Comments on: SUMMER WORK BLOG #2

By: Ivana Idzakovic

Ivana Idzakovic — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:59:46 +0000

Hmmm.. tough question Hanson. I don’t really like labels either as some people have said.. and I’m gonna say I’m not as educated as i should be in the whole ‘politics’ region.. but that will change, cause you’re an amazing teacher Hanson! Anyways, now that I’m done sucking up.. I don’t really know where i stand.. whether its liberal, conservative, democrat or republican. Most of the time when I watch the news or try to have ‘intelligent’ conversations with my dad.. Man that guy is smart.. I always pick pros and cons from both sides. Like abortion would be a perfect example.. I’m pro-life for the most part because if people think that they’re mature enough to go out and have sex, they should be mature enough to face their consequences and accept their responsibilities. But lets say having the baby would endanger the health of the mother.. Some people would say that it would still be the mother’s responsibility to have the baby.. but to me that seems wrong because I’m sure the mother wasn’t signing up for a death sentence. Sheeeesh. I don’t know.. I’m just gonna say I have no idea of where i stand cause that’s how i truly feel.

By: Brian Schneider

Brian Schneider — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:10:25 +0000

After reading so many well written entries I am still right where I began. I have some sort of idea of what I am (republican, democrat, liberal, conservative).
I guess I can say that I am “pro-choice”.
Gay Rights are great and if two people of the same sex love each other then they should be able to get married.
Abortion- One side of me thinks the women should have the final decision, but the more I thought about it, the more I think abortion should be illegal…it is taking away potential life.
So maybe I’m not “pro-choice”.
Gun Control- There definitely should be gun control.
Death Penalty- I am for the death penalty.
Health Care is very important, and if Universal Health Care is what this country needs then give it to them.

Well as you can see I have already changed my mind a few times in this entry.
Maybe I’m not republican, democrat, liberal, or conservative.

By: Alexa Williams

Alexa Williams — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:06:07 +0000

Liberal and Conservative is so subjective. I don’t know where I fall on that scale but I do know what I believe and what I think should be done by the government.

Ok so I think should the government should have very little control, meaning we should be able to marry who we want, kill your own fetus, save your own money for retirement, and carry a gun (with a proper license and probably and background check). It is a free country and the government, or at least the federal government, does not need to be involved in your decisions. They should not be able to control what you do. You are responsible for the consequences.

On the other hand the government has responsibilities that should be handled before their approval of your spouse. The environment is a big issue that the only the government can control and it is their responsibility to do so.

By: Jacob Hartwig

Jacob Hartwig — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:24:27 +0000

Well, what more is there to say after Mellon and Chris just went? I agree totally 100% with those flaming liberals. Anyway, yeah. Let’s make a list of the things not to do.
-Communism (read Atlas Shrugged)
-Abortion (it’s not your life)
-Gay Rights (Bible)
-Racial Discrimination (Minorities get first choice in college? Smells like discrimination to me.)
-Gun Control (more control means more rebellion)
-Welfare (there are jobs all over just waiting for people to get)

Now on universal healthcare I’m split. I’ve wondered that if a human’s genome is made available, what happens to the insurance companies? They don’t want to insure a cancer destined person, but that would be discrimination. The only solution I can think of is universal Healthcare, a necessary evil if that happens. I do not know why I do not like it, its just one of those feelings things.

By: BRANDON ISHAM

BRANDON ISHAM — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:16:34 +0000

I kind of want to start off on the same foot as Milan. I don’t want to have to label myself as liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, treehugger, etc. I know my opinions on subjects and I have conservative and liberal views.
I am completely pro-life. I am against abortion (if ya got raped you gotta take care of business but most rape victims don’t get pregnant). I feel that life is a gift and a woman has the responsibility to give that gift to a child if she becomes pregnant. Nine months of inconvenience to give a PERSON an entire lifetime to live. Seems to make sense. But i also realize that abortion will probably always be legal.
I don’t like the death penalty. Just lock them up and they’ll die eventually. Do the old solitary confinement thing if they really made you mad.
I am for gay rights. Why not get married if you love someone. I don’t think love is defined by what sex you are. A guy could love his dog or a guy could love his boyfriend. I think you get the point there. I think the homosexual community should just be left alone when it comes to relationships.
I agree with Milan on the gun control. Buy lots of guns! but charge for the bullets.
With the whole tolerance thing, I think people should be very tolerant. Basically if that dude isn’t doing anything to you don’t worry about it, and if he is see if you can ignore it.
With the whole fiscal thing I don’t thing I know enough about that at this point in time to have a solid opinion on it so I’ll keep everyone guessing on that.

Keep rockin’ out

Brandon

By: Matt Couch

Matt Couch — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:48:28 +0000

Alright, if I were to just state what I think I am I would say that I am a republican and am most likely more conservative. But to move on to sharing some of my ideas on gun control and pro-life to me would be useless in this sense. The reason I say this is because it’s not that I don’t have stances on these subjects, everyone does, but the sense of time. To me people and ideas don’t make the time, but the time makes the people. What I mean by this is that at any given point in time peoples ideas could change slightly because of what time has given society such as the hanging of people. At one time in our country, hanging was an appropriate mean of death for a criminal offense which many people would have agreed would be an acceptable punishment. Today, death row is so long that no one is actually killed, we just pay taxes to keep them nice and warm with 3 meals a day. What Scott said before about the woman in college wanting an abortion to finish college is also another time scenario. Personally I am against abortion, but in the setting that Scott gives, time is of the essence and therefore I would actually agree with letting her get an abortion if it is in the very early stages of development. So overall I have my political beliefs but as I said I think that time changes everyone’s political ideals and therefore you could argue that maybe i’m not a republican or conservative but a nobody.

