Confession: Am I a Conservative? UPDATED
Over the past couple years I have developed my political and personal beliefs. About three years ago I voted for NDP and in the 2004 federal election I voted for the Liberals, because I thought Stephen Harper was 'scary'. Thankfully I've seen the light and become more critical of what my professors and the media tells me to think. I still think the current Liberals (both Federal and provincial) are not fit to run our country/province. However, I'm beginning to wonder where my place is in the political ideological spectrum. I will explain my beliefs.
As indicated on the right in my profile I'm pro-same-sex marriage and against the death penalty. I don't believe in the death penalty because I think it goes against the whole philosophy of law. It's wrong to kill, but when we kill you it's okay: this just doesn't make any sense.
I'm pro-SSM but at the same time, I also believe in freedom of religion. Tolerance and respect are a two way street. If religious people are supposed to be "tolerant" of gay couples wanting to marry, then the GLT community should be respectful of people who hold beliefs about marriage being between one man and one woman. But therein lies a fundamental problem. While, I would argue that religion does not own the word 'marriage', but when 'rights' conflict, gay rights will always trump religious rights. I've written a long 30 page paper on this topic, and can't do justice to it in this short blog entry.
As for other political topics, I'm on the fence whether I'm pro-life/choice. I don't like when it's done as a form of birth control, and I am appalled that Canada does not have any abortions laws (especially 3rd trimester abortions), but at the same time, if I got pregnant today (over 5 years ago) I can't honestly say that I wouldn't consider an abortion. At the same time I argue against the created "women's reproductive rights". If we want men involved, and since they are a part of the creation of a baby, then it can't just be a one-sided 'right', even if women are the carriers.
I hate feminists as I have previously blogged about.
As for the environment: while the environment is important we should leave as less of a footprint as possible on this earth, I believe that the Church of Kyotology and their zenmasters Gore and Suzuki are just as susceptible to influences of money just as oil companies are. I'm also not sold on the 'science' that backs it up man-made global warming. Many of my fellow bloggers have done a great job of pointing to the holes in this new mass "crisis".
Somehow in all of this, 'The Sky is Falling' we have forgotten other very important issues: Health Care. On less controversial political topics like health care, I also have strong opinions. Thanks to the left: Tommy Douglas and our health care system have become national icons, and anyone who dare question universal health care is un-Canadian. But many fail to realize that Canada was not the first to have universal health care, that it's not the best in the world, and it's going to collapse in the next twenty years if changes are not implemented because of our aging population. I also despise it when people refer to changing our health care system to assume it to be "American-style health care". The American system is not a free-market system, it is actually very regulated, but at the same time the American health care system is the most expensive and ineffective of all the Western nations. If this topic interests you check out three books by David Gratzer. The truth is, health care will be a crisis because of our aging population and changes will have to be made that will include private health care. The sooner 'private' stops becoming a bad word in political discourse, the sooner we can take action.
The problem is, in an election or unstable minority parliament if Harper were to talk about private two-tired health care and how Kyoto is a fantasy, he will lose the next election. As Kim Campbell once said, "An election is no time to discuss serious issues".
In terms of economic policy, I understand the importance of understanding the economy and how it works. I actually believe that economics should be a mandatory course for students to graduate high school. I get really fired up when colleagues, and professors spew crap about how the world should be, but have no understanding of how the world works. Not that I have all the answers, but I'll give an example. My student union, who I work for but who doesn't speak to me, are always protesting something. The beef I take is the push for $10 minimum wage. These tree-hugging hippies can't even understand basic math. They profess on how they hate the evil multi-national corporations, but don't understand that $10/hr min. wage gives puts out the small businessman (I mean....businessperson....*hurl*) and actually gives more. I'll illustrate. Let's say a small business employs 10 employees, and extra 1$/hour for 10 full time workers in 1 year is $20,000! To a big corporation, that's pennies, to a small business owner that's a fortune. But somehow my hippie colleagues can't figure this out. And don't get me started with the constructed statistic of women's $0.71 of a man's $1.00...
I believe in universal education, but I believe that post-secondary education is a privilege and not a right, and that tuition fees should not be lowered.
I could go on about other issues like the military etc... But the problem is, in the Canadian political spectrum, with more and more parties moving to the left the conservatives have almost become the centre party, almost but not quite.
However, according to some of my fellow bloggers, I'm not a true conservative because of some of the issues in which what I believe. So where do I belong?
According to Michael Adams in this book, I am a moderate progressive swing voter in terms of US politics (see the last chapter in his book).
Will I vote Liberal one day in the future? Perhaps, but certainly not today. I'm not a political sciences student, so I don't know all the theories about liberalism, conservatism and the whole big and small letter L/l C/c. But, where Canadian federal politics stand, I am definitely Conservative (big C intended).
