my political beliefs
10/10/2004 09:25 p.m.
Describe your stance on:

Abortion: I Have been told that, since i dont have a uterus, i have no right to an opinion on this one; and that grates me. while i am personally opposed to the concept of abortion, i would never consider it my (or anybody's) right to stop you from having one. i used to be a pro-lifer, but my stance has gradually changed as i have become sexually active. This kind of a shift is probably considered hypocritcal and self-serving, but hey. you get yourself into a sitch where you have to deal with it, and then you figure out what you'd do.

Affirmative Action: I think that some kind of concept like this needs to be implimented, but the way that it is set up is very difficult for me to swallow. it's very hard to oppose affirmative action without seeming racist, but generally, i think we need to address the problems pertaining to lower education first, which, if designed properly, will eliminate the need for affirmative action alltogether.

Age of Consent: 18 seems so arbitrary to me; there is no significant phyiscal or psychological landmark that exists when a person turns 18. that said, 18 seems to work fine and dandy, so if it aint broke, dont fix it, i guess.

Animal Testing: I Deplore it for the testing of things as trivial as makeup, shampoo... miscellaneous personal hygene products that arent nessecary for sustaining life. however, if the testing is to be done, for a cause such as testing new medicines that could potentially eliminate diseases (AIDS, for example), i believe that limited testing should be able to be done, as long as it is done in a humane way.

Death Penalty: Ghandi once said, "an eye for an eye, and the whole world will be blind"- and that says to me more than anything the state of the death penalty. It is a cruel punishment, no doubt, and i fail to understand how it can be even considered constitutional; what is more cruel than putting someone to death? killing people to stop the killing of others; it is theoretically noble, but our justice system is not as reliable as it should be (nor could any justice system ever be 100% right about such things), which trivializes the validity of the death penalty. if even one innocent person is killed as a result of the judicial process, should that same judicial process, BY ITS OWN LOGIC, too be put to death (which is to say, reconsidered)? Further to that, the cost of appealate trials can be staggering to both the states and the inmates, and often results in costing MORE than the price of life imprisonment. we're uh, a little nuts, i think.

Downloading Music/Movies: I dont really know. For movies, i think its a little shady, cosnidering the massive size of those projects (the number of people involved in actual work on movies is insane). for music, though, i dont know. i freely admit that i download full albums worth of songs. I am not currently employed, so i have no money with which to purchase CDs (i only buy about 1 cd for every 10 that i download)- and the cd's that i buy always seem to dissapoint me. I feel as if all music should be a right to all people. It is such a large part of our culture, and to limit anyone to what radio play allows (another issue entirely, fuck you clearchannel) seems to be atrocious. I have discovered most of the music that i enjoy through downloading it. Music that i never would have heard, had it not been for my ability to download it. I do believe in artists rights, most certainly. and i do believe that they do deserve to be paid for their work. but the artist profit off of a cd purchase is often 1/10th of the purchase price, which does not make sense. If i want to support an artist, i will go see them live. if i download a cd that i truly like, and i have some money, i will go out and buy another title from that artist. so yeah.

Drug Decriminalization: I think that all non-lethal, currently illegal drugs should be legalized and subsidized by the government. this is twofold bennificiary for the government, in that it can save the massive (albeit shrinking) funding budget allocated to the war on drugs, and apply it elsewhere, it can also profit by controlling and regulating drug sales. this is also advantageous to the consumers in that, with government regulation, safer (unlaced) drugs can be bought without risk of something questionable getting in there. Further, drug violence decreases. FURTHER, it takes a huge chunk out of institutionalization costs to the state for nonviolent drug offenders. it is a multifaceted victory on all sides. the only downside being, with the government regulation of these sales, the potential for a monopoly to arise is possible.

Factory Farming: I'm not educated enough on this particular issue to take a stance, but i've been told that it is an allaround bad practice, both economically and healthwise.

Free Trade: It's too risky of an economic proposition; with people already bitching and moaning about outsourcing to no end. however, we should not impose penalties on nations for trite, political reasons, either. it is a very complicated issue that requires more thought than i could ever put in to it.

Funding of Arts: Absolutely crucial. it's the easiest thing to cut funding for, since it seems least applicable in the 'real world' whatever that is, but i think that without it, our society is empty and depleted. so, fund the arts. rocking.

