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Hello everyone,

I've been wondering for a while about everyone's political views so I decided to make a thread about it. I'd like to know about your overall ideas and ideology, what your views and opinions on currently important issues are, and on issues that are important to you but maybe not everyone else. Please be careful as I do not intend this to be a discussion or debate topic but as a reaction topic where everyone more or less minds their own post.

Considering the topic we're dealing with I'd like to formalize the meanings behind some oft-used terms to try and end up with as little misunderstandings as we can.

conservatism is broad a term that refers to a desire to keep things the way they are, both socially and politically, e.g. traditional values, ideologies and institutions. Conservatives want to preserve the things that they think are good A subgroup of this is so-called reactionary, which aims to turn things back into "the way they were".

progressivism is a broad term that refers to the idea that change in science, politics, economy and social organization can improve the human condition. The central idea is that societies should develop and implement 'better' policies when it can to progress humanity to a better state.

socialism in it's current West-European context stands for a political ideology that a state should care for its citizenry and try to maintain at least a certain level of quality of life for all, as well as improve living standards in general. The reason for this can be because it is considered 'good' or because empiric evidence says it improves living conditions (and that is considered good). All welfare states are to a degree socialist. Socialistic policy often uses financial law to try and curb the excesses of free market economy for more stability.

liberalism is a philosophy based on liberty and equality. Liberalism in it's current-day West-European context stands for individualism (the right to stand out from a crowd and not be negatively affected by it) and laissez-faire economical and social policy. Liberalism assumes liberty and equality bring up the best in human nature, and the philosophy may find it necessary in practice to use state policy to safeguard the liberty and equality of all citizenry.

libertarianism is a series of political philosophies that value liberty above all else. Libertarianism seeks to maximize autonomy, personal choice and primacy of personal judgment.

So write away! I'll write up my own ideas at a later time.

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A social progressive with centre-left economic views. I could be said to have somewhat right-wing economic ideals - I want a society in which anyone genuinely can set themselves above others through hard work and intelligence alone. But modern society isn't level enough for this to be the case.

I vote Labour, and firmly dislike the Greens.

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I'm a liberal conservative socialist progressive libetarian.

I am fiscally conservative(Not the party policies. Screw the party.) with a dash of slightly socialist policies mainly because:

I want a society in which anyone genuinely can set themselves above others through hard work and intelligence alone. But modern society isn't level enough for this to be the case.

I am highly socially liberal. So I guess I am kind of a Libertarian but I hate the Libertarian party heads.

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Not sure where I fit cause I'm not sure what I truly believe in. I'm traditionally Libertarian but the over-emphasis on rigid ideology generally strangles effective progression of our species.

I'm in the whatever-works-the-best part of the spectrum, I guess.

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To actually post my views:

I don't really align myself with any type of government as each of them has aspects that drive me away from them. If you can even call that a political view.

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another one? aaalright:


progressivism is a broad term that refers to the idea that change in science, politics, economy and social organization can improve the human condition. The central idea is that societies should develop and implement 'better' policies when it can to progress humanity to a better state.

socialism in it's current West-European context stands for a political ideology that a state should care for its citizenry and try to maintain at least a certain level of quality of life for all, as well as improve living standards in general. The reason for this can be because it is considered 'good' or because empiric evidence says it improves living conditions (and that is considered good). All welfare states are to a degree socialist. Socialistic policy often uses financial law to try and curb the excesses of free market economy for more stability.

these two probably define 75-90% of my views.

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I believe in a combination of conservative and libertarian values and call myself a small-government conservative/libertarian conservative(but I prefer the former due to the anarchist connotations of the term libertarian).

Edited by HeavyBrawlsGuy
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Center leaning very slightly to the left. Economically, im more of a socialist, which is a more recent development. (i was more centrist on that once upon a time) I sympathize with the left wing but tend to disagree with their methods (not their goals). Thus, this often has me being viewed as an "enemy" to the left when im really not.

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Probably a progressive, but I have sympathies for all these views besides conservatism. I tend to be OK with other viewpoints when they highlight the difficulties of bringing into being the possible changes that sound good to me. However, I will say that I don't pay much attention to politics and thus I don't count for much.

