Sharing Politics

Politics can be considered a taboo topic when sharing life with another. Conflicts of values and beliefs may lead to awkwardness, confrontations, etc. - heck, wars and genocides erupt from different points of views. Politics can be dangerous.

However, no matter what one believes, HOW you share life (and your politics) with another is what will ultimately determine if someone would like to share life with you again. Do you perceive others as unpatriotic or disgusting when they are in disagreement with you? If so, your words and body language may convey that thought. Watch out for that.

As a conservative, I often find myself outnumbered on the Left Coast. Virtually all my dearest loved ones happen to be liberal - they have completely opposite political views. Needless to say, political issues are not the decisive factors in who I share life with. In fact, the diversity of views and opinions is what makes our relationships stronger and intellectually stimulating.

So where do you stand on the political spectrum? To define and simplify politics, consider these four perspectives. Providing a definitional framework leaves room for several exceptions and hybrid points of views, but I find that these categories apply to the majority of Americans.

• Liberals: believe in government intervention in the economic realm, but not in the social or moral realm.
  
  • Typical liberals support higher tax rates on the rich because they believe a mandatory distribution of wealth helps lower-income families and the overall economy.
    
  • Liberals are against laws that regulate morally questionable activities, such as abortions and gay marriages because they most likely don't perceive such activities as immoral or do not want to restrict another's private behavior.
• Conservatives: believe in government intervention in the social or moral realm, but not in the economic realm.
  
• Typical conservatives are against abortion - despite concerns for women's privacy and conveniences, conservatves believe abortions are murderous acts and thereby should be outlawed.
• Conservatives support lower income and corporate taxes because they don't believe in penalizing people's financial successes or encouraging welfare recipients to be dependent on the government for their economic problems.
• Libertarians: believe in individual freedom and don't believe in government intervention in either the social realm nor the economic realm.
  • Like liberals, libertarians believe in the right to do whatever they like to do with their bodies - abortions, drugs, prostitution - libertarians believe these morally questionable activities should not be regulated by the government.
  • Like conservatives, libertarians believe the best way to fight poverty is to guarantee a system of free enterprise and free trade - to promote private charity initiatives, which are more effective and better justified morally than government programs of wealth transfer.
• Authoritarians: believe in government intervention in both moral and economic realms.
• In essence, authoritarians do not trust individuals; the government prioritizes the collective group's concerns over individual choices.

Feel free to post a comment in how you relate to these categories and what you believe in. If you don't know where to start, take this political compass test.