tired and tense yet I wanted to post my opinions on this meme:
Abortion?: is one issue about which one shouldn't vote based on personal emotions. It should be left to people to decide for themselves.
Death Penalty?: I'm not for it but my mind always shifts to how the entire system needs to be reformed.
Prostitution?: I don't see an end to people being in the position to resort to it. The best outcome I can imagine is for it to be legalized and, as such, kept under control as much as possible.
Alcohol?: it's legal, it's your choice to drink or not.
Marijuana?: I find it hypocritical to have alcohol legal but not weed. Generally speaking, I'm all for everything being laid out in the open and kept under control.
Other drugs?: see above. In addition, I think that any substance synthesized and marketed that has the potential of becoming additive should be watched. By that I don't mean scaring kids who drink cough syrup, but having doctors aware of the potential dangers of whatever substances they prescribe and honestly educate the public on the pros and cons of what exactly can happen. I'd rather hear about the consequences from a certified doctor than from my buddy down the street who heard about it from his buddy who...you know.
Gay marriage?: it's all about equality.
Smoking?: I do prefer a non-smoking environment, but, generally speaking, live and let live.
Drunk driving?: it's irresponsible.
Cloning?: I'm not convinced one way or another yet.
Racism?: fossil of ancient/tribal attitudes.
Premarital sex?: the mere question is a fossil dating back to times when people (women) were routinely refered to as "goods". There's no other visible reason to refrain from it.
Religion?: spirituality = yes. Organized religion = no. I think org. religion is another fossil of times long gone and a very damaging one at that, because it tries to exert external control over one's own thoughts in a subversive way (unlike secular laws. We definitely need laws and regulations for co-existing in a society. However, these laws and regulations should be build on rational thought and common sense, not on irrational fears. That's textbook manipulation/brainwashing and only leads to dictatorial regimes). Plus, one's personal relationship with nature/the universