Shamelessly... er... borrowed from Electric Venom. 

How have your political views changed since you began blogging?

Hard to say.  I grew up in a rather stringently-conservative family, complete with going to church every Sunday, homeschooling me because the public schools in the area were positively atrocious, Father serving in the military to serve his country, etc. etc. etc.  Oddly enough, when I went to college, I avoided the whole "rebellion" phase (short of not talking to my parents for a year, but that was due to a single incident... most teenagers tend to go all-out), and stuck with the whole conservative thing.  I only mention this because I started blogging when I went to college.  No, not this blog, and I am not even sure I have copies of those early iterations, but it is, indeed, the fact of the situation. 

At the time, I tended to take things rather personally, and get all manner of wound up about them.  I still do, but the order of magnitude was somewhat more substantial in those days, and, due to that shortcoming, I got myself in some serious trouble with my blog...  as in potentially no longer being in college trouble.  Due to that, I did a rather serious reconsideration of my viewpoint on the world around me, and decided to temper it down a considerable amount.  Case in point:  On my way into college, I believed that the laws against drug use made sense, and should, in fact, be made stronger.  These days, I am of the mind that if people want to kill themselves, they are more than welcome to it - but if they even think about trying to take someone with them, can their happy arses. 

So, yeah, reality shock tempered my viewpoints considerably.  That said, I do still strongly believe in many of the things I went into college with.  Of course, I am somewhat less vociferous about them now, but that just makes everyone else happier. 

Are you a Conservative or a Liberal? Or are you one of those other l-words?

I think I adequately answered this question previously, but I thought I might explain a bit more.  I am registered to vote as an Independent, because I do not ascribe to all of the tenets of the current American Conservative party - the Republicans.  We differ on little things like abortion, but we agree on the limitations of the federal government (though their support of that seems to be in name only, these days) and illegal immigration, among other things.  Regardless, I consider my differences with them to be sufficiently ham-stringing to not want to be entirely associated with them.  On the flip side, I disagree with almost everything the current Liberal party (Democrats) has to offer, so there is no hope of sanctuary there. 

In the same vein, I am not a libertarian either...  In the purest sense of what I was taught it would be (minimal government for the internal protection of the people's rights, external protection for the country's rights, and a judicial/treaty system to cover both), it works for me.  But, over the years, the concept has been hijacked by a sufficient number of self-interest groups that the original meaning has been lost.  That, and a definition for the concept is borderline impossible to nail down. 

So, what am I?  After doing a little poking around, I guess I fall under the heading of darwinistic objectivist.  Yeah, that is something of a made up concept, but since I firmly believe in the power of laissez-faire economies, survival of the fittest, personal rights and, by extension, personal accountability, and mutual respect for no better reason than just because...  I guess those two words best sum up what socio-political views I have. 

So what do I vote for, when I do so?  In all honesty, I tend to vote against the incumbent, unless I firmly believe in what he or she is doing.  A little shaking-up is useful for many systems that often get stuck in their tracks, like any political organization almost always does. 

What’s the short version of what you believe?

Well, I seem to be answering the next question in the process of answering the previous question.  Telepathic, I am.  Now for the slightly longer, but still hopefully short, story. 

Firstly, I am religious.  The Nicene Creed sums up, rather nicely.  Of course, I am also one of those annoying people who believes that all of those various mono- and poly-theistic religions around the world, all worship the same entity.  Sure, the message often gets interpreted all manner of different ways by different people having different backgrounds in different parts of the world, but I guess you could view it as the ultimate monotheism.  Any way you cut it, the thermodynamics of hell indicate that no single religion's God can be the only God, so why keep trying to put Him in a box, and give him the whole bloody universe.  He made it, after all.  Regardless, these days I am not church-going, but this does not eliminate me from being religious...  I just have not yet decided which Christian sect would be best suited for my current beliefs, especially since they have not settled down yet. 

Second, I believe in creationism.  And evolution.  The two concepts are far from being mutually exclusive - I simply believe that God set the universe a-spinnin', and then sat back to see where it went, possibly giving a nudge here and there when things potentially could have gone awry.  After all, He does not play dice.  It is fun to be hated by both camps, though. 

Third, I believe in personal accountability and responsibility.  In that vein, I do believe in people living and letting live.  If people actually had the spine to take care of themselves and those dependent upon themselves, the world would be in a lot happier place.  There would always be the outliers who wanted to do their own things, but the rest could keep them under control... or at least sufficiently distanced from the rest of society to not be a problem. 

Those are the high points, I think...  I could go on, but I will leave it at that. 

How do you justify your views to those who do not share them?

I do not. 

*shrugs*  If there is one thing that spending the last six years intensively online and immersed in the communities found there have taught me, it is that it is not worth the time, effort, and frustration involved.  I recently quit, cold turkey, an online, web-based game I had been playing for five years now...  I was involved in the web board community, hell, I was even an operator in the game's IRC channel.  But I realized I was getting too involved...  too concerned about getting my point across...  too worried about it in general.  So I stopped. 

You will note, even here, I try not to get in debates with anyone.  This place is a place for me to vent my thoughts, and make them known to the universe around me...  Whether you agree with it or not, that is your problem.  Feel free to express your agreement or disagreement here, but do not expect me to bandy words with you just because.  Just as I have learned that trying to convince anyone of anything is a moot point, trying to convince me of anything is too.  At least I have the nerve to admit it.  If I am going to change my mind, it will be a decision I make for myself - forcing it on me is guaranteed to not work. 

If there were no attention to be gained by answering this, would you still have the same answers?

I answer to myself, and, as I said, I write here just to put my viewpoint out there.  If I lie here, my entire weblog is suspect, and while that would be an interesting prospect, I can promise you it is not the case. 

Anywise, Kate declared this a meme, and while I am not proud enough to think that people regularly read my weblog, if you stumble across this and feel the need to share, knock yourself out.