What are your political views?

[GEChallenger]

What the title says. There's alot of political debate going on here, I thought it might be good for everyone to give a rough (or in-depth, if you want) sketch of their political alignment and views here. If possible you should do more than the simple liberal vs. conservative, nationalist vs. globalist type description. This thread could then be used as a reference during debates; people can check up on what their opponents really beleive to know how to best respond or whatever. People also might stick a link in their sig to thier post here. Perhaps this thread could be stickied?

You might also list some basic things like nationality, religious views, native language, position in life (student or whatever) and so on. Put whatever might help make your posts/political opinion clearer. It's up to you really, but I'm not looking for a biography or unrelated things (such as "I like candy and watching tv" or whatever.

I will ask that no one post more than once in this thread; if you update your stance you can just edit your post. So no arguing goes on in this thread; I'd appreciate it if mods would keep wayward posts under control.

I'm not going to post a poll because there are too far too many options.

 

[GEChallenger]

Nationality: American
Sex: Male
Occupation: College student majoring in political science and international studies
Native language: English

Political affiliation: I consider myself conservative to moderate depending on the issue. I have yet to register for a political party but will go either Republican or Independant.

Social: I'm moderate to conservative on social issues. I'm against legalizing gay marriage outright, against partial-birth aborition, and against gun control; I don't care one way or another about legalizing marijuana; and I'm for keeping early-term abortion legal.

Race: I feel race is a cultural institution and has no place in modern society. Nationality is all that matters.

Religious: I'm a literal atheist, as opposed to what I like to call a negative or lifestyle atheist. I don't believe in a higher power or anything metaphysical. Beyond that I don't care about religion one way or another; I avoid debates or putting down other people. I celebrate all the regular holidays like Christmas and Easter; I view them as cultural rather than religious. I feel church and state should be kept separate but don't mind the use of God in random places or holidays in schools; these things are cultural and traditional and not necessarily religious.

Economy: I don't know a whole lot about economics, but I'm for laissez-faire capitalism and against government regulation except when absolutely necessary.

Foreign policy: This is my biggest area of interest. I consider myself a nationalist, but this does not mean I hate other countries. I also take pride in Western culture and history. I believe that the United States, as the sole superpower, should take a more active role in world affairs. We may be an empire in all but name, but we need to begin to act like it. I support unilateral action and believe the US should act in our best interests above all. International organizatins such as the UN are useful up to a point, but cease to be of use when the limit US power. To some extent I believe in pragmatism and realpolitik.

Feelings on the Bush administration: I supported Bush in the election (although I didn't vote, owing to my 18th birthday falling on November 5) because there was no better candidate, and also because Kerry was a complete unknown variable while at least with Bush we know what to expect. I don't agree entirely with the Iraq war's execution or that it was immediately necessary; however, what's done is done, and I feel we need to stay as long as necessary to create a stable and pro-US govnernment. I do admit that I am not a general or even a soldier and so I may not be able to offer the best insight on this.
The biggest problem, I think, is that the administration is taking a wishy-washy stance on world politics; I feel we need to be firm and let it be known unequivocally that we intend to go it alone if necessary and that we are bound by US law alone. I also don't agree with the pro-democracy ideology; if a country will likely elect leaders who oppose US policy, like Iraq seems likely to do, then democracy obviously isn't the answer.

 

[MattE]

Okay I'll start off...

Nationality: Australian
Religion: Recent Atheist convert
Language: English
Position: Apprentice Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (I actually don't start until March of next year, so technically I'm unemployed at the moment.)

In our last elections back in October I voted Liberal (We had a choice between Labour and Liberal). In a way I agree with certain parts of all of theses political ideologies. However at heart I would have to say I'm mainly Nationalist... I'm not 100% sure what I should say now, so I'll wait for others to reply then have my say... But I will like to point out that the primary reason I call myself a nationalist is because I see myself as a absolute patriot to the end and I do find that I get a bit pissed off when people bad mouth my country or go against us then I get really pissed off. For example I supported the war in Iraq and I got so mad when the French wouldn't support us and were found to be selling weapons to Iraq...

 

[Immortal]

Canadian, early-twenties, very very moderate.

 

[Zarn]

Nationality: (US) American
Religion: Roman Catholicism
Primary Language: English
Secondary Language: French (not mastered)
Occupation: (College) Student

Domestic: Homosexual rights (None of my business); Low social spending; Reduce pork in budget; Against abortion (with exception of certain circumstances); Against death penalty; Against euthanasia

International: NATO should be more involved in world affairs; UN should have less of a role in world security; Pre-emptive strikes can be justified; Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, and Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea are threats to the United States as well as world security

 

[Fetus4188]

American, Fiscally Conservative, Socially Conservative, Agnostic

my sig has a link to a half-ass bio I made earlier

 

[stratego]

Nationality: American
Religion: Protestant
Languages: English, Chinese, can get around with Spanish
Occupation: Engineering/Psychology Student

Current Agenda with my strongest support:
-Lowering the voting age to 14
-Change the Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to run for Presidency
-reducing the national debt

International: From scale 1-10, 10 being high, 5 neutral, 1 enemy.
UK= Friend (level 10)
EU= Friend (level 7)
China= Friend (level 6)
Russia= Friend (level 6)
Is US better than everyone else? Yes
Is it in US's best interest to try to stop everyone else? No

Domestic:
Pretty much the Democrat's agenda. Higher taxes, more human rights etc.

