Principles of social conservatism...
-Pro life - I am pro choice and pro death penalty.
-Oppose embryonic stem cell research - This is absolutely stupid.
-Hesitant to develop technology (bio conservatism) - Technology of any kind should always be developed based on asking "what should we do?", rather than "what can we do?" However, simply banning development for no other reason than the unfamiliar is unappealing to some people is just plain foolish. There is also a big difference between research and development, and mass production. Knowing what we can do and making it available to the public are also two very different things. In the end, I think medical research should be accelerated as much as possible.
-Traditional marriage (man and woman) - I think marriage is a religious institution and therefore a religious freedom, not a government institution, and don't think the government should have any bearing on it. If a religion allows someone to marry a goat, then they are married. The government does not have the right to interfere in religious freedoms.
-Support nuclear family structure - I do support nuclear structure when it can work and is not toxic for everyone involved. I consider it the 'ideal' situation. However, reality is often less than ideal, and I support any structure that works to create healthy and well developed people with the support and encouragement they need to become fully developed healthy adults.
-Oppose child adoption to same sex couples - Adoption must always be based on review of the couple, regardless of orientation.
-Support prohibition of drugs - I disagree with the enforcement of victimless crimes. Therefore, I am very much pro marijuana legalization and pro legalization of any drugs that have been proven to not cause behavioral and criminal problems (even though I don't use them myself) and believe the tax revenue should be used to fight drugs that have been proven cause behavioral and criminal problems such as meth, cocaine, heroin, etc.
-Support prohibition of prostitution - Again, so long as no one is harmed in the process or given a communicable disease, this is victimless crime, and I'm against the enforcement of it. I'm very much pro legalization of prostitution. Nations that have legalized but well regulated prostitution have much less problems associated with prostitution. Would I engage in prostitution, even if it were legal? No. But, I believe in personal choice. Would I discourage people from engaging in it? Yes, but again the choice is their own. The government has no business enforcing personal morality.
-Support prohibition premarital sex - Absolutely not, especially between two consenting adults who love each other. Sex is an amazing and beautiful thing when used responsibly. I am very much an advocate of safe sex, not just physically but also emotionally. There are many risks both physically and emotionally, and I believe people should be well educated in those risks before they choose to engage in sex or not.
-Support abstinence - I support abstinence as a personal choice to avoid the physical and emotional risks of sex. The government cannot enforce this without violating personal rights.
-Support prohibition of nonmarital sex - I'm assuming this is referring to 'adultery' law - as in sex with someone other than the person you are married to... otherwise it's premarital sex? Unless both partners are very emotionally healthy and open to this, then I strongly discourage it as it can lead to all manner of marital problems in the long run. Again, I don't think the government has any business in this area.
-Support prohibition of euthanasia - I see this as part of being pro choice, which I am.
-Support prohibition of pornography - This is one of those rare points where I believe the government should take some control. At current, it is far too easy for children to access pornography, and far too difficult for parents to protect their children from it if they so choose. I would love to see better legislation and enforcement of internet pornography access. One answer is to simply prohibit pornography on any website that does not have the domain .xxx, for example
www.nakedwomen.xxx, and from there create web browser permissions that block all .xxx domains.
However, I think adults should have the right to look at whatever they want, and so long as no one is hurt in the process of creating the media, then it should be legal to make and view by adults if they so choose. Personally, I would like pornography producers to take the responsibility to create emotionally responsible content depicting healthy relationships where people love one another - to encourage healthier relationships, rather than the standard raunchy disconnected arrays of close up shots stemming from plots based on selfish gratification and treating people like objects - which have been rather well proven to discourage healthy relationships. The issue isn't watching sex to be aroused. It's the emotional content in that sex. I'm not suggesting that adults shouldn't be able to produce or watch whatever content they want. I'm just suggesting that there be more awareness of responsibility on the part of those who produce them, again a personal choice.
-Support public morality (state enforced morality) - This is such an unconstitutional notion that I can't address it. However, I strongly feel that people should encourage morality on a personal level through freedom of speech.
In other words, I support a lot of socially conservative views, but I very much do not believe the government should have anything to do with them. They are all individual choices, or else they are not valid. I consider myself socially liberal because I believe in choice, even when I would not make those choices.
