I feel obligated now to take up your challenge, so here goes:

1. economy I’ll give myself a C here (for Communist, I’m so far beyond a D+ here that it’s really not enough). It’s not that I don’t think capitalism is an efficient mechanism, rather it’s “too” efficient, and inherently breeds corruption (because it concentrates power). With respect to some other issues (like the environment and natural resources), the cost is so high, that it’s really necessary to have very strong government/community controls to offset the “natural greed” in humans that causes us to pollute our water, air and earth and not think intelligently about how individual daily choices effect the legacy our offspring (and their offspring) will inherit.

2. Iraq I’m going to call this a D+ — that is I’m at the position that I feel the Democrats *ought* to be at. I can still remember vividly Robert Byrd’s impassioned pleas to stop this folly long before the war (when the Senate was discussing whatever resolution drastically increased the powers of the executive branch to handle this mess before we really officially got embroiled in it). To me it’s sad that so many democrats are hiding behind the “we need to support the troops” nonsense. I support the troops too, which is why I want them all to come home as soon as possible. I no longer buy any argument about how the US forces leaving Iraq would leave some sort of “hotbed breeding ground for more terrorists”, which is just insane. It couldn’t possibly do as much as the G. W. Bush policy has around the world to marginalize muslims and other poor folks into following the crazed path toward violent struggle against us and suicide bombing, etc…

3. Civil Liberties I’m in favor of more of them than we currently have (I was of the same position before 9/11, but the changes that have happened since then (pushing things much farther in the other direction) mean that this is now a “hot-button” issue with me. I’d have to say that this is sort of NC in 2008 (because by now, the Democrats and the Republicans have both completely abandoned huge chunks of the constitution in the name of “security theater”, which just drives me crazy, because it basically means that Osama Bin Laden won this round (I honestly believe that he knew the acts he directed on 9/11 would essentially close down our previously much more open society)).

4. Free Speech I guess I’m a D+ here (anyone should be able to say anything, anytime they want).

5. Judges D+ — I’m in favor of judges who aren’t corrupt and I am not against racial quotas in some circumstances (which is a rather left-leaning unpopular position at this point in time I think).

6a. Government Spending D+ I’m in favor of lots of government spending on infrastructure, education, arts, and wherever else “needed”. What I’m not in favor of is bloated bureaucracies that are inefficient and/or corrupt. (and I realize that the status quo rather resembles the latter, but I can dream (and work towards that dream becoming a reality)).

6b Government Intrusiveness R or R+ Sorry Terry, I’m not going to let you get away with lumping two completely unrelated issues together :-] I’m basically a libertarian when it comes to Government Intrusiveness (except where it comes to children’s welfare, in those cases, I think a proactive, efficient system capable of intervening whenever abuse, neglect, etc… is present is an obligation of any civilized society).

7 Prayer in schools D+ I’m with Terry on this one (or maybe even farther over). If I were ever to live anywhere that tried to institude prayer in schools, I’d be right there vigorously arguing for the rights of devotees of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (affectionately called Pastafarians) and those who worship the GoatOnAPole.com

8 Education D+ I’m for charter schools and lots of other options. I’m not really so in favor of religious schools getting the same options though, as they really seem to be a different sort of institution, with a different goal (IMNHO).

9 Abortion D+ I’m with ex-Senator Allen Simpson (a Republican, I believe) who once said something like: “I don’t even think that men should be allowed to vote on women’s reproductive issues.” It’s 2008 for FSM’s sake, isn’t it about time that our society(ies) can stop institutionally repressing women?

10 Campaign Financing NC I’m in favor of money being less of a factor. I don’t really care how we get there. If someone proposes a ban on all private money in campaigns (and can figure out how to enforce that) I’d probably be for it. It’d really be great if elections were about issues instead of spin.

11 Gay Rights D+ This one is a no brainer. In may opinion if you’re actually against gay rights (in any way), you’re either a psychopath or a homophobe (or perhaps both). And for those of you out there proud of your intolerance, get a damn clue. GLBT folks have been discriminated against forever, almost always by small-minded people with irrational fears.

