Why I'm so Liberal

Well, I got an e-mail message not too long ago from my friend John and I've taken far too long to correct a mistake he informed me about. When I said I didn't know anybody for 500 miles I was mistaken, somehow I neglected to see how far Charlotte, North Carolina was, which is where John is. Luckily, my mistake wasn't too gigantic, seeing as how John will be moving to Nebraska shortly and is so busy finishing up with his current work and I'm so busy starting law school that I won't be able to visit him and vice versa. So, soon my mistake will be corrected, except that now I know people here too - although not as well as I might like.

Anyhow, I meant to respond to John via e-mail, and I still might. I just don't get to e-mail as often and apparently he read my blog at least once, so who knows - maybe he'll do it again. But, other than acknowledging my mistake, there was one other thing I wanted to tell him.

Warning: if you aren't comfortable reading or discussing politics, or if you are like many of my friends and family and especially conservative, you may want to avoid this next section. You see, John and I used to discuss politics in high school all the time, he would wonder how I could have a lot my view points and still side with Republicans, and I wondered how John could be so capitalistic and still side with the Democrats. Well, John, I've been converted. To an extent.

First off, I'm an independent. Since I've been able to vote I have never registered with either party and I hope I never will. I am adamantly opposed to a two party system and agree wholeheartedly with George Washington's statement in his farewell address. On the topic of political parties he said "It serves to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration....agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one....against another....it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption...thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another." As such, in my younger days I had no problem with Bill O'Reilly claiming to be an independent, as a matter of fact I still have no problem with that claim. The problem is that O'Reilly now claims (perhaps he did before and I was unaware) that he is a moderate - agreeing with certain viewpoints that have been labeled liberal, especially ones that are widely accepted as being true (e.g. global warming) does not make you a moderate. There are conservative independents and liberal independents, there are authoritarian independents and libertarian independents, and there are all sorts of independents in between.

I digress, the point of this post is to explain why I'm a "liberal" when it comes to politics and so I first want to explain that I'm not just a liberal, I'm also quite libertarian in my views. For those of you familiar with the political compass I fit in the southwest quadrant, just a little northeast of men like Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. (For insight into where your political views fit according to the political compass try taking their test at http://politicalcompass.org/test). Basically, my assertion is this - after paying attention to both sides and having experienced how the policies of both sides have affected me and those around me, I am strongly inclined to say that for the most part it is a good thing to support social programs and that having a strong government is not necessarily a bad thing.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid came to speak at BYU last year, and as he addressed the crowd he said "some people may wonder how I can be a Mormon and a Democrat, but for me being a member of this church and the policies of the democratic party go hand in hand" and continued to explain his affinity for his party. While I will never support one party or another, I think it is best to dispassionately pay attention to who candidates are and the positions they espouse. To me it is a wonder that the people who follow a religion whose core teachings are those of acceptance, love, and service feel that John McCain is a superior candidate to Barack Obama. Just in terms of personal character - one is a loving family man whose children clearly adore him. The other cheated multiple times on his first wife before leaving her for one of the women he cheated on her with. One seeks to fight only in wars that are "just" while the other seems ready to continue our engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan but also to expand and possibly fight both Russia and Iran. Just watch the speeches given on the night Barack Obama clinched the nomination for the Democratic party back in June (McCain vs. Obama) - if it were a movie you would know that Obama is the hero and McCain is the villain.

Again I digress. Basically, I want people to know that no candidate is perfect, that every candidate will have positions that you disagree with, but that we should vote based on what the candidates character and positions are as compared to our own. Also, be aware that some of the issues that voters find most important (abortion, gay marriage) will be little affected by who you vote for as president. The most a president can do is appoint a supreme court justice who may overturn gay marriage laws or the decision in Roe v. Wade. Just so you know, it was Chief Justic Warren Burger's court that delivered the decision in Roe v. Wade, a court that was mostly appointed by Republican presidents and with a conservative majority. Four of the justices on that court were appointed by Richard Nixon. As opposed as you may be to the legality of abortion (I myself am not), who you vote for president will not get Roe v. Wade overturned. Who you vote for president will not change the status of gay marriage, a debate that the courts have left for the states to decide so far. Who you vote for president will affect how we deal with foreign nations - and I for one hope that nations will view us favorably again. Barack Obama definitely has the upperhand there. Who you vote for president will affect the direction of our economy in the coming years, John McCain has openly acknowledged (though he denies it now, see in his own words) that he doesn't know as much as he should about economics. Anyhow, I understand that their are legitimate disagreements in policy, I'm on the other side from many of my closest friends. Just know that the best way to discuss them is to look at their positives and negatives, and to look at everything as a whole, not at the D or R next to somebody's name. Lately I'm inclined towards the Ds, but that won't always hold true.