I've recently heard about these 'political compasses' that describe whether you are conservative, liberal, or moderate overall. Personally, I think trying to measure political beliefs along one dimension is not very informative. I prefer a more detailed approach, focusing on a multi-dimensional array of political issues.
In order to facilitate discussion on the matter, I thought I would make a brief list of important issues and where I fall on them. I came across
this website and thought it presented a pretty good assortment of issues, so I'll use them as my independent variables. I'll still measure using degree of conservatism and liberalism (colloquially defined), as that seems most accessible to others. Feel free to pick and choose, reading only the issues that are important to you.
The Issues:
Abortion - It's a baby. A smaller, more vulnerable version of a baby. I am saddened that so many feel the need to bring death to a baby so they can live as they wish. "What if the mother's life is at risk?" Why are we comfortable making the trade of one guaranteed death for another highly probable death? "What about the case of rape?" Why would we want horror to beget horror, especially when so many couples would happily adopt? I don't all the answers on this, but our cultural attitude on the matter is pitiable, and without a change in the culture there never will be a change in the laws. Conservative.
Affirmative Action - I don't like the current system, and I think it engenders a new sort of racism based on resentment over perceived special treatment. However, it is the case that most people are publicly educated, and being publicly educated and minority generally means a lack of access to even average preparation for jobs and further education. The current system is thus probably better than nothing at all, although I'd rather see reform of education to address the problem. Very slightly Liberal.
Death Penalty - Probably not a major deterrent. However, for certain crimes I think it is the appropriate punishment. It should never be designed to make the criminal suffer, however, as the point is punishment, not torture. I believe the state has the proper authority to execute, and it should be very careful with this power. On a related note, I think we place way to much emphasis on prisons, which I think are probably more barbaric than the death penalty. Moderately Conservative.
Economy - Competitive markets process information about how individuals value resources far better than any command system ever could. However, not all markets are competitive, and even in competitive markets there are effects of the decisions made that cannot be brought directly to bear on the decision makers. Moderated and well thought out government intervention can sometimes improve markets, although the democratic process (subject to the law of concentrated benefits and dispersed costs) makes this a less attractive option. Moderately Conservative.
Education: School Vouchers - Our public schools, as a whole (there are many exceptions), are abysmal. I understand the value of the government insuring that enough education is provided (see immediately above) and the desire to provide education to those who can't afford a good one. However, the people public education is most supposed to help are the least helped by it. Some form of wealth redistribution coupled with the resource allocation methods of a competitive market would be the best replacement available. Conservative.
Environment - We should be doing a lot more to take care of the environment. Pollution, trash, overfishing, local climate change, and other environmental issues are replete with externalities, so markets are probably not the best way to make decisions about these resources. As an aside, I find the arguments made for global warming to be rather unconvincing (pretty much all of the data except from satellites I find to be questionably gathered), although this does not prevent me from thinking we should do a lot more to govern our use of natural resources. Liberal.
Gun control - The second amendment seems pretty clear. The argument about National Guard being the militia is pretty silly. If people want to hunt or keep a hand gun for protection, that's perfectly appropriate as far as I'm concerned. However, I don't like to identify with those who are cold and bloodthirsty about it. Anyone who discourses about taking another human being's life, made in image of God, lightly is way too flippant for me to be comfortable with them. I don't care if he's coming to rape/kill you or not, that doesn't change your duty to God's image. Slightly Conservative.
Health care - The current health care system is a disaster, and I don't need Michael Moore to prove it to me. However, I don't think the solution is to have the government try to pay for everyone's health insurance when they can't even keep Social Security (we're getting there) or our schools working well. The solution isn't more health insurance, cheap insurance just means individuals are no longer considering costs of resources when making medical decision, so doctors have no incentive to only do what is necessary or charge less than every Princeton grad. Lowering the costs of providing care (such as finding ways to reduce the cost of malpractice insurance) will help, and helping society become less dependent on insurance for non-disasters is crucial. No side, as neither group seems to even consider this possibility.
