What are your views/beliefs politics-wise?

This stems from another thread. I am very open about my beliefs as many are, but I find those who ridicule people with passionate beliefs in what they stand for usually can't answer this simple question, and come up with reasons why they won't.

So I created this thread for people to express what they believe in. I don't believe a reason is truly needed, it is YOUR belief you have your reasons for believing like you do. I can't ask for or expect you to respect my views and beliefs if I do not show yours respect. That is not to say I will or should ever respect hate filled beliefs or views, but what I may think offensive may not be to others. Just as what I find not offensive and core to who I am maybe offensive to others. That's life.

Ok, I guess I'll start, I believe that

a company that seeks a bigger profit taking jobs overseas to slave/child labor where the host country has no labor laws is criminal and those companies should be taxed heavily to do business here in the US. I think companies whether overseas or not doing business in the US should be forced to abide by US labor laws including minimum wages, if they choose not to they should be heavily fined. I think that offending companies should be reported by the government for consumers to make qualified educated decisions as to whether or not they want their purchasing monies to support such businesses.

I believe no PUBLICLY TRADED company has the right to pay their CEO's 100's of times more than they pay their lowest paid employee. A privately owned company can do what they wish as long as they pay federal and state minimum wages and obey ALL Federal and state labor laws.

I think if the "rich" wish to complain about how much they pay in taxes then they should bring jobs back here and rebuild the tax base they have been eroding to cause them to pay higher taxes, because obviously they feel it is cheaper to pay the higher taxes than it is to rebuild the tax bases.

I think everyone has a RIGHT to medical treatment. having been in a position this is close to home. I do not believe ANYONE should fear the cost of getting treatment because they have no insurance. Government should allow hospitals, doctors, and other medical companies tax write-offs to cover those uninsured. I don't feel government should directly pay for those services because it in turn drives prices up. If I know I can charge the government 100K to perform a surgery and hospital stay then I will charge it. If I know I can get tax credits or have some of it taken off my student loans then I will charge accordingly.

I do not believe in student loan forgiveness, UNLESS there is a disability or death. I think Government should take back the reins of all the social service loans (small business, VA, FHA, student, etc.) and charge a set rate of interest that does not increase or decrease except as wages may increase or decrease and that payments should start at a certain percentage of income over a certain amount say 25k. I think Public schools should be forced to show their spending and the need for raises in tuition, building multi-million dollar buildings for no reason but to "beautify the campus" is not an acceptable reason.

I believe ALL monies should be taken out of campaigns and that those wishing to donate do so in a general fund that goes to every candidate based on office running and percentage of votes received.

I believe Media is one reason why candidates are being bought. Media makes a killing on campaign ads. Media should give free and equal time to ALL candidates. They should not make money on our most important freedom. Their greed for that revenue is one reason for the corruption.

I believe that all those capable of working should, provided jobs are available.

I believe the Fed and banks should not have any investments in competing companies. No mutual funds owning both Pepsi and Coke or GM and Toyota.

I believe the boards of all PUBLICLY traded companies should consist of stockholder voted representatives, the president and a representative of the labor force. ALL having equal voting rights, regardless of how much "stock" they own.

I believe no family in America should be hungry or homeless. that doesn't mean throw money at them, it means EDUCATE them and help them for a short period of time.

I believe that if a company fires an employee, that unemployment is given no "right to work" bs like here in Ohio where an employer can fire someone for looking the wrong way and make whatever claim they want to avoid unemployment payments. The employee paid into it, they are entitled to it.

I think media should go back to equal time and or space. Meaning If you have Limbaugh on for 3 hours you will be required to have an opposing viewpoint on for 3 hours, in roughly an equal (rating wise) time period. If you are Fox News or CNN or even a local station, you are required to have equal time for opposing views. If you want to have both on at the same time, like the old Hannity and Combs or point/counterpoint then fine.

I believe all local media should be owned locally. No Clear Channel monopolies of the 50K watt stations. Stations should be required so many hours of live locally produced programming. Cable and satellite providers should have a channel or multiple channels dedicated to free community access shows. From there it is up to the viewer and advertisers to make said shows work. If they don't then the channels can petition to have the hours required lowered.

I believe that local schools should be funded by taxes paid by the parents who have children going to that school. In other words, if you have no kids in school, you don't pay the taxes.

I believe schools should be encouraged to have local fundraisers, raffles and community events to raise funds and the states and federal governments match those monies, instead of just giving schools monies and then dictating what is to be taught or not taught. Private schools do similar things to stay afloat when tuition is not enough to run on alone, why can't public schools?

