HarknessDiscussions


 * Personal Political Profile (In what ways am I liberal, moderate and conservative?)**

I live in out in a rural area because I prefer not to have to be burdened by too much government. In fact, my community has tried to build both water lines and gas lines but I refuse to do so because I knew this means more taxes. Instead I have my own well for water and use propane gas from a tank. But I do believe that government should go about the business of helping others who are needy. My father was once unemployed for 1 year and a half and I was glad he could receive some income while he looked for a new job. My dad immediately went out and tried to find a job but times were tough. Still we did not feel that the government should take care of us forever. In fact we understood that he could receive the unemployment for 1 year and we were happy when he finally found a permanent job. But either way, we were prepared as a family to go it alone after a year. But thank God for that year of unemployment!

Living in the country, I own a gun and love to hunt. I believe the Second Amendment protects my right to gun ownership and hope the government never tries to restrict its usage. I understand that some people use guns inappropriately but as the saying goes "guns do not kill people; bad people carrying guns kill people". As long as we have laws to punish those bad people, then we will be safe. That is why I also support capital punishment.

On the other hand there are times I think we need government to help protect our rights. I think it is unacceptable for anyone to violate the constitutional rights of another, whether because of race, gender, age or ethnicity. Of course I do not want illegal immigrants openly coming into our country, but we do not have the right to round up people willy nilly because they "look like illegal immigrants." It was wrong when we kept blacks out of restaurants and it is wrong to pull over Hispanics without probable cause.

In any case, you can see my views are not just made up of one viewpoint but are developed from my life experiences. This is how we should develop our views. So in what ways am I liberal, moderate, or conservative? What are your views and how did your real life experiences help to shape them?


 * Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?**

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