political quiz

[marathoner452]

A fellow St. Mary's student posted this, I thought I'd pass it along. I'll reply with my answers whenever I need another procrastination break. :-)

These questions are designed to help you create your own political definition. Plenty of people say they are "Republican", or "Liberal", but not enough people know what this means - they just say it. The goal of these questions is to become more aware of your own political views and can therefore voice your opinion and cast your vote with confidence, education, and with a clear conscious.

Answer these questions completely - be as specific as possible. Do not use terms such as "liberal" or "Republican", that bunch your views in with a larger group - the purpose of this is to pinpoint individual beliefs.

TOPIC ONE: Patriotism

1. What are the values espoused by your ideal nation?

2. Of the following beliefs, how well does the USA represent these beliefs?

3. To what point would you have to pushed that could confidently decide to sacrifice the rights of others to assert your own?

TOPIC TWO: Foreign Policy

1. What is your opinion on the War in Iraq?

2. What is your opinion on the War on Terrorism?

3. What is your vision for the role of the USA in the global community?

4. How concerned are you with how other nations view us as a nation? As a people?

TOPIC THREE: The Economy

1. How important to you is balancing the national budget?

2. What are your opinions on military spending? What are the important areas of the military to fund?

3. What are your opinions on taxation? Who should bear the burden of taxes?

4. Who should be hurt by a tax hike? Who should benefit from a tax cut?

5. What changes, if any, would you make regarding programs that are currently federally funded? Are there programs that you feel should be federally funded?

TOPIC FOUR: Domestic Policy

1. What are your personal beliefs about gay marriage?

2. What do you think the government's position should be on gay marriage?

3. What are your personal beliefs about abortion?

4. What do you think the government's position should be on abortion?

5. How important to you is the idea of the separation of church and state?

6. Which of your rights as a citizen is most important to you?

7. Which rights would you be willing to sacrifice in order to maintain the others?

8. Are there any rights the government does not currently grant citizens that you feel are important?

9. Are there any rights you believe are outdated, unnecessary, or even counterproductive to the stability of America?

THERE YOU GO!

This, of course, is not a perfect worksheet, but it's a start. It's designed to get you thinking, and to develop your own beliefs. Some of these questions will seem unimportant, but right there you've taken a step towards defining your political definition.

If you'd like, post your political definition as a comment to this entry - mine will be posted just as quickly as I can write them.

Once again, please feel free to include this post in your journal - spread the thought!

Comments

TOPIC ONE: Patriotism

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

1. What are the values espoused by your ideal nation?

Equality of opportunity, first of all. I don't mean everyone should be treated the same; hard work should be rewarded and cultural differences respected. In a nutshell, social justice and pacifism-or in the least only defensive war. We need to take care of our own problems before we start trying to fix anyone else's.

2. Of the following beliefs, how well does the USA represent these beliefs?

The current government does not represent these beliefs. The American people, however, I think, are more open to them. I tend to assume an optimistic viewpoint of human nature. I've always been a very patriotic person and I believe in American values, just not in the way our current government practices them.

3. To what point would you have to pushed that could confidently decide to sacrifice the rights of others to assert your own?

I would like to hope that nothing would push me to put the rights of any individual or myself ahead of those of anyone else. The long term-preservation of rights is more important than short-term gains. In reality, I would probably sacrifice the rights of others if myself, my family, or my close friends were in immediate physical danger.

~Bethany

Topic two: Foreign Policy

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

1. What is your opinion on the War in Iraq?

In a nutshell, just days after the war started I stood down by the road with the St. Mary's Anti-War group and waved posters and shouted in the ears of base workers along Route 5. There is nothing I oppose more than war, esp. when it is an offensive, unprovoked invasion. I have a white ribbon on my backpack. But the day of the anti-war rally I wore my West Point hat and a Marine Corps Marathon shirt-I'm not against the military. I think they're awesome for standing up for what they believe in. All the more reason not to wage an unjust war-don't needlessly risk the lives of such brave people.

2. What is your opinion on the War on Terrorism?

I think that it is unwinnable. I think that we need to spend more time focused on the conditions that allow terrorists to thrive-such as invading other nations and imposing our will and policies on them. I am not absolving terrorists of guilt-what they did on September 11th was an awful, awful thing. The people who were killed that day were innocent. Our government is not.

3. What is your vision for the role of the USA in the global community?

I think we need to clean up our own act before we try to tell other nations what to do. We need to focus on education, poverty, racism, etc, before we try and solve other people's problems. We should intervene internationally only if we are asked, but we need to play an active role in resolving problems that we helped create. But mostly we need to listen to what other nations want instead of deciding that we know what is best for them.

4. How concerned are you with how other nations view us as a nation? As a people?

At the end of the day, we need to do what is right because it is the right thing to do, not because we are concerned with how others perceive us. But when so much of the world disapproves of us, we need to sit up and take notice because obviously something is very, very wrong. I think that the way people in other countries perceive us as a nation is different from the way they perceive us as individuals-they may like us one-on-one but despise our government. Unfortunately, that's all many people in other countries see.

Am I a liberal yet? (j/k, it doesn't really matter what box you put me in-I am who I am and I defy political labels)