UPDATE: Thanks to one of my commentators, I did the political compass quiz and here's where I stand. Thanks for all your comments :-)
As indicated on the right in my profile I'm pro-same-sex marriage and against the death penalty. I don't believe in the death penalty because I think it goes against the whole philosophy of law. It's wrong to kill, but when we kill you it's okay: this just doesn't make any sense.
I'm pro-SSM but at the same time, I also believe in freedom of religion. Tolerance and respect are a two way street. If religious people are supposed to be "tolerant" of gay couples wanting to marry, then the GLT community should be respectful of people who hold beliefs about marriage being between one man and one woman. But therein lies a fundamental problem. While, I would argue that religion does not own the word 'marriage', but when 'rights' conflict, gay rights will always trump religious rights. I've written a long 30 page paper on this topic, and can't do justice to it in this short blog entry.
As for other political topics, I'm on the fence whether I'm pro-life/choice. I don't like when it's done as a form of birth control, and I am appalled that Canada does not have any abortions laws (especially 3rd trimester abortions), but at the same time, if I got pregnant today (over 5 years ago) I can't honestly say that I wouldn't consider an abortion. At the same time I argue against the created "women's reproductive rights". If we want men involved, and since they are a part of the creation of a baby, then it can't just be a one-sided 'right', even if women are the carriers.
I hate feminists as I have previously blogged about.
As for the environment: while the environment is important we should leave as less of a footprint as possible on this earth, I believe that the Church of Kyotology and their zenmasters Gore and Suzuki are just as susceptible to influences of money just as oil companies are. I'm also not sold on the 'science' that backs it up man-made global warming. Many of my fellow bloggers have done a great job of pointing to the holes in this new mass "crisis".
Somehow in all of this, 'The Sky is Falling' we have forgotten other very important issues: Health Care. On less controversial political topics like health care, I also have strong opinions. Thanks to the left: Tommy Douglas and our health care system have become national icons, and anyone who dare question universal health care is un-Canadian. But many fail to realize that Canada was not the first to have universal health care, that it's not the best in the world, and it's going to collapse in the next twenty years if changes are not implemented because of our aging population. I also despise it when people refer to changing our health care system to assume it to be "American-style health care". The American system is not a free-market system, it is actually very regulated, but at the same time the American health care system is the most expensive and ineffective of all the Western nations. If this topic interests you check out three books by David Gratzer. The truth is, health care will be a crisis because of our aging population and changes will have to be made that will include private health care. The sooner 'private' stops becoming a bad word in political discourse, the sooner we can take action.
The problem is, in an election or unstable minority parliament if Harper were to talk about private two-tired health care and how Kyoto is a fantasy, he will lose the next election. As Kim Campbell once said, "An election is no time to discuss serious issues".
In terms of economic policy, I understand the importance of understanding the economy and how it works. I actually believe that economics should be a mandatory course for students to graduate high school. I get really fired up when colleagues, and professors spew crap about how the world should be, but have no understanding of how the world works. Not that I have all the answers, but I'll give an example. My student union, who I work for but who doesn't speak to me, are always protesting something. The beef I take is the push for $10 minimum wage. These tree-hugging hippies can't even understand basic math. They profess on how they hate the evil multi-national corporations, but don't understand that $10/hr min. wage gives puts out the small businessman (I mean....businessperson....*hurl*) and actually gives more. I'll illustrate. Let's say a small business employs 10 employees, and extra 1$/hour for 10 full time workers in 1 year is $20,000! To a big corporation, that's pennies, to a small business owner that's a fortune. But somehow my hippie colleagues can't figure this out. And don't get me started with the constructed statistic of women's $0.71 of a man's $1.00...
I believe in universal education, but I believe that post-secondary education is a privilege and not a right, and that tuition fees should not be lowered.
I could go on about other issues like the military etc... But the problem is, in the Canadian political spectrum, with more and more parties moving to the left the conservatives have almost become the centre party, almost but not quite.
However, according to some of my fellow bloggers, I'm not a true conservative because of some of the issues in which what I believe. So where do I belong?
According to Michael Adams in this book, I am a moderate progressive swing voter in terms of US politics (see the last chapter in his book).
Will I vote Liberal one day in the future? Perhaps, but certainly not today. I'm not a political sciences student, so I don't know all the theories about liberalism, conservatism and the whole big and small letter L/l C/c. But, where Canadian federal politics stand, I am definitely Conservative (big C intended).
UPDATE: Thanks to one of my commentators, I did the political compass quiz and here's where I stand. Thanks for all your comments :-)
posted by Spitfire at 10:48 AM
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