I agree on gay marriage. it's a contract, should not need legislation to be sanctioned. there are many social issues that religious conservatives would like legislated. drugs, yes, but abortion, we have gone through the periods of prohibition, etc. if they're not in the same category-why the heck do we have an ATF? which we do not need.
"Cigarettes are annoying but not in the same class as alcohol, and therefore should not be made the scapegoat of high taxation" this assumes taxation as a penalty is ok-just which things should be penalized? and polygraphs don't always work, particularly on sociopaths/psychopaths who have a high liklihood of being in court in the first place :)

I agree that attaching a polygraph makes more sense than hand on the bible. For me, the issue of marijuana, illegal drugs or alcohol has more to do with personal responsibility and injury to others. If you could find a way of protecting my family from harm due to persons under the influence, then I could agree to legalization. Cigarettes are annoying but not in the same class as alcohol, and therefore should not be made the scapegoat of high taxation. I think the "moral choice" you refer to is probably the issue of gay marriage. I can support civil union but not gay marriage. I feel that some liberals are out to destroy organized religion and keep looking for ways to file lawsuits. I suspect that we will continue to differ on this topic... and I am sorry. If your religious organization chooses to call a civil union a marriage, that is entirely up to them. Just don't force it upon everyone.

We are lucky in that respect, in that we are very good friends with our neighbors. We get together nearly every weekend, and it's really nice. Our friend's daughter is staying with our kids Friday until Saturday afternoon, when my sister in law gets here, because my husband and I are going out of town. Our other friends across the street know, and are back up in case of any emergency. But it is increasingly an anomaly to have that, much to the detriment of society.

Raz, I think your point is excellently made. I also think our culture has moved to separating the kids from the dinner table and letting them zone out with their electronics instead of participating in adult conversations and learning to articulate their arguments on issues. and that probably started with the the invention of the TV tray! lol. my kids would not know what a TV tray even is-lasted only one generation I guess. I have galted, so where I am, it is much like you describe before. people have more time (most do not pay income tax) to devote to family and chosen community. we are now up to I can't remember the source but something like June 1st before anything we produce is ours alone, the rest having gone to one tax or another. I love the experience of going to a movie in a theater. best entertainment ever, only a drive-in movie theater is better! sigh-those were the days. I say go buy one of those digital projectors, set it up with your computer and invite your neighbors over for a picnic in your back yard. project AS I on a sheet and enjoy! I wish I could be a fly on your stucco when the movie was over and the conversation rolled!

perm, do you mean between conservatism and classic liberalism? conservatives still want to legislate morals. I vehemently disagree with that. neighbor helping neighbor is rooted in rational self interest. trust me, in a "community" of any kind except government, the neighbor who burns neighbors ends up getting burned. see, no government intervention necessary! as far as the word "conservative," which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I think Penn Jillette in the intro to Gutfeld's book, "The Bible of Unspeakable Truths":
"Conservatives picked a really bad brand name. 'Conservative' means 'nothing original and no fun.' 'conservative used to mean 'smaller government' but it doesn't even mean that anymore. It just means 'buzzkill' "
for myself, how can I say I am for limited government and then choose to ban certain things, like marijuana, but not others like cigarettes and alcohol? How can I say, leave me alone and then tell others their moral choices are not correct-and I might make a law just to underscore that fact? How can I profess patriotism to a flag, regardless of the state of the Union it represents? How can I agree to procedures that require one to swear on a Bible, and then that's okay-they swore on the Bible, they must have told the truth! none of these examples are even close to anything like anarchy or its opposite, legislating my every move, my every breath.

I think we've lost a lot as we've gotten our entertainment more centered into our homes. We used to go out to the movies, but now we'd rather wait for the DVD and watch it at home. When I was a kid, my mom was always visiting neighbors, and they were always visiting us. That just doesn't happen where someone "just drops by." So gradually, we've lost that sense of "community." THAT would be one thing I think would serve us very well: Reconnecting with our neighbors, and forming friendship bonds beyond the shallow "sports and weather" level we have reduced ourselves to.

Khaling, I was starting to wonder if there were any classic liberals around anymore. It would seem that as a conservative, I would be much more willing to negotiate with your position than with a progressive.
One thing I have noticed is that during the great depression, neighbor helped neighbor. Later we institutionalized this and now just let the government do it. I think we lost something very important when this happened. So as a conservative I want to take this function away from government and pull it back to the local neighbor level. Is there any middle ground for us to come together?

The ONLY thing that needs to be understood is that it's your decision. Ayn did say that if you wish to give your money away go ahead. I mean if I personally give someone $10 I am doing this for my own pleasure. I don't care why they need it. But, VERY IMPORTANT, I wouldn't give these disgusting republicans a nickel because they're using Ayn's brilliance to manipulate and ultimately control all the wealth. romney, ryan... These worms do not have an original thought in there head. Money is there God, NOT ACHIEVEMENT

Absolutely Conservative. For more information on the political spectrum. Look up the comment I gave someone on this very subject last week titled "Brown: Is progressivism the new communism?"

