Those are good questions, Bill. I thought I would answer them out of self interest, and also for the benefit of those who are unable to respond to people as individuals but must somehow find a label and a category to equate them with in order to prejudge and condemn them carte blanche. Of course, few on SI would do such a thing but you (as many of us) have probably experienced people somewhere in your life who do. And I hope this may all be taken in good humour...<ggg>
Are you for or against capital punishment?
I am against capital punishment. If society wishes to punish someone it can only be done if the person is alive. I am in favor of controlled exile where people of like-minded values may live with their choices amongst their own kind. Naturally, this would be appropriate and workable only if several places of exile, corresponding to several categories of human values, were available. Serial killers, rapists, torturers and the like would certainly be entitled to personal space and privacy...
Are you for or against legalized abortion?
Abortion may not always be decent or "moral", but it ought never to be illegal.
What are your views on gun control?
The right to self defense, when some are allowed guns, certainly necessitates the right to bear arms. Force is the only remedy against corrupt and totalitarian Government.
Criminal use of guns, knives, rocks, bathtubs, fists, etc. as weapons should be met with the most severe social responses in accordance with the motivation of the perpetrator. I say "motivation" in order to distinguish the delusional and the severely ill from the merely conniving and the uncaring...
Is your impression of the NRA generally good or generally bad?
If society is to have peace and progress, all voices must be legally and equally heard. It is only the right to speak openly to ones self interests and beliefs which permits the integration of various people and viewpoints into a representational society. When people are not allowed to have their legitimate and valuable opinions heard, they lose their identification with the system, and they become vigilantes and enemies of the people.
Is your impression of the ACLU generally good or generally bad?
See above. The fact that they are there indicates that they serve the purpose of promoting a civil society in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution...just as does the NRA.
Do you favor condom distribution in schools?
Many kids have sex during school years. It is not generally beneficial to them or society that they should either have children, abortions, or dreadful diseases while they are trying to receive an education to support a useful and happy future. It is up to adults to see that they have access to protection. The method of ensuring this is in the details. What is important is that there be some form of access so that lives are not ruined before even leaving the starting blocks...
Do you think public school teachers are qualified to teach grammar school children about sex?
Some are qualified, and some are not. A more useful and pertinent question would be to address the issue of whether or not it is appropriate.
Do you think doctors are overpaid?
Are they all equally qualified, and all paid exactly the same? I know a doctor who is and one who is not; but I cannot speak to the others.
Do businesses create oppression?
Some do, some don't. Any group of people with power can be oppressive. They don't even need a legal structure. A particular group of skateboarders would fit the bill...
What are your views on global warming?
It is good and right that people are concerned about the environment. They should continue to shout their concerns and to study, evaluate, watch and care. It is good that people have spoken to governments and that governments have responded by cutting down coal and gas emissions.
Industrial polution is a scourge. Not much is known, however, about global warning. Certainly, some human contributions seem rather insignificant when compared to the coal fires which burn eternally in underground China, and the pacific volcanoes, for instance.
However, it is good to know that concerned people are there to exercise their right to speak on matters which many of us, frankly, simply do not have the time for...
Do you support Kyoto?
The issue has created awareness and a sense of vigilance. I think that is necessary. Conservatives and liberals all breathe the same air, and rely equally on the environment. Everyone is concerned for the future of their children. However, the evidence for the necessity of a Kyoto accord is certainly inconclusive at this point...
Is being gay nature or nurture?
Society does not nurture the man or woman who behaves in a homosexual manner. Such a lifestyle condemns the individual to a marginalized and scornful existence outside of the mainstream society. Everything in society from church to state is marshalled against such an orientation.
All people are obviously capable of homosexual acts; but to PREFER or to NEED sexual contact with ones own gender, knowing that it will expose you to contemptuous social judgement--this speaks to a bent or a bias which probably exists in the main in spite of family, peers, and society...not because of it.
How do you feel about gay marriage?
I only know that the law ought to protect the property of all citizens, and permit all people to love whom they choose and to share and transfer their assets to whom they choose. Others ought to be free to choose their own relationships. So long as society respects this freedom...so long do our rights of association and contract remain in place. The customs and conceits of society are less important than maintaining a vigilance for protecting individual rights from being subordinated to, or eroded by, couples or groups.
Should the welfare budget be cut?
I am opposed to the need for individuals to accept welfare. Everything should be done to encourage and teach living and working skills/attitudes throughout the school system. On the other hand, welfare is necessary for a decent economy and for a stratified have/have not society (just as third world poverty is) so I suppose we ought to keep it...
Should the military budget be cut?
If one reads the newspapers from around the world ( ukulju.tripod.com ), one recognizes that if America ever becomes weaker than her opponents she will be destroyed. We are now committed to the necessity to fight for our lives. At the same time we must make the strongest efforts to find a human commonality other than fear and force that will convince people that we are all in the same boat on the same sea--remembering the words..."Today we seek a moral basis for peace.... It cannot be a lasting peace if the fruit of it is oppression, or starvation, cruelty, or human life dominated by armed camps. It cannot be a sound peace if small nations must live in fear of powerful neighbors. It cannot be a moral peace if freedom from invasion is sold for tribute.
How do you feel about missile defense?
See above. China has more cows, pigs and airplanes than we do. And that is only ONE potential enemy. Overall, America must rely on technological might AND goodwill if she is to survive. Might alone will lose in the end, and America will be occupied and overrun. In the meantime, we have everything to lose. We cannot pretend that the world is not peopled with savage and vicious groups and countries with interest only in obliterating America from the face of the earth. We cannot pretend that survival is possible without a whole lot of might. But we had better stop smoking cigars in front of people without beans...
Should the budgets of the NEA, public radio and public television be cut?
No opinion. I don't know the funding details. Usually, there are more pressing needs in a society than culture which, although extremely important, generally benefits only those whom have already met less urgent needs. Public culture should be funded by those whom benefit from it...
Should the AIDS research budget be increased?
All research against the scourge of deadly diseases shouild be well funded; particularly viral research, as both in this and in bacterial infections we are losing the evolutionary race...
Are standardized tests racist?
They may sometimes be racist, but probably seldom are. They may, however, not always be significant as to the results obtained...
Is there such a thing as reverse racial discrimination?
Of course there is racial discrimination. Minorities are often very racist, but usually toward other minorities. This attitude flows from a desire to identify with the larger society by finding a group to look down on in a "we" versus "them" role adoption.
Are perjury and obstruction of justice by a president impeachable offenses?
Check with a lawyer...
Should the word "God" be taken off our money and out of patriotic songs?
People are free to put the word "God" in songs. But the inclusion of songs which favour one religion over another, in public institutions where people are required by need or entitled by rights of citizenship to attend...this would violate the separation of church and state, and would be not unlike favouring one race of people over another in terms of the principle being violated. The word "God" alone does not necessarily discriminate in such a manner except against atheists and agnostics, and they are condemned and resigned to such discrimination. They will let you know when discrimination threatens to become overly oppressive and dismissive... |
