As I said in the last post, I'm evaluating where I want to take my blog. I want to post more on areas other than politics, but as a last hurrah, I wanted to do one short statement of my beliefs, which is definitely not all-encompassing, but summarize what I have talked about the past year and a half.
In a spiritual sense, I am a Christian. I try to align my Christianity as close as I can to the Bible, but I don't think many people get it perfect.
In a political sense, I am pro-life. I won't go into this too much, except that I don't think there is a morally significant difference between a fetus and a born person. Therefore, I believe a fetus deserves equal protection under the law.
I am also free market. Now, I haven't worked out the finer points of where government should get involved, but for the most part, I believe this. If I have a product, I should choose the price for which I sell. If I am a laborer, I should be able to negotiate my terms without interference of a third party. I, as a consumer, should not be able to dictate the terms of a business. I can influence it by my consumer choices, however. For instance, if I don't like the fact that Apple produces their music in a certain format, I don't buy it. If I don't like the fact that a restaurant allows smoking, I don't go there. If I don't like the fact that a cable company sells channels in bundles, well, I'm really not entitled to cable. I know there are other issues involved, such as worker safety, and pollution. These should all be factored in, but I strongly believe that the government shouldn't dictate prices/wages and shouldn't dictate things that the consumers can.
I believe in school choice and decentralization of school curricula. I think parents should have flexibility in choosing schools for their children. Whether this is through tax credits or more privatization or whatever, I think we need school choice. We don't like monopolies in other areas, and we shouldn't want them when it comes to educating our children. I disagree with Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, because I don't think the federal government should dictate what every single school should teach/test. Colleges already have their own recommended high school courses for students that may or may not match what is necessary for a degree. Necessary coursework would be established by the workplace after school or the desired college.
When it comes to religion, I tend to follow the wording of the First Amendment, rather than the clause "Separation of Church and State." If one takes the latter without regard to the First Amendment, I believe the government can "prohibit the free exercise" of religion in the interest of keeping things separate. Schools should take extra care not to discriminate on clubs and/or extracurricular activities solely because of religious content.
Those are just a few things, but I just wanted to provide a short summary of the political issues I have focused on over the past year and a half.
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2 comments:
Great set of beliefs! I keep trying to find something we disagree on.
I, too, find a lot that I agree with - not everything, of course, but a good deal.
A bit of clarification, though. On your gov't/business comment:
"If I have a product, I should choose the price for which I sell."
Might be okay IF we also assume that the business can't take things that don't belong to the business and sell them. For instance, clean air and water.
So, if we assume that the business is required (by gov't or The People, somehow) to pay actual costs and not pass on hidden costs that others have to pay, I might agree with that line.
There's still the matter of monopolies, though and, as you say, workers' rights.
All of which says to me that I'm NOT a free market kind of guy and I doubt that most people want a truly unhindered market.
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