Summary of political beliefs

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Has there even been a bigger enemy to freedom than legislated religion?

Yes. Quite a few things.

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I'm not entirely sure what your refering to here... certainly most of the various countries, semi-countries, defacto countries, principalities, free cities... etc, etc, etc that made up Mediaeval Europe (if there was such a thing) were "not exactly" free, but that certainly wasn't the main problem...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

In many countries in Europe, your rights were basically taken away if you were a Jew.

Rights? No one had many rights back then. Round here most people had a right to farm a little strip of land and let what animals they had run around on certain stretches of open ground (the latter is still a right in places and the Government is about to get a bill passed to help maintain those areas and make our rights to them secure). That's about it... the local Baron or other petty dictator could and did make most people work for him on his fields (this applied pretty much everyone) and some people (serfs) were as good as slaves.
Oppression of the Jews and other minority grounds (including early Protestants like the Lollards) was truely horrific, but the extent of which it was motivated by religion is debatable... it was really more the nasty c***'s that ran the show looking for scapegoats for all the huge problems the Mediaeval world had.

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Nazism. Communism. Totalitarianism in general.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Social Issues

General philosophy: Not really sure if I have one. See if you can spot one for me.

Separation of church and state: That depends what you mean by "seperation"; I support disestablishing the Church of England, but I don't support going as far down that road as the U.S has.

I also support the "Keep Sunday Special" campaign, but that links into other areas (not all Religious ones at that).

Freedom of speech: I support this, up to a point at least. I also support certain incitement laws.

Right to an abortion: I do not support a right to an abortion. I do think that it should be legal early on in the pregnancy (although I'm never sure where to draw the line), but I also think that other restrictions than time are needed; especially as far as genetic disorders go. Don't like abortions for those. At all. I find eugenics and so on to be utterly disgusting... and I could happily rant away about that for hours.
I also do not think that, if there is an illegal abortion, that the woman should be prosecuted.

Affirmative action: It really depends whether it is needed or not. Outright discrimination (ie; quota's, AWS and so on) I'm opposed to, though.

Gun rights: Beyond certain basic standards, this is essentially a cultural thing. What works in Birmingham, Warwickshire, may not work in Birmingham, Alabama. And vice versa.

Civil unions or gay marriage: I support civil unions/partnerships/call 'em what tha' will.

Euthanasia: Oppose in principle. The edges of the issue are more complicated.

Prostitution: Tolerate (but do not actually legalise) certain brothels, but crack down on street prostitution. Big jail terms for pimps.

Capital punishment: Strongly oppose; the State should not kill.

Economic Issues

General philosophy: Socialism (of various old fashioned strands)

Employers and Employees: Strong supporter of Trade Unions and the rights of their members (ie; while I think it should be illegal to fire workers on strike, I also think that all strikes should be balloted. And so on and so forth). I dislike state paternalism (which I think weakens all sides) and over-tight labour regulations (it is the role of Unions to protect their members. And they do a much better job than anyone else would) and support things like ACAS.

Taxation: I support taxation as a way to raise money to redistribute (hey, there's nowt wrong with a little honesty). I do not support using taxes to redistribute; it just don't work, and you end up with less money to do serious redistribution.
I support a progressive/whateveryeshallcallit income tax, but am open to the idea that people that do white collar jobs should be taxed at a higher rate than people who do skilled trades/engineering/healthcare/etc jobs.
I can't say that I especially care whether taxes are high or low; the important thing is to raise money without causing damage to the economy.

Spending: I strongly support useful spending, but equally strongly oppose useless spending; the main thing is to redistribute as much as can be got away with, while making sure that public services are good. As such, waste (real waste) is the proverbial enemy.

Free trade: Support in principle and up to a point. I think we need to be fairer to all involved though (so no dumping sugar mountains on third world countries).

Funding of the space program: support

Foreign policy

General philosophy: Anti-Genocide

Iraq: Did not really support, did not really oppose, did not believe things said by either those in favour or opposed to it, did not like a lot of the people involved in the anti-war thing, did/do not like the hypocrisy, do not approve of the Post-War planning or lack of it, think that Rumsfeld should be fired (from a cannon), think the fact that Iraq has had elections is a very good thing, think it looks disturbingly like Northern Ireland in certain respects, think that both sides (ie; in the West) should try to be a little more honest (this is not hard) and so on and so forth.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Unions: I do not support a unions right to exist and hope that an employer fires any union employee who goes on strike

Ah, I see that thou art still a follower of the "General Jaruzelski" approach to Unions...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, not within an American context, anyway, referendums being a big part of the radical democratic tradition in the U.S (and even the SPA - with all it's Yiddish speaking Marxists - was a reflection of that almost as much as anything else) and all that. Elsewhere, not so much, usually.