Just for fun, here are all of my political views. I’m not super into politics at all – in fact before Bush started screwing everything up, I had zero interest in them. I definitely haven’t done enough research to have definitive stances on most of these things, so take them with a grain of salt.
Taxes
This is the one I care about the most. Our tax system is extremely screwed up. Did you know that we’re one of only TWO countries in the world who tax their citizens if they don’t live in the country or make money in the country? If I spend a year traveling the world, making money online, I STILL have to pay taxes in the US (there’s a partial exemption that it’s possible to qualify for).
We should really get rid of the income tax and move to a national flat sales tax. Americans spend WAY too much money. If there was a higher sales tax, but no income tax, people would be encouraged to save money. This would lighten the load on social security, welfare, and other handouts.
The sales tax would also be nice because Americans would have to pay significantly LESS money each. The operations of the IRS takes up a non-negligible part of your taxes for one. Second, tourists (which we have TONS of) would pay a lot more in sales tax. Win-win-win.
Overall I’m in favor of major government cuts as well, which would further lower taxes.
Abortion
Definitely in favor of abortion. Let’s say I’m going to have 2 kids in my lifetime. If I have two now, when I’m not at all prepared to have them, they’ll probably have a worse life than if I have them later when I’m ready for kids. If I’m going to add two humans to our population count, I want them to have the best life possible.
Foreign Policy
Leave people alone. I don’t know NEARLY enough about Iraq to have a valid opinion on it, but it really doesn’t seem like it’s any of our business to be there. It has been pretty obvious from the start that 9/11 had nothing to do with Saddam, and basically everyone knows it. Overseas we are seen (because we ARE) a huge bully who throws their weight around to get our way.
9/11 was a tiny little BLIP on the radar screen. So few people died in comparison to say… drunk driving accidents that year, that we should just move on with our lives. As Ron Paul says, they’re pissed at us because we’re over there in their business.
I’m not a dove, though. If a country threatens or attacks the US, I’m all about sending the boys in to take care of business.
Women’s Suffrage
Strongly against.
Privatization
I think pretty much everything should be Privatized. People love to go on about how evil corporations are. How GOOD is the government? It is WAY more corrupt and has way less oversight than the average large company.
Education
I’d like to see every budget cut except for education. Double it. The only way to ensure our country’s long term success is to make sure that we have the smartest and most able citizens anywhere. As is, we are huge idiots. Next time you’re out of the country, ask people what they think about Americans.
I’d like to see a wider range of subjects taught. Why our our kids not learning Chinese? Nothing about personal finance, social skills, or diet? Is chemistry REALLY more important than any of those?
The whole system probably needs to be restructured. School should be a place that MOST kids like to go because they can learn and work on personal projects. As is, it is basically daycare (if you look into this, you’ll find that it actually started because people didn’t know what to do with their kids all day).
I’d even like to see school be free through college. This is probably surprising since I’m pretty libertarian and hate college. We have a large pool of people in the country, and I’d like to make sure that those with the most drive and natural talent make it to the top and further the country’s goals.
Health Care
I think our system’s fine. I have a huge rant about this in the forums (scroll down a little ways).
The best way to improve our system is through education. Regulating what foods people can and can’t eat is oppressive and encourages people to eat the next worst thing on the menu. If children learn from the beginning HOW the body processes food, what’s good to eat and why, and is eating healthy in school, and is physically active in school, more people will end up needing far less healthy care.
For 21 years of my life I ate as poorly as possible because I had no idea why it was important to eat healthy. To me it was a matter of “am I fat?”. I never was, so I ate McDonalds.
Leaving People Behind
This stance doesn’t fit neatly into a single category. A country isn’t defined by it’s slackers and drug addled losers. It’s defined by the people who excel and contribute. I want the system to accelerate the progress of people who are motivated and smart, and leave people alone who aren’t.
For example, high school classes are dumbed down for people who aren’t doing the work or who can’t get it. That’s ridiculous. Don’t want to get with the program? Fine… you’re going to fail and you won’t get your high school diploma. At the same time, some people are more independent and need to learn in different ways. If someone wants to sit at a computer all day and teach himself how to program video games, that’s fine too.
Legalization
I would legalize prostitution, gambling, and drugs. Prostitution and drugs would have high taxes, like everything else. If someone wants to do crack and buy a girlfriend, that’s fine with me. I think it’s stupid, but it’s not the government’s place to protect people from themselves. In fact, I’m in favor of stupid people killing themselves through poor choices and getting out of the gene pool. We need to focus on long term – what will make the US the best place to live and work and contribute to the world?
Legalizing these three things would take a HUGE burden off of police.
Oh, and I would also broaden our gun laws so that anyone can have a gun and carry it however they please. If you have any sort of criminal record (for a crime WITH a victim), you can’t have a gun.
The Environment
This is a tough one. On one side I think it’s dangerous to have the government start making moral calls. On the other, I find public parks to be extremely beneficial. Would we totally screw over the environment without legislation? Possibly.
State’s Rights
Let’s put more power in the hands of the states. Why not have them compete for our residence? Is Delaware awesome at handling education? If people are leaving Chicago for Delaware because their kids will come out smarter, Chicago will improve their education system. OR maybe they’ll say “oh yeah? We have the best job opportunities because we have super low corporate taxes. Send your kids here after they graduate”. Specialization could be good.
The corrupt states with high overhead would see people leaving and would have to shape up FAST.
This would also help us test new things. Maybe Oregon ups the speed limit to 100mph and finds that there are fewer wrecks and more people come through and spend money at gas stations. Then other states could copy. When the WHOLE US is used to test we lose perspective, and it’s also harder.
Leave a Reply