Gay Marriage: The church can say whatever they damn please about gay marriage. If certain doctrines of religion are opposed to it, that is their choice. However, in the eyes of the law, every citizen of this country should be given the same rights and legal status if they so choose. The state is not bound to the laws of church. If people do not want gays and lesbians in their ranks at church, that is the choice of the church. However, The fourteenth ammendment guarantees equal rights for all citizens, and in the eyes of the law, therefore, gays and lesbians should at the very least be afforded the same benefits of marriage if they so choose. 'protecting the sanctity of marriage' is a quaint notion used to cover up bigotry and hatred. Honestly. Is marriage even a state institution? Should it be?

Gun Control: Gun Violence perpetuates itself, and quite frankly, if we did not have guns, we would not need them. As it is, the second ammendment is severely outdated and was meant to serve in a time when there was a threat that the government would become tyrranous. Now, if you ask any gun owner why they own their guns, very few (if any) will answer 'because i fear a tyrranous government'. I understand how hunting is nessecary for population control and whatnot. I understand using guns for protection of family and home. But what purpose, if any, could a semiautomatic wepon serve in the hands of a citizen? or anyone? i think that at least proprietarily, we need to have better laws restricting gun sales. but, hey, who lines the pockets in washington?

Immigration: I'm not well versed enough on immigration issues to have an informed standpoint here; however, i think legal immigration is a positive thing. However, illegal immigration needs to be controlled.

Hardcore Pornography: Humans are sexual beings. It is a primary instinct of all animals, sex is. Thus, to facilitate in carrying out that instinct in a way that is not detremental to anyone, what is the problem? think about how many potential sex crimes are avoided due to pornography. i'm not very good at expressing myself at this issue, but i think pornography is not a bad thing, or an evil. And, add to that, pornography is a form of press, and thus is protected under the first amendment.

Human Cloning: It scares me, truthfully. I dont believe it serves any practial purpose to fully clone an entire human being- it marginalizes the value of life. The research behind cloning is incredible; stem cell research, for example, i think is a very promising mark on medicine. however, i think outright cloning is inhumane, and would lead ultimately to the creation of another class of people, who we would just make substandard. i think this is horrible.

Miltary Draft: Generally, if you can not get sufficent people to volunteer for your actions of war, then those actions of war are questionable. If you must force people to fight in a war, then that war is not worth fighting.

Minimum Wage: it should be higher. People who work minimum wage jobs work in more stressful and unsafe conditions than are generally present; they should be paid more for all they do.

Prostitution: Legalize it, And make it less of a taboo; people should be free to do as they wish with their own bodies. With the legalization, you eliminate (at least part of) the stigma, which leads to better conditions, and less shame in getting tested for potentially threatening diseases, et cetera.

School Vouchers: instead of using that money to take the richest out of public schools, how bout we spend that money on making the public schools better?

Taxes: If a government is there to serve it's people, then it must be able to have the funds to serve it's people. if it is underfunded, then it serves only limited purpose. Thus, taxes should be higher. If taxes are higher and the government uses this money to serve the public (by properly funding social services and whatnot), it eliminates the need to pay for other things (healthcare, et cetera). True, this means significantly less personal money, but this is balanced anyways by the money that you save on services that the government would provide that are currently privatized.

United Nations: The first step to world peace (if such an idealistic notion could exist); if the UN were regarded at all by the united states, there would be effective ways to achieve peace. of course, that would substantially decrease the power of the united states. but regardless, it would rock to fully give world power to the UN.

Universal Health Care: Nessecary. Absolutely. See Taxes issue for this; but simply put, healthcare is the right of every person on the face of the earth.

War on Terrorism: It is a war that will never be won, just as the war on drugs. you can not wage war on a concept and expect to win. there will always be terrorists, whatever our shifting defenition is; yes, we need to fight terrorism; however, attacking it will only provoke it. the reason we have terrorism: cultural and theological differences. Sure, osama bin laden may want a worldwide islamic state, but there are plenty of other nations that are not islamic. why the united states? because our imperalistic, heavy handed international relations destroy any culture that we feel we can exploit.

Welfare: a progressive system of welfare is needed. people should not be stuck on welfare forever. instead, there should be an incentive based program which encourages those on welfare to get jobs, or to get into school so that they can attain better jobs.

blah. braindead.
I am currently Bored
I am listening to broken social scene- anthems for a seventeen year old girl