21. Reparations: No way. Those originally owned as slaves are dead and those are the only people who would deserve reparations.
22. Retain the Death Penalty: Yes. But only for murder and treason, and the burden of proof must be above that of simple conviction. If there is any doubt we should err on the side of life. We also need more layers of review before an execution should take place, and the Death Penalty should never be used on the mentally ill or those who committed the crime before the age of 18.
23. Right to Die: This encompasses two issues, the right of a person who can't survive off life support to be taken off life support and die, and euthanasia.
a. Someone who put into legal writing that they wish to die should be able to. It should be their decision alone unless they were mentally incompetent when they filed the papers.
b. I also support euthanasia but think this is an issue that states, not the federal government or judges should decide. Safeguards must be put into place to make sure the person choosing to die is mentally competent and is doing it of his own free will. Other than those considerations I have no problem with Euthanasia.
24. Tax Cuts: The lower the better. I oppose the flat tax because I think the rich should pay more, but they should also pay as little as possible and never under any circumstances (except emergencies like a world war) should someone ever have to pay half their money to the government. A good top rate to aim for would be 25%, but that's probably hoping for too much.
25. Terrorism: We must fight terrorism as a war not a law enforcement problem and we must fight it to win. Islamic Terrorism is the greatest threat to freedom and western civilization in the world right now and we must treat it as such.
26. War on Drugs: Yes. Drugs like crack and meth should be illegal, and we should do everything we can to keep them off the street. I also think some of the newer more potent strains of marijuana should be prohibited because some of them have possible links to mental illness. I am not opposed to legalizing the safer strains of marijuana but it is a decision best left to the states.
27. Wartime Liberty: Our basic freedoms must be maintained in wartime. Freedom of speech should never be restrained and elections should never be delayed under any circumstances. But we must do everything possible to keep America's citizens safe, I fully support the Patriot Act and Terrorist surveillance. These are tools needed to fight terrorism which we badly need, but we must be cautious not to go too far and lose the precious freedoms we are fighting to protect.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Conservative Atheist Positions part 4
16. Intervention: We can't get involved in every problem around the world but we should not ignore mass murder and genocide. This is where the UN should help, but they are too busy lining their pockets. The situation is out of control in Darfur and the UN isn't doing anything helpful, something has to be done. We should also provide in non-military assistance to some democracy movements in oppressive countries like Iran.
17. Judicial Activism: Judges should follow the constitution not their own whims. If you don't like a law then ask your lawmakers to change it, and if they won't do it then vote them out of office.
18. Immigration: Immigration enriches our country but illegal immigration is harming us. We have a minimum of 12 million illegal aliens here and more coming every day. We have to secure the boarder now, whatever the cost and reduce the number of incoming legal immigrants for about 10 years. We also need a more balanced immigration policy, most immigrants coming here are from Latin America and this will change our culture in ways we still don't know. The left likes the current immigration trend because it grows their voter base. They will not want to change it but we need to change things so that we bring in more high skilled people, and make the cultural origins of incoming immigrants look more like America. We shouldn't stop immigration from non western cultures because that would be bigoted, but neither should we change the face of our country to satisfy the wants of power hungry liberals.
19. Iraq: I supported the coalition led by the United States going in to Iraq, removing Saddam and establishing democracy but the sad fact is President Bush has badly mismanaged the war. He either ignored recommendations from the pentagon saying we would need at least 300,000 troops, or his advisers did not give him this information. America is in a precarious position, if we leave right now Iran will be unimpeded in trying to gain control of the country and terrorists will use it as a staging ground. If we stay without a massive increase in troops we will continue to lose soldiers at the current rate and further strain an army already stretched too thin. We need to help the Iraqis secure democracy but more troops and new tactics are badly needed, as well as getting the Iraqi government to settle points of contention between factions like oil revenues.
20. Prostitution: This is an issue best left to the states. Having said that I support it in principle, states that legalize it should regulate it to ensure that those who engage in it are free of sexually transmitted diseases. Regular testing would be a must which would mean they would probably have to apply for a license. I don't think this is an important enough issue for the federal government to get involved so states should be free to ban it or legalize it.
