I was raised in a fairly politically-aware household, and though I don’t have time to be very politically active these days, politics are still very important to me.

Some things I am for:

Affirmative action
Socialized medicine
Gun control
Keeping abortion legal
I also think Bush is a national disgrace and all-around asshat.

This might lead you to believe I am quite liberal. For those of you who don’t know the meaning of the word “liberal”, or those of you who think it’s a nasty, profane word, here’s how the dictionary defines liberal: “involving a general enlarging of the mind beyond the merely professional or technical; not subject to common prejudices or conventions; favorable to individual liberty, social reform and the removal of economic restraints; admitting a free interpretation of religious doctrine and its application to ritual and conduct.”

Republicans always seem to be pointing the finger, always looking for a scapegoat to blame society’s problems on. But instead of picking on people their own size, their targets generally include the marginalized–that is to say, minorities, the poor, and the working class. They are easy targets with little time or resources to defend themselves. Even better, they convince the very people they are oppressing that they are actually their saviors. Unlike conservatives, I am a firm believer in nation that shares the wealth. I am basically a Democratic Socialist (since eighth grade, in fact) and these are my thoughts on a few topics.

Environment - Despite what conservatives say, our earth is fragile and we as humans are very capable of screwing it up. Global warming is absolutely real and the repercussions of damage already done has been evident in our screwy weather patterns. Yet I’m sure some will probably go on telling themselves that mass floods, wildfires, drought and hundreds of heat wave deaths are actually normal. Uh-huh. Even worse, we are destroying the very things that could help undo our own stupidity, like old growth forests. 99% of the rest of us are managing to feed ourselves and our families without doing things like destroying critical forests, so if some people have to be retrained for other jobs to preserve it, that’s fine with me. We only have one earth.

Gun control - The fact is nine times out of ten you’re going to accidentally shoot your kid before you ever get the chance to shoot a burglar trying to take your TV. (What do you own that is really worth murdering someone, anyway?). I would also like to see a complete ban on automatic assault weapons; if this is really for hunting as people claim, they haven’t hunted much, because you certainly don’t need to turn a deer into Swiss cheese to kill it. The NRA’s argument has long been that it “deters” criminals if “they don’t know who’s armed and who isn’t,” but this is laughably transparent when you look at any number of the recent rashes of automatic weapon killing sprees (both in school and out). Criminals really don’t give shit, nor are they thinking, “Gee, I could get the death penalty for this.” Meanwhile, the rest of the country seems to be slowly coming to its senses about guns; more and more people seem to be finally realizing that maybe when the founding fathers wrote about “the right to bear arms,” they might have been referring to general defense for miltias fighting Britain, not a prescription for every man, woman, child and dog to have an AK-47.

* Bowling for Columbine is an excellent movie about this topic.

Abortion - This is something that has been around much longer than the pro-life movement, and I believe it should be safe and legal for all women. The prevailing myth among the pro life camp is that certain women simply use abortion as birth control, and therefore the procedure should be eliminated altogether to force these women to be more responsible. I emphasize that this is a myth, and not coincidentally “these women” targeted by the pro-life movement also frequently happen to be some other race than white, which goes hand in hand with the racist “black welfare queen” stereotype (the biggest portion of welfare recipients in the U.S., by the way, is white). I additionally find it very strange that pro-lifers think bombing clinics and murdering doctors is a sane and good way to convince others of their cause.

Political systems - Socialism seeks the individual freedom of all people—not the minority at the expense of the majority as in our current winner-take-all system. As a democratic socialist I believe in the extension of democracy to the economic realm in particular: the abolition of the class system and the freedom of all individuals to access on an equal basis the means of production. Translation: while I am not for government having its fingers in absolutely everything, thousands of American children should not be going to bed hungry while the richest 1% of the country are getting fat-ass tax breaks. It’s utterly shameful.

Domestic Partner Marriages - I am a strong supporter in the rights for gays and lesbians to get married. It’s sad that so many Americans have such a problem with homosexuality (as if it’s even their business?). People who have the arrogance to tell other people how to live are uncomfortable with their own sexuality, and–as far as I’m concerned–are pathetic. If homosexuality were a “choice,” who in their right mind would choose to be gay with all the discrimination and crap they have to endure?

Death Penalty - Generally speaking, I think there are just too many problems with the death penalty–both in concept and practical reality–to support it. As we have seen in the news in recent years, they do make mistakes, and once someone is murdered by the state you can’t bring the innocent person back. As one visitor wrote to me years ago: “the strongest argument against the death penalty is that if it is supposed to deter it clearly fails. And who wants to live in a society that is so childish it feels it must seek fatal retribution for the crimes of those who fail to meet its standards? Not me.”