WHat would be my political position?

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<p>I have very odd views - and am confused about my position along the political spectrum. WHat would another think?</p>

<p>I'm...</p>

<p>-Passionately for abolishing affirmitive action. I believe that race makes no difference whatsoever in any matters. In other words, I adhere to the principles in the "Bell Curve."
-For abolishing social security, or at least putting it such that people are in charge of ONLY their OWN retirement accounts, not those of others (No, I do not want to spend my tax dollars for the eldery couple who wishes to take a vacation for Hawaii. I would rather spend them for universal health insurance).
-For reducing welfare's impact. yes we must help the laid off - not those watching TV all day due to laziness.
-For school vouchers (still resentful at my school district for refusing to grant me admission to its honors program just on the basis of a single test score)
- For complete seperation of church and state, being an atheist myself.
- For consumer rights and the right to know. Why do people want to not label genetically modified foods? Most don't mind anyways - it won't hurt business that much. We have the RIGHT to know what we're eating.
- For abortion
- For gay rights
- Against subsidies for corporations or for marriage.
- For animal rights, being vegetarian myself.
- For death penalty, including that for mentally retarded inmates.
- For abolishing any cultural attitudes in favor of firm pragmatism. Like Feynman, I disdain human conventions and ceremonies. We're wasting too much money on them. The end justifies the means.
- DEFINITELY for SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. FUND it MASSIVELY. We need to get out of the solar system before the sun goes into a red giant. Science is our future. Scientists, even though many are atheists, frequently have very strong moral values about protecting our Earth - just look at the Manhattan Project physicists - Teller was pretty much the only one advocating more nukes. ANd very passionate into stem cells - animals are more conscious than human embryos are. Plus, human embryos resemble embryos of other vertebrates.
- As for environment.. Hmm... I honetly don't believe we can do anything about global warming. So I don't support Kyoto - but I don't oppose it either. Pollution must be severely controlled. As for preserving wildlife - I used to be for it, but ever since I became a Machiavellian pragmatist - I've become more neutral on this issue.
-Energy: Definitely invest in alternatives and get out of Big Oil. But we must do it gradually - first start with conservation and cleaner fuels.
-Slightly oppose the Iraq war - wasn't good investment in my opinion - but hey what the heck.</p>

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<p>Sound like a Libertarian to me.</p>

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<p>you don't sound all that confused to me, most people don't 100% agree with any political idealogy. I do agree you sound like a libertarian however</p>

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<p>But I also forgot to mention - I do support gun control - and would like to see guns banned - but of course, I realize that banning guns would be virtually impossible at this stage.</p>

<p>THanks for the input... Sometimes people ask me for what political party I associate with and my mind goes completely blank. I originally said "Green" but only becasue I thought Nader was cool - after finding Nader's actual positions I found that there really ins't much in common between Nader and myself aside from a common dislike of Republicans. And then I said Democratic but then recent events and changes in my philosophy have changed my mind further. Now perhaps I could say that I'm an independent libertarian or something like that,... </p>

<p>Hmm - but yeah - I kinda thought I was a Libertarian too - but was kinda reluctant to admit that I fit most with Liberterian idology because I don't necessarily trust the people. Still of course - I couldn't agree with any candidate's positions completely. I definitely don't like the current president and personally like the Democrats more thanthe Republicans - but I'm feeling more alienated from the Democratic party's stances on certain issues (and that alienation may explain why Iplaced issues where I felt conservatively at first).</p>

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<p>ur just an independent that's probably going to be a "swing" voter. so i'm sure you'll just base your vote on whoever seems to be the better candidate and has matching stances with you on the issues you're most concerned about at a certain point in time...</p>

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<p>or u can form your own party!!! like, the The Scientific Rationalist Party of America or something like that...</p>

<p>do u like Ayn Rand?</p>

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<p>Libertarian, but I take issue with the assumption that people on welfare are lazy. You can't even get welfare unless you have proof of a job and you can only stay on for five years. There's also a link boortz.com where you can take a political quiz to determine your place on the political spectrum.</p>

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<p>your stance on gun control definately makes you not a libertarian. Basically, you have no official stance, like most Americans, and you would likely vote for either presidential candidate that best matched most of your important beliefs.</p>

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<p>I disagree that you are libertarian. In my opinion, the libertarian ideology does not match up with yours. Look at what Libertarians stand for before you become one. </p>

<p>The Libertarian party's basic goal is to stop government interaction with the people. They are cheap with government spending, and vehemently oppose most taxes and dislike spending money on political services like foreign aid, public art, most military defense, welfare, and education. I think that their stance on education is pretty extreme. They advocate the separation of school and state, which is summed up here:</p>

<p>"We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended. We call for the repeal of the guarantees of tax-funded, government-provided education, which are found in most state constitutions. </p>

<p>As an interim measure to encourage the growth of private schools and variety in education, including home schooling, we support tax credits for tuition and other expenditures related to an individual’s education. We likewise favor tax credits for child care and oppose nationalization of the child-care industry. We oppose denial of tax-exempt status to schools because of those schools’ private policies on hiring, admissions, and student deportment. "
Source: National Platform of the Libertarian Party Jul 2, 2000 </p>

<p>The libertarian party is, however, anti-social security. </p>

<p>The Libertarian party does have some great ideas and solutions which I think that many people, including myself, can agree with. Unfortunately, though, some of their whoppers on education, guns, and foreign aid make it hard to gain support.</p>

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<p>I would say you lean Libertarian (compared to other ideologies) but are liberal on some issues (subsidizing research, gun control, government intervention in energy, "need to know" stuff on food).</p>

<p>Here is a great site for putting a number to your beliefs: <a href="http://www.politicalcompass.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.politicalcompass.org/&lt;/a>. Don't forget this is a British site; their political "center" is farther to the left than in the American system.</p>

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<p>"but was kinda reluctant to admit that I fit most with Liberterian idology because I don't necessarily trust the people"</p>

<p>But you trust Democrats/Republicans?? Yikes!!!</p>

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<p>Strangely - I took the test - and found myself at the...complete utter center out of all places. Interesting... I suppose that my strong views on all sides of the spectrum averaged out to the center (though it did lean to the left/libertarian).</p>

<p>But yes, a liberal/libertarian sounds very accurate for me. I could easily say that I am leaning libertarian though not affiliated with the libertarian party (many of their stances look frightening) just as someone can call himself conservative and still oppose the GOP. I never have enoyed the status quo or conservative ideas - so it would be a misnomer calling myself a conservative - but on what issues I am conservative on - they're what conservatives and libertarians agree with.</p>

<p>I like Plato's ideas in his Republic - the hoi polloi cannot be trusted - but unfortunately, even enlightened despots have grown corrupt with power. Frex. Robespierre started out with admirable goals but ended up corrupt instigating the reign of terror.</p>

<p>As for Ayn Rand, I just read on Wikipedia - and Objectivism - looks interesting. While I cannot completely agree with it - all people aren't going to have their perfect matches of course. For example, objectivism disagrees with skepticism. I'm very skeptical about virtually everything and do not believe that we can ever attain true knowledge - it is beyond human capability.</p>

<p>I don't trust political parties - or anyone in power for that matter.</p>

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<p>One could also accuse me of elitism - but I really think the educated should be the only ones allowed to vote (since I honestly cannot trust the uninformed. Hey - vote for this candidate because he looks good! Of course, some educated vote that way too - but are more likely to vote according to policies). Of course, education is not attributed by birth and most can obtain it given the effort.</p>

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<p>"I really think the educated should be the only ones allowed to vote"</p>

<p>Who determines the group that you call "educated"?</p>