Summary of political beliefs

[Beet]

Social:

Liberal Views
- Pro-choice during the first trimester.
- Immigration: Suport increased legal immigration and amnesty for undocumented workers who have shown commitment to making a productive life in America.
- Gun control: Support mandatory waiting periods and background checks. Support provisions of Assault Weapons Ban of 1994-2004.
- FCC regulations: Support a return to pre-Michael Powell regulatory priorities. Do not agree with pandering to narrow special interests trying to control what people can see on television.
- Marijuana: Support legalization on a state-by-state basis, but under highly regulated and taxed conditions, with increased safeguards against marijuana dependency. Support limits on amount of marijuana that can be purchased.
- Gay marriage: Support civil unions on a state-by-state basis.

Mixed Views
- Support religion in school on a voluntary basis, but not required religious activity such as prayer or moments of silence. Support secular education on religious scripture and history as part of the school curriculum.
- Crime: We are too lenient on vicious criminals but too harsh on petty offenders. There are too many people in jail. Go to the root of the problem.

Conservative Views
- Fathers' Rights: Support the equal rights of fathers in all custody cases.
- School vouchers: Support. Support privatization of all public schools, subject to community approval in well- and average-performing districts.
- Multiculturalism: Believe in assimilation, not multiculturalism. Oppose bilingual education except as a last resort bridge to English-only education.
- Affirmative action: Oppose race-based affirmative action.
- Death penalty: Support, with DNA evidence. Try to rehabilitate all people, even those on death row.
- Causes of social problems: Believe 1960s liberalism led to undesirable breakdowns in social capital; the causes of high crime are mostly family breakdown and weakening of community culture.

Economic:

Conservative Views
- Favor dismantling social security entirely, but favor the government stepping in to aid seniors who face an unexpected sudden loss of retirement savings.
- Support tort reform. Support cap of $750,000 for pain and suffering damages.
- Oppose farm subsidies. Support government action to prevent large corporations from going bankrupt, but otherwise oppose corporate welfare.
- Support free trade. Generally anti-union.
- Support suburban development. Oppose no-growth lobbies. Support state infrastructure spending.

Liberal Views:
- Budget deficits are not a problem. Debt is a structural thing shared by all industrialized countries, and always will be.
- Support a progressive tax system, top income tax rate of 44%. Support the estate tax. Oppose increasing regressive taxes such as sales taxes. Oppose cap on income considered for social security tax.
- Favor government-funded medicare vouchers for medical insurance for the poor. Every child should have health insurance.

Foreign Policy:

Realist. Share a philosophy of war with William T. Sherman, and for that very reason has a very high threshold for justifying a pre-emptive war. Still believe the reasons do not justify starting a war.
- Support spreading democracy by peaceful means, such as building up goodwill and cooperation with Arab peoples and the less oppressive governments.
- Support bilateral talks with North Korea, only because multilateral talks are clearly getting nowhere.
- Support coordinating with E.U. on Iran.
- Favor ending monetary grants to Israel.
- Realize that we must support some undemocratic regimes, such as Pakistan, because the alternative would be worse.
- Support debt relief, AIDS drug funding, and other economic assistance to LDC regions, especially in sub-saharan Africa.