What are your political beliefs?

[Blood God Nipso]

Funnily enough, I guess I'm also technically a bit of a nationalist, in that I believe the government has no business even sending out foreign aid (much less full-blown military interventions such as what happened in Libya) as long as there's even one homeless person within our own boarders, though everyone having a decent standard of living is a kind of an ultimate end goal we should all be aiming for (if that makes any sense).

This kind of though makes me seriously confused. Foreign aid is immoral if there are homeless people in the country giving foreign aid? Are people not all people that deserve equal aid? I guess you can say that a government's responsibility is to its citizens, but that rule, like all rules, is made to be broken in particular circumstances; for example, when a dictator says "We will slaughter all men, women and children who have shown us resistance; Benghazi, we are coming", and you have the power to stop that, it is utterly immoral to not stop it, surely?

[Art Vandelay]

This kind of though makes me seriously confused. Foreign aid is immoral if there are homeless people in the country giving foreign aid? Are people not all people that deserve equal aid? I guess you can say that a government's responsibility is to its citizens, but that rule, like all rules, is made to be broken in particular circumstances; for example, when a dictator says "We will slaughter all men, women and children who have shown us resistance; Benghazi, we are coming", and you have the power to stop that, it is utterly immoral to not stop it, surely?

I do believe that the government is obligated to ensure the population that supports it through both votes and taxes has a decent standard of living. This is one of the fundamental reasons we willingly support government in the first place. If it fails to do even that, it has no business trying to assist people who are basically the responsibility of their own government. I know that basically boils down to "government's responsibility is to its citizens", as you said, but I thought it may help if I said why I'm a fan of it.

Not to mention, considering not even the US has the resources to intervene against every single major human rights abuse on foreign soil, how exactly do you decide what's a worthy cause (such as Libya) and what's not worth your time and money (such as Darfur or Kenya)? If you go with the current school of thought of what will provide the most benefit to you (such as oil), then congratulations, you are now engaging in textbook imperialism.

[TenfoldMaquette]

I believe people should succeed on their own merits, but that "failure" is never an option; I refuse to believe that a civilized society should allow a certain segment of the population to suffer and die just because they were born to unfortunate circumstances. I believe such things as basic food/shelter, health care, etc are rights and not "privileges" to be "earned" or reserved for only the most worthy. Let the ambitious earn their mansions with their labor if they so choose, but the least of us should not suffer for their advancement.

If this requires that the government unflinchingly enforce the laws that support this standard and punish those who would violate it, so be it. There are certain things that cannot be handled efficiently or fairly by anything smaller than a national government, and I have no qualms about giving power to such an entity as long as - and only if - it performs its function. If corporations would build themselves off of the exploitation and abuse of human and natural resources, they should be demolished in kind and their assets redistributed.

There's more, but it's too early for me to be arsed to type right now. x_x

[Fpqxz]

The problem is that social democracy sold its soul over a century ago.

OK, I know modern social democracy is pretty much worthless (see e.g. most of Europe), but it pisses me off that in the USA, so many people work a 40-hour-plus week and still don't have enough to provide for themselves and their family.

I have wondered many times whether some sort of basic standard of living guarantee shouldn't just replace the minimum wage system, which is clearly flawed on many levels.

[ThunderWulf]

When it comes to fiscal politics (size of government, how the government should be run, etc.), I don't really find any particular idea or group that I completely agree with.  I do think the closest I would come though would be left leaning capitalism like Art described in his first sentence from his original post mixed with a bit of What the Futhark's view.

I believe such things as basic food/shelter, health care, etc are rights and not "privileges" to be "earned" or reserved for only the most worthy.

I completely agree with things like healthcare being a basic right that people should have no matter what their income is.

[driewerf]

Believe it or not, I'm actually a capitalist.  I do believe that the market is a game to be played and played well. 

I don't believe you. You're probably pro-capitalism or liberal (and here I use it in the classical way i.e. an advocate of laissez faire laissez passer). But I doubt you are a capitalist.

[driewerf]

My political beliefs are limited to this simple statement

"do what you fuckin want. Just leave me alone and I'll play by the current rules"

Problem is that the ruling class doesn't leave you alone. They try to maximize theur profit, and soon or late (and rather soon than late) you come under fire too.

[driewerf]

The problem is that social democracy sold its soul over a century ago.

August 1914, to be exact. When they massively voted the war credits necessary for World War I

[driewerf]

I am a trotskyist. I have been a member of the Belgian section of the CWI for years.

CWI: http://www.socialistworld.net/
belgian section: http://www.socialisme.be/lsp/

Now adays I still consider myself a trotskyist but I am no member of any International and I 'm politically homeless.

[ThunderWulf]

You do know you can put that all in one post right?

[gyeonghwa]

As Beyoncé put it I'm

To the left to the left
My political beliefs are solid to the left

[Flutters]

Pinkie Pie's Political Ideals~

One might call me a libertarian socialist and this is kinda accurate, but it misses the mark overall~  The image above is from a libertarian socialist community a friendie of mine knows of, but again I feel it has a deeper meaning~  For me, everything ultimately ties back to how I see the whole and my politics are really no different~

I feel that all ponies should be equal under society in socioeconomic and sociopolitical ways (egalitarianism)~  At the same time, I feel that society should promote an environment that maximizes individual happiness so long as it never overtakes another pony's happiness (utilitarianism)~  Finally, I feel that any society should do all they can to maximize this individuality (libertarianism)~

If you put all these ideals together, you get a system where all ponies are equal under society in all ways, have the power to make themselves happy so long as this happiness is held equally by all ponies and where the powers that be do everything in their power to keep the balance in this dynamic and never do anything more than this~

This ideology is leftist but is both left and right of socialism depending on what part you look at~  There would really be no government in this system (there's no place for centralized social control when you have libertarian egalitarianism) and the most we'd ever have are organized groups of ponies getting together only on occasion to help figure out any immediate issues (syndicalism)~  There would also really be no money in this system (there's no place for the need to get ahead when you have utilitarian egalitarianism) and the balances would provide their own economy~  Again, we would only need to call in syndicalist groups if there were immediate issues~

That's what comprises my ideology and my system~  I'll leave you all with a gem of wisdom from the famous and respected linguist, philosopher and libertarian socialist Noam Chomsky~

See the full-sized piccie here~

[RavynousHunter]

Politically speaking, I'm a populist, I believe that, first and foremost, the people should have the ultimate say in who stays in office.  Now, that doesn't mean that, if you've got more money than the next guy, your vote should count for more, everyone's vote should be equal, one vote to one person, and they are all equal in measure and value.

Philosophically speaking, I'm an ethical hedonist.  Do as you will, so long as you don't harm anyone or infringe on their rights in the process.

[Morgenleoht]

I believe in everyone getting their basic rights filled (food, shelter, healthcare, enough income to have a reasonable quality of life) and the wealthy paying their fair share of tax. When I said 'succeed or fail', I meant beyond the basic rights all people should have.

[kefkaownsall]

Politically speaking, I'm a populist, I believe that, first and foremost, the people should have the ultimate say in who stays in office.  Now, that doesn't mean that, if you've got more money than the next guy, your vote should count for more, everyone's vote should be equal, one vote to one person, and they are all equal in measure and value.

Philosophically speaking, I'm an ethical hedonist.  Do as you will, so long as you don't harm anyone or infringe on their rights in the process.

Odd I thought populism was giving welfare to good christian people