Am I BLUE?

The world would be a simpler place if it really was Red and Blue. If you're RED you are pro-life, pro-guns, pro-Christian, pro-preemtive actions against other countries in the name of security, pro-taxcuts, pro-bigbusiness, pro-family. If you're BLUE it would appear from the rhetoric that you are anti-RED. I have to give the conservatives their PROPS for making that charge stick and successfully tarring all DEMOCRATS with that same big brush. Future posts will expand on the talking points that are laid out here but this seems as good a place as any to lay out some of my vision of RED+BLUE=PURPLE.

I wear the "liberal" label proudly. I am pro-Christian,pro-life (see the Live vs. Death post) ,pro-family. I don't see why I can't be a DEMOCRAT and still have those values but the conservatives continue to push for this separation. It's childish, exclusionary thinking. Unfortunately it appears to be working.....

I believe in tax cuts when they make sense. I was all for the first post-2000 tax cut when the government had a surplus of revenue but could not back the follow-on tax cuts when we were running a deficit. You don't run your household budget that way (I sound like Ross Perot). We're mortgaging our future to procure a little instant gratification. It's short-term thinking.

I am not a member of the NRA because I disagree with their methods or arming the population. I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to own a weapon for defense and to provide for the militia. I believe that people kill people, not guns. Am I RED? Nope. I see nothing wrong with supporting trigger locks, limiting access to machine guns, waiting periods during gun purchases, etc. Aren't these pro-family viewpoints? Do I want the govenment to be able to take my guns for the "good of the nation" when the authorities are defining the term? Nope.

This nation bloomed under the umbrella of freedom and the idea that security cannot (or should not) be purchased at the expense of that freedom. Pre-emptively attacking another country to try and gain security has weakened us as a nation both internally and in the eyes of our friends. We have done more to ourselves than any terrorist could ever hope. Afghanistan was a proper response while Iraq went against our very core beliefs. I believed it then, I believe it now.

Am I blue?

Life vs. Death

On October 3, 2000 during a Bush vs. Kerry debate POTUS actually said something that has stuck with me. It was eloquently stated and reflects a viewpoint that people on both sides of the abortion issue can calmly debate

"I think abortions ought to be more rare in America, ... I think what the next president ought to do is to promote a culture of life in America. Life of the elderly and life of those women all across the country. Life of the unborn. As a matter of fact, I think a noble goal for this country is that every child, born or unborn, need to be protected by law and welcomed to life. I know we need to change a lot of minds before we get there in America. ... We've been battling over abortion for a long period of time. Surely this nation can come together to promote the value of life. Surely we can fight off these laws that will encourage doctors to -- to allow doctors to take the lives of our seniors. Surely we can work together to create a cultural life so some of these youngsters who feel like they can take a neighbor's life with a gun will understand that that's not the way America is meant to be. Surely we can find common ground to reduce the number of abortions in America...."

Even pro-choice advocates can get behind a statement that we should be working toward decreasing the number of abortions in this country through education, adoption incentives and birth control measures.

I'm not sure how POTUS reconciles the statement above with his advocacy of the death penalty. As a country, we have wrongly executed innocent people (proven through new DNA analysis and new crime lab testing) making sanctioned execution a flawed policy.

Either all life is sacred or none of it is. We don't get to pick and choose. We need to abolish the death penalty and make abortion the option of last resort. In my Purple America, all life is sacred