17. Judicial Activism: Judges should follow the constitution not their own whims. If you don't like a law then ask your lawmakers to change it, and if they won't do it then vote them out of office.
18. Immigration: Immigration enriches our country but illegal immigration is harming us. We have a minimum of 12 million illegal aliens here and more coming every day. We have to secure the boarder now, whatever the cost and reduce the number of incoming legal immigrants for about 10 years. We also need a more balanced immigration policy, most immigrants coming here are from Latin America and this will change our culture in ways we still don't know. The left likes the current immigration trend because it grows their voter base. They will not want to change it but we need to change things so that we bring in more high skilled people, and make the cultural origins of incoming immigrants look more like America. We shouldn't stop immigration from non western cultures because that would be bigoted, but neither should we change the face of our country to satisfy the wants of power hungry liberals.
19. Iraq: I supported the coalition led by the United States going in to Iraq, removing Saddam and establishing democracy but the sad fact is President Bush has badly mismanaged the war. He either ignored recommendations from the pentagon saying we would need at least 300,000 troops, or his advisers did not give him this information. America is in a precarious position, if we leave right now Iran will be unimpeded in trying to gain control of the country and terrorists will use it as a staging ground. If we stay without a massive increase in troops we will continue to lose soldiers at the current rate and further strain an army already stretched too thin. We need to help the Iraqis secure democracy but more troops and new tactics are badly needed, as well as getting the Iraqi government to settle points of contention between factions like oil revenues.
20. Prostitution: This is an issue best left to the states. Having said that I support it in principle, states that legalize it should regulate it to ensure that those who engage in it are free of sexually transmitted diseases. Regular testing would be a must which would mean they would probably have to apply for a license. I don't think this is an important enough issue for the federal government to get involved so states should be free to ban it or legalize it.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Conservative Atheist Positions part 3
11. Freedom of Speech/Expression: I stand firmly on the side of free speech, even when it is hateful and offensive. Anyone should be able to express any ideas they wish short of actually inciting people to commit violence or willful defamation. About the only limits to this would be things like child pornography, simulated or real and giving information to our enemies which would aid attacks on us or harm our security, but the right to be able to say in public the president is scum without fear of arrest is vital to a free society.
12. Gay Marriage: I fully support gay marriage but recognize there is not support in the Constitution for forcing the government to recognize it. I also think that this is an issue that states should deal with. If we can get a couple states to recognize gay marriage by popular mandate it will spread to other states. Judges should stay out of this and let the people decide, but I hope the people decide to legalize same-sex marriage.
13. Global Warming: It's clear global warming exists, but I'm not sure if it is the result of human activity or a natural cycle. Most scientists seem to think it is caused by humans, but a significant minority think it is not. Both sides need to be given consideration. Until the argument is decided I think we should work to reduce carbon emissions but not let it cripple the economy.
14. Guns: I fully support the right to bear arms, Americans need the right to have guns for protection, and because the second amendment gives us that right so that if the government becomes a tyranny the people can revolt. Gun control advocates will tell you that the second amendment is really about state militias, but a quick read of the second amendment will show you this is bull, " A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". They are talking about peoples' militias not government militias, government militias having guns is only common sense, there's no need to put that in the constitution.
15. Health care: There are serious flaws in America's health care system, but socialist medicine is not the answer. There are many ways the poor can get cheap if not free health care services. Many of these services are bureaucratic and overlap each other. We should start from scratch to build an efficient and working Health Welfare service that will take care of those who can't afford the health sevices they need, but keep private health care.
12. Gay Marriage: I fully support gay marriage but recognize there is not support in the Constitution for forcing the government to recognize it. I also think that this is an issue that states should deal with. If we can get a couple states to recognize gay marriage by popular mandate it will spread to other states. Judges should stay out of this and let the people decide, but I hope the people decide to legalize same-sex marriage.
