I’m deep purple (i.e. mostly blue with some red hues). My belief is that the role of government is to provide the things for its citizens that they can not provide for themselves. I believe we should, particularly in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, be able to guarantee for every citizen the ability to obtain a first rate education (early childhood to college), to ensure that each citizen who wants to work can find work that pays a living wage, and that each person can retire when they begin to slow down. I believe we need a system which keeps our citizens healthy (without the danger of bankrupting them). I believe we need a system that provides a social safety net for people who are born or who become unable to support themselves. In this way I am very much “blue”. However, I am not 100% convinced that all of these programs need to be completely nationalized. I do believe in a free market economy and I believe that with proper governmental incentive and regulation, we could create a hybrid solution which allows both private industry and government to solve social problems. I do not, as many in the red spectrum, believe that people are inherently lazy and looking to suck off the government teat. But I also do not believe that no one will take advantage of the system if we make it easy for them to do so.
One thing conservatives talk about is personal freedom, but often I find they mean freedom to do things THEY think are acceptable. Freedom often relates in the mind of a red stater to the freedom to make money and conduct commerce without the oversight of government. And I don’t agree that we can let industry self-regulate, I think it leads to things like the current financial mess when we let investment banks create risky investment tools with little oversight, or like increasingly frequent e. coli outbreaks in our meat supply because the meat processing industry is regulated by heads of the meat processing industry and not by people who are charged with defending the public safety. So, I’m a fan of regulation…but I’m not a fan of over-regulation…I don’t think we should make it impossible to do anything because of excessive red tape and government paperwork. Common sense should dictate. And though I don’t want to see the captains of the industry in charge of regulating their own industries, I do understand why it is important that people who know the industry from the inside have some input into making the rules…they can provide valuable insight…but I don’t think they should have decision making ability. So in some ways I’m a bit purple here, but mostly blue.
In regards to abortion, I believe life begins at about 20 weeks, which is where science defines the transition between embryo (i.e. can not survive without the mother as incubator) to fetus (can survive outside the womb), in other words, it’s a viability issue. So in that way, since I don’t think late term (not even 3rd trimester, but 2nd half) abortion is acceptable, whether you want to call that partial birth abortion or whatever you want to ascribe to it, if you actually have to end a viable life, or end a life that actually could be viable, well, I do consider that to be murder. So that makes me a bit purple.
On issues that involve values, I do believe we should all have the right to believe or practice what we will, but I think freedom of religion should also impart freedom from religion. For example, look at the issue of sex ed in schools….some “red” folks would say we should only teach abstinence only based sex ed. And hey, I have no problem with that being an option, I don’t want to force people to expose their kids to information they don’t want their kids to have, but I want my kid to have the option, so I’d say perhaps you have 2 health classes and allow parents to choose. Or prayer, references to God, etc….I don’t want my kid to be forced to pledge allegiance to one nation under God, but I support the right for people who want their kids to do so. My kid doesn’t need to pray during school, but if you want your kid to be able to pray, schools should make accommodations for that.
I can’t see any red in my position on drug enforcement or prostitution. I believe these are essentially victimless crimes, in that the victims choose to be victims. I think an emphasis on criminalizing the patrons of these activities along with the purveyors leads to our putting people in jail for seeking to satisfy their own vices, and I don’t believe you can legislate morality. You can, as in the above examples, make it possible for people to live within their own morals and not have someone else’s forced down their throats, but you can’t tell people they can’t do the things they are compelled to do. So you want to smoke a joint or pay for sex, I have no problem with that. But making it illegal forces it into the underground, and that raises prices, which invites gang activity, and puts these activities outside the ability of government to regulate (or tax). I believe we are missing out on a massive opportunity to collect taxes, and to put the revenues into education and treatment programs that would ultimately reduce the numbers of people who partake in these activities, and would make the activity less lethal and dangerous for those who still choose to partake. Our only role in prohibiting sales of certain things should be in the interests of protecting the more vulnerable members of our society (children being a great example here). So in that way I’m deep blue indigo.
But speaking of protecting the vulnerable, when it comes to crime and punishment, I believe crimes where one party victimizes another, particularly one who is vulnerable (a child rapist comes to mind), I’m not concerned with rehabilitation. For me, I think we focus on punishment and rehabilitation too often when we should be placing the primary focus on keeping the public safe. If you kill someone, rape someone, hurt someone badly, victimize or use someone, society is better without you among its ranks. Yes, I want to make sure you’re guilty, but we apply this very loose standard of having to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So we get people like OJ Simpson who bleed all over the murder scene, and get off, because it’s reasonable for people who’ve been victimized by the racist LAPD to think that just maybe they COULD have planted his blood at the scene. Bullshit, he should have been removed from the gene pool, end of story. So I can be very red on that issue.
With taxation, I think everyone should pay their fair share, which is kind of a red position, because conservatives are concerned with equity whereas liberals are more concerned with equality…it’s subtle, but the difference is there. My way of thinking is a hybrid. There is a certain amount of money that it takes to get by these days…if you work 40 hours, I think the minimum wage should pay you that amount of money and none of it should go to taxes. I don’t think we should be moving tax burdens to the local level, upping sales taxes and the like…I think all taxes should be on earned income, and should be at the same percentage for everyone. That seems red on the surface, but if you took away usage taxes which hit the poor people more than the rich, you’d end up with the wealthy bearing a larger percentage. That’s probably more a blue position, but it could be viewed as somewhat purple.
In many ways I’m way left….my economic views could be considered to be almost Marxist…from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. That fits pretty well for me…if you have better skills you should be able to earn more, that’s what capitalism is, but you should pay more into the system…such is the price of admission to be able to prosper in this way. I definitely think our laws have been far too red for me, and we need to move towards a more blue government.
I believe we should pay as we go, and I think fiscal responsibility is a red concept which conservatives have by and large abandoned. I don’t want to leave a legacy of borrowing to our children and grandchildren. I also don’t want to get out of debt by eliminating the middle class, or by ignoring the fact that 16 million people live in poverty, 47 million people are uninsured and millions have no way to retire, and millions more are being poorly served by our educational system. Our schools and roads and bridges should not be crumbling. I think national security is as much about taking care of our people as it is about protecting them from foreign threats. Yes, I believe we need a strong military, but it should be for DEFENSE.
So am I purple? You tell me.
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