"Are you absolutely sure you are a liberal? "
I am absolutely sure anyone here would consider me a liberal, as would most liberals. "Bleeding Heart" is probably an understatement with me. Personally, I consider myself to be a "free thinker", not a liberal, which is why I am trying to view the world through the eyes of a conservative.
I don't want to turn this thread into yet-another-rehash-flamewar, but I am happy to answer your questions. (Please don't turn this into a political debate.)
The biggest fact about my personal philosophy is that I have no beliefs. I have no faith. To me, reason is the only tool we have that actually works. See
http://nobeliefs.com/ for writings that closely reflect my own opinions.
"1. Standards for admissions to universities, fire departments, etc. should be lowered for people of color. "
I think everyone should be entitled to a free college education. As far as Affirmative Action is considered, I support it.
"2. Bilingual education for children of immigrants, rather than immersion in English, is good for them and for America."
I do not feel qualified to have an opinion on this. Show me a social study on bilingual schooled versus English-only schooled kids in high-immigrant areas, that somehow measures their success and happiness in life, and I'd vote for whichever one gives the community greater happiness.
"3. Murderers should never be put to death. "
I agree completely.
"4. During the Cold War, America should have adopted a nuclear arms freeze. "
I'm not sure what you mean by this. I support nuclear non-proliferation agreements, if that is what you are asking. I also support a strong military for the purposes of self-defense and helping nations that ask for it (such as Liberia).
"5. Colleges should not allow ROTC programs. "
I have no opinion on this issue. My high school had an ROTC program and it never bothered me.
"5. It was wrong to wage war against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War."
If you are talking about the '91 war, I disagree. If you are talking about the '03 war, I would say that it is not only wrong, it is criminal. I'd like to see George W. and his friends imprisoned for their murderous war crimes.
"6. Poor parents should not be allowed to have vouchers to send their children to private schools. "
I have not followed the school voucher debate so I do not feel qualified to have an opinion on this issue.
"7. It is good that trial lawyers and teachers unions are the two biggest contributors to the Democratic Party"
I have no opinion on this issue. (I am not a member of the Democratic party and really don't care.)
"8. Marriage should be redefined from male-female to any two people"
To me, marriage has a rather personal meaning. I am happily married with one kid and another on the way.
I don't care how gays define marriage. I also don't think it's government's business to intrude on something as personal and private as marriage.
I do like that new show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" though. Those gay guys are pretty silly.
"9. A married couple should not have more of a right to adopt a child than two men or two women. "
As far as adopting a child goes, the sexuality of the couple would be pretty far down on my list. For example, I'd rather see a loving gay couple adopt a child than an alcoholic, abusive straight couple. But that's just a cursory opinion, I really don't know anything about child adoption.
"10. The Boy Scouts should not be allowed to use parks or any other public places and should be prohibited from using churches and synagogues for their meetings."
I don't know anything about the Boy Scouts, as far as I am concerned they should be able to meet wherever they can get permission for.
I do know that in Utah the Boy Scouts are a Mormon thing, like an extension of the Mormon church, if that helps.
"11. The present high tax rates are good."
Good grief, what's next? "Eating babies is good"?
Nobody likes taxes but if it comes down to no taxes with no services versus some taxes with some services (like roads, education, health care), I'll take the latter.
The number one budget item --where your taxes go-- in the USA is the military. I thought conservatives like big military spending (see Reagan, Bush), so isn't that a conflict?
.
"12. Oil companies are evil."
Companies are neither evil nor good. They are a taxable legal entity and nothing more.
If your question were phrased as "People who run oil companies have repeatedly done evil things", I would agree.
"13. The Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent."
I'm a moral relativist so this is a bad question to ask me, heh.
(Lately it seems like the Isrealis are killing more children more routinely and systematically than the Palestinians.)
"14. The United Nations is a moral force for good in the world, and therefore America should be subservient to it and such international institutions as a world court."
I would more-or-less agree. I would word things differently, calling the UN a "forum" rather than a moral force, and America should be a "member of it" rather than "subservient to it". But I strongly support the UN, if that is your question.
"15. It is good that colleges have dropped hundreds of men's sports teams in order to meet gender-based quotas."
I'm not a big sports fan so I have no opinion on this.
