Your INTELLECTUAL political ideologies

I wanna know what you think our government should be like. I am split, I love the stress conservatives put on states rights, and I love the individualism brought on by most Social Liberalists. However, I don't like the progressive tax that they believe in. I believe it is the State's individual to deal with poverty, they don't need grants. They need to raise the tolls maybe a dollar at max, and make that extra money to fund for homeless, starving, good-natured people.

Please vote and share your beliefs!

 

Ideally I think we need an entire new system of government, but really right now Im with whoever wants to try to end the war and stop wasting money to help those in poverty.

 

Edit- Fixed

 

I used to be a democrat, but changed to republican after i read about Ron Paul. I love how he wants to close most government programs like homeland security, Drug War, Income Taxs, and all kinds of other things. He votes strictly according to the constitution and wants to return america back to the way it was originally planned to be before the neo-cons and liberal nuts took control. He has been growing in support and recently won Alabama and new Hampshire's straw poll recently.

 

i think we should totally eliminate most regulations the government puts on our lives. i'd like to see the government do this:

reduce police authority in some areas, cut social welfare programs, cut military spending, raise taxes on foreign goods, more tax incentives for small businesses, allow gay marriage, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenses, and place more emphasis on rehabilitation programs rather than hard prison time. also, i'd like congress to stop using roe v. wade as litmus test.

there's other things, but i don't want to bore you stoners.

 

I'm very interested, keep going, I agree 100% of what you are saying.

 

you agree with what i said about cutting social welfare programs? your post and mine seem to conflict...plz explain

 

I believe in cutting down on it, increasing employment. People live off of welfare, just because they don't wannt work, as long as they are "looking for a job" they collect welfare. But I also believe there should be a system in place that helps out those people who are truely in between jobs. Maybe make a new maximum length you are alowed to collect it. 3 months max? 4? Something like that would make so much more sense, and go so much further.

 

yes i agree, but i think any money recieved through this type of welfare should be paid back in full to the government, too.

however, there are only a few times when the government should support people like this. i have liberal friends who want to increase taxes specifically for the purpose of feeding the homeless. i feel for the homeless, i really do, but i disagree with this. i may sound like a bastard for saying it, but i don't want my tax money to feed somebody who won't work. this is america. unless you're severely mentally retarded or disabled, there's no reason you can't raise yourself up out of homelessness, poverty, or whatever other situation you're in with some hard work and ingeneuity. people of europe and america/canada have every opportunity to make money. take, for instance, J.K. Rowling, she was on poverty when she wrote Harry Potter books and now she's like a super million billionaire lol...or Bill Gates who came from middle class and now he's the richest mofo alive. if you're homeless (and not disabled or incapacitated in any way), then it's your own choices that put you there. i don't want to pay for it.

creating work programs would be my solution to this problem. like the New Deal where they had the homeless and poor dig holes, plant trees, dig more holes, fill in the holes, pave roads, etc...until they get on their feet and can find a job by themselves. this is the only support the government should provide.

and maybe by increasing funding to education programs (especially school music and arts programs) and a much larger pool for government college grants (though i know my state gives away a lot, but not everybody that should qualify actually gets them). that would do more to prevent homelessness and poverty than a government check and food stamps.

 

Now see while I agree with you on what to do, saying this is America and anyone who is homeless put themself in that posistion is just asinine. Nobody wants to be homeless, but especially for older people who didn't go to college and can't now can find it really hard to find any job that pays a living wage. On any given day there are nearly a million homeless people in the US, and the governments own statistics puts poverty in the US at 12.7% of 300 million people, but for a family of 3 the government puts poverty at the household making below $16,600 a year, a single person can't really live on that, let alone a family of 3, a family of 3 can barely live on $30,000 a year, so just think of how many more people are actually living in poverty. This is at least 40-50 million people in the US living in poverty, that's more then the populations of most countries in Europe. The US has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the world, and anyone else here from my state knows this 1st hand, we're Connecticut, or as Jon Stewart once put it "the place where the state motto is 'richer then god'" We're the richest state, yet our 3 main cities, Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport are among the poorest in the country. Trust me the poor people in these cities are not dead beats who just want to collect food stamps, they're families where both parents are working full time with overtime to barely keep fed and clothed 2 kids.

