Month: September 2004

THIS IS THE START OF A PIECE I WAS PUTTING TOGETHER FOR THE 2004 U.S. ELECTIONS: IT IS HERE FOR REFERENCE AND WAS NEITHER FINISHED OR CORRECTED.

I am a fairly opinionated individual, especially when it comes to politics. With the presidential election year in full swing it is only natural that people (myself included) start posting and discussing their œpick for President of the United States of America.

Before I get too far into my thoughts let me first be clear about my particular political leanings, because I don’t believe its possible to be entirely unbiased. It’s makes more sense to be candid about ones biases, thereby letting people weigh your arguments in the light of their source. Having biases doesn’t automatically invalidate someones opinion (because without influences we would have NO opinions) but it does allow us a context for that opinion.

If I were to use commonly defined American political œclassifications I would have to call myself a Libertarian. Generally I am socially Liberal and economically Conservative. In addition, for the last 4 years I have been a registered Republican (although that may change soon enough.) My general rule for the role of government is that; with the exceptions of national defense and law enforcement, it should do very little. I am in favor of a national sales tax and/or a granulated flat tax. I am in favor of smaller (state controlled) government. I am opposed to prayer in public schools. I am in favor of school vouchers. I am opposed to the death penalty. I am opposed to abortion. I am pro gun rights. I am in favor of legalizing most drugs.

Basically my personal beliefs fall pretty much in line with what the founding fathers conceptualized our nation being. My reasons for wanting to see the government get out of almost all aspects of our society is mostly for practical reasons. The government is, almost without exception, bad at doing things. When a dollar is given by private contribution to cancer research it is used a hundred times more efficiently than when the government issued public money’s to the very same cause.

Think Enron and MCI screwed the American people? Every year the Federal Government does more to hurt the economy than Enron and MCI did. The amount of money lost (as in they have no idea where it went) by the federal government in the last decade is in the trillions of dollars. Literally millions of jobs are lost on a regular basis because of government mismanagement. History has shown that Americans do better if the Federal Government get out of their way; instead of trying to help them. The only historical exception to this rule seems to be in the area of civil rights.