You don’t know me…

October 1st, 2007

Every once and a while I feel the need to correct some wrong assumptions about me among my ever growing readership.

(What are they growing? Considering some of the comments I get, cialis canada medicine I’d say mostly pot.)

First and foremost is the perception that I’m a Conservative.

I’m not.

I consider myself a realistic libertarian. I think taxation is theft, sildenafil illness proper authority is an oxymoron, and government is intrinsically repressive.

On the other hand, I recognize that most people can’t be trusted to live by the Golden Rule unless that rule is forced upon them by the rest of us. (And make no mistake, all government is based on the threat of force.)

Whiel I grudgingly conceed the necessity for some form of government, I think it has very, very few legitimate uses. Ensuring a level playing field? Yes. Redistribution of wealth? No.

I’m fanatically in favor of both freedom of speech AND the right to keep and bear arms. In fact, I think the first can only be ensured by the second.

I think Roe vs. Wade is right up there with Dredd Scott when it comes to bad Supreme Court decisions. (But I don’t want abortion to be illegal. I just want it to be unthinkable.)

I’m an agnostic and evolutionist who thinks people should be able to believe anything they want as long as they don’t try to make me live by their beliefs.

I’m not in favor of the Iraq War, but I think the idea of “cutting and running” is naive and ultimately counterproductive.

In general, here’s a quick list of things my Conservative readers would disagree with me on:

  • God
  • Evolution
  • Drug laws
  • Conversion of farmland to McMansions (I hate it)
  • Smoking bans (I love them)
  • George Bush has been a lousy president

Here’s a quick list of things my Liberal readers would disagree with me on:

  • Everything else

When all is said in done, the best description of my attitude on this blog and in my life was probably provided by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s now defunct Spivak and Bice blog, who wrote that I am a:

“blogger who often takes a contrarian view of life and politics”

And who am I to disagree?

Entry Filed under: Blogs,Personal,Philosophy,Politics

8 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Kate  |  October 1st, 2007 at 10:10 am

    Yeah, but we love ya anyway! :)

  • 2. Elliot  |  October 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am

    Stop! You’ll make me blush. ;)

  • 3. Jenna  |  October 1st, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    Well, we all agree with Kate, obviously.

    And yet, I have to comment:

    “(But I don‚Äôt want abortion to be illegal. I just want it to be unthinkable.)”

    But is it possible to acheive the latter without fighting for the former?

  • 4. Elliot  |  October 1st, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    I don’t know, Jenna. On the other hand, I suspect you wouldn’t have an abortion even though it’s currently legal. The trick is to make more people think like you. ;)

  • 5. Billiam  |  October 1st, 2007 at 2:33 pm

    I’ll still let the imaginary air out of the imaginary tire of your imaginary chair, smiling all the while to distract you! ;-)

  • 6. BobG  |  October 1st, 2007 at 4:30 pm

    I tend to hold similar beliefs. I might differ slightly on abortion; I can see legitimate reasons for early abortion in some cases such as medical, rape, etc. The biggest problem I see with it is that people do it unthinkingly quite a lot of the time, rather than as a last resort.

  • 7. capper  |  October 1st, 2007 at 7:46 pm

    I won’t hold it against you. :)

  • 8. Fuzz Martin :: FuzzMartin&hellip  |  November 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    […] number of times Elliot has claimed to be an agnostic. He says it so often that it almost seems like he is trying to convince himself. (I, however, think that he has a stronger faith than most people who […]

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment’s server IP (67.210.111.30) doesn’t match the comment’s URL host IP () and so is spam.

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