I could never be a politician. For a variety of different reasons, it'd never work. For one I am way too honest, and way too straight laced for a career that often calls for crooked dishonesty. Secondly, my politics are all over the place. On a good number of issues, I lean left, which gives me the illusion of being liberal. Yet, there are enough issues which I lean right, or at least not left enough, to where I might even appear conservative. You are bound to agree with me on some of my thoughts and feelings and I'm bound to royally piss you off with others. Have fun. I know I will.
THE PATRIOT ACT
I mainly oppose the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools To Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (PATRIOT ACT). I do not feel it right for authorities to be able to search a home or a business without the owner's consent or knowledge. I also believe that a court order/warrant be necessary for authorities to be able to search telephone, email, and financial records. I want our country to be safe from and free of terrorism but not at the cost of Americans right to privacy. I believe there are other, better methods.
NSA
Much like the PATRIOT ACT, I am in opposition to the National Security Agency (NSA), much for the same reasons. Being spied on, without viable reason, I feel is a violation of liberty.
THE LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS
I support the legalization of marijuana. Never smoked marijuana and imagine I never will, but the decriminalization of marijuana makes perfect sense to me. As for other drugs, I am a firm believer in total body sovereignty and believe that a person has a right to put into their own body what they choose. Arguments about effects and affects fall flat, when in comparison to alcohol and cigarettes. Both alcohol and cigarettes cause a variety of health problems and deaths in this country every year. Alcohol, when abused, causes a series of other problems as well. I find it humorous and hypocritical that when Phillip Seymour Hoffman overdosed on a mixture of cocaine, amphetamines, and heroine it was a huge deal. It was covered all over the news for weeks on end. Yet, had he have binge drank himself to death, we would have seen a quick blurb about it on the 10:00 news and that'd have been that. I don't understand how people can drink themselves to death, beat their spouses in a drunken outrage, kill people drunk behind the wheel of a car and essentially our society doesn't give a damn. Smoke a little pot, an act that hurts no one, get put in the penitentiary for 15 years. Get caught drinking and driving, an act that could potentially harm someone severely or even kill someone, and you get a $1,200 fine and your license suspended for a year. It is asinine. Millions of people die each year because of alcohol related issues. Drink yourself to death, that's fine and dandy. Die from a heroine overdose, now we have an issue. It makes no sense to me. Marijuana as well as other drugs should be treated accordingly, as are alcohol and cigarettes. Have an age limit. Have rules and regulations (Can't drive drunk? Can't drive high. Can't drink at work? Can't get high at work.) and use common sense. Someone kills someone under the influence of drugs, would the victim be anymore alive had the person killed them under the influence of alcohol?
Secondly, as shown in Colorado and Washington, the legalization of marijuana has been financially beneficial to the states. It makes sense.
CORPORATIONS FINANCING POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
Corporations are not people and they should not influence elections.
GERRYMANDERING
I don't see how the act of manipulation could ever be conceived as anything other than dirty and underhanded. Both political parties gerrymander and it is indisputably wrong.
CORPORATE INCOME TAX
Corporations should be taxed.
WALL STREET ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
Wall Street should be held accountable for any and all illegal activity.
GUN CONTROL
I believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment and an individual's right to own and bear arms. I am not a gun owner, nor do I plan to be one, but I do believe strongly in gun owner's rights. I do think that mass shootings are a major problem in this country and that we need to address the issue. I don't think that pointing the finger at guns themselves is the answer. I don't know for sure what the answer is. I do believe that we need to be taking a stronger look at those who obtain guns, and making sure that individuals who want to own a gun are responsible enough to do so.
My personal opinion for why we have so many mass shootings is because of the attention that we pay the shooter. When someone goes on a killing spree, we know everything about them. Magazines, newspapers, news stations, internet articles you cannot escape their pictures. You know what they look like now, what they looked like when they were born, what they looked like when they graduated high school, what they looked like at their first job, what they looked like sitting on the can taking a dump. We read, watch or listen to their life stories, and often hear nothing more than the names of their victims. Does the name Suzie Jackson mean anything to you? How about Daniel Simmons? No? I bet you recognize the name Dylann Roof though. The piece of shit bastard that shot and killed them.
Mass shootings DID happen 20, 30 even 40 years ago but they didn't happen at the massive rate of succession that they happen today. They also weren't overexposed and covered for months and months like they are today. Victims had more press than their assailants. Newspaper's showed pictures of the victims and told stories of the good men, women or children that were lost. Only a small excerpt about the shooter was included. Perhaps that has nothing to do with it and perhaps it does.
SOCIAL SECURITY/PENSION PLANS
Our elders worked hard and put into the system, they deserve to benefit from it. I also think that my generation and especially younger generations are going to need social security as well. Life is expensive. It is difficult and in some cases nearly impossible to save for retirement. Social security is a good thing and it should remain strong and intact. I feel the same for pension plans.
