Obama and the 'L' Word

[dragonrider]

I wonder if I'm a "liberal" by this definition. I'm a Democrat, but I don't usuallly think of myself as "liberal." I have some conservative views too, and I don't care much about liberal social issues (or conservative social issues). So I'm a bit left leaning, but I wouldn't say "liberal."

Here's what I think about the positions stated in teh article:

On economic policy, Mr. Obama favors higher income, Social Security and corporate taxes.

To me, this is a fiscal responsibilioty issue, something that used to be a conservative issue. If you are going to spend all this freakin' money, you need to collect it from somewhere. Bush has done a great job of spending money he doesn't have and giving away money he borrowed and we will have to pay back through future higher taxes. There's nothing conservative about that. I actually think so called "liberal" Democrats are more conservative and fiscally responsible than so-called "conservative" Republicans. At least Democrats seem willing to pay for the things they spend money on. And on the Social Security tax --- it's gonna run out of money, so you either need to raise Social Security taxes or cut benefits. It's simple math, so take you pick.

I favor raising the Social Security tax cieling. Right now it tops out around an income of $92,000 --- after that you don't pay any more Social Security tax. I'd say let that go up to a higher cieling. And I'd be OK with adding another year or two to the year in which you can start recieving benefits.

On the other taxes, I favor a fiscally responsible approach of raising taxes if we can't control our spending. I do not favor running an enormous deficit, like Reagan and Bush. If that means higher taxes, then so be it. I'd like to see capital gains taxes and dividend taxes taxed at the same rate as income tax from wages --- it's all income. Why should you get a better rate from owning investments that make money instead of laboring for money?

He supports massive increases in domestic spending and greater government regulation of the economy.

I do not favor MASSIVE increases in domestic spending, but maybe that's just how the article characterizes the increases. I do favor government paying to fix our crumbling infrastructure, like our highways and bridges that are falling down. Maybe we could get some good jobs out of it, along with fewer pot holes and bridge collapses. I certainly favor that over spending money on things like givving away $600 to everyone, so they can go buy a Wii.

I favor government spending money on things like renewable enrgy, rather than giving away billions in subsidies to rich oil and coal compaines that already make outrgeous profits as it is.

I do favor greater government regulation of the economy with regards to things like this idiotic mortgage meltdown. And I also favor greater environmental regulation.

He favors a significantly larger role for the federal government in health care.

I'm not sure what the answer is here, but I think the answer will involve the government. The healthcare system is truly fucked up right now.

He opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I supported NAFTA when it first was signed, and in general I suport trade agreements that do away with unnecessary barriers to trade, but I think it has some flaws that need to be fixed. Free trade has not turned out to be fair in all cases.

Mr. Obama has criticized the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a partial birth abortion ban, and he wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

I agree with these positions. I don't think we should be taking away medical techiniques used by doctors to save the lives of mothers for social reasons.

I don't really favor government getting invloved in social issues on either side. I don't really care all that much either way whether gay people can get married or join the Army. It seems like we spend a lot of energy on this kind of stuff that could be spent on something else. I think gay couples should be able to from a legal union that guarantees them the same rights and legal benefits of spouses, but I don't really care if they call it "marriage."

He voted against John Roberts and Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court.

I did not support these judges either.

In Illinois, Mr. Obama supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.

I do not support bans of this sort. I'm OK with gun control measureas that add accountability, such as registration, like we have for cars, but not bans.

And he supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

I'm still not sure what I think about this.

On national security matters, Mr. Obama voted to deny legal immunity to telecom companies that have cooperated with the government in warrantless wiretapping of suspected terrorists.

I don't support this immunity either. My opinion is that this warrantless wiretapping is illegal.

He wants to grant habeas corpus rights to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

These detainiees need to be brought into some kind of legal system and processed.

Both of these issues, the telecom thing and the habeas corpus issue have conservative constitutional components as well. I think it is the conservative side of me that hates to see my constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure taken away.

He supports a full-scale withdrawal from Iraq.

I do not support a full-scale withdrawal from Iraq, but we need to either get this thing straighend out after FIVE YEARS, or figure out how we are going to get out. We never should have gone in there in the first place.

And he says, in his first year in office, he would meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions.

I agree that we can get more done by talking to our enemies than we can by ignoring them and/or bombing them. I don't think we need to make any concessions or agreements with any of these assclowns, but cutting off all dialog has not worked.

So, I wonder if those positions make me a "liberal" or not.

Barack may have a silver spoon, but his ideas are tarnished.

I'm not sure I get this. Isn't the phrase "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" about being born into privilege? Born to a rich family and given certain advantages? Someone like George Bush is "born with a silver spoon in his mouth," not some mixed-race kid on food stamps being raised by his grandmother.