I haven't posted in quite a while, but I have been reading the posts. There seem to be a lot of people telling us what OTHER people think, feel, care about. The whole sense I get of this is one of polarization and anger about THOSE PEOPLE!

I wonder if what we think and feel, our morals, and our goals are really all that different. This thread is a chance for anyone to tell us who and what you are, what you believe, your morals if you like, and your vision for our country, basically this is a opportunity for YOU to explain to us who and what you are instead of other people doing it--often derogatorily.

The rules are simple: you can only talk about yourself, no references to other people are allowed (if your Father was a formative force in your life you can say that a family member helped you), you can mention your religion but you can't talk about specific entites from your religious tradition. You can't compare yourself to anyone else, this is about you and no one else.

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.

Wow, that's a tough question.

Who am I?

Hmm.

I'm a person that really strives to find the good in humanity. After years of working with people in the worst situations, I've realized that each of us has some good in us, whether we like it or not. Many of us seem to strive to suppress that goodness that's innately within us, but I don't think that they can really do it.

As far as our country (that'd be the US) goes, I believe that we can go to the next level. I believe that we can become a people that works together to seek the elevation of every individual in our society. When they're at the lowest of the low, we'll feed them and clothe them. We'll give them comfort and medicine. When they're at the highest of the high, we'll ask them to look back and remember that we're all human, and that we are all responsible to each other.

For religion? Well, I don't know. I tried Christianity, but it didn't fit me. The closest I came was in the Basilica in the Vatican. It's truly a soul-moving experience, but I was still concerned about the Church as an entity in itself and some of the actions that it has taken. In my view, there may very well be a God, but he/she/it is unlikely to match anything created by any of humanity's religions, because those religions have warped their perception of God to control humanity. Somewhere, in the middle of it all, may be a God peeking through.

Or, we die and rot and that's it. We'll never know, either way.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Since this is my thread, I thought I'd start, but Pramjockey beat me to it. I'm a 55 yr. old MtF transgender person. I am well, if eclectically, educated and my interests are far ranging. My personal philosophy is only two words long: Harm none. As best I can I practice that in every part of my life, I have been a vegan vegetarian for 27 years. I know that non-violence doesn't mean pacifism, so I am politically active and I do outreach in the trans-community. I am spiritual but non-religious, my relationship with the Creative Force doesn't require dogma or worship.

Never having seen an adequate definition of Liberal or Conservative, I don't characterize myself with those terms. I own and run my own business, I have never taken welfare or unemployment funds, and I pay my taxes, but in the end I think people are more important than money. I would rather have my taxes go to social programs than to weapons research. I don't believe that Might is Right, I support inclusion instead of exclusion, I think that all life should be brought under the umbrella of ethical treatment. I recognize that it is an imperfect world and that compromises must be made.

I love my country but don't believe that as an American I am any better or worse than anyone else. I firmly belive that our weapons have become so powerful that we desperately need to find a way to settle our differences besides war. I think the world is over-populated, and with that in mind I have had no children. I think that people are inherently good, despite all evidence to the contrary. I love my family and hate no one.

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.

I am a Musician preparing to study music in Los Angelos. I find myself frustrated with politics and partisonship. I enjoy attempting to come up with creative solutions that people have not mentioned before and seeing why or why won't they work.

I am a "swing voter" in that I have no loyalties to parties, but I do have a conservative mind compartively to the majority of the voices on this site it seems but I am registered Independent. I will only vote for great leaders regardless of politics or leaning. I want to see a President who stands up for what he believes in, who has an optimistic positive view for future of america.

I will vote based on what I deem to be best for the country, its security. To me security and foriegn policy is paramount and everything else is secondary. With that I like Pro Buisness environmentalism. I like practical efficient social programs. I believe Corporations are one of the primary reasons this country is so powerfull and successfull but I also believe that these corporations are doing serious harm to our nation at this time.

My primary worries for the future of this country is ..

Corporates shipping jobs out overseas, building up china, closing down factories that once made this country the superpower that it is now. Finding a balance between environmentalism and social programs that don't hurt Jobs and industry. Winning War in Iraq, afganistan, and overall war on terror. My long term hopes are the complete elimination of all income taxes and complete government reliance on sales tax only, and Legalization of drugs to be taxed.

