To start off, I suppose I'll summarize myself.

Firstly, to put myself into a visual perspective, here is my Political Compass score.

I bet some of you are wondering, "Well, what the hell does that mean?" Personally, I find the Political Compass website to be quite useful to figure out where you truly stand on the political front. Basically, there are two basic sets of political views: liberal/ conservative on one axis, and libertarian/ authoritarian on the other.

So, basically, I like to call myself a liberal independent. When I do register to vote, I will most likely register as independent. (Depending on what state I'm in. Some states don't allow independents to vote in the Primaries and such.) Socially, I'm about as liberal as it gets. Gay marriage, privacy, abortion, etc.; it's all good to me. It's not my business what other people do, so I really, really don't care. But fiscally, however, I am somewhat conservative. I mean, if someone is working hard but not getting anywhere, then yes, give them a leg up. But if someone is just sitting on their ass all day doing nothing, they shouldn't expect federal help, especially out of the taxpayers' pockets. That's just stupid and catering to the people who don't work.

Now, for quick opinions on specific isues:

1. Abortion: Though I do support states' rights in some form or another, this should be allowed for any woman who needs one. Besides the absolutely necessary cases, let the states decide on the splinter issues here, as the Constitution intended it to be. Personally, I think abortions are disgusting. But I support a woman's right to choose, and illegalizing abortion will not only increase abortions done in underground hospitals by unqualified doctors, therefore increasing deaths of women as well as fetuses (very pro-life, eh?), but set women back a good fifty years. On a side note, I could swear that if men gave birth with today's same social standards, abortion would be a sacrament.
2. Gay Marriage: Should not even be a government issue. Let's read the First Amendment together now, shall we? "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Wait, let's see that again: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion." ... But what the hell does that have to do with marriage? Everything. Marriage is a religious concept. No religion has the right to claim definition of the concept; it has appeared in every religious civilization at some point or another. The government, according to our very own First Amendment, can't make a law about marriage besides recognizing all of them under the law. If a religious leader feels comfortable marrying a gay couple, so be it. But of course, the same rights should be available to everyone. Civil Unions should always be an option, be the couple gay or not. (I doubt a church would marry a secular couple, either.) But marriage itself should not be involved in the government. Not in the slightest.
3. Right to Privacy: Should never be infringed by the government in any way whatsoever without due process of law. The Patriot Act is, to put it quite frankly, a load of BS. It allows the government to spy on citizens suspected of being terrorists, often without legitimate proof. It frequently leads to people being detained in detention camps like the one in Guantanamo Bay without the writs of habeas corpus or the provisions of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Amendments, which provide the necessary components of the American court system. Though a lot of them there are indeed POWs, there is a good handful there who were seized American citizens obtained through the Patriot Act, without the access to any Constitutional rights, especially the Fourth through Eighth. Some surveillance can be good, don't get me wrong. However, due process is required for it. And don't even try to give me the "Necessary and proper" clause bullshit. It means, as it clearly states, necessary and proper; of immediate importance and still Constitutional! It does NOT, however, mean "convenient and useful." Please understand the distinction.
4. The Economy: Don't even get me started. It's a load of fail. Though I'm normally pretty conservative with money, look where eight years of a Republican got us. And the entire world depends on our economy. It will eventually come out of the recession, but we DO need to do something about it. Meaning that we need something different. And McCain is just Bush's doppelganger. He did vote with Bush 90% of the time, after all.

I guess that's about it for this entry. Comment away!