13. Global Warming: It's clear global warming exists, but I'm not sure if it is the result of human activity or a natural cycle. Most scientists seem to think it is caused by humans, but a significant minority think it is not. Both sides need to be given consideration. Until the argument is decided I think we should work to reduce carbon emissions but not let it cripple the economy.
14. Guns: I fully support the right to bear arms, Americans need the right to have guns for protection, and because the second amendment gives us that right so that if the government becomes a tyranny the people can revolt. Gun control advocates will tell you that the second amendment is really about state militias, but a quick read of the second amendment will show you this is bull, " A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". They are talking about peoples' militias not government militias, government militias having guns is only common sense, there's no need to put that in the constitution.
15. Health care: There are serious flaws in America's health care system, but socialist medicine is not the answer. There are many ways the poor can get cheap if not free health care services. Many of these services are bureaucratic and overlap each other. We should start from scratch to build an efficient and working Health Welfare service that will take care of those who can't afford the health sevices they need, but keep private health care.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Conservative Atheist Positions part 2
6. Church and State: This is really several issues and I almost always stand on the side of keeping them separate.
A. Creationism is religion masquerading as science and should not be taught in school, in fact we should show students all the twisted irrationalities and deceptions of creationism and ID so they know it's nonsense.
B. The pledge of allegiance as currently written is downright theocratic in telling people that this is "one nation under god", it is an insult to the millions of patriotic Americans like myself who do not believe in a god but love this country dearly.
C. I also oppose school prayer as an official part of the day, schools are for learning not religion. If some students decide to pray at lunch that's their business.
D. If you want to know my position on the ten commandments being in public places all you have to do is read the first commandment " I am the lord thy god, thou shalt have no other gods before me". If that isn't a blatant attempt at religious intrusion I don't know what is.
E. About the only issues where I think the church-state separation crowd goes to far are ones like baning Christmas trees in public places or changing the holiday's name to "winter holiday", I am not offended in the least by the word Christmas or even being told "Merry Christmas". Pettiness like this diverts us from the important issues.
7. Energy: We need serious investment into research of alternative energy sources. We should make this a modern day Manhattan project. We should also raise fuel efficiency standards reasonably every several years for Cars, Trucks and even planes. Having said that we still need fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, so we must drill in ANWR and off the coasts in an environmentally responsible way to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
8. Environment: We need to protect our environment and our natural resources from irreparable harm. There are several very important issues that must be addressed like over fishing, species extinction and possibly global warming. But the far left has hijacked the environmental movement for their own agenda, anti-capitalism. All you have to do is listen to them it's nearly always anti-corporate rants and anti-capitalist diatribes. We need to take back the environmental movement from these extremists for the good of our planet.
9. Fairness Doctrine: The left can't stand that conservatives dominate talk radio so they want to get around the first amendment to shut them up. The solution to this is to oppose the so called fairness doctrine in privately owned media, but to demand it in publicly owned media like NPR and PBS which the left controls using your tax dollars.
10. Flag Burning Amendment: Burning the American flag to protest our country's policies is Un-American. The flag is a symbol of what America stands for not our current foreign or domestic policy which changes all the time. However, burning the flag is a form of expression of the feelings of what the protester thinks of America and that must be protected. They can burn the flag but they have no right to prevent my freedom to say they are Anti-American scum.
A. Creationism is religion masquerading as science and should not be taught in school, in fact we should show students all the twisted irrationalities and deceptions of creationism and ID so they know it's nonsense.
B. The pledge of allegiance as currently written is downright theocratic in telling people that this is "one nation under god", it is an insult to the millions of patriotic Americans like myself who do not believe in a god but love this country dearly.
C. I also oppose school prayer as an official part of the day, schools are for learning not religion. If some students decide to pray at lunch that's their business.
D. If you want to know my position on the ten commandments being in public places all you have to do is read the first commandment " I am the lord thy god, thou shalt have no other gods before me". If that isn't a blatant attempt at religious intrusion I don't know what is.