I am an average 27 year old middle class white american. I am married to a wonderful woman and have a dachshund named Butters. My wife goes to nursing school and I work for Intel. Luckily we bought a house before the housing boom hit or we'd be F'd right now. Despite that we are feeling the pinch of slow salary growth (damn Intel!). Inflation and healthcare costs are our enemies as of now.

I am liberal in regards to social issues and have been scolded by the wife many times for giving bums money and whatever else I have on me at the time. I really enjoy living in a diverse enviroment. My neighbors surrounding me are Hispanic, Black, Jewish, and Indian. I really enjoy learning about other cultures and religion. Once the wife gets done with school we plan on traveling a lot.

I guess my political philosophy is that we will all be better off working together rather than against each other. I hate the partisan seperation in politics today and the unwillingness to get along between parties.

Right now I am reading a lot about Islam. I am also reading about how culture's develop. I am concerned American culture is being destroyed
by the quest for profits and material wealth.

I'm sort of curious why Kinetic or Eagle or Todd93 or any of those other people with a lot to contribute on the subject of morality have not come forward to speak their piece. Do you suppose ACTUALLY talking about who and what you are from your own heart is too touchy-feely?

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.

I thought I was very liberal, but after taking countless political tests it turns out I'm only slightly to the left. I found it pretty enlightening. What I found even more enlightening is that if the majority of Americans are near the center then Bush' policies are actually alienating the majority of Americans. And that the reason why Democratic politicians lose so often is because they hate charismatic people and don't want to take a stand on any issues. As for me I'm a young adult who's been living on my own since I was 18 and as soon I turn 24 I'll be attending college full time. I'm doing this because I don't want my mother to ever qualify for tax credits while I'm in school since she's never helped me.

On my 18th birthday the first thing I did was register to vote. That's when my slow descent into political apathy began. As I witnessed Bush squander the 90% approval ratings he had after 9/11, I began to realize that there are some people in this nation who will approve of their leader's behavior no matter what. I also began to realize that there are some whose sole purpose in life is to hate people who disagree with them. I'm pro-guns, pro-death penalty, pro-securing our borders, and I'd love to win the war on terror. Unfortunately we've wasted so much time in Iraq, a country that we invaded for dubious reason at best and lies at worst, that I'm starting to doubt if that is even possible.

Lastly I'd like to re-emphasize the point that despite my "conservative" stances, I'm actually a liberal. This leads me to wonder: why is it that I've never actually met a true conservative who supports Bush' policies in person? Most of the people online who support Bush can't explain why they support strict interpretation of the Constitution and many of Bush' policies at the same time.

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

Er, I thought the thread was intended not to reference other members?



Here's my commentary, FWIW.

I am married, ~40 years old, and I work as a Software Engineer (yeah, there are about 8 of us left that have not been outsourced - but I am not bitter about it...). I spent ~16 years in the fire and rescue service in Maryland, just north of DC, before hanging up the helmet (literally - on the wall in the den) and moving to Florida.

On the political spectrum, I am right of center, but far more moderate than the current administration. It is my hope that we Republicans can move our party back toward the center. The Schaivo affair in particular demonstrated to me that there are some truly fanatical folks in my party, and I have worked locally to help shift the party back by supporting moderate candidates.

I am a very strong supporter of the right to keep and bear arms. I've seen first-hand what certain members of our society will do to others that they perceive as weaker or more vulnerable. The right and ability to defend oneself against this sort of thing is, IMHO, vital. That said, I do not support the use of deadly force to defend property, only life. Break into my home and steal the TV, and you'll live to see the next day. Hopefully, you'll greet the next day from a jail cell, but I won't kill for property. Show any interest in the people in the house, and deadly force is in play.

The war in Iraq is a more complicated issue. I believe that the impetus for the war was simply a failure by both sides to recognize the climate following 9/11. Iraq continued to play the same game it had played for decades, playing a shell game and trying to create the impression that it had active WMD programs. Perhaps this was intended to make other nations think Iraq was too tough a target to take on. Such a strategy might well have been more focused on Iran than on the US.

The US, on the other hand, want to a mode of taking no chances following 9/11. Between the US and Iraq, the game had changed radically, and neither side recognized the other's actual position. This culminated in an international game of chicken, played on train tracks.

