Groundwork

So, I've decided to devote this blog solely to my political thoughts and ramblings. Nobody is giving voice to my beliefs on the Web or in the media, but that kind of stuff isn't really a good fit for my other blogs, so I'll do my venting here.

First, some groundwork:

"Fiscally conservative" means I expect the government to keep my effing taxes down, and make sure I get some kind of ROI on the taxes I do pay. It means the government treats my tax money as sacred funds that were earned with my hard work.

"Socially Liberal" is not a statement on the morality of gay marriage, abortion, or anything else. My moral values tend to align with traditional Christian values, but I believe through and through that such values should not be enforced by law, due to their religious underpinnings.

I don't understand how we came to a point where freedom-loving fiscal conservatives are fine with enforcing their religious views on the rest of the electorate. Nor do I understand how the party of civil liberty came to align themselves with unions and certain socialist ideas.

If anything, Christians who fight abortion and gay rights should be all for universal health care and making sure society is caring for the poor and needy. Liberals who fight for justice and equal rights for minorities could just as logically claim that socialized medicine and sliding tax scales unjustly require some citizens to pay higher taxes than others. I'm not sure how or why our two major political parties have managed to set aside the inconsistencies in their own platforms, but I think there's an enormous untapped group of voters who would more easily align with either a Social Liberal, Fiscally Conservative party, or a Socially Conservative, Fiscally Liberal party.

If those were my two choices, voting would be easy. As it is, I have to choose between two candidates that each espouse half of my ideals and go against the other half. It's enough to drive a man to blog...