 

ideally I believe that an agreement-based ananchy would be good. but right now I'm going for libertarian-ish, I think the gov. should be way cut back. eliminate all drug schedules, corporate welfare, regulation of communication/media, that type of stuff. I think tax should be changed to you choose the programs your tax money goes to, that way the people have more say in what goes on. My big things for this next election will be ending pointless wars and supporting individual liberties.

 

I'm an anarcho-communist so I can't really vote. I'm liberal on a lot of things, but I just want complete freedom, liberals try to control money, which I don't care about.

 

I like how this thread is going! Keep it rolling!

 

i didn't say that. i can make the distinction between deadbeats on welfare, those who actually need welfare, and the homeless. i can't believe in the story that people aren't responsible for their own actions and we all become hapless victims of cruel circumstance. people control their own fate and destiny. and this is coming from somebody who has lived in poverty all of his life, even now.

and this goes back to everyone making their own choices. if you don't have access to enough money to feed and clothe 2 kids (or however many you want to have), then don't have them. it's that simple. everybody has an equal opportunity to climb the ladder in america. if you don't have money it's nobody's fault but yours.

this is why i'm against raising the minimum wage also. if you want to make more than a few dollars an hour, learn a skill or get an education.


btw, what's an anarcho-communist? that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since communism on the large scale must be highly organized and regulated? or are you talking about small scale or??? can you explain?

actually, now that i think of it, i would much rather live in an anarcho-primitivistic society, but that's never gonna happen.

 

I think he is refering to anarcho to anarchy and communism, which is pretty much the same thing... Rather, traditional communism... Wait... They are complete fuckin opposites, anyone else care to explain?

 

I consider myself rather Liberal, however, when it comes to drugs my stance is this.

I'd legalize soft drugs, regulate and tax them.
Hard drugs will remain illegal.

You can say why not legalize them so they are regulated? Sure, you know thats fine, except if you have Universal Health care and all of my tax dollars are going to these people who choose to do heroin, meth, coke, etc and have missing teeth that requires dental work, or open sores from meth that requires medical attention. Thats just not fair.

I believe the government needs a serious shuffle to do any good. Raising the minimum wage would drive the prices of modern goods and force employees to lose their jobs because their employer can't afford to pay them.

 

I think the government is getting too involved with people's private lives. I say we should all be allowed to do whatever we want, as long as it's not hurting anyone else. Drugs? What harm would it do to legalize thiem? And the money we save that we've been wasting on "the drug war" can then be spent on education. I also think we need to get our foreign relations in line, and then maybe we can stop freaking out about building up our army and spend some money on HELPING other countries that REALLY need it. I think we should worry more about countries where a large majority of the population is starving to death before we worry about countries whose governments are messy. Ummm... I could go on, but it would go on much too long, hehe.

I really think you've just about summed up my ideology there. However, I'm not sure I agree with your tax plan. Then, some major things would probably become neglected. I mean, who's to say everyone wouldn't be like "Let's spend it all on weapons!" And then we have no roads or.... things like that, you know? Just a thought, I'll admit I don't know that much about politics, I just try to reason.

 

Read my post.

You're right, it won't hurt anyone else if they do it in your home. But when they begin needing medical attention, dental work, etc because they are retarded and OD, that shit comes out of my taxes and that is where I draw the line.

 

I did read your post, and I thought "well, he is damn right" But, to be completely honest, I didn't feel like changing my post, lol. Props to you for thinking of that, though. It didn't even cross my mind.

 

I think the government should cut back drastically, only in charge of protecting the United States and managing a small budget. All these BS social programs get abused too often. America should be an "every man for himself" country. Stop regulating the media, drugs, and corporations. Taxes are a total fucking scam. Why am I paying for Social Security when I'm guarenteed never to see a cent of it? The way tax brackets are set up for income taxes is rediculous. Everyone should pay a set amount of money to the state and federal goverment every year. Stop throwing money away to third world countries before we resolve problems here. I don't care if over half of the African continent has AIDS, I want my money to help America. Our military's main priority should be defending ourselves from attack but we should also posess the power to take out any threat without putting hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground. I'm really split on healthcare. It would be great if everyone would have access to the same quality healthcare but I don't want to pay for some kids gunshot wound because he's in a gang.

Basically put ourselves back into the isolationism of the 1920's (but don't ban booze).