ILLEGAL ALIENS/BORDER CONTROL/ENGLISH
This is a very tough, touchy, and controversial issue. Illegal immigrants are human beings and should be treated as such. I believe first and foremost that obtaining citizenship, should be an easier process than what it currently is. Kids born in the United States, were born here, regardless of their parents origin, and therefore like all other individuals born in the United States should be considered American citizens. As for healthcare, my feelings are necessary and emergency healthcare should be granted to illegal aliens. Illegal aliens who are detrimental to society because of serious illegal activity (murder, rape, extortion,treason, ect) should be deported. If they are good individuals, who contribute to society, again, obtaining citizenship should be an easier process.
I do believe that everyone in this country should learn to communicate (read, write and speak) English. I also believe that free or relatively inexpensive programs should be available to help individuals learn English. The reason I believe this, is because I believe strongly that a lack of communication or a failure to communicate at all, is a leading cause for a large sum of problems. How can you effectively communicate with someone if they speak a different language than you? The argument may be why not have everyone learn Spanish or French or German? I do believe that it is good and it is healthy to study and learn foreign languages. I simply do not want to live in a country where everyone is speaking a different language and we are unable to communicate with one another. Perhaps one day technology will be so advanced that we will be able to carry around devices to where we can speak English into them and have it come out in Spanish or vice versa. Communication unites us, which is why I support citizens learning to communicate in English.
SUBSIDIZING FARMERS
I am for subsidizing and helping out the American farmer. I would like to see more help given to the small farmer. Farmers feed us and it goes without saying that that food is essential to our well being. The farmer succeeds, we succeed. The farmer fails, we fail.
WELFARE
I believe individuals who are in need of help and assistance should receive it. On the same hand, I believe that the system has become corrupted and perverted since its implementation in 1964. I never want to see anyone who is in need, go without help or assistance. However, I also don't want to see the system continuously abused either.
LABOR UNIONS
I support Labor Unions and feel that they are a benefit to the American worker. Labor unions fought hard and fought long for worker's rights. Some argue that they did not implement such things as weekends, 40 hour work weeks, the end of child slave labor and benefits but I argue that they did. Furthermore I argue that not only are they the origin, they are the foundation for maintaining these worker's rights. I do not believe that unions are perfect and I do see their flaws, but I believe that the pros outweigh the cons. From what I have seen and studied, President Ronald Reagan's demonizing of unions in the mid 1980's was one of the most harmful acts to the American people and their finances in modern times.
TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
I believe under serious reform, that the TPP could potentially be a good thing but I do not believe that is currently is. Today it is being used to boost profits for large corporations, undercut worker's rights and dismantle labor. It has also been a large contributor to the increased cost of medicine. It is a system that hurts the American family and helps the corporations and I oppose it.
SICK LEAVE AND BIRTH OF CHILD LEAVE
I believe that paid sick leave and birth of child leave should be granted to American workers.
RIGHT DO DEATH
If a individual has a terminal illness and no hope of recovery, I believe that they should have a right to end their life without consequence. Nursing homes, hospices and other care facilities make a killing providing services to individuals as they slowly die within a few weeks to six months. It's a sick and demented profiteering scheme and it should be exposed for what it is. Making someone continue to live in pain and suffering, to milk their finances or because of antiquated, ludicrous beliefs, is wrong. Terminally ill patients should have a right to end their lives in peace. They do not deserve to suffer.
ABORTION
I address myself as neither pro-life or pro-choice for a variety of reasons. First and foremost because I cannot stand the assumptions and connotations that go along with labeling one's self one way or the other. I oppose abortion. I do not like abortion. I do not agree with abortion. What I respect, is that a law was put into place in 1973, that granted a woman a right to an abortion. I respect that and I respect that the law has been in place for 42 years and for a number of reasons, it will remain in place. I do not agree with the statement, "A right to do what she wants with her body" because I do not look at the entity growing inside of her as her body. I cannot. Morally I cannot. Genetically I cannot. Biologically I cannot. If it were her body, there is no way that it could have a different blood type. There is no way that it could have a different genetic makeup. If put into a position to where I had to choose one way or the other whether I am pro-life or pro-choice, I would reluctantly have to label myself as pro-choice. I loathe the automatic assumptions and connotations that are associated with doing so.
In my opinion, we do not address the issue of abortion in a productive manner. Pro-life individuals look at it strictly from a perspective of preventing pregnant women from having abortions. That is not how or where the issue can be won. Instead, I believe that the way to dramatically reduce the number of abortions that take place in the United States, is to help women who do not want to become pregnant, not become pregnant. Ask the question, who is having an abortion? The answer is always, women who are pregnant, who do not want to be pregnant. If we were to help these women, through sex education in schools, making contraceptives more affordable and accessible and being more open and honest about sex, then less of them would become pregnant. Women who don't want to be pregnant, don't get pregnant and therefore they don't end up having an abortion.
SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
I am an advocate and I strongly support sex education in schools. It helps to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STD's among young people. Abstinence only is an outdated idea, that never worked. It is fine to be included in the overall education, and more power to you for the 0.0001% of kids in this country that you can name that it worked on.
HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS
I am a firm believer in homosexual rights. Homosexuals should be granted and given the same rights, liberties and justices as all other Americans. I find it disheartening and Un-American for anyone to support legislation that violates ones liberties or rights. For anyone to support legislation that makes one set of people inferior to another is unpatriotic and a slap in the face to our constitution. I am ashamed to live in a country where homosexuals are treated poorly and still have to continually fight to be treated fairly.
DEATH PENALTY
I oppose the death penalty, but probably for reasons that others in opposition would not agree with me upon. I oppose the death penalty not because I think that lethal injection is too severe a punishment or inhumane, but because I believe that life imprisonment sentences are harsher punishments for those that have committed senseless murders. For those of you that think it would cost more money to imprison than to kill, think again. Do a quick study. You'll come to discover quickly that putting someone to death is more costly than keeping them alive. Let's make these criminals, these true, honest criminals more productive and put them to work. Let's get drug offenders who shouldn't even be in prison to begin with out of prison and these murderers into prison. Make life uncomfortable and non-enjoyable for those who receive the sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
GOD IN THE PUBLIC SPECTRUM
Our country is built on the foundation of liberty and justice for all, and all means every American citizen which includes both Christians and non-Christians. Nothing government affiliated should give one group of citizens more or less rights, liberties or justices than another. No group should be seen as inferior because of their beliefs and no group should be seen as superior because of their beliefs. An individual who wants to be able to practice and live as a Christian should have every right to do so. An individual who does not want to live as a Christian or be subjected to Christian ideas, rules or ways should not have to be. Our government should be one that shows no bias for or against any particular belief. Our government should operate impartiality and enforce the separation of Church and State.
ANIMAL RIGHTS
I believe in animal rights. Animals used for consumption should be treated humanely and killed in the most humane, non-painful way possible. Pets, should be treated with dignity and respect and anyone caught abusing a pet should face the same ramifications as if they were abusing a human.
NATIONAL PARKS
Our national parks should be protected.
WIND POWER/ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY
We should support the use of healthier alternative sources of energy.
GLOBAL WARMING
Regardless of whether global warming is real or not (Which I believe it is, although I question exaggeration at times) we should care more about our planet and take better care of it. Global warming or no global warming, we should recycle. We should reduce the number of harmful gases and chemicals that we put into the air. Even if global warming is a hoax, I would hope one wouldn't be stupid enough to go out and burn a tire while spraying CFC's into the air. The earth is our home, lets treat it well.
LABELING OF FOOD
People have a right to know what is in their food.
UNITED NATIONS
The United States should continue to be a part of the United Nations. Preventative measures are why World War III hasn't happened yet and hopefully never will happen.
FOREIGN TERRORIST
Foreign terrorist should have the right to a fair and speedy trial and then be dealt with accordingly. Upon further discussion I could be persuaded to allow them to be an exception for the death penalty.
MILITARY SPENDING
We spend a lot of unnecessary money on the military. This money could be put to better use. For one, our soldiers should be treated better and receive more benefits. Instead of cutting V.A. programs and making soldiers get by on laughable pay, perhaps money on jets that cost $8,000,000,000 should be cut instead. Our veterans deserve much better treatment than what they receive. If 51% or more of our overall budget is going to be spent on our military, then those currently in the military and our veterans should be better taken care of. People profiteering off the lives of young men and women isn't right. If someone has to give up their life, in partial or in full, they should be better thanked for it.
REFUGEES
I have thought hard and I have thought long on this issue. I do not want to turn down good men, women and children who need our help and our assistance. I do not want the burden of a child being murdered on my mind. On the same hand, I don't want the burden of allowing a terrorist with intentions to harm American men, women and children into the country either. I wrestle with what the right decision is. My proposal would be for the United Nations to set up safe camps in remote locations for the refugees to go to. It is not a perfect solution. I do not have a perfect solution.
VACCINES
This is probably the most difficult topic to discuss. I believe that if a child is going to be in surroundings where they interact with other kids on a daily basis, such as a public or private school that they should be required to be vaccinated. I hate telling other people what to do, but I hate that someone else's child might get sick and die because of your refusal to vaccinate. I also hate how lies and manipulation were used to try and convince people that there was a direct link between autism and vaccines. It has been completely debunked and yet people still hold fast to the idea. Louis Pasteur and other men and women, before and after him have proven that vaccines save lives and keep us healthy.
EDUCATION
Education is the most useful and powerful tool we have as a nation and we should invest more time, energy and money into it. I also believe that all education should be valued. Mathematics and sciences should be highly valued, but so should the humanities of English, history, art and literature. I believe we should continuously look for ways and methods of teaching our youth in ways that they can learn and benefit from education best. I believe in providing options for kids, and teaching to their potentials.
SPACE TRAVEL
I support the United States continuing space exploration
CONGRESS
I support term limits for members of congress
Well that's all the issues I can think of. If there are any that I didn't address and you would like my opinion on them, let me know and I'll give you my opinion.
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