Evolution/Intelligent Design

Honestly the republican party as made a giant mistake taking this side. As i’ll explain later, they hold the high ground on education when it comes to reform. They damage that high ground, however, when they suggest that science students be taught that the Bible could be right about genesis or anything like that. Teaching students anything in science class that isnt independently verifiable is nonsense.

Total … I repeat … TOTAL NONSENSE

The worst of all, however, is the “young earth” claim. The claim that the entire earth is at the most 10,000 years old is foolish, and here is my logic.

Assume, if you will, that scientists today have a solid understanding of radioactivity. The Manhattan Project produced the very real atomic bomb. It also produced our understanding of radioactive elements, including radioactive decay. It is this process of radioactive decay, an outgrowth of our atomic experiments that have produced verifiable results, that we base our “carbon dating” science on. Elements release particles at certain regular rates, and with these rates we can determine how long an object has been giving off these particles … how long it has existed. We have used this method to date fossils and rocks, which we have found to be millions and millions of years old.

Simply put, the earth and the life on it is old as all hell and we can prove it.

Party closest aligned with my views: Democrat

Taxes

Four years ago the idea of a “windfall profit tax” sounded decent. Now, as a student of Public Affairs and an avid reader of the Economist and Fortune magazine, the idea of a tax on high profits just doesn’t fly with me anymore. Same with the capital gains tax. Taxes have their purpose, they are great at encouraging certain behaviors, and discouraging others. Provide a tax incentive to act a certain way and you will see a market or group of people act accordingly, maybe not immediately and totally, but you will see a trend. Tax cigarettes to all hell and sooner or later someone, maybe the majority, will make the call that they can’t afford cigarettes. It’s cheaper policy to implement and it’s less invasive.

Taxing income, capital gains, and windfall profits will provide the same sort of incentive/disincentive situation the cigarette taxes provide. We need to move these taxes away from income and capital gains and into another sphere. We need taxes encouraging corporate PRACTICES, individual PRACTICES, etc. If we want to encourage car companies to change their milage standards, we don’t need a mandatory regulation, we need taxes. Lets say we want cars that get at least 90 MPG by 2020. We cut income and capital gains taxes, while adding to a tax on car companies who don’t sell at least one car that gets 90 MPG at an arbitrary price (lets say $9,000). This way, car companies that want an edge on the US market can do so without a painful regulation. If they don’t want the edge, they pay the tax and continue with their free enterprise. However, the first company to put that $9,000 90 MPG car would get an edge on the market and on their tax burden.

Simply put, taxes encourage and discourage behavior, and they are better than dictating behavior.

Party closest aligned with my views: Republican

Abortion

You know, I might as well tackle the hard shit first. Although, come to think of it, its not as difficult as it seems … seeing as both parties got the whole damned idea wrong. Both these parties, democrats and republicans, think that for some reason aborting fetuses is a federal issue. I don’t see how some fat cat Washington senator needs to tell my girlfriend what to do. Let the Washington guys do foreign policy and inter-state commerce. Leave the moral decisions to the guys that write the penal codes … THE STATES.

On the issue of abortion, I’d rather see Roe v. Wade repealed. Not because I’m pro-choice or pro-life, but because I’m a states-righter. I don’t have a vagina, I’m not gonna make a decision about someone else and their uterus. However, the constitution provides the states with the ability and duty to govern the health, safety, and MORALS of its population. If Kansas wants to ban abortion, it should have every right to do so. Let those Bible toters deal with the consequences (good or bad) from the comfort of their own damned state.

Feminazi women, fire and brimstone preachers, go fight the abortion battle in your respective states. NOW and the ACLU can fight their fight in New York, James Dobson can fight his in Colorado. But for the love of god, leave the federal government out of it.

Party closest aligned with my views: Republican

Yo

I’m 20 years old, I live in New York. I’m a guy who follows politics and current events like a madman. I’m also hopelessly torn over which party to register with when I move. I’ve gotta re-register, and I’m not the automatic democrat I was before I actually got into politics. As a Puerto Rican and a student from a big city, you’d think this decision would be easy. No way.

I’m gonna use the rest of this blog to pick apart the various issues, and sorta figure out where I stand, and hopefully at the end of it all I’ll have some better understanding of what party I “belong” to.

You’re welcome to watch in horror as the young mind battles with the issues of today if you’d like.