I wrote this in email to Kory... and thought I'd share it here too.
I'm
a registered Democrat. I identify as a liberal. I'm pro-choice,
anti-big government, pro sex education and education funding, pro
individual and equal rights and civil liberties, pro environment, pro
animal rights. I believe that the government should work for its
people. I believe that the rich should not be allowed to get wealthier
at the expense of the poor and working class.
I'm your basic
peace-loving liberal I guess, and I try to practice what I preach. I
buy locally and I buy organic as much as I can afford to. I don't shop
at big box companies like Wal-Mart because I abhor their labor
practices and I'd rather support small businesses. I vote, even in the
"boring" local elections, because it is those people who will work
their way up and eventually be casting our electoral college votes in
the bigger elections. I believe that the process does work, if we work
it.
I don't support pharmaceutical companies and I think that
their practices are warping our perceptions of how our bodies should
behave. I resent being told that I need to be medicated because I don't
think just like the status quo does. I think it's sad that most of the
people I know take upwards of 3-4 different medications every day just
to "manage" their bodies... and not for things like heart catheter
maintenance but for things like "restless legs," and they believe that
they NEED those drugs just to make it through the day.
I
wouldn't say that I'm anti-war across the board, because certainly
there is a time and a place where war is justified, but I don't support
this ongoing war. On a similar note, I'm anti-violence, but not all
violence necessarily... just unjust violence. There is a time and a
place for that as well and I think a lot of this war could be avoided
by allowing special forces to take care of the "really bad guys"
without deploying our entire army and involving innocent civilians.
I
waver on the death penalty, because I think that some crimes are
horrific enough that when the perpetrator is clearly guilty and
unrepentant (or even sometimes when they are repentant... but the crime
was horrific enough) ... that the death penalty is warranted. I stop
short of the "eye for an eye" reasoning. I don't think anything is
black and white enough to be painted with a brush like that. I think
that many criminals *can* be rehabilitated and think that work release
is a far better option in many cases (and with certain parameters as to
the severity of the crime).
I support the decriminalization of
recreational drugs. I think there's a fortune to be made in the legal
sale and subsequent government taxing of marijuana. I'm a strong
believer in the separation of church and state. I believe that we need
universal health care. No one should have to suffer and/or die because
they cannot afford health care.
As far as the army... I support
the troops, because I appreciate that not all of the people in the
military are gung-ho militant assholes. I happen to live in the middle
of the Bible Belt and I am surrounded by people who epitomize the
"gung-ho militant asshole" who can't wait to go "shoot some
towelheads." It is these people who have often made me identify as
"anti-military" and make the claim that I could never be with a guy who
wanted to be a soldier. I can't understand why anyone would want to be infantry but I know a lot of guys who couldn't wait to graduate so they could sign up to be specifically that.
I
don't believe that the US needs to fix everyone else's problems for
them. I think that we have people here, in our cities and
neighborhoods, who cannot afford a roof over their heads or food for
their children... who are dying of terminal illness and suffering from
debilitating mental illness... and those people, our people, should be
a higher priority than we give them, as a country. Change begins at
home.
I can't believe that our government is considering
authorizing the spending of $700 billion to bail out wealthy people who
made irresponsible decisions in regards to their mortgage plans and
financial portfolios. Our country is already in debt by trillions of
dollar. I'd like to know where the buck stops, exactly, and where that
bail out money is coming from, exactly. I can't wrap my brain around
this sort of government action, and I'm not sure I want to.
I'm sure there's more... but that's enough for the moment...
