Summary of political beliefs

[PJ]

I consider myself a democratic socialist who both hates and agrees with everyone to one extent or another, pretty much.

The weird middle ground of radical ideals and pragmatic tendencies. I feel you bruh.

This is probably the best description for my political ideology as well.

[PJ]

Social Policy:
Abortion: Oppose abortion regulation and support federal funding. I am conflicted on 3rd Trimester abortion, but ultimately, it's not my decision. In addition, we should be investing in reproductive education, focusing on safe sex, but not abandoning abstention entirely.
Drugs: Support legalization of soft drugs. Tax them and hold them up to the same standards as anything else being sold to the public. (These standards should be increased btw.) Decriminalize hard drugs, with fines and mandatory rehab after multiple offenses. The cost for rehab should be fully covered by the federal government. Lower the age for alcohol of all types to 18.
Censorship: None at all. No flag burning amendments, no restrictions on freedom of speech, no regulations whatsoever. Period.
Gay Marriage: Legal federally. What's really more important is protecting LGBT people from losing their jobs, eviction, etc. based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Death Penalty: A federal constitutional amendment prohibiting it under all circumstances. I all oppose life imprisonment without parole, but defined by statute.
Prostitution: Only arrest those who hire prostitutes, not the prostitutes themselves.
Church & State: Separate. I'm best decried as a secular catholic.
Affirmative Action: Neutral. I wish it wasn't needed, as I would prefer a discrimination-free society. However, our history as a superficially based society suggests otherwise.
Hate Crime Laws: I would support in principle, but there is now way to measure whether or not a crime is a "hate crime." So I don't support them in actuality.
Immigration: Make it easier to become a legal citizen, and make it easier for illegal residents to become legal. Against a border fence.
Stem Cell Research: Support its expansion, including federal funding.
PATRIOT Act: Repeal in its entirety, and oppose most kinds of surveillance.
Gun Control: Ban assault weapons, create a universal background check system, ban concealed carry, and restrict the kind of guns police can carry. Tying into this and PATRIOT Act, I don't any further surveillance systems than the universal background check system.
Assisted Suicide: Legalize nationally. It's the patient's choice.
Gambling: Legalize nationally. I don't want taxes to be high on it. The better answer is education.

Electoral Reform:
Term Limits: Only for appointed positions and the president. If the people don't like them, they'll be voted out.
Statehood: Any territory that wants it should be granted statehood. Yes to Puerto Rico and DC. I don't agree with the attempts by sections of states to create new ones.
Voting Age: 18
Campaign Finance Reform: Require complete transparency, limit contributions to $9,000.
Voting System: Popular vote and PR-STV.
Gerrymandering: Not real passionate about it. Bipartisan committee I guess.
Voter ID: Will lead to racial profiling.

Economics:
Welfare: Expand the current programs, no decreases in funding.
Unions: Strongly approve of the right to unionize. Oppose all right-to-work laws.
Privatization: Oppose privatization of social security, schools, etc.
Environment: Ban fracking, ban mountain-top mining, set water purity standards, protect all endangered species, invest in green energy, etc, etc, etc.
Minimum Wage: If the minimum wage had always raised with inflation, it would be at $21.
Taxation: Abolish the sales tax, with the exception of controlled substances and gambling. Raise Income tax on the rich drastically, which should be the primary tax.
Healthcare: ACA didn't go far enough. A single-payer is the best choice.
Trade: Protectionism prevents globalization. I support regulating outsourcing, but to give one corporation an advantage over another based on nationality is bad.
Pork: End corporate subsidies for the most part.
Subsidies: I support farm subsidies for low-income farmers. Also, temporary subsidies to green energy, to speed up the transition. Otherwise, end corporate subsidies.
Military: Increase veteran's benefits, decrease heavy artillery funding in the military. Spending is really out of control there.
Corporate Regulation: Constitutional amendment denying corporations the same rights as people.*
Education: Increase funding overall. Oppose creationism in schools and voucher programs.*

Foreign Policy:
War: The only wars that ever needed to be fought were the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWI, and WWII.
Israel-Palestine: Oppose military intervention. I'd like to see both be sovereign states.
Draft: Oppose in all circumstances. It's essentially slavery and has no place in modern day society.
UN: Is necessary for a successful foreign policy and the best way to get us on track to eliminating war.
Nukes: Drastically reduce nuclear arsenal.
Foreign Aid: Good in most cases, though I don't want it to create imperialistic relationships.

Summary: Your typical Social Democrat. I admire Bernie Sanders, among others. Strongly support worker's rights, strongly regulating corporations, and generally expanding welfare. Feel very strongly about gay rights, strongly support gun control, and social libertarian for the most part. I am strongly opposed to the draft and military expansion, support strong environmental regulations, and would prefer if we move away from the electoral college and towards actual democracy.