 

[Perfection]

Nationality: American
Religion: None
Languages: English, Spanish (poorly)
Occupation: High school senior/Bookeeper/website Maintenence

Domestic Agenda: Education, seperation of church and state, reducing national debt, pro-choice, pro-euthenasia, pro-homosexual rights, curbing wasteful spending, curbing maintsream scientific ignorance

Foriegn Agenda: Patch up international relations, work toward increased free-trade and globalization, clear up Iraq fiasco

 

[ComradeDavo]

Nationality - British/EU
Religion - None. Am aethiest.
Languages - English
Occupation - work about 30 hours a week as an 'operations assistant' at Boots (department store) which basically means I stack shelfs and help customers.

Domestic agenda -
Support and increase the wealfare state
Liberalise laws reagarding drugs and sex (legalise weed and make porn available to 16 year olds, make age of gay consent 16, legalise gay marriage)
Seperation of church and state.
Outlaw all guns.
For stem cell research.
Abolish the Monarchy.
Massive changes Britains political system to make it more democratic (abolish the house of lords in favour of having just one elected chamber introducing an element of proportional representation by having additional MP's based on national vote, turn prime minister into a President and eventually bring in national referendums on important issues such a s going to war etc. I am thinking long term here)
Cut greenhouse gas emissions substantuially, move country towards cleaner renewable fuels
Ban all hunting
Reform of education system
Law and order - More police, no ID cards, change law to help homeowners who combat thiefs

Foreign agenda -
Increase ties with EU, join the Euro
Fair trade with 3rd world countries
Pressure on Isreal/ for creation of Palestinian state
Leave NATO, for EU defense force
More international aid
Pressure on US to reduce pollution

 

[Winner]

Nationality: Czech
Religion: none, i am atheist
Language: Czech, maybe English a little bit.
Position: college student (sadly)

Political convictions: right wing liberal. But I accept the need of some minimal welfare for poor people in the name of social stability and some regulation of economy (anti-monopoly politics, pressure on better working conditions ad so on).

Foreign agenda - closer, bigger and stronger EU, maintaining alliance with US if possible, containing Russia, liberalisation of western markets as a help for 3rd world.

 

[Bronx Warlord]

Nationality - American
Religion - Catholic
Languages - English
Occupation - Marine Rifleman/Fireteam Leader

Domestic agenda -
Fix the FUBAR budget, and this wacky dollar. No gay marriage. The destruction of the ACLU. More education for any who wish to partake in such.

Foreign agenda -
Get tough with the UN, WOT, Conflict in iraq, Letting the EU have it's little army so we can deal with more of our own issues.

 

[Silica_Pathways]

Nationality - Latvian
Religion - Atheist
Languages - Latvian, English, German
Occupation - Student

 

[Oruc]

Nationality: English
Religon: none, except when im about to die where i will pray just in case.
Language: English, 2 words in French
Occupation: dole scum (trying to get a job though)

Domestic
increase military spending
stop those illegal immigrants getting in, shot them for all i care.
make guns legal again
legalise gay marriage (call it somthing else if religous types get upset)
increase the monarchies power somehow (havent really thought about how)
legalise Fox hunting
make all drugs class A with a huge fine if you are found in possesion, only weak minded fools take drugs.

Foriegn
distance overselves from the EU, trade is fine maybe even some joint military action in some middle east country but thats it.
start trading weapons to China
increase relations with Russia and USA

 

[JohnRM]

Nationality: United States Citizen
Sex: Male
Occupation: Casket Maker
Native language: English

Political affiliation: I consider myself a libertarian/classic liberal. I agree in principal with libertarians, but I disagree in how they apply their ideas to the real world. Libertarians generally agree that the government should exist only the protect the citizens and nothing more. They would repeal a lot of laws which they feel are not for that end. I disagree and believe that some of the laws they would repeal do in fact protect the citizens of this country. I would say that I am a more moderate libertarian.

Social: I believe that people should have the right to do what they please as long as they do not infringe on the right of others to do the same. End of story.

Race: The only race that I recognize is the human race.

Religious: I believe in God, not neccessarily what humans write and say about God.

Economy: I believe that there should be as little government regulation as possible. The only instances that I believe require gov't intervention is where citizens are being physically harmed.