In retrospect, I would prefer we never went into Iraq, but rather continued the prosecution of Al Queda and the Taliban, leaving the existing sanctions on Iraq.

Socially, my biggest issue is one of personal responsibility. We are a nation of people who are quick to assert their rights, without being as quick to embrace the responsibilities that inseparably accompany those rights. Using as an example gun ownership, I support draconian penalties for criminal misuse of a firearm - we have the right to own them, but we have the responsibility of proper use and storage. When a child finds a loaded firearm and someone gets hurt, that's not an accident. It is a criminal failure to responsibly store the firearm.

Other rights have similar responsibilities attached to them. Take freedom of speech for example. One has the right to free speech on an issue, but one must accept the responsibility for reasonable reactions to that speech. The Dixie Chicks are a good example here. Natalie had an absolute right to state her feelings about the president. But when that statement caused them harm with their consumer base, that was a reasonable reaction to her statement.

On abortion, I follow the precept laid out by Dennis Miller - one dick, no vote. I am personally not comfortable with the use of abortion as a means of birth control - but I recognize that I have no right to respond to that discomfort by trying to restrict what other people do.

On stem cell research, I think the president's position is completely flawed. We should not be basing decisions about these sort of national issues on the edicts of any religion. And with stem cells, that is what I see happening.

On gay marriage, I absolutely support the right of a gay couple to enjoy the same benefits and recognition of their committed relationships and heterosexual couples. In my many years in the field as a medic, I met several devoted same-sex couples and seen far more commitment and devotion than many opposite-sex couples.

On religion, I absolutely support the right of each person to practice his or her religion freely. But, I hold that one's religious freedom ends with their own self. Being of any religion does not give one the right to demand that others follow your religious doctrine.

And I guess that, in a nutshell, is the short synopsis of my beliefs.

Oh, yeah, and a couple more:

Dogs are way better than cats, and
If it is under 30 pounds fully grown, it's not a real dog.



Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Remember the Sesame Street song:
One of these things is not like the other; one of these things just doesn’t belong.

In my early years I was happy but I had the disconcerting feeling that I just didn’t quite fit anywhere. The day of my 13th birthday I was crossing the Atlantic Ocean for my first trip abroad. Things began to make a little more sense.

No, I didn’t discover that I had “real” parents in Austria and the German’s made me feel exactly as foreign as the folks I grew up with in Wyoming. But that was the point. Bit by bit an idea seeped into my psyche and lodged itself there; we all feel a little like foreigners and by virtue of this we were all very much the same.

It’s actually easier to figure out without language. African teenage girls tease each other about their respective naked breasts, pointing and jeering just like the girls in the locker room after gym class in Middle America. A French woman fights with her new spouse when he comes home late from work for the umpteenth time and you hear the same hurt and worry in her voice. A clutch of Mexican men lean against a building and smoke cigarettes in the early morning – looks like my dads “coffee clutch” back home.

And everywhere, in every culture, people have that disconcerting feeling that they don’t quite fit so they try a little harder. They wear the same clothes, walk the walk and talk the talk, raise their voices or whisper in unison, do what’s expected. The harder they try to assimilate the more afraid they are that their differences will be exposed like a slip below a hemline - and then they’ll be cast out and then they’ll be alone.

So I watch people and, surprise! I see myself everywhere I look. Sometimes it makes me laugh sometimes it makes me humble, sometimes proud, afraid, satisfied… That’s why my husband says I can see right through him. Hunny, that tick, tick noise you make with your tongue…it’s a dead give away. My children think I’m Santa Claus not because I bring gifts at Christmas but because I know when they’ve been bad or good.

It’s nothing mysterious. Just watch a while, (start with yourself). You’ll get the hang of it and you’ll be shocked at how much people deceive even themselves.

If you think I’m angry at you when we talk, it’s probably not true. Sometimes I seem angry because I want you to see a reflection of yourself just like you are a reflection of me.

Sometimes I seem angry because I get frustrated at the deception that appears so obvious to me and is apparently completely hidden from others. If you say what you say with little consideration for what is true or real and don’t even recognize it yourself, it frustrates me!

