Self Defined
Whenever big political things happen I always find myself reconsidering where I stand. Not so much where I stand but how I define myself.
Listening to Barack Obama last night I found myself all over the map related to his points and I decided to label my political self.
I am a liberal/conservative libertarian-socialist-democrat with anarchistic leanings.
Now let me explain.
My bottom line, philosophically & politically, is that we should treat each person with compassion and honesty. I think we, not only as humans but especially as Americans, should all have access to the same opportunities. I believe the government should be there to make sure everybody has that access and to fill in the gaps where individual communities can't or won't, as well as take care of large scale issues - large project infrastructure, national disasters, global relationships and if necessary, military protection. I do believe that government should be representative...there is no way to get things accomplished if it we actually waited to hear from all individuals...communities should be the basis of all discussion and there should be representatives from communities to go to the national level. Each community, which means each member of the community has the responsibility to help other members of the community (its not called community or society for no reason). If someone opts out of that community by pulling their own weight they should then recognize that the community might not be there to back them up.
I know this is dreamland philosophy but when I was watching the democratic convention I realize that I don't follow the party line on a lot of things. I defintely lean more that way than toward republicans but there are things there that I agree with as well, as well as the libertarians and definitely the greens.
If we had a multiparty system I would probably be a Green but in our one party political system I cannot claim any party. I can go green but it won't make a difference to anyone other than those who know me. I have done that in the past but even the Greens are off base as far as I'm concerned.
I don't know. Sometimes I get frustrated with our political system and then I get fatalistic about it and this is one of those times.
I'm cautiously hopeful about Obama. I don't think McCain will make any difference. I don't know Biden and I don't trust Palin. I've ignored both McKinney & Clemente. The liberterians I've met are crazy so I'm not even going there. (What are they drinking in Georgia to have two indi presidential candidates?)
Listening to Barack Obama last night I found myself all over the map related to his points and I decided to label my political self.
I am a liberal/conservative libertarian-socialist-democrat with anarchistic leanings.
Now let me explain.
My bottom line, philosophically & politically, is that we should treat each person with compassion and honesty. I think we, not only as humans but especially as Americans, should all have access to the same opportunities. I believe the government should be there to make sure everybody has that access and to fill in the gaps where individual communities can't or won't, as well as take care of large scale issues - large project infrastructure, national disasters, global relationships and if necessary, military protection. I do believe that government should be representative...there is no way to get things accomplished if it we actually waited to hear from all individuals...communities should be the basis of all discussion and there should be representatives from communities to go to the national level. Each community, which means each member of the community has the responsibility to help other members of the community (its not called community or society for no reason). If someone opts out of that community by pulling their own weight they should then recognize that the community might not be there to back them up.
I know this is dreamland philosophy but when I was watching the democratic convention I realize that I don't follow the party line on a lot of things. I defintely lean more that way than toward republicans but there are things there that I agree with as well, as well as the libertarians and definitely the greens.
If we had a multiparty system I would probably be a Green but in our one party political system I cannot claim any party. I can go green but it won't make a difference to anyone other than those who know me. I have done that in the past but even the Greens are off base as far as I'm concerned.
I don't know. Sometimes I get frustrated with our political system and then I get fatalistic about it and this is one of those times.
I'm cautiously hopeful about Obama. I don't think McCain will make any difference. I don't know Biden and I don't trust Palin. I've ignored both McKinney & Clemente. The liberterians I've met are crazy so I'm not even going there. (What are they drinking in Georgia to have two indi presidential candidates?)
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