E. About the only issues where I think the church-state separation crowd goes to far are ones like baning Christmas trees in public places or changing the holiday's name to "winter holiday", I am not offended in the least by the word Christmas or even being told "Merry Christmas". Pettiness like this diverts us from the important issues.
7. Energy: We need serious investment into research of alternative energy sources. We should make this a modern day Manhattan project. We should also raise fuel efficiency standards reasonably every several years for Cars, Trucks and even planes. Having said that we still need fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, so we must drill in ANWR and off the coasts in an environmentally responsible way to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
8. Environment: We need to protect our environment and our natural resources from irreparable harm. There are several very important issues that must be addressed like over fishing, species extinction and possibly global warming. But the far left has hijacked the environmental movement for their own agenda, anti-capitalism. All you have to do is listen to them it's nearly always anti-corporate rants and anti-capitalist diatribes. We need to take back the environmental movement from these extremists for the good of our planet.
9. Fairness Doctrine: The left can't stand that conservatives dominate talk radio so they want to get around the first amendment to shut them up. The solution to this is to oppose the so called fairness doctrine in privately owned media, but to demand it in publicly owned media like NPR and PBS which the left controls using your tax dollars.
10. Flag Burning Amendment: Burning the American flag to protest our country's policies is Un-American. The flag is a symbol of what America stands for not our current foreign or domestic policy which changes all the time. However, burning the flag is a form of expression of the feelings of what the protester thinks of America and that must be protected. They can burn the flag but they have no right to prevent my freedom to say they are Anti-American scum.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Conservative Atheist positions part 1
There is a wide diversity of opinion among conservative atheists. We all reject the belief in a Deity and have a basic political philosophy of conservatism but beyond that you can find much difference. You'll find Conservative Atheists on both sides of the abortion debate, the gay marriage debate, the flag burning amendment and many others. Having said that, most conservative atheists are strong proponents of the separation of church and state, support lower taxes and less regulation. With that in mind here are my positions on the major issues (for the positions of another conservative atheist check out conservativeatheist.com )-
1. Abortion: Pro-life, Roe V Wade needs to be overturned. There is no constitutional right to have an abortion, unfortunately there is no constitutional protection for the unborn either so once over turned abortion law will be decided by the states. I would support a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, however, provisions need to be included to protect the life and the long term health of the mother.
2. Affirmative Action: No, it was needed once but it's time has long passed. No rational person can say America is still not an integrated society, affirmative action must end, and no discrimination should be tolerated.
3. Aid to Africa: Yes, America and other developed nations should do what the can to help Africa. We need to fight AIDS in Africa as well as help build infrastructure that will help poor African nations feed themselves, have clean water, and encourage businesses there to provide jobs. A prosperous Africa is good for America too.
4. Animal Rights: No, animals have no rights. People who abuse animals should be punished under animal cruelty laws but animals are not sentient. Animals provide us with food, clothing, and other essentials for life, and that should continue. Animals kill each other for food because it's in their nature, just like it's in our nature to do so.
4. Animal Rights: No, animals have no rights. People who abuse animals should be punished under animal cruelty laws but animals are not sentient. Animals provide us with food, clothing, and other essentials for life, and that should continue. Animals kill each other for food because it's in their nature, just like it's in our nature to do so.
5. Big Government: No, we need less government not more. There are legitimate things that should be regulated, like food safety and medicine, and product safety in general but we need to make sure that companies aren't overburdened with unnecessary and cumbersome regulations, all government regulations should be subject to periodic reviews every few years with congressional over site and regulations deemed unnecessary should be wiped off the books. The same should be the case for government agencies, they need to be lean and efficient not bureaucratic nightmares.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Hello Everyone
This blog was created to give a little more voice to a viewpoint rarely seen, the Conservative Atheist. Most of my posts will be about politics, Atheism and topics relevant to them. I also hope that Conservative Atheists who see my blog will be more willing to let Liberal Atheists and Religious Conservatives know that not all atheists are liberal and not all conservatives believe in god. I will also respond from time to time to comments from readers so if you have a question about my views or about one of my posts, post a comment and I will try to respond.
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