When talking to my friends and colleagues, I realize that I have some views that most find incomprehensible. Though I have learned to keep my views to myself, I’ve been wanting to share them with the Dopers. Here they are (but be warned, they will likely shock you!):
Flamethrowers should be legal. No, really, I’m serious. The second amendment is unambiguous in that Americans have the right to bear arms. By parsing the word “arms” to imply revolvers, rifles, <insert banned weapon> seems arbitrary and contrived. All weapons are arms and the versa is true as well. If this is not true, then the Supreme Court should tell us what an “arm” is be done with it. To be clear, I don’t support the NRA, I don’t own a gun nor do I ever envision having one, but I do believe what makes the U.S great is our unflagging commitment to the precepts laid out in the Constition; when we start warping the Constitution to mesh with social mores, which may or may not be transient, we set a dangerous precedent.
Collection of racial data by State and Federal governments should be prohibited. I can only speak of my experience living in Michigan. Two years ago, I went in Detroit to order a Social Security card that I misplaced. With my social security number, he was able to see not only the race of my parents (both of whom are black) but mine as well. I fail to find a reason why the government would want to track what they think my ethnicity is. Race collection from the Census is used by businesses, individuals, contractors to seek out areas that are least likely to be populated by minorities.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I wish the government would cease collecting race data on school performance. All across the United States, affirmative action programs have collapsed like a house of cards and the government has shown tepid interest in providing equitable education for all of its citizens. It seems to me that publishing in so many words “Blacks are stupid” does nothing except act as pornography for white nationalists and mars those with African descent with a mark of shame.
3. Law enforcement. The idea of admitting a GED-carrying 21 year-old into a Police Academy replete with watered down curriculum is stupid. Giving them a gun after they complete half-mile walk around the track is even more reckless. Police academies should offer rigorous standards for excellence which includes college-level coursework in mathematics, English, political science, history, psychology, sociology, and State law.
4. Israel. I think Israel treats its Arab citizenry like dogs and I’m ashamed that my country has an alliance with them. Despite this, I do support my country’s efforts in providing technical and financial assistance in setting up missile defense systems (against rocket attacks) on the southern border.
5. State Secession I believe all of the Southern States and West Virginia should have the Right, by popular vote, to secede from the Union and become a territory of the United States.
6. Washington D.C should be a State. ‘Nuff said.
7. Mexico I don’t think its in the United States’ best interest to have a border country thats beset by violence. While I don’t support an invasion of Mexico (yet), I think we should be providing technical and financial assistance to help the government resolve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.
8. Rail System There should be a high-speed, comprehensive rail system that links communities, neighboring cities, and the contiguous forty-eight together.
Banking Instead of proping up capitalism with the FDIC, there ought to be a Federal Bank that individuals utilize instead of begging private banks for funds. The government isn’t going to vanish today, tomorrow, or in the next 100 years; I am of the belief that, as an institution, a federal bank would be timeless and have the patience to lend funds without hyperventiliating if a payment is missed. I owe the governments thousands upon thousands of dollars for student loans. If I go back to school, those loans are frozen until graduation; if I go half-time (just 6 credits) the loans are frozen until the semester is over; if I come on hard times, I can request a deferment; I can even write-off all of the interest I’ve paid off on the loans when tax time rolls around. Could Washington Mutual do that?
Health Care. I think Health Care should be (a) free-to-low cost and available to everyone or (b) allow citizens to pick up low-cost medication from a pharmacist without a prescription.
Ok, flame away, or add your own.
Flame throwers are legal under Federal Law (there may be state or local statutes or laws against owning them where you are). My dad has a propane-powered one. He uses it to burn weeds out of the rock driveway and start bonfires. Also, just to look really cool.
Aside from the flamethrower thing, I think you have a very strange impression of what people will find “shocking.” I mean, really, a lot of that is pretty boring and conventional.
I like the idea of a Federal Bank, but as far as student loans go, all banks freeze loands until graduation and have policies in place for offering a derferment if you fall on hard times. All interest for student loans is also written off your taxes regardless of what bank they came from.