*added two: corporation regulation and education

[PJ]

How was World War I a remotely justified conflict?

I didn't mean starting it was justified. I meant that I oppose intervention unless the it's a world war, at which point it becomes almost unavoidable.

[PJ]

Welcome! I agree with you on almost everything. What about class-based AA?

[PJ]

Abortion: Discourage abortion through expanded access to birth control, comprehensive sex education, paid parental leave, and a national daycare program. Abortion should remain legal, and like all healthcare procedures, should be free of cost.

LGBT Rights: Full equality under the law for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender citizens. Hate crime laws are a bad idea however, as the judicial system can not accurately determine whether or not a crime is based on hate.

Feminism: Equal pay for women needs to be enforced. Add the equal rights amendment to the constitution. Discrimination based on gender must be eliminated from society.

Marriage: Marriage should be between any number of consensual adults. Governments should continue to recognize marriage as long as there is a popular demand for it.

Drugs: End the failed War on Drugs. Legalize all recreational drugs with no minimum consumption age and no sin tax. Essentially, usage of recreational drugs should not result in legal punishment. Establish a rehabilitation program for those who need it. Ban advertising for any controlled substance.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Full funding should be directed to any science with the potential to save lives.

Death Penalty: I don't trust the government to carry out the death penalty or life imprisonment. The strictest punishment should be life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Prisons: Ban private prisons, end mandatory minimum sentences, grant voting rights to felons, and make sure that prisoners are treated ethically.

Gun Control: Focusing on the societal causes of violence would be much more effective at reducing incidences of gun violence. That being said, there needs some basic restrictions on gun ownership, such as background checks for gun purchases.

Police Brutality: Serious reforms are needed to prevent occurrences of police brutality, such as ending militarization of police departments and serious penalties for racial profiling and brutality, but I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of body cameras.

Affirmative Action: Through public works programs and the like, the government should guarantee a right to a job for all of its citizens. This would eliminate the need for Affirmative Action in the hiring process.

Prostitution: Legalize and strictly regulate in order to prevent sex slavery and the spread of STDs. Exploitative business models such as pimping should be banned.

Euthanasia: End of life decisions are no one's business but their own. Legalize.

Speech: Increased restrictions on advertising  are necessary, but any form of expression should remain legal.

Gambling: If someone wants to gamble, that's their business, but it should be actively discouraged, and public lotteries should be abolished.

Net Neutrality: Enforce net neutrality and expand it to apply to all electronic devices.

Church and State: Separation of church and state must be maintained, but purely symbolic debates like under God in the pledge of allegiance are meaningless wastes of time. As long as non-profits remain tax-exempt, churches should fall under that category. Businesses do not have the right to exert religious beliefs on their employees, and the Hobby Lobby decision should be reversed.

Organ Donation: Should be designed as an opt-out program, we need to respect bodily autonomy, but unless an individual specifically requests otherwise, their organs have the potential to save lives and should be utilized.

Minimum Wage: Raise minimum wage to $15 an hour. Promote unionization so that workers can negotiate higher wages as necessary.

Welfare: Most welfare programs that include some form of cash payment to the recipient should be replaced with a basic minimum income adjusted for the cost of living.

Unionization: Organizing a union should be as easy as possible. Unionization is important to ensure that the rights of workers are maintained. Repeal nonsense like right-to-work and Taft-Hartley. I'm sympathetic to the concept of workplace democracy, and it should be encouraged as an alternative business model. Some worker's rights should be enforced by the government, such as a reduction of the workweek to 35 hours.

Taxation: Taxation should be steeply progressive. The primary taxes should be capital gains, income, and inheritance. Abolish corporate income and sales taxes.

Monetary Policy: Oppose nonsense like the gold standard.

Healthcare: Clearly a right. Eliminate the age restriction on Medicare to expand its benefits to all citizens.

Social Security: Absorb into a minimum income program for all. Cutting Social Security is not an option.

Trade: Replace the current free trade agreements with loosening of restrictions of labor between borders.

Pork: A pretty illegitimate form of funding. Ban and grant equal funding to all local governments. 

Education: Free of charge from preschool to graduate school. Common Core needs to be revamped into a decentralized national curriculum that focuses less on teaching to the test; with a couple of exceptions, schools should generally have the same format for which courses they offer. While standardized tests serve a purpose, their importance needs to be reduced and they should play a much smaller part in the educational system. The idea that evolution should not be a part of educational curriculums needs to killed with fire. I'm sympathetic to the idea of phasing out homeschooling and private schooling for minors altogether.

Corporations: Require that all corporate management boards have 50% of seats reserved for union representatives.

Banking: Nationalize the banking industry and model the program similarly to the Bank of North Dakota.