If you ask me, "Should we ignore our culture's history of treating women like inferior humans", I would say no.
"16. No abortions can be labeled immoral."
As a moral relativist, this question doesn't make much sense to me. I can tell you that my wife will never have an abortion, and that I also don't want government telling me what my family can or cannot do with regards to family matters.
"17. Restaurants should be prohibited by law from allowing customers to choose between a smoking and a non-smoking section."
I disagree. I think businesses should be allowed to cater to smoking personel, and people should be allowed to do whatever they want. (I also think the War on Drugs is wrong.)
"18. High schools should make condoms available to students and teach them how to use them."
The studies I've seen show that condom availability greatly reduces unwanted teen pregnancies. For that reason, I would agree with the above statement.
If several studies came out showing that "no sex at all" education was more effective at reducing unwanted teen pregnancies, I would support that.
"19. Racial profiling for terrorists is wrong -- a white American grandmother should as likely be searched as a Saudi young male."
I disagree. I support racial profiling where it makes sense. If a dude with red hair drops a mysterious box at the airport there's no sense in stopping everyone with black hair.
But I would not extrapolate that to say "racial profiling as policy is okay". That's how you get to Nazi Germany, circa 1938.
"20. Racism and poverty -- not a lack of fathers and a crisis of values -- are the primary causes of violent crime in the inner city."
So 100% of the Enron and WorldCom executives had no fathers and crises of values? (Obviously racism and poverty were not the causes either.)
I think crime is a complex issue, and that racism, poverty, lack of fathers, and crises of values are all contributing factors in some form or another. I think more science is necessary to study the root causes of crime.
"21. It is wrong and unconstitutional for students to be told, "God bless you" at their graduation."
I agree with this. I don't believe in God, and I don't want someone else's belief system rammed down my throat. (Nor would I ever force Atheism onto anyone else.)
I spent some time in the public school system of Utah, where everything is very closely tied to the Mormon church. I've seen church and state acting as one, and it sucks.
"22. No culture is morally superior to any other."
I agree. (I'm a moral relativist.)
"23. Guns should be banned."
I'm still not decided on this one. 3000 kids per year die from guns in our country, but I'm not convinced gun control is the way to solve that problem.
"24. Fidel Castro is a great leader & Cuba is a fantastic place to live."
I disagree. His human rights and liberty record are fairly clear.
But it's sad to note that the dirt-poor Cubans get free college and health care, but we, the richest nation on Earth, don't give those luxuries to our own.
"25. Private Healthcare should be replaced by socialized medicine."
I agree. Social medicine seems to be working pretty well where it's been implemented (which is almost everywhere). Our private system has failed me almost completely, and I would like to go with what works better.
From your answers, you are most certainly a liberal. Although, I believe that if you are honest that reason is the most important aspect of your philosophy, these views would not be held. Facts & logic will destroy many of the views you now hold. I used to be fairly liberal until I began educating myself on the issues.
You wrote that you don't want to turn this into a political debate, but that is precisely how views are challenged. I consider myself a libertarian-conservative mainly because I am against the war on drugs (but there are other reasons also).
1. You think that education should be free, but the money is taken from someone elses pocket to fund that expense. Do you support theft? No one has a right to my labor, my property or my money.
2. In California, we had bilingual education and it was a failure. English emersion has proven to be most effective, there are many studies....try a google search.
3. Would you still agree that murderers should not be put to death if it were your wife or daughter that were killed? Personally, I support the death penalty for very heinious crimes.....but I would prefer putting the bastards in a small cell alone with no outside contact and very little else.....but I am sure that would be ruled "cruel & unusual punishment".
4. The nuclear arms question had to do with the fact that many liberals protested that Reagan would start WW3 by building upour nuclear arsenal. What it accomplished was the bankrupting and eventual fall of the USSR.
I have to go walk my dog......so I will address the rest later. You seem to genuinely want answers and I will do my best to help. There seem to be many topics which you need an education on.....
Also, Congratulations on your upcoming birth.....I hope it is an easy one for your wife.
"Our private system has failed me almost completely, and I would like to go with what works better."
Who are you talking too. The only people I know who think Socialized medicine works, are people who don't work for a living. I know many Canadians and English who think it is a total failure. In what way has the private system failed you? Do you have a job?