Recently I was verbally assaulted by a fellow Facebooker for some of my posted items and notes being "propaganda" and furthermore called a "chickenhawk". It's true that I have made no secret of my preference for John McCain in this election, but that still does not qualify this guy calling me a "chickenhawk". Instead of being a pussy and whining about it, I got us into an extensive message battle in which I explained why I should not be called a chickenhawk, and I stated some positions that are regarded as centrist to liberal. He then retorted, "Why on earth are you voting for John McCain?" I realized at that point that I had been asked that a lot, so I'm going to clarify exactly what I believe and how that likely correlates into a center-right preference. In summary, I'm pretty libertarian, i.e. conservative on economic/military issues and liberal on social issues. So why vote for the GOP? Because first and foremost I view economic issues and the limited role of government as king, and social issues are just philosophical formations to which I subscribe but have no use for. If you ask me whether I'm more likely to be overtaxed or have a gay marriage, I'd say hopefully overtaxed (yes Carlos, I can anticipate your retort already). If David Beckham offered me a gay marriage and half of his estate, you would see me swiftly move to the Democratic Party. And a year later, you would see me get a swift gay divorce and be swimming amongst Ferraris and Heidi Fleiss's whores.
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Here are some excerpts from my message regarding my political philosophy:
"Needless to say, I'm a tad bit disappointed. I take great enjoyment in my political writing, satire, and being provocative and inflammatory. Most of my FB friends (whom I know nearly all in person) know that."
"I'm sorry you disagree with my viewpoints. Most of my friends do, yet I have fun in a political back and forth jabbing and also enjoy substantive dialogue on the issues. We "jab back and forth" all the time (yes, via Facebook), reminding each other of our other candidates' triumphs and falldowns. It's a sport and a game - not that politics is a sport - it's a real sad affair actually - but one that is so sad that it needs to be livened up and "sportinized" in order to survive it. If I had conservative friends (Berkeley - hello?), my notes would be no fun and unprovocative."
"When other people incessantly post stuff about McCain being old, Bush being a retard, and Obama soaring in the polls, I take a friendly jab and then respect them for their viewpoints, because apparently with the exception of me everyone else is entitled to them."
"Despite my hope for a quick withdrawal, preference for gay marriage/LGBT rights, pro-choice position, hope for more public transportation infrastructure, progressive support for a female VP, alternative energy/environmental protection, stem cell research, moderate gun control position, support of vouchers to allow the less unfortunate and minorities to get a better education..."
"...but don't let any of that get in the way of calling me a chickenhawk."
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I then clarified my positions (excerpt):
Because first and foremost I value economic freedom and freedom from a large oppressive government that overtaxes its citizens and then wastes their money with no accountability. No matter how rich or poor anyone is, they should not be unfairly taxed. I passionately believe in that. While that won't change much with McCain, and the Republicans have been terribly tax & spend as well, I cannot accept the Democratic party (especially Obama's) rhetoric and action on the issue.
I believe in every citizen earning their way in a market economy, and believe that redistribution harms people on the lower economic rungs by creating dependency and never giving incentive for people of lower economic status to move out of that class. I believe in Clinton's (wildly unpopular with Democrats) Welfare Reform Act.
You of course are familiar with how unions have brought down the airline industry (and other industry). Unions have outgrown their use, and whichever party has them in their back pocket is the party I cannot accept.
School choice - I sincerely want our schools improved - especially for the lowest tiers of society - and guess which party is in bed with public school teachers' unions, hijacking everybody's right to a good education. [If you allot $8000 dollars to each student/parent instead of investing the money solely in the school to which their child would normally subscribe, the student/parent can choose whether the school he goes to is good enough - if it's not, private institutions will be clamoring to take that $8000 to give a superior education. Then in order to survive, the public school will up their game if they have to compete against private institutions for the student].
I love immigrants and immigration, but we can't continue to be a country that can't properly account for who is in it [and the resulting balance of resources]. Whichever party at least has more rhetoric towards closing the borders is my party. McCain had a reasonable proposal on this about a year or so back.
Iraq is a mess/stupid idea, but there's no denying that the surge, which McCain supported and Barack didn't, was the right thing to do in stabilizing Iraq and will allow us to pull out AND have a relative amount of success in securing the country.
McCain = better than Bush on environment [went across party lines and co-sponsored bills promoting the environment and fighting global warming]
McCain = female VP, open to pro-choice VP
Whichever party/candidate is the best on those issues is first and foremost the one I will lean towards. I'm not rich - I just believe in smaller government - the power of the individual [and freedom from government oppression].
It's also a function of where I grew up and how I developed my thinking, but I'm sincere and passionate about a conservative libertarian ideology - I'm not evil, I'm not a religious fanatic, I don't hate gays...I just have ideas about the fundamental nature of government.
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Some More Issues Discussion (Liberal Positions):
I am pro-choice. However, I have a strong pro-life ethos and I loathe how too many left-leaning people are too quick to dismiss excellent arguments from pro-life groups. I did write a blogpost about the abortion issue, in which I fundamentally concluded that ending the right to an abortion would first and foremost be dangerous to women who really want/need an abortion and take illegitimate back door procedures to get one and the logistical nightmare of the government/taxpayer supporting 40 million unwanted babies that would have been born since the 1970's and more than likely be a drain on society financially and in terms of resources (prison, welfare, etc). I do however dismiss the notion that an abortion is something that women should be willy-nilly entitled to and I condemn the amount of abortions that have occurred in which lots women have no one to blame but themselves and should be deserving of no sympathy for murdering their child.
I believe in background checks for guns. Not every idiot, especially one with a hint of a criminal record, should be allowed to purchase a gun. However, law-abiding Americans have the right to own a gun for protection or whatever they see fit. As an American, you should be able to own or operate whatever you want, but when you infringe on the life or property of another American, you should be punished to the full extent of the law.
I believe in states rights to decide gay marriage, at minimum. It's been a long road to this conclusion, and I've come to believe that gays in a legitimate relationship should not be barred from having the same legal and ceremonial rights that straight Americans have come to enjoy. When you bring marriage into the "state", marriage is no longer the property of religious groups - it is the property of all people and therefore no citizen should be denied access to it. However I am not a fan of a large sector of gay separatism, and that is gays being hostile to Americans who happen to have more traditional values just for the sake of history and tit-for-tat. If gays want gay marriage to be an accepted concept in America, they need to separate themselves (no pun intended) from a separatist culture that usually includes severe indoctrination in leftist ideology. Be the better man (or queen), and accept their right to their opinion just as you should be allowed to have yours.
Joe Lieberman
