Apostasy, Apathy, and Ambivalence

I often think of myself as a prototypical liberal. And on the major defining issue of American politics (and much of global politics) over the last 200 years (the role of government vs. the private sector in managing the economy and producing social welfare), I am. I like progressive taxation, corporate and environmental regulation, income redistribution, and lots of spending on education and social welfare for the poor and middle class. And, on many of the hot button social issues of the day, I am also quite liberal. I support the legalization of drugs and prostitution, and I support gay rights, including full gay marriage. I oppose prayer in school and the teaching of creationism. I generally have a dim view of regulations on speech for "decency" reasons. I support larger budgets for foreign aid and smaller budgets for the military. I believe that the world is cooking and that we are facing impending environmental catastrophe. I like unions. I like Miranda rights and support rehabilitative approaches to criminal justice over punitive ones. I oppose the death penalty. I support people's right to burn the flag. And while the two parties have converged to a large extent on the fundamentals of race relations (after switching positions on the issue completely in the 60s), I definitely support the elimination of de jure discrimination and like to believe I would have done so, even when it was controversial.

On the other hand, there are a few issues that are extremely important to the modern left that I either couldn't give a shit about, am moderate on, or on which i am flat out conservative. One issue that I just don't give two shits about is gun control. I just don't fucking care one way or the other about it. On the one hand, I find the militia argument (that we need an armed citizenry as a check on the tyrranical excesses of the state) to be fairly preposterous on a lot of levels. On the other hand, some people just like to shoot shit, and frankly, that's their fuckin business! I've been known to shoot shit here and there, and it's kinda fun! I mean, I wouldn't lose any sleep if all guns were suddenly banned, but neither do I think that widespread possesion of firearms is a particularly pressing problem in the country. Some people shoot other people, yes, but most people don't, and the fact that those who don't have a legitimate claim to doing something they enjoy should be a factor in our lawmaking. And besides, crime rates have been dropping steadily for quite some time.

Incidentally, some of my other heretical positions, which I may elaborate on in future posts, include being pretty skeptical of the Supreme Court (which, as my law professor friend pointed out to me, has been much more likely to support conservative positions over the years than liberal ones), taking a pretty dim view of abortion, and being pretty much an agnostic about foreign military intervention and about immigration.