@FreeDuck,
Freeduck wrote:When I put it all together I see a place where women can't decide whether or not to have children, where we would rather shoot each other than invest in a police force (presumably this would balance the population explosion resulting from the former), where we would rather incarcerate people than educate them, and where money buys freedom, but most of us won't have any.
Freeduck,
Come on...you don't really believe that do you? The bottom line is that both Dems and Repubs are trying, in good faith, to do what they feel is best for the nation, for society and for the individual. It's patently unfair to characterize their position as anything different...
But since you asked what the rank and file Republican believes, I'll try to do so. Up front, I have to state that I speak for myself only. I've contrasted the beliefs I espouse below and measured them against both Dem and Repub platforms and generally find that I think the Repub position fits my beliefs best.
I believe that there are definitive rights and wrongs that are expounded in time-tested legal and religious precedent. These rights and wrongs do not change based on geography, society or circumstances. I believe government should be in the business of ensuring opportunity for all, not hand-outs to a select few. I believe that success and wealth should be exclusively based on the merit of a person's ideas, his character and the hard work of his hands. Government is necessary but should constrain itself to the powers enumerated in the Constitution, no more. The free market is far better at fixing a fair price than a government bureaucrat. While recognizing human failure, I believe that sex is not a recreational activity, but an act of love for an individual of the opposite sex and therefore should be exclusively practiced in marriage. Convicted criminals should pay the due price for their crimes but be offered opportunities, while incarcerated and after, to redeem themselves to society.