Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm
Also anyone under the age of like 20 doesn't have a political opinion, they just have a "mom and dad hates this so I automatically like it" or a "my dad yells about this all day and therefore I agree" opinion.
As a 17 year old Democrat, I resent that. However, there are a few ideas that I actually agree with regarding Republican ideologies:
Strong military: The whole deterrence thing with all of our nukes has been a pretty effective tool since the 1940's. Terrorists? That won't do squat, because most of them don't care about dying. But it keeps most national governments at bay. Tens of thousands of nukes? No, we don't need that much. Enough warheads to strike most major cities and capitals of the world would be sufficient; in other words, I'd say about 1,000 max.
Separation of Powers: I am happy for this, because there have been several laws and iterations of laws in the past that I do not agree with that were fortunately dropped.
No to everyone requiring to have health care under the new law: The rest of the law, I support heavily. But not this portion. If you don't want to have it, then you shouldn't have to have it, even if it's good for you, as long as it doesn't screw over a large amount of people other than you. If there will be an option so people can opt out of requiring to have health insurance (and then request it again if they ever change their mind) I would be VERY happy, even though I want health care for myself.
Support of the Second Amendment: I am passionate about military equipment, almost as much as roller coasters. I plan to own a collection when I am older (which is why I want to get out of New York State; far too many of the items on my list are banned up here) and I have some concepts of some small arms and vehicles that I may develop when I get my Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Against welfare: I am on the fence for this one. Help those who cannot help themselves, but only until they help themselves. If there's some way to limit the freeloaders in the system, then I'm all for it.
However, most of their other ideals, no:
Laissez-faire economics: Yes, Communism isn't good, but we'll never go that far, so we don't have to worry about that. In fact, we don't have enough regulation, and we have had that problem many times in the past. The bank runs of the 1800's? Lack of government regulation of the banks. The Great Depression? Lack of government regulation of the banks and the stock market. The Great Recession? (What today is now semi-officially called) Lack of government regulation of banks/housing market, credit card companies, and the stock market. Do you happen to see a trend? Freedom is good, because that is where innovation is born. But the past ten or twenty years have had too much freedom, enabling the economy to swing ridiculously wildly.
Avoiding Deficit Spending: I'm on the fence with this one as well. Coming from a family who always pays off their debts every single month, I have strong values of being economically responsible. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. Sure, the stimuli were expensive (the health care bill is actually going to SAVE about $100 billion over the next 10 years), but virtually all economists now are convinced that if we didn't spend, then we'd be in a second Great Depression. Yeah, it sucks to have this debt, but would you rather have a crap load of debt and 10% unemployment, or slightly less debt and 25 - 30% unemployment? Remember, we only added about 20% to our debt after the stimuli, the rest was thanks to Bush and Clinton. When choosing between bad and really bad, I'd choose bad, and so would anyone else who is sane.
Banning same-sex marriage: Honestly, lose the religious doctrine. It's very obvious that this has religious influence. There are certain things that religion is very good for: ethics, regarding respect, restraint, charity, etc. But all the other crap, such as if you don't follow the traditions/holidays/services/church, etc. then you're a sinner, I don't agree with that. The purpose of all that stuff is just to prove to other people that you're a good Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, yadda yadda yadda. As long as you're otherwise being good to other people, then that's all that matters. And in reference to all that witchcraft stuff in decades and centuries past (heck even a little bit today): Why should anyone anyone else care? Really. And even if you don't believe in witchcraft, but others do think you do, that shouldn't matter, because God knows that you care about Him.
Anyways, back to same sex marriage: Sexual preference is not a choice, it is a genetic variation. They can't help it, they were born that way. Love is a beautiful thing. What a gay man feels for his partner is just as real and sincere as what I feel for a woman. To quote the Beatles, "Let it Be." Although I may feel uncomfortable if they end up making out in front of me, etc. I'm fine as long as they keep that stuff private. And as long as they don't hit on me, then I'll be fine. But that's just an issue of keeping it private. As long as they keep themselves reserved, just like any other decent heterosexual person in public, then I'm okay.
Pro-Life: I can't believe they even came up with this term in the first place. If the woman is not willing to take care of the baby, then she shouldn't take care of the baby. Period. Abstaining from consensual sex is incredibly hard, and requires an insane amount of willpower that very few people have. Safe sex is always an alternative, but it still doesn't always work, short of vasectomies. Plus, the world is going to face an overpopulation crisis within 40 years anyway, so we might as well delay it as long as possible.