Edited by SeverIan
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By these definitions I am a progressive liberal since I want to see us as both a nation and culture move forwards. I want to see an end to such things like racism and sexism as we reach to colonize new planets and transcend the need for money as we become a culture no longer held back by the selfish, greedy, close-minded monsters that feel that we must exercise absolute authority.

But by the US political spectrum I am a Republican who is fairly close to the center.

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By these definitions I am a progressive liberal since I want to see us as both a nation and culture move forwards. I want to see an end to such things like racism and sexism as we reach to colonize new planets and transcend the need for money as we become a culture no longer held back by the selfish, greedy, close-minded monsters that feel that we must exercise absolute authority.

But by the US political spectrum I am a Republican who is fairly close to the center.

republican my behind, bub

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Yea. No.

See, here's the thing. I am not a political party. I am me. I believe certain things, I don't believe others. Do I believe that Obamacare is the answer to medical insurance problems? No. Do I believe gays should have the right to get married? Basically yes. But I came to those conclusions on my own. Most of them line up with the Republican mindset, hence why I am a Republican.

I seek to move forwards not because the old traditions are bad, but because we can achieve more. The old ways have their place, and some of them are right while some of the new ways are wrong, but to assume one or the other is right simply for being what it is is stupid. We are a people that is trying to see if we can colonize Mars. This is something we should strive for. To better ourselves as a people, as a race. That doesn't mean embracing every new idea, or pushing aside every old idea. Just learning which ones to hold onto and which ones to let go of.

We should transcend the need for money not because 'money is evil' but because we can achieve a state where we no longer need it, hence why I used 'transcend'. There isn't too much wrong with it now and it his a purpose and a place, but we have a future and we should try to make it the best we can.

We are held back by selfish, greedy, people though. People whom, if you offered bread for free to the hungry, would take all the bread that they could carry and leave none for the others. People whom would gladly claim a high-ground and use it to force others along to do their bidding, be it financial or moral or whatever else have you. These things are, in no way, bound by political ideals and, ideally, we should move beyond them.

I am an individual. My ideals place me as a Republican because I agree with them more on issues, but I came to those ideals on my own. I live in a heavily democratic state where being a democrat is pretty much automatically assumed, yet I chose to define myself as who I am.

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No debating here, please.

My own political views are a bit of a mess. I'm a democrat through and through and I believe representative democratic government is the only good type of political structure that works. I believe in the value of quality of life and that governing bodies should strive to maintain or improve it. Government is an excellent type of structure to build a welfare state around.

Furthermore I believe greatly in the value of equality - up to the point where I don't think anyone deserves to be richer than someone else just because they're more intelligent than them.

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Left wing, because I despise big business more than I distrust the government. I'd like to live in a world where you can succeed or fail based on your own merits (though there still would need to be a safety net so that "fail" doesn't mean "starve to death"), but in our current society people who start at the bottom have tons of road blocks keeping them at the bottom no matter how hard they try and generally they have to rely on luck to succeed, while people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth have an easy time coasting through life on what their parents/grandparents built no matter how lazy and talentless they are.

Edited by ClevelandSteve
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Do I believe that Obamacare is the answer to medical insurance problems? No. Do I believe gays should have the right to get married? Basically yes. Most of them line up with the Republican mindset, hence why I am a Republican.

I seek to move forwards not because the old traditions are bad, but because we can achieve more. The old ways have their place, and some of them are right while some of the new ways are wrong, but to assume one or the other is right simply for being what it is is stupid. We are a people that is trying to see if we can colonize Mars. This is something we should strive for. To better ourselves as a people, as a race. That doesn't mean embracing every new idea, or pushing aside every old idea. Just learning which ones to hold onto and which ones to let go of.

We should transcend the need for money not because 'money is evil' but because we can achieve a state where we no longer need it, hence why I used 'transcend'. There isn't too much wrong with it now and it his a purpose and a place, but we have a future and we should try to make it the best we can.

I am an individual. My ideals place me as a Republican because I agree with them more on issues, but I came to those ideals on my own. I live in a heavily democratic state where being a democrat is pretty much automatically assumed, yet I chose to define myself as who I am.

left-leaning people don't think obamacare is the answer either.

i'm just interested in what values make you republican. because it doesn't seem like you agree with them on social values, and certainly not on fiscal values.

Edited by Phoenix Wright
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