Homeland security - I don't think benefits of the terrorists caught because of the Patriot Act (have there been any?) outweigh the costs. I think this is more a method of protecting politicians against getting embarrassed than actually protecting society. Liberal.
Immigration - I don't support blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants. However, I am really disappointed by the xenophobia and lack of compassion on the part of the "hard liners." Immigrants have a tremendous incentive to come here because the economy so beloved by conservatives creates that incentive. I don't think we need to be paying for college for illegal immigrants, but we do need to find ways for them to establish legal status, and we need to make it a lot simpler and easier for people to come hear legally rather than putting up huge barriers to foreign labor. This is not a national security issue. As far as I can see it is a wanting to remain moderately British issue. Liberal.
Religion - Removal of religion from politics is not a bad idea. It is impossible, and in fact a meaningless statement. Any set of rules that consider some things OK and others not is going to be governed by someone's religious views, be they outwardly stated (as in Christian, or Islamic) or not (as in agnosticism or the naturalistic religion of Reason and Science). However, I don't think this is much of an issue because the influence of religions in democratic state laws and offices always has and always will reflect the true religion of the populace (it's not what we say we believe that matters, but what we act on). Insofar as we are a predominantly Christian society, we will have a predominantly Christian government. Insofar as we are a predominantly heathen society, we will have a predominantly heathen government. Neither Liberal nor Conservative, as I find this to be a general non-issue.
Same sex marriage - Marriage is a sacred covenant, and thus no government can declare it to be anything other than what it is. In the image of God made he man, male and female he made them. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. However, if two people want to have a legal contract allowing such matters as hospital visitation, right of attorney, and modified tax status (shouldn't matter, as I'll mention shortly), I have no moral objection to the government making such contracts simple to procure. Homosexuality is not destroying the family. As the venerable Andrew Heaton observed, the catastrophic divorce rates in this country demonstrate that the Heterosexual couples are doing just dandy at that on their own. Slightly Conservative (or slightly liberal, depending on whether you want to call the contracts 'civil unions' or not).
Social Security - The system is dying. I have fully accepted that whatever I pay into it now will never come back. It cannot be saved by investing in the stock market. The system needs to be phased out, shifting the burden of current promises onto regular taxes (which may need to be raised to do it) and eliminating the system overall. There is no reason for the government to be in charge of my retirement outside the Great Depression. Neither Conservative nor Liberal.
Taxes - I prefer smaller government, but not necessarily lower taxes. To be honest I would prefer a flat tax system with essentially no loopholes, which would probably end op shifting more of the actual tax burden onto the super rich anyway. I am willing to make some sacrifices for simplicity. Moderately Conservative.
UN - The UN doesn't work very well. It will not accomplish its mission of preserving world peace. As a communicative organization it has some advantages, although beyond that it's kind of useless. This does not make the United States the global force for acheiving freedom, prosperity, and peace. The UN is right to criticize the US for acting like a world cowboy. Moderately Liberal.
War in Iraq - This is not a war for oil, that is a silly statement. Bush did not lie about WMDs, but his intelligence people were apparently not very well informed, which is sort of a sad statement regarding intelligence people. Given what we knew at the time, invading Iraq was probably the best choice. However, what we would do once we had overthrown Saddam was not thought out well enough in advance. The 'mission accomplished' banner was ridiculous. We cannot make democracy work in Iraq, and it is not at all clear that this is preferable anyway. Slightly Liberal.
War on terror - The threat posed by terrorism is exaggerated by Bush for political advantage. Which makes him the same as every other politician of every party since the history of politics. Militant Islam and Western culture cannot peacefully coexist, and it is good that we are at least admitting that to ourselves. Islam didn't start this war, however; its roots can probably be traced back to the First Crusade, and we are still feeling the ripple effects. America is not the world's police. Moderately Liberal.
Welfare - Long term welfare is a poor incentive structure. Short term welfare is a decent incentive structure. Overall I think we should err on the side of giving people reasons to be working. Conservative.
On the whole I'd say I slightly favor the conservative side, just a bit to the right of Colin Powell. That doesn't make me an Elephant, though.
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