Sunday, February 27, 2011

Preferences vs principles 2: the other side of the coin

As I said previously, most of my personal preferences could be said to be "conservative". But not all. There are a few things that could be seen as "liberal".

For example:

I despise religion of any sort. It's your business if you want to worship something/someone as long as you don't try to coerce anyone else to go along. That means you don't base "laws" on your superstitions.

I also have a lot of skepticism of "traditional morality" when it comes to sex and "family". I don't think the traditional family works too well for a lot of people. Maybe most people can force themselves into that too-round hole, but in a lot of cases it isn't a comfortable fit.

I also doubt that punishment does much to change behavior. Instead I'm afraid it simply reinforces an "us vs them" mentality in those who are punished- especially when the punishment is out of proportion to the act (such as in the case of ALL counterfeit "laws"). And I trust no State enough to give it the "authority" to kill people for any reason. (The ONLY legitimate death penalty is carried out at the time and place of the attack, by the intended victim or a rescuer.)