By: Brice Morey

Brice Morey — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:47:07 +0000

Although this is a difficult question at the time for me, I do have my beliefs on certain topics. I have no idea whether to consider myself Republican or Democrat. I kind of would like to find myself in a happy medium, but there is no such thing unfortunately. As of right now, I guess I consider myself as an Independent.

Abortion – I believe in pro-life and almost everything that Kaitlin said before me. However, I don’t know where I stand when a woman is raped and gets pregnant. It was not her choice to get pregnant, and even though there are adoptions, I believe its the mother’s choice.

Gay Rights – Because of the fact that scientists have been able to prove that some people are born with an attraction to the same sex, I have no right to tell them that they cannot get married. Also, I believe that it is not a choice for some people. If they love each other for who they are, then they should be able to get married.

Gun Control – Anything used to hunt animals is fine by me. However, I do not understand the purpose of hand guns. If hand guns were abolished, then I believe our society would have less of a problem.

I don’t even know about the whole taxes thing and where I stand on that. Our healthcare is pretty screwed up right now and I don’t know if having a universal healthcare plan will do anything to fix it. Obviously I would rather not have higher taxes, but its like you cannot leave people behind. Our nation needs to unite in order to be strong.

Basically, I like the idea that the Democrats stick up for the little guy, but I also understand where the Republicans are coming from with their business minds. Either way, pros and cons exist between both parties. Therefore, I really do not know whether I am more conservative or liberal. Ummm….. I hope that answers your question : )

By: Zandy Binner

Zandy Binner — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:34:01 +0000

I would have to say my views are very liberal. I am pro choice. As everyone knows, Im also strongly against the current war. My views on gun control are also liberal. Abortion, however, for instance is a personal choice. A woman has a right to her own body (which is in the constitution). I also feel the same way about gay marriage. It is a personal choice. I belive that many conservative people are too worried about other people’s personal choices rather than more important things in the bigger picture. It is everyone’s right to certain freedoms such as gay marriage.

At a leadership conference i attended this summer I visited the Supreme court building and as we left there was a man standing in front of it with duct tape over his mouth that said life and he was holding a bible. To me this is way over the top. No matter what anyone says, in the end it is up to the woman that is making the decision.

I kind of went off on a tangent there. So conclusively many of my views sit on the liberal side of the spectrum. I strongly believe in pro-choice in many situations, and not being so involved in someones personal life.

By: Dylan S.

Dylan S. — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:14:58 +0000

I can openly say that i do not know all the ins and outs to define myself as in a government stance. In saying this i can at least state my beliefs about about the fiscal issues hanson stated. I believe that government does need to hike taxes or another approach to improve society or any programs. Freedom would allow us as the people to make the decisions but in all honesty the common folk may not know whats best for them. Government can step in, produce options, do studies and look at the longterms. We with more freedom and the government restricted will produce solutions that solve the problem now and not look at the outlook later. Sure the government doesnt always get it right but who does?

By: Shannon Kelley

Shannon Kelley — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:49:49 +0000

I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to politics, but I’ll try to hit the big issues.

As far abortion goes, I think that a bumper sticker I saw the other day sums it up perfectly: “I’m Pro-Choice; I CHOOSE to keep my pants up.” Haha, hm. Even though the baby, fetus, whatever you want to call that living being, is inside a woman, it doesn’t mean that the woman is allowed to simply get rid of it. It’s a living being with a future. You can’t take that anyway from anyone.

This includes criminals on death row. Although some crimes may seem so heinous that the only proper punishment may seem to be death to that criminal, that would make us just as bad as that criminal. What if the criminal being executed is really innocent? We’d never know, and an innocent man was just sent to this death.

As far as gun control goes, I believe that proper precautions need to be taken when a gun is sold. The right to wield a gun is being abused, but could be easily fixed if background checks would be completed. You can’t cry over a school shooting, then go and complain that you can buy a handgun without proper identification and background checks.

I don’t believe that universal healthcare will work. Even though everyone needs healthcare, whether they can pay for it or not, universal healthcare would ultimately lower the quality of treatment given to everyone. Yep, and there was my knowledge/beliefs on healthcare. =)

Finally, I think gay rights is simply a modern version of slavery. Back in the 19th Century, many whites believed it was their God-given right and responsibility to look after the creatures that we call African Americans. Obviously this belief has changed over the past century and a half as we come to realize how absurd that belief really was. Now, with strong opposition to gay rights on one side and just as strong openness to gay rights on the other, I believe it’s the same kind of issue. In 100 years, we’ll look back to these times and wonder how we could ever base an argument on limiting gay rights. In a sentence, I’m for gay rights.

I guess this makes me liberal? Whatevs.