12 Health Care D+ I’m in favor of universal health care. I’m also quite opposed to the current system (which incidentally treats me and my family just fine, but also is incredibly wasteful in the way resources get allocated).

13 Immigration D+ I’m very liberal on immigration because of my certainty that our economy would collapse (or at least suffer huge pains as resources were re-allocated) if we were to kick out all the current illegal immigrants in this country that are doing much of the work that current (legal) USians are too lazy or stuck-up or proud to do for anything close to the wages that hungry immigrants are willing to work for. In the long run, I do think that the solution is to try to have everyone earn a fair wage for a good day’s work (whatever the work is), and that we should definitely work towards a long-term solution to the continuing problem of illegal immigration, but we’re nowhere near being able to implement it.

By the way, I voted for Edwards in the Democratic primary (I’ll vote for either Hillary or Barack in the general election against any Republican except Ron Paul (in the unlikely event that Ron Paul were to win the Republican nomination, I’m not sure what I’d do, but I probably won’t need to make that decision)).

Thanks for the analysis. I knew my rating system wasn’t perfect but I will look at what you say and evaluate.

Dawn,

I didn’t say anything about local issues because my experience has been that the farther down the food chain you get (feds, state, county, municipal), the fewer differences there are between the parties.

In covering several municipal elections in NY and CT, I have yet to see significant differences based on party affiliation. Typically, the differences are more within the parties themselves (e.g. Salisbury GOP in 2005 and Amenia GOP and Dems just about any election year).

There’s an old maxim about parties in local politics that I think holds true: “There is no Democratic or Republican way to fill a pothole.”

I consider myself a mainstream Republican and only differ significantly on one issue (the war). That’s a big issue of course, but you do seem to support winning now that we are in. That would differentiate you from the Democrat party and should be marked as an “R-”, in my opinion.

On schools and abortion you are much more in line with Republicans than Democrats. The first should be an “R+”, the second should be an “R” or “R-”. Immigration should be an “NC” or an “R-”/”D-”. You are basically offering the Bush/McCain-Kennedy position.

I would question the way you have described the “Free Speech” debate. Virtually no one questions the right to free speech. The left has made an attempt to roll up a number of disparate issues under a “free speech” rubric, but that would seem to be more for political expediency than intellectual honesty. My view is that it’s probably better to consider each item individually. That said, none of the positions you take under this “free speech” category would necessarily put you at odds with many in the Republican Party (certainly they don’t me).

I agree with your rating of everything else. With my changes, you are clearly more heavily weighted toward the Republican Party. You would appear to be well within the “fiscally conservative” branch of the Republican Party, the part of the party represented in this cycle by Mitt Romney (what a surprise!).

You are also not so far from the platform of the DLC Democrats either, though they probably wouldn’t be as stridently anti-Iraq as you. They also seem to be missing in action in this cycle.

Clearly, however, you would be least comfortable with the more partisan extremes of either party - positions like those of George Bush in the last cycle and Barack Obama (most liberal voting record in the Senate) in this one.

But I guess the same could go for ANY decission left to states like that.

No beer on sundays?

I think you would be hard-pressed to find a mainstream Dem willing to go on-the-record as saying Roe should be overturned and the power to regulate abortions returned to the states.

That’s typically a pro-life position. I think it would be the kiss of death for a Dem presidential nominee (or a Dem congressional candidate in solidly Dem district or state.

Good luck with your show and tomorrow’s reception. I will be skiing with my kids and unable to attend.

Thanks, I think …

Peter,

I knew I left out some important issues. I am against capital punishment. I think it’s barbaric and I’ve seen no evidence that it’s a deterrent to homicide. It’s worse even than the murder itself because executions are state-sanctioned. So, for that matter, are taxpayer-funded late-term abortions. Score me a solid D on capital punishment.

As for gun control, I addressed that subject on this blog after the Virginia Tech massacre. Click here if you’d like to review it. I believe the framers intended that the 2nd amendment protect our right to bear arms. I guess I would rate an R or R+ on that one.