An invitation: Why are you a Conservative, Liberal, Mod ....

[Oftencold]

My idea of "Progressive" is bringing the unsuccessful and poor UP to the levels of the successful and wealthy, not the other way around.

But, must one not consider why an unsuccessful person is so? it is fashionable as well as foolish to assume that this is generally the result of external forces.

And what is successful? Surely Al Capone was successful?

 

[repeter]

Are you denying it?

It's more than a bit disingenuous to make that claim.

 

[Psychoclown]

I call myself a moderate, small L, libertarian. I don't consider myself aligned with any political party. I used to consider myself a Republican, but I've found that most Republicans (there are a handful of notable exceptions) are just empty rhetoric when it comes to "small government". Their hot air is useful if I want to fly a hot air balloon, but not so helpful when it comes to taming the behemoth that is the federal government. I find the Libertarian Party too dogmatic and rigid to count myself among their numbers, but I generally vote LP, just as a way of registering my disgust with the two mainstream parties.

I'm a moderate libertarian because I do break with the more dogmatic libertarians ina number of ways, which has led to many of them calling me a statist and other bogus claims. I support a minimal, efficient social safety net (nothing at all like the bloated, excessive programs we have now). I'm not opposed to some minimal safety regulations, but I'm wary of them because once that Pandora's box is open, government almost always seems to over reach, ignoring the rule of diminishing returns. I'm opposed to open immigration, but would like to see our current legal immigration processes opened up and streamlined (we lose far too many brilliant minds who come here to get educated, but then are forced to go elsewhere because of our byzantine immigration policies) while also including steps to dramatically curtail illegal immigration. I think its a good idea for the government to maintain things infrastructure. I'm not opposed to pre-emptive war or aggressive foreign policy when the situation genuinely calls for it, but I'm strongly opposed to the neoconservative theory of forcefully toppling regimes to "spread democracy". On foreign policy, I solidly belong to the realist camp, but with a strong non-interventionist streak (as I believe that generally best serves our interests). I'm for public education, though I desperately want the federal government to get out of it and let the local school boards and townships (who are far more responsive to the needs and desires of the local community) to take charge once again. I'm also pro-life. I believe the right to life is the most fundamental right there is and its protection is the foundation of all liberty and that protection should be extended to the unborn.