They confused where socialism and communism were and I explained were political stances fall from Far Left to Far Right.

Politically: without a home. Too young to vote for Reagan but I loved the man. He measurably left the country better than he found it. I voted for him in 2004 because even though he was dead, I think he was still the best man for the job. I have voted Libertarian in the past as well. Politics is tricky because these guys say what you want to hear to get into office, then do what they feel like once they get there.

I am with you on the Libertarians in part. I love the focus of their message on freedom / personal liberty. It saddens me that a great number of people want to use their liberty to get stoned and that's the primary reason they are in the party. Don't tell me otherwise, people. In the college age range, in aggregate, that's their motivation. As they age, their desire for "liberty" goes away along with their desire to get stoned and they find another party. I think a libertarian foreign policy would be a welcome change to the current situation. We have one foreign policy when it comes to the Reps and Dems. Hasn't been a difference between the two since Reagan, and he was an anomaly. You probably fear the Libertarians would be too "wimpy" on foreign policy. We currently have a policy of lying to get into preemptive war, with the president starting it and the congress not declaring it. Let's take the Libertarian foreign policy and fine tune it when we get it! What we're doing now is a disaster.

I think you are completely wrong on Ayn Rand's view of altruism and its potential compatibility with Christianty. Ayn Rand starts from the premise that "There is no God and I'm developing my moral code with my own mind. Now tell me why MUST I help others, absent God telling me to?" You read Matthew 5, and Jesus says even those following the Old Testament didn't have their morality where God wanted it, much less those creating their own "I'm a law unto myself" moral code. The standard to meet is in V48 of that chapter. To the Christian, ones moral code is supposed to be BETTER than what Ayn Rand or anyone else comes up with. Don't be ashamed of that. Make no apologies for it. Don't seek compatibility with it. They sure aren't going to reciprocate around here. As others have mentioned below, Ayn Rand would have been fine if you were charitable as long as you didn't do it for any reason that God would have been happy with.

Classic Liberal, and I have to drag myself to vote, for most of my adult life, for the lesser evil

"Now there is one word—a single word—which can blast the morality of altruism out of existence and which it cannot withstand—the word: “Why?” Why must man live for the sake of others? Why must he be a sacrificial animal? Why is that the good? There is no earthly reason for it—and, ladies and gentlemen, in the whole history of philosophy no earthly reason has ever been given.

It is only mysticism that can permit moralists to get away with it. It was mysticism, the unearthly, the supernatural, the irrational that has always been called upon to justify it—or, to be exact, to escape the necessity of justification. One does not justify the irrational, one just takes it on faith. What most moralists—and few of their victims—realize is that reason and altruism are incompatible"
Philosphy Who Need It? AR, Lexicon

I don't believe Ayn Rand saw Christians as dumbed-down altruists, but she concentrated on man's singular interests and reason. I wrote abook called SAVE PEBBLE DROPPERS which did not suggest a strike as much as it did keeping elbow room for creativity and freedom to pursue our inequalities.
Clay Barham

Whig. In order words, a pragmatist.

Oh- and Raz- it's not stressed in AS, but she does mention in several places that charity that is being done for the personal reward one gets, either in bartered services or warm fuzzy feelings, is perfectly compatible with enlightened self-interest.

Lifelong Republican. Think the last president I was able to vote for with a relatively clear conscience was Reagan; since then have had to hold my nose and close my eyes before punching the button. I started parting ways with the Republicans back in the Pat Robertson/ Jerry Falwell era, and have done so even more as the Religious Right has pushed social issues to the front. I'm a pro-gun, pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, tree-hugging (literally- I'm a nature worshipper) small-l libertarian with strong Tea Party sympathies, and hate that the RR has tried to hijack the TP.

Originally...politically unaffiliated...then republican...now independant with Tea Party liberatarian leanings. I personally feel both patries have lead us down the wrong path and "politician" has replaced the word "liar" and "thief" in my permanent dictionary...WAITING for someone to prove me wrong.

I am a conservative - through and through. I am a business owner and at 67 still work fifty hours a week and will continue until I enter the great Gulch in the sky. I love what I do. I identify more with Tea Party princilpes than anything else. I feel that two books should be required reading - The Five Thousand Year Leap and of course A S. I m an older dad and I fear for my daughter. She will be armed with opposing informatin and facts when she hits high school and college. No doubt she will grow up to be a striker.

Republican, originally. Realized something was terribly wrong when Newt Gingritch sold the country on some pretty decent principles in order to gain Republican control of congress, then promptly abandoned all of those principles after achieving the easiest ones. The freedom alarm really went off when 9-11 came and went and we went into full on militarism mode, threw out liberty in the name of security, and began stripping away our rights and ignoring all the restrictions imposed on the feds by the Constitution. Began looking for something better after most of the freedom-talking politicians were driven out of the 2008 presidential race. Atlas Shrugged pointed me towards libertarianism, then I placed my membership with the the Libertarian Party. Since then have realized that the Libertarian Party is just another political party, and they water down libertarian principles just to gain acceptance (still better than all the other political parties in the game). Am leaning now towards agorism/voluntaryism.