Foreign policy: I get a lot of flak about my feelings regarding foreign policy. I am an authoritarian in this area. I would be estatic if all of humanity could be united under one flag and work together for the same interests, but the reality is that the world is divided into nations that work seperately for their own interests. For that reason, I wish for the best for my nation and should the interests of any other fail to conflict the interests of mine, I hope they are successful as well. However, if the interests of other nations conflict with those of mine (France comes to mind), they are considered an enemy and I wish nothing but pain for them.


Feelings on the Bush administration: Pretty bad, but no worse than Kerry was going to be. The Democrats thought that Bush was so horrible that they could slip an ultra-liberal like Kerry past us.

The problem with Bush is that he is not the President in action. Bush is controlled and pushed along by those around him. What we have is puppet President, strings being pulled by those like Dick Cheneny, Donald Rumsfeld, Bush Sr., etc. etc. etc.

 

[nonconformist]

Nationality: Anglo-French, but don't particularly belive in nationality.
Sex: male
Native languages: English, French. Other: German. Couple of phrases in Spanish.
Occupation: student.

Political affiliation: Liberal socialist; probably will vote for Lib Dems at this rate.

Religion: Secular.

Race: don't believe in racial separation.

Economy: fairly regualted, but in a liberal sense: i.e companies should be careful what they do, and anything they do should be for mutual good (not hurting anyone)


Social:
domestic: Legalisation and government distribution of soft drugs.
Lowering of non-spirits drinking age.
Gay rights.
For all medicaql research.
Pro-choice.
Abolish Lords.


International:
Stronger EU.
Stronger UN.
Multi-lateral approaches.
For creation of Palestinian state.
Semi-pacifist.

 

[MarineCorps]

Nationality: American
Religion:Atheist\Christian in lies till I get away from my parents.(Hey I like Christmas. )
Language: English
Position: Student

Domestic: Homosexual right; So-so on abortion and death penelty;wanting politicians out of power; Keeping Gun control laws where they are currently;keeping pacifists out of power.


International: Screw the rest of the world

 

[shadowdude]

Nationality: American!
Religion: Roman Catholic
Languages: English, some Spanish
Occupation: Student

Domestic: pro life, anti gay "marriage", anti euthanasia, Keep gun control at the current level, lower taxes, small(er) government

Foriegn Agenda: Destroy the UN, secure American domination in economic, political, and militaristic ventures.

 

[Hitro]

Hmm, I while like this thread idea from a information gathering perspective I think it should be irrelevant to an argument what the one giving it thinks otherwise. That could easily lead to the dismissal of arguments just because they come "from the wrong side" that's become all too common here.

Anyhow, as you asked for only one post:

Nationality: German
Sex: Male
Occupation: University student
Native language: German
Race: Caucasian, Aryan, Northern - whatever strange definitions you might hold dear...
Religion: None, i.e. Atheist


Political affiliation: None, really. Generally liberal (libertarian in American terms) on social issues, quite radically so. For my sake any individual may do to himself whatever he wants to as long as it doesn't interfere with the freedom of others. Hence in favour of the full legalization of all drugs (under government control), abortion (though personally rather opposed to it), pornography etc..
On economical issues rather Socialist, though not affiliated with most of the parties that call themselves that. Strongly in favour of free education and opposed to affirmative action, both for the sake of equal opportunity.

 

[storealex]

Danish Cosmopolit

Postman. Earning money and traveling the world. Will study history once I've been to US, Ireland and China.

Domestic:
Lower taxes, but keep Social Democracy in a lesser extend than today (I pay 40% taxes)
More public transportation, less cars, less smoking, less immigrants, better integration, better local environment, less money to old people and students (Yes, we pay you to educate your self) Pro beer, pro sexy girls.

Foreign:
Anti-Bush, pro US, pro EU, pro peacekeeping missions, but against any involvement in Middle East (Hell hole), pro free trade zones, pro environment, against current involvement in Iraq, pro UN, against both Israel and Palestine.

In short, Im a moderate hedonistic Green Social Democrat.

Btw, extremes dosn't work. Fact.

 

[luiz]

Natonality: Brazilian
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: University student
Languages: Portuguese(native), English(so-so), French(not good).

Social issues: I'm on the libertarian/liberal side in most of the social issues. Pro-gay marriage, pro-euthanasia, pro-underage sex, pro-guns, pro-legalisation of drugs*, etc.

*The key on this one is social responsability. If someone wants to harm oneself, fine by me. However if this person gets high on something and then end up killing someone else, then lock him up for life without parole. This way peope would only do drugs in places where they can only harm theirselves. Anyway, banning drugs does not get rid of them.

Economic issues: Again, I'm on the libertarian/classic liberal side on most issues. I want few taxes, small government, and no regulations on business. If education must be free, then let the state provide tax-cuts for people with kids so that they can put their children in a private institution of their choice.

Military: small defensive military. No draft.

Foreign relations: emphasis on free trade, responsible approach towards dictatorships.