my religion says its wrong, the laws should dictate what these people can and can't do with respect to marriage. However, the only caveat to that marriage right is they should not be able to force any pastor/priest to marry a gay couple if said reverend is against it.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  I like what jmog had to say.
• Fab4Runner

  

  I don't plan on posting over here a lot but I may from time to time.
  
  I am fiscally conservative and socially moderate.
• jmog

  ernest_t_bass wrote: I like what jmog had to say.

  WooHoo I have a fan!