filed under: politics

2 March 2008

I realized recently that I haven’t said much about my general political beliefs on this blog, and that my last political post might have given the wrong impression. Therefore, to clear that up:

• I’m not a democrat or a republican, nor do I ever expect to be. I disagree with a lot from each party.
• I mostly agree with libertarians on principle, but there are some extremes there that I can’t get comfortable with. It seems too tailored to a certain type of person, and not accepting of other types. I do still think that laws should mostly be about keeping people from hurting each other, and little else.
• I’m somewhat socialistic (or “liberal”?) when it comes to healthcare, largely because I think it’s an area where the feedback cycles take too long to make standard capitalistic models work well. Maybe I’m just impatient, though. Or maybe I want everyone to have healthcare, not just those who can earn it.
• I doubt if I’ll ever settle into any particular party, simply because I don’t see the value in subverting my individual opinions about issues to a larger general sheaf of opinions that I might not always agree with. Maybe if there was such a sheaf that I agreed with exactly, but I don’t think that exists. And it would have to start with “the most important idea is to always find the best idea” and that’s not such a useful position for building up a body of dedicated followers.
• I don’t/can’t vote in primaries (at least in Ohio) because I haven’t/won’t register with any particular party.
• I pretty strongly feel that the role of the president is to lead (execute the laws) and the role of congress is to legislate morality (I really believe that), and that they shouldn’t cross between each other much. I do find myself making judgments about candidates’ leadership ability based on their positions on issues, but mostly around whether they have carefully balanced the constraints, not about the final decision they reach.

On the issues: no comment, for now. I feel strongly about a few issues, but this isn’t that post.