Why did you choose your political beliefs?

[Angermanland]

federalizing Europe?

ehh, sure. why not.

it works so very well for the USA after all...

note sarcasm.

then again, economically you've already set yourselves up (except for britain) to gut everything save the city-region that exports the most to areas Outside the euro-zone within the next several decades. might take a century or two if you're lucky. assuming the whole EU thing lasts that long.

(and whoever said that assassinations were Rare in medieval etc. times clearly wasn't paying attention. assasination of the current head of state might have been, depending on the where and when, but assassination of whoever was next in line for the throne or whatever was insanely common. being more totalitarian doesn't reduce that. it reduces the number of viable alternatives to it.)

[Atollus]

I'm a Meritocrat. I believe government should be run by those best able to run a government, and can do so without unnecessarily interfering with the daily lives of their citizens. The idea that our leaders should be selected by what amounts to a popularity contest, is simply insane to me.

Economically I'm a right-leaning moderate. Socially I believe everyone has the right to do whatever the hell they want as long as they don't harm anyone but themselves in the process. Unless of course they are defending themselves.

As for how I can by these beliefs, it was a matter of growing up and being exposed to the internet as I did so. Always going with what makes the most sense to me.

[Kemaliste]

I'm a left-wing nationalist and state socialist. But I'm in favor of most of social freedoms and rights, including LGBT (with the exception of ''Adoption'') as well as press freedoms and freedom of expressions, unless some people attempt to insult the national values, the national flag and the great founder and provoke people via press (religious extremists come to mind).

I'm a nationalist, because the conditions of the geography I live in make it necessary (If I had lived in scandinavia for example, I might not have been). I'm a left-winger (socialist), because I fully advocate social equalities, popular sovereignty and social revolutions and reject capitalist system and all kinds of conservativism. Also, I'm influenced by great revolutionary heros in the history, who fought imperialists and exploiters, such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Vladimir I. Lenin, Josip Broz Tito and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

And I've gathered all these ideas under the roof of Kemalism, which already advocates Statism, Populism and Revolutionarism, based on anti-imperialism and national sovereignty and which I believe to be a source of inspiration for some of the leaders I mentioned above and other important political figures.

[Aethelstania]

I know it dosn't I never said it did ... I said that its not a politically moderate stance to take which it isn't because saying that the EU should become one unified state is an EXTREME persepective to have.

Eurofederalism isn't extremism. Communism, fascism and nazism are, but the idea that Europe should become a federal state isn't.

Left or Right is irrelevant its still ridiculous. And I for one think Mrs Thatcher was a nescesery evil she did save the UK to a certain degree but the Neo Liberal dogma is damaging! I believe in Capitalism I beleive in Free Markets but what you see Globally today is a sign of neo-liberalism gone mad and corporate greed (as well as reckless government spending).

Neoliberalist economic policies would work just fine if it wasn't for government intervention in the economy (a.k.a. keynesianism). Leftist economic policies and reckless government spending were behind the financial crisis, for example.

You cant argue now that the economic ideas of Thatcher are perfect when we can still see the damage that was done 20 years after her time in office ended. You see whole minning towns that still havn't recovered, it may have saved the country money but what about the vast unemployed left behind. You cant just write that off! you said you respect invidiual liberty and rights, I do as well. What about the rights of the vast unemployed?

That's what happens when you join and support an union that's essentialy a mafia. Mafia means organized crime, and Thatcher stamped down on organized crime (unions). The unemployed have rights, but they're not entitles to anything. Especially not other people's money.

Name one mainstream politician that genuinly advocates the creation of a federal Europe , you can count them on your hard and they are all NUTTERS. How can the destruction of dozens of independent states into one new nation not be extreme! Markets may run unregulated but to what end, The whole reason why I advocate some intervention is because Captalism is good at producing wealth but it not good at being ethical. Was it government intervention that forced banks to lend money to people buying houses that they knew they couldn't afford! It was neo -liberalism that started the ridiculous notion that we should all own our houses and encorouge us to live outside our means! It was the government that spent to much this is true but the cause of the crisis not at all it just hurts the recovery. I agree the unions where to powerfull but you can stamp on the unions without destryoing its members. And the unions are not a mafia I'm sorry.

[Kuoal]

Lets see I live in a bigoted neo-con town that hates gay people, hates blacks, hates Latinos. After watching CNN for so long my liberal stance took full affect after the 2008 elections.

Proud Liberal Democrat

Obama 2012!

Commie.

We totally hate gay people for opposing their "rights" movement.
We totally hate black people.. (Condoleeza Rice, Allen West..)
We totally hate Latinos too... (Marco Rubio)

CNN is the Communist News Network, and MSNBC is the Most Socialist News (also) Broadcasting Communism.

MITT ROMNEY 2012
Proud Right Extremist
Proud AMERICAN.

[Hasuut Inu Tlomaq]

I've tended to be hard-right and in high school was very much attracted to Nazism, which I've outgrown. I can't be a Communist because I've been to the lands of my ancestors, Slovakia and Poland, and saw what a mess the Communists made of those countries.
And I am thus wary of big governemnt but I do believe that a society is judged on how it treats those less able to do for themselves.
I've also moved somewhat to the left since coming out as bisexual. I used to say that I was a social conservative on everything except the gay issues--but that's kind of like saying I agree with Christians on everything except Jesus.

So, call me a conservative-leaning moderate. I get the truth somewhere between NPR and Fox News.

[Divair]

Hardcore liberal with libertarian ideals. This roughly equates to a social democracy. I chose this political stance partly because I'm an empathetic person and because tolerance is cool. The libertarian ideals got thrown in there because I like having flexibility in life.