Anti-Stem Cell Research: First off, if the fetus is outside the womb before the third trimester, it is almost impossible for it to survive. So before it develops to that point, then it shouldn't be considered alive, because it still requires a host (the mother) to live. After a point where a decent amount of successful preemie babies have been born (whatever that time frame is) then I'd consider them alive, because they can live successfully in the outside environment. If it can't live at that stage, you might as well put it to good use. There are so many medical advancements from which we can benefit if we research stem cells. Plus, there are several alternatives to embryonic stem cells which several recent advancements have been made, even if they are a bit more problematic.
Tax cuts: As long as the taxes actually are used for something, then I wouldn't mind paying a few extra dollars to help myself and everyone else. Bottom line, we have to pay in one way or another. Either A: we have less money to spend per person to have better roads, schools, buildings, and police departments, or B: Some of us have more money, while others have no jobs because no money was able to come in to fund their pay, AND we have crappy roads, crappy education, crappy police departments, and dilapidated buildings at the same time. Now, for the short term, I actually support tax cuts for most lower and middle class people at the minute because we need them to have some money that they can pump into the economy. Once things are better, we need to get more money into dissolving our debt and reinforcing our buildings. However, it is proven that the wealthy are smarter with their money, so they tend to invest and save. We might as well tax them because they don't use as much money proportionally, meaning there is less money being injected into the economy.
Let's say Joe Schmoe makes $50K a year, but spends $40K a year. But then Richie Rich makes $1M a year while spending only $120K a year. Richie Rich has the spending potential of twenty Joe Schmoes, but in reality only spent as much as three Joe Schmoes. Even after a 40% income tax, Richie Rich has $600K, which is still the purchasing potential of twelve Joe Schmoes. Richie Rich may not be worth twenty Joe Schmoes, but twelve Joes Schmoes is still A LOT of money.
Socialized Health Insurance: Their fears are unfounded. Medicare and Medicaid are government programs, and they are incredibly helpful and popular. Plus, there are a lot of incredibly powerful lobbyists in the insurance industries that would very easily keep that part of the government from getting out of hand. Plus, if it does get that bad, I'll be sure to vote those guys out of office. And MANY others will, too. And as long as the policies are different from other insurance policies, they will never get everyone because like food, everyone has different preferences. So even if the government does go too far, it would be pretty soon put back in check, because it would make A LOT of people REALLY pissed.
Extensive use of the military: Although this may seem conflicting with my previous statement, it really isn't. My ideology is to deter all violence if possible. Always negotiate unless there is no other option. (The stockpiles of nukes helps in negotiation because it keeps rogue nations somewhat in check by realizing that they would be screwed if they go completely overboard.) But if there is no other option, then I'm for all-out war. And I mean *ALL-OUT.* Because if we use the nastiest, scariest, most effective weapons as quickly as possible, it will demoralize the other nations quickly so that they will hopefully surrender. If they surrender earlier, then more lives will be saved because they won't have to be deployed in the long run. And, more nations will be hesitant on fighting against us after that because they realize that although we will try to work with them, they will be SCREWED if they don't cooperate. In other words, I support the big stick policy.
But that's not saying that I won't listen to a Republican. I don't care if someone has different opinions than I do. No really, I don't. As long as they listen to other people's opinions, then I'm perfectly fine. One of my best friends who is going into politics is a Republican, but he is very passionate about politics, and he listens to me. Although some of his ideas I may disagree with, I highly support his enthusiasm and his willingness to listen to the other side. (In fact, he's running for school board when he turns 18 in a few months, and I seem to have had a significant influence upon several of his views. And I will definitely vote for him. Not because he agrees with me, but because he listens to me. There are several ideas on which we disagree, but he's willing to look at the big picture.) But the problem is, that idea has been almost abandoned in today's politics, and it oftentimes makes me truly ashamed of being an American, because that means that I have to call those people my citizens. If I read news of our government being derpy and immature, I'll say a satirical parody of the pledge during school until I hear something that I feel redeems them. "Patirotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." - Mark Twain
In reality, it's both parties that have been immature. I may primarily Democratic ideologies, but I am absolutely disgusted at what's been going on over the past two years, so I've been debating over the past several months as to whether I should register as a Democrat or an Independent. I don't know whether I'm a "real" Democrat (one who actually cares about the opinions of the other side) or whether a real Democrat doesn't care at all, and I should be an Independent. I'm going to turn 18 in less than ten weeks, and I plan on voting ASAP. As I keep reading other people's posts, and as I reflect even more, I'm becoming even more unsure.