Arts: Due to global dominance of American pop culture, I recognize that subsidization of the arts is not as necessary here as it is in other countries. I do still support public television and radio, and subsidization of museums and public art.

Budget: Deficits serve a purpose and a balanced budget amendment in the name of financial responsibility would be pointless and destructive.

Space Exploration: Return space exploration funding to Cold War levels, with the eventual goal of colonization of other planets. Space is a fragile area, and I oppose allowing private investment in it.

Environment: Nationalize the energy sector in order to facilitate a quick transition to renewable energy without negative effects on the consumer or workers in the energy industry. Upgrade the EPA to a full-scale department with increased powers. National parks and the like should be expanded and actively promoted as both a method to conserve the natural environment and spend time outdoors.

Animal Rights: Should be advanced legally, but only when it's practical for humanity. Asking for universal vegetarianism is impractical, but excessively cruel activities like animal use in circuses should be banned.

Farming: End current farm subsidies, legalize hemp and raw milk, and promote environmentally friendly farming practices.

GMOs: Labeling GMOs creates a needless fear over harms that do not exist. Monsanto is a crooked corporation however, and should probably be taken into public ownership.

Transportation: Build a national high speed rail system, expand public transit and make it free of charge. Alternatives to automobiles need to made as available as possible.

Iran: We should actively discourage any country from owning nuclear weapons, although sanctions will not necessarily achieve the desired goal. Exert diplomatic pressure.

Iraq: The Iraq War was unnecessary, but created a dangerous power vacuum. In order to combat ISIS, we should continue with airstrikes, arming the Kurds, and humanitarian aid.

Afghanistan: While the original intervention was justified, troops should be withdrawn at this point.

Syria: I support fighting ISIS there, and Assad is the lesser of two evils in this case.

Cuba: Embargoes are idiotic. End it and normalize relations.

Russia: Oppose Russian imperialism and don't recognize annexation of Crimea, but sanctions are ineffective.

Military Spending: Cut by approximately 50% or so, which would still leave us with the largest military on the globe. End the propaganda campaigns which grant the military extensive privileges with recruiting on campuses.

Government surveillance: The government has no right to violate civil liberties and granting it this ability comes with dangerous consequences. The NSA should be massively scaled down, and its abolition or reabsorption into other agencies should be considered. The Department of Homeland Security should be merged with the Department of Justice.

Torture: Return Guantanamo Bay to Cuba and end any cruel or unusual punishment carried out by the government.

Israel/Palestine: While the notion of nation states on the whole is ridiculous, and the Israelis and Palestinians should be able to coexist in the same secular state, that's not going to happen. The U.S. needs to stop taking sides in the conflict and actively promote Palestinian self-determination and the secularization of both states.

Immigration: Amnesty should be granted to all U.S. residents and becoming a citizen should be made easier, although complete open borders are an impractical solution. Immigration quotas should be less focused on skilled workers and more focused on refugees; we have the capacity to accept many more of them, and the moral imperative to do so.

Nuclear Weapons: Would ideally be eliminated from society, but the only practical way to do this is multilaterally through an international treaty. Nuclear energy should not be included as part of any transition to renewable energy.

Draft: Abolish the selective service and the notion that citizens are obligated to fight wars for the government.

Foreign Aid: Humanitarian aid is noble on the surface, but we need to ensure corrupt governments aren't taking advantage of it.

NATO: Really served its purpose during the Cold War, but is an irrelevant organization now. Dissolve it.

United Nations: Replace the current organization with a global elected parliament that could eventually evolve into a global government that has the ability to address pertinent global issues.

Voting Age: I'm in favor of expanding suffrage as much as possible within reasonable limits, so the voting age should be lowered to 16. Voter ID laws should be abolished as they make voting more difficult. There should be a national voter registry in order to combat voter fraud instead.

Mandatory Voting: Voting should be considered a civic duty, as long as a write-in/none of the above option is available.

[PJ]

Campaign Finance: The concept of campaign donations is the antithesis of democracy. Ban all monetary donations to campaigns and publicly fund elections.

Primaries: Primaries should be designed as a national vote, with the focus eliminated from arbitrary early primary states.

Executive Branch: Abolish the electoral college and elect the president with instant runoff voting. The powers of the presidency should be reduced, but term limits for president should be abolished, with elections held every two years.

Legislative Branch: Abolish the senate and elect the House of Representatives with Mixed Member Proportional Representation. The constituency seats should be elected with instant runoff voting. Constituencies should be drawn by an independent commission.

Judicial Branch: Judges should remain appointed and not subjected to term limits. I support a liberal interpretation of the constitution, but the document is outdated and should be updated for the 21st century.

Statehood: Hold a statehood vs. independence vote for all current U.S. territories. With the exception of D.C., I would support independence for most territories. Redraw the 50 states to reflect the realities of 2015 so that all are approximately equal in population.