I’d like to suddenly hold up a mirror so you can see how obvious it is. Then I want to give you a hug and tell you “there’s nothing to be afraid of”. I almost always forgive.

I’m not afraid of mirrors; I know my slip is showing – hell you only have to look, its right there!

So…that’s pretty much what makes me tick.

I’m registered Independent. Tactically stupid but it’s the only honest thing for me to do.
I’m against the war in Iraq because I watched Colin Powell lie on CNN, plain as the nose on your face. Who did he think he was kidding and why was he trying? Something’s really rotten underneath and there’s no easy way out of a lie, (obviously…now).

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...the government...is caving in...with their specious arguments couched in the...language of civil rights law, and that the churches ... likewise crumbling to...rhetoric which is nothing but heretical sophistry -- ~F Phelps
Platitudes like the one you offer are no different - and no less incorrect - than the jackass part-time Christian who says, "I'm going to heaven because I'm nice to people." It so misses the point.~Impugn

i'm just a leper among you all.

__________________

Glad to know ya.

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...the government...is caving in...with their specious arguments couched in the...language of civil rights law, and that the churches ... likewise crumbling to...rhetoric which is nothing but heretical sophistry -- ~F Phelps
Platitudes like the one you offer are no different - and no less incorrect - than the jackass part-time Christian who says, "I'm going to heaven because I'm nice to people." It so misses the point.~Impugn

Originally Posted by MareTranquility
I'm sort of curious why Kinetic or Eagle or Todd93 or any of those other people with a lot to contribute on the subject of morality have not come forward to speak their piece. Do you suppose ACTUALLY talking about who and what you are from your own heart is too touchy-feely?

Originally Posted by Matt Larson
Er, I thought the thread was intended not to reference other members?

Not referring to others was in reference to posting about who you are. I suspected that after a few of them were posted people might comment on them.

On a personal note, Mr. Larson, you and I have a lot in common. And yes, your notes about dogs are spot-on.

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.

In a nutshell:

I'm a gun-totin', red-meat-eatin', abortion-hatin', terrorist-hatin' progressive who despises the current administration for wasting the world's good-will of September 12, 2001.

__________________


"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

I would like to thank Mare for pointing me in the direction of this thread. I didn't really know about it.

I'm 31, have been married for 11 years (come April) Don't have any children. For a living, I work as an elementary school custodian (one of those jobs that Americans just won't do). I am preparing to open a computer store in the near future. I haven't went to college, but I'm very VERY skilled in the world of computers, I guess you could say I'm kind of a hacker. Although I don't hack anything, it's just a term I've heard used for people with my kind of knowledge of computers. I am also a controlling partner in an independent professional wrestling organization, and that is by far the funnest hobby I've ever done. My favorite sport is and always will be baseball and my team finally won the world series in 2006! First time since 1982, however, if it wasn't for the underhanded cheating that took place, it should have been the first time since 1985, but that's a different story for a different day.

As far as my life goes, I'm a gun totin "redneck" I guess. Or that's what I've been called. Extremely fascinated with the Civil War era and am a collector of weapons and other things that commemorate that time period (yes, including confederate flags).

In case anyone is wondering, I am Conservative. I don't believe in terms such as "Moderate" or "Progressive" because anyone who isn't Conservative, I believe is Liberal by definition. I believe in God, He has worked and worked MIGHTILY in my life. A lot of people claim that the Bush administration is Conservative, they're not. Fiscally I have some serious problems with some of the things that are being done, however, from a stand point of national security, we couldn't be any safer. I work on a military base. I talk to soldiers daily, so I know what's going on.

I could go on for days and days about my Conservatism. My signiture line has and continues to be a form in which people attack me by saying I can't think for myself. I am here to tell you that I can and I do. I believe that Government should stay out of my way and allow me to live my life the way I see fit. I don't need Government for anything outside of national security. It infuriates a lot of people to hear that, but that will go under the category of not my problem. I do just fine without this Government program or that Government program blocking the ability of me making my own decisions.

Not really much more I can say, I welcome any questions in case I haven't been clear on certain aspects of who I am.

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Honor role student at the Limbaugh Institute for advanced Conservative studies.

So what you're saying is that it's wrong for the Republicans to get involved with Terry Schiavo and to try and to pass amendments defining marriage?

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004