I believe that congressmen should only make the median income of their district/state and not more. This means they will work harder to see wages increase in their districts/states. NO taxpayer paid retirement funding, private insurance paid for BY them. If they have to live on the same money and by the same rules as their constituents, then perhaps they will work harder to represent their constituents best interests.

Lobbyists are gone. Congressmen must set aside a certain amount of hours per week to meet with their constituency. Whether in DC or at a home office in their district/state.

I believe the people should have the right to file grievances against those elected officials and with enough signatures be able to demand a recall election.

I think ALL elected officials their first time holding a specific office should attend a "government 101" course that goes for twp trustees to mayors, state congressmen, federal congressmen, governors and the President himself. These classes should be appropriate for office held. If you go from trustee to governor you attend class for every office you hold in between.

I think every person upon voting age should be required at some point to serve no less than 2 years in a public position (military, americorps, peace corp, whatever) to build a sense of patriotism and national pride. (Yes elected office could count), they need not be paid but housing/food should be provided.

There should be no laws against religion in schools or in public places. If a judge wants to hang up the 10 commandments he should be allowed to do so, provided he hangs up similar items of all major religions (based on census statistics) in his area/district.

there are more But quite frankly, it's 11:45 and I am tired. so what are your views/beliefs.

Please keep this thread civil I have a feeling the mods will keep a close eye on this. If you feel like asking someone a specific question for clarification, I don't think that should be an issue. If you start off by calling someone's views/beliefs ignorant and spouting off then there will probably be problems. I know I need not say that, it's probably just common sense, but as one who lacks common sense..... nuff said.

 

So when are you going to run for office?

 

I believe everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion on any political issue, but not his/her own facts.

 

I believe we don't need to work nearly as hard as we do. Productivity has gone up, yet I am working more than a factory worker did in the 50's. Work Less, Live More.

I believe that people should try to stay healthy, and preventive care should be free to everyone.

I believe that government needs to work to make my life better and simpler. I don't want to have to be my own doctor, lawyer, tax attorney, etc...

Corporations can earn profits, but there is a limit to how much one person can earn at $100 million. I'm sure they can find someone else who would like the job.

Cars should get a minimum of 50 mpg. And create a high speed rail network between the big cities with cheap fares. Really eliminate imports of foreign oil and stop buying/importing stuff that needs it from certain overseas countries.

No $1 CEO salaries to get around SS, medicare, and income taxes. While getting dividends or stock splits.

All Wi-Fi access points should have a free, open access side to them.

Plus, a whole bunch of other things.

 

I believe you can't please all of the people all of the time, but through compromise, you can build consensus that is acceptable to the greatest number for the greater good.

 

I have a couple to start off. I've swung back extremely far to the left, so those of you who remember me college libertarian phase might be a bit surprised.

First and foremost, private health insurance necessarily balances human suffering with corporate profit and this is unacceptable. Our for-profit system is three to four times as expensive as the rest of the "first world" and delivers inferior results. A taxpayer-funded single payer system that guarantees free healthcare to all people living in the United States is the only acceptable answer. Fair prices would be negotiated with providers and drug companies (all of which will go on as they are, the only change will be the the payment system) to ensure that they are compensated fairly. Malpractice reform will be rolled into this: rather than being dragged through court, claims will be evaluated by a panel made up of impartial doctors to determine whether malpractice occurred. Rather than bog doctors down with insurance costs, malpractice settlements will be paid from the single-payer fund.

The economy is too important to leave to the idiots who are running it. All investment banks should be nationalized, non-investment-grade derivatives declared null and void, and the remainder liquidated until these investment firms are once again in compliance with the sensible 12:1 lever ratios. Similarly, regulations on commodity futures will be restored until these contracts are back to being a stabilizing factor in commodity price rather than a gambling scheme.

 

I disagree with several things posted here, but this doesn't sound like a thread where anyone wants their opinions challenged...

 

A greater priority placed on education in the US would have to be at the top of my wish list.

Garbage in - garbage out.

 

I have the opposing political view of whoever I am talking to at that moment.

 

We're talking about our core beliefs. Of course there needs to be discussion. If you disagree with someone, outline why and how you disagree. If any discussion gets past "can you clarify this?" I think it would be a good idea for one of the people participating in the discussion to post a new thread with a clear topic and an OP consisting of "In the 'What are your views' thread, I stated X and this person stated Y. I think this deserves further discussion ..."

I, personally, love when people disagree with me and want to debate and discuss. It means someone's going to learn something.

 

Why would you feel that way. point something out and start a thread, see what happens.

 

I'd love to discuss some of the things you posted, but it can be hard sometimes, especially when you feel "picked on"

That said, I completely disagree with your assertion that the only people who should pay school taxes are those with kids in school. Quality school systems make an entire community more viable, including maintaining/raising property values and being attractive to community developers.

 

My political philosophy is as follows: "I'm good. Are you okay?" I believe in personal responsibility followed immediately by responsibility to one's fellow human beings. It's good to keep track of your own problems, but sometimes one has a problem that's insurmountable alone, and that means the community comes together to help out. From that simple concept comes my beliefs about things like universal healthcare and other social programs to help people in need. If I have to pay higher taxes so someone else can get the assistance he or she needs during a difficult time, I'm all for it. And for those people who don't want to pay taxes to help out people in need? Too bad. Sometimes the selfish and the petty have to be nudged into doing the right thing. Like it or not, we're all in this together and the more we can work as a team instead of millions of individuals out for themselves, the better off we'll be.

 

i try to be as moderate as possible. e.g. is welfare a bad idea? hell no. should it be scaled back to reduce the people that abuse it? a little bit. more and more though i find myself keeping my political opinion to myself because someone will go absolutely ape-shit rabid on me about something and talking about politics just seems like a great way to lose friends.

some more examples:
-social security should be a temporary cast, not a 99-week crutch
-government can only affect economics when it comes to disbanding monopolies, changing what the currency looks like, or taxing what gets imported.
-prostitution? legalize. tax.
-drugs? legalize. tax.
-etc.
--- merged: Nov 29, 2011 7:52 PM ---

haha of course nobody wants their opinions to be challenged, but it's up to whoever disagrees to do challenge them for the sake of someone becoming smarter for it. maybe the problem is pride where people are too full of themselves or they value their image too greatly to say/type "you're right, i hadn't even thought of that" which is really too bad that egos are getting in the way of the intellectual equivalent of iron sharpening iron

 

All of my beliefs are summed up in this video:

 

terrible representation of America

 

There's a difference between debate of an issue and getting personal, talking down to someone and treating them like their position does not matter. I'm always up for a debate, as long as it doesn't get personal or one side acts smarter than the other.

I understand what you are saying, however, my position is that if your kids graduated or you chose not to have kids, then why is it your responsibility to pay for the local school district, involuntarily through something as intangible as a county approximation of the value of your house. The way it is here at least, they look at houses in your area and see what say 2 bedrooms sell for, then they appraise your house at the average value and some people get off paying less and some get truly screwed over. In Ohio, almost a decade ago, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that way unconstitutional and yet NOT one governor since has taken the initiative to change how the schools are funded. It also allows the "rich" schools to stay and well educate the "rich" while inner city schools get hosed. If you believe everyone should pay their fair share to the schools, then the taxes should go into a county fund that is divided equally to ALL schools in the county based on size. They more students the more the school needs and the more it should get. Instead the suburban schools, get more money and have far less students and thus usually better graduation rates, better qualified teachers because they can pay more and inner city schools get less and have more of a drop out rate and can't recruit better teachers due to lower salaries. That in no way helps a city become economically viable or having property values rise, if anything you keep the values decreasing and the cities less desirable. So, no basing schools incomes on property values is just wrong, it only helps the richer, upper classes. The lotteries in Ohio are operated the same way, what money does go to the schools goes the ones that truly don't need it nearly as much as inner city schools. It may be different elsewhere, but Ohio does nothing to help advance those that need it in regard to education. That's the whole purpose of public schools to allow people to move upward through education. Kind of hard to do when your investing more into the already affluent areas.

Is saying that those "only with kids should pay" fair? NO, but the current system is just as, if not more, unfair.

 

If you think people hate paying for schools when they don't have kids in the system, imagine how people would feel about funding other districts with their money. Why shouldn't a rich family expect that their higher school tax burden will directly benefit their kids and their community?

I happen to live in a very good school district, and when tax levies for the schools come on the ballot, I always vote "yes". I understand the value of the schools for both my kids and for my property value, so I gladly pay the tax. Now if the ballot had a levy that would make me pay more taxes but see no direct benefit (ie my higher taxes all funnel away to other districts) I'd probably vote "no".

Also, when YOU went to school, there were plenty of taxpayers without kids funding YOUR education, so why shouldn't you do the same now for other people's kids?