Indomitable Liberals or Obstinate Conservatives?

[LogicWarrior]

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-I think gay marriage should be legal, but not in the way people are thinking. I think the government should cease to call it marriage (regardless of orientation of the couple) and instead only issue “civil union licenses.” Then the religious right can’t complain about how the institution of marriage is “being destroyed”

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<p>Why not just legalize gay marriage and allow churches to not marry gays if they don’t want to?

-I think a certain degree of welfare is necessary for the functioning of a society. But I think it needs to be better regulated. Drug tests should be mandatory. If I have to get tested for drugs to get a JOB, people should be drug tested to make sure the money they don’t WORK for isn’t being spent on fueling their addiction. If it turns out they are, then they should be cut off from welfare and their children should be taken into foster care. Heaven knows I’d rather have adoptive parents than a crackhead for a dad.

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<p>Agreed, although I think that kids should only be put into foster care if rehab for the parents has tried and failed.

-Capital punishment must be swift and certain. Otherwise it loses its effectiveness at preventing future crimes and might as well be a life sentence. Furthermore I think that non-violent offenders should be rehabilitated and treated well in prison so that when they are released, they can be productive members of society. Violent offenders, who by their actions have proven to not be able to function within the norms of society, should be put away for life or executed (basically, if you murder or rape someone you’re gone. bye bye.)

Except that innocent people are killed by the death penalty because our justice system isn’t perfect. Adding rape to the list of capital crimes would just add to the list of innocents executed because of judicial screw-ups.</p>

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-The military needs to be used more judiciously compared to how it has been in the past decade. Afghanistan was a good idea, and would have been excellent if ol’ Bush hadn’t started Iraq. Iraq posed no threat to us, was not responsible for the attacks of 9/11. Saddam sucked and I’m glad he’s gone, but we should have finished the job in Afghanistan first.

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<p>Agree with all of this.

-I support the aggressive move to cleaner alternative fuels. Nuclear (YES nuclear, if you oppose nuclear you should move to Saudi Arabia because you’re no better than them), wind, hydroelectric, anything and everything. We have to stop depending on the blood oil of regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela. Once we make ourselves independent of them, we no longer have to cowtow to their demands.

Agreed with all of this, especially nuclear.

-A recent article in The Economist said that a 5% VAT would bring TONS of revenue to the government to help get our deficit under control. I’d support the creation of this VAT, assuming that it went to the deficit and not to more debt-creating projects.

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<p>While a VAT tax is fair, it’s not as efficient as a progressive tax because it takes money out of consumers’ pockets. A progressive tax provides more revenue for less damage to the economy, since the rich have more disposable income. It just isn’t fair. To me, fixing the deficit is more important than “fairness”.</p>