So yes, Washington Mutual and Citibank and Key Bank and HSBC and every other bank you can think of, does that.
Also, how blaphemous can health care be, our President ran on a platform of expanding health care and won. And lots of people want a rail system.
I disagree with this. The District is less than 70 square miles and has a population of less than 600,000. I think that DC deserves representation in Congress and I think that retrocession would be a good idea with a core federal part of the city being outside of the purview of Maryland. That way the citizens of the District get full representation without being over represented. *
I actually wouldn’t mind having state lines redrawn or having Senate seats being apportioned on a population basis but that just wouldn’t work under our federal system and under the Constitution.
Why on earth should the 27th largest city in the US get two senators of its own? Granted one might make similar arguments about Rhode Island or Delaware, but at least there’s history supporting them. Why compound the problem? I’d be all in favor of giving DC congressional representation, and letting its voters participate in Maryland’s senatorial elections, but forget 100% statehood.
I don’t find it inflammatory so much as blisteringly stupid. Glenn Beck, upon reading this post, would grin happily at the realization that, compared to it, the views he expresses on his radio program would seem positively Aristotelian.
#3: Agree, but fat chance. #4: Our whole mid-east policy is fucked up, IMO. Israel is just part of the problem and as responsible as any other party in the chaos. #5: Only if California gets to be its own country. Along with Alaska and Hawaii, if they want to join. And we get Vegas too. #8 and #10: Would be great, but have you taken your meds today?
To add some of my own:
(Takes out marshmallows)
[ol]
[li]I believe quality of life (meaning maximal enjoyment coupled with minimal suffering) should trump length of life.[/li]
To that end, I believe in conditional post-birth abortions (in humans) up to a year or two of age because they haven’t developed much of a personality worth saving by that point; if their cost to parents or society is too great, just trash 'em. Potential schmotential; go save the sperm instead.
I also believe in at-will euthanasia and voluntary suicide and think there should be prescription pills that’ll let people die quickly and painlessly like in the movie Chlidren of Men.
[li]I don’t think human life is inherently worth protecting. I think it should be each society’s choice whether to go carebear humanitarian, all-out eugenics, or somewhere in between. It should not be the UN’s, or any other nation’s, duty to police this as long as the countries in question maintain separate and disconnected existences (like North Korea).[/li]
Along those lines, I find Gandhi and Hitler equally fascinating. I often wonder how a modern Sparta might do.
[li]The first time an adult gets hit or abused, it’s the abuser’s fault. The second time and beyond, I blame the victim for being weak and/or stupid.[/li][li]I believe religious services are stupid because everything is made up of atoms and in that sense we’re all equally immortal (though subject to the occasional violent rearrangement) and equally alive or dead at any given time. Life in general, defined this way, loses much of its sentimental value, which isn’t a terribly bad thing IMO.[/li][li]I believe there should be no jails and criminals should either be rehabilitated (if society deems an individual treatable) or outright killed.[/li][li]Marijuana, narcotics, cannibalism, dueling, gladiatorial combat, prostitution and anything else that’s strictly personal or between informed, consenting adults that does not harm others should be legalized (and taxed accordingly).[/li][li]Nobody should be allowed to be filthy rich and people who exceed a middle-class existence should have their wealth redistributed by the mobs.[/li][/ol]
(Missed edit window) #8: I think both the creation of entirely new lifeforms and the destruction of all life as we know it are equally valid scientific objectives – why stop at anything less than godhood? If we can’t “clap on, clap off” the universe at will, we haven’t learned enough. #9: We should aim to become the Borg and forgo senseless individualism in favor of the collective search for #8.
When I express these views in conversation, I often get incredulous looks followed by “I can’t believe you think that!” I guess you guys have thicker skin than my friends and colleagues.
It is one thing to express one’s opinions. It is a completely different thing to express one’s opinions and back them up with logical reasoning. In either case one should know the facts of which one speaks before expressing opinions.
“'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” A. Lincoln (or Mark Twain depending upon who you believe.)
It has about 10% more people than Wyoming, and is only slightly less populous than Vermont, North Dakota and Alaska. Size doesn’t matter, or at least that’s what I keep telling my wife.
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