As for the meritocracy bit, I support a meritocracy because I'm a cynical bastard (which is probably bad considering my age)

[Condunum]

I'm rather centrist; I tend to lean left on social issues, and right on economic issues. Through and through, I guess I could be called a libertarian. Shocker with my age, I know.

[Svobodu]

Like anyone else, I interpreted experiences to come to my own beliefs.

[Letat]

A religious epiphany led me to view all people as fundamentally deserving of some basic level of compassion, respect, and dignity. I've since shed the religion, but kept the epiphany. As such, I strongly support people's personal autonomy in political, social, and cultural matters. I think economic autonomy is more complicated. Economics is about the distribution of goods in society, and thus should be directed for overall societal benefit. Moreover, economic autonomy tends to be more zero-sum than other forms of autonomy, e.g. giving a manager more discretion to run their facility necessarily reduces a worker's autonomy in the same facility and vice versa. Thus, I see an appropriate role for strategic state intervention in the economy to provide a framework for economic growth and ensure a decent standard of living for everyone - including well-enforced regulations and a limited number of state-owned enterprises (aimed at providing basic services like healthcare and infrastructure). I'm not against using the market to allocate resources per se, but I'd like to see small-scale experiments to determine the viability of alternate modes of production other than modern capitalism.

[Free Soviets]

Mainly because Fascism makes sense to me and also probably because my authoritarian views are influenced by my own country.

And I'm also Fascist because of my personal experiences. Among other things.

The notion of an absolute leader and a syncretic ideology have long appealed to me. Conventional leftist and rightist ideologies tend to be very dry and coldness. Liberal democracy and all it's checks and balances have long restricted the executive power of the State and Fascism seeks to counter that. Even in many democracies, governments are held hostage to the whims of the people and in some cases, this prevents a critical addressing of current issues and at the same time, weakens pragmatic common-sense (I am also a firm believer in pragmatism) in exchange for populism. This has been acutely demonstrated in Greece and Europe as well as the United States where political deadlock and instability is rife. Fascism and the Strong State prevents that from becoming a reality and ensures the vitality of the State just as it should be. Of course I am a bit of a technocrat as well.

and what about the fact that fascism simply doesn't run things better than democracies do? the best-run fascist states have done about as well as the worst-run democracies. the ideology, even if it was philosophically appealing (and it fundamentally isn't), completely fails the test of reality.

[Mavorpen]

Because I read.

[Kvatchdom]

I kinda got tangled into Socialism the first time we discussed The Finnish civil war in history a loong time ago. I wasn't interested at first, but then I read The Communist Manifesto. Reading it permanently turned me into a far-left 'Left Communist'. I'm also an Anti-fascist, an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, Anarcho-queer(Really, google it ), libertarian on social issues and an ultra-leftist.

[Greater Canadian Dominions]

I am Social Democrat, Democratic socialist and Liberal nationalist to sum it up I am a leftist. I am against conservativism, and right-wing beliefs in general.

[Betoni]

I chose the one that had the best teeth.

[Zottistan]

Radical. Because if no one was radical, there would be too many conservatives.

[Divair]

Radical. Because if no one was radical, there would be too many conservatives.

wut

Just because you aren't radical doesn't mean you are conservative.

[Camelza]

Lets see I live in a bigoted neo-con town that hates gay people, hates blacks, hates Latinos. After watching CNN for so long my liberal stance took full affect after the 2008 elections.

Proud Liberal Democrat

Obama 2012!

Commie.

We totally hate gay people for opposing their "rights" movement.
We totally hate black people.. (Condoleeza Rice, Allen West..)
We totally hate Latinos too... (Marco Rubio)

CNN is the Communist News Network, and MSNBC is the Most Socialist News (also) Broadcasting Communism.

MITT ROMNEY 2012
Proud Right Extremist
Proud AMERICAN.

you'll be surprised if you find out what socialism truly is
for a European democratic socialist/social democrat ,the Dems are center/center-right

[Galloism]

NS has moved me further to the left since my tenure as the ruler of France.

It's just logical.

I still hold fast on gun rights, though.

[Zottistan]

Radical. Because if no one was radical, there would be too many conservatives.

wut

Just because you aren't radical doesn't mean you are conservative.

Everyone's conservative from the radical's point of view.

[Greater Tezdrian]

For a vast and sundry variety of reasons, spanning my personality, aesthetic taste, etc. For the record, I'm a pro-Autocratic, parafascist idealist who is a member of the National Capitalist Party.

[The Darwinian People]

I am national socialist, I actually came to my beliefs after spending time on NationStates. I was originally a social democrat but, living in the UK, I have become more and more despondent with democracy and the almost superfluous nature of politics in my country; most of the general public is completely ignorant and the politicians like to keep it that way. I have been a socialist for as long as I can remember, I grew up on a council estate and saw first hand the disastrous effects that unrestrained capitalism has had. But my nationalism and social conservatism came later as I started to grow resentful of the under-class and it's complete disregard for moral authority.

[Proloteriat]

Well it started belive it or not with Destroy All Humans 2 that had something against the USSR. I researched the USSR and became a nutter of a commie. I slowly liberalised into Demorcatic socialism.

[The Drone Empire]

Liberal, since its not conservative.

When Liberal turns evil, conservative, cause its not liberal.


Yay for treachery!

[Disserbia]

I've rather had mine bludgeoned into me. I tend to be very moderate because of that, because I think pragmatism is one of the most important things in considering how to solve issues of any scale in a world as diverse as the one we find ourselves in today.