RateItAll: The Opinion Network

You tell me.

I'm a social liberal, fiscal conservative. As I commented elsewhere on this list, my career experience has not given me a lot of faith in the practical application of political theories, and I am generally unimpressed by the so-called political debate on this web-site. With a very few exceptions, most political comments (of any stripe) on RIA show a sophistication which could be equalled by a troop of howler monkeys and an understanding of real-politik that would be considered unusually crude by a colony of cherrystone clams.

I'm an independent that takes one issue at a time and often feel the best solutions to problems are not mentioned by either democrats or republicans (sometimes by third parties, sometimes not). However, relative to the current administration, I am a social liberal and a fiscal conservative...I never considered myself this before, but remember I said relative to the current Bush administration. In other words, they are so extremely socially fascist and fiscally corporate communist dictators that it distorts moderates like me in comparison. So, with the new distorted view of liberal, I join the ranks of those I have heretofore been distict from, including both democrats _and_republicans_ who aren't as extreme as the Bush administration!

Im not a liberal, but it is just interesting to me that so many liberals here claim that the site is full of conservatives. Liberals are the highest rated people on this list.

Don't make me laugh.

While I think many liberals have their hearts in the right place, the ideas just seem silly or wrong. I won't do into every issue, and you might be able to find a liberal idea that I agree with, but for the most part I stick to the other side.

We could argue forever about the definition of liberal (for example though in America liberals are associated with the left but in Russia the communist party would certainly be considered conservatives and I often find yesterdays liberals are the heros of todays conservatives) but I think we're all bound by a basic dislike of the traditional canon in one or many areas and a desire to see change. Hence I find myself fitting in with all the typical aspects of the popular definition (in America at least) of a economic and social liberal. I favour the consumer over the supplier (Keynesianism) and the progressive over the traditional (basic liberalism). Since this has already been established I think it's interesting Enkidu brings up revisionism and destructionist ideology. My logic is whether you hear words on the radio, watch them represented in a film, read them in a book, or see them on the internet, the important thing is the words themselves, not the medium of communicating them or the genre they fit under. To underscore this opinion and to define my logic for liberalism for all countries and socio-economic ideologies (avoiding the debate over what liberal means) I will simply say this If (and only if) a society is doing something wrong, it is only logical to change it.

I am definitely a liberal. I oppose the conservative way the country is going. The Bill of Rights is in danger, and it must be preserved, along with our rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of petition, and freedom of the press. The Separation of Church and State is one of the most important American ideals. Clark in '04!

In many ways, I am liberal. I believe that people of all kinds (regardless of sex, religion, race, creed, sexual orientation, color, and so on) should have equal rights under the law, as long as they obey it. I am a strong supporter of stem cell research, which will provide invaluable medical research for humanity's awesome future. I am even one of the few that support cloning. I also believe in the government providing assistance to its citzens. Welfare is not an evil thing, it just needs to be extended to more people. In fact, law-abiding citizens, housewifes, and any military officer should recieve funds, I believe. I also believe that the ever-glorious NASA should recieve infinite (the ol' sideways eight!) funding to allow humanity to soar amongst the stars. However, at the moment, I shake my head at the foolishness of the democratic party. Hilary Clinton insults Ghandi. Howard Dean stereotypes southerners, believes Saddam Hussein's capture meant nothing, and is a complete idiot. Wesley Clark bases his campaign on gossip. Madeline Albright (obviously, not too bright) things we've already got Osama Bin Laden, but Bush is waiting to reveal it before election. INSANE! And, that's just a few examples. The only good Democratic presidental candidate for 2004 is Joe Lieberman, but he's only got about 3% of the vote. So, I'll probably be voting for Bush come Fall 2004.

I am a liberal, and I vote a straight Democratic ticket. However, I am conservative in the respect that I support capital punishment. I think abortion is an option women should have in certain situations, but I do not think it should be used as a form of birth control.

The backbone of my convictions stem from working class roots. I'm for proper working wages and less inequality. I believe that noone should have to worry about being able to provide health care for thier families. I believe that corporate welfare should be stopped, and that Americans should align themselves politically at a working class level. At the same time I don't consider big government or numerous government programs to helpful or warranted. I am pissed that our society demonizes the single mom on welfare, but overlooks the huge kickbacks and 'free money' given to big business. Also to those who continually whine about closing the borders...please remember that we are all aliens in this country, with the exception of Native Americans. Just some thoughts.

The idea that liberals are open minded is in many ways a myth. For the most part, my experiences with people who declare themselves as liberals have shown me that they are considerbly more one dimensional in their thinking than many of the conservatives I've known. Conservatives at least attempt to deal with reality, whereas the modern liberal has more or less fallen into the simple minded rut of declaring everyone or everything either rascist, sexist, or homophobic. Many on the left do not seem to have any interest in actually improving the quality of life for the groups they claim to defend, but rather, are more intent on dragging the country down, pitting groups against each other, and rewriting history, all in an attempt to achieve some sort of impossible eutopia.

I would say most of my political ideas swing towards to liberalism all the way. Sometimes I am conservative however, especially when it comes to abortion...which should be banned across the world...

I definitely average out left of center, but not as far left as some might think (I love to use RIA as a forum to bash right-wing hypocrisy, but only because it's fun). I'm farthest left on environmental and some social issues and farthest right on fiscal ones. On academic issues--specifically the assault on the canon by revisionism and deconstructionist ideology--I'm rather conservative (for example, I think Shakespeare is a better source of human wisdom than Star Trek, or the latest Nadine Gordimer novel). Beyond this, I'm liberal by the commonly accepted contemporary definition (which is annoyingly fuzzy) --but most importantly because I believe in the importance of REASON as a guide to human understanding, rather than REVELATION.

As a liberal, I try to keep an open mind about everything. I believe that's what defines liberalism. We want what's best for the world just like everyone else. Many people have adopted the view that liberals are immoral,radical,anti-religious and quick to embrace change without thought. This is simply not true. If it is so immoral to care about the environment, animal rights, civil rights,human rights or any kind of rights then call me Mr. immorality.

I am a liberal because I tend to lean towards the left. I'm for gay marridge, equal rights, and free speech as well as seperation of church and state. I'm against censorship of artistic expression such as paintings, drawings, and novels. I am against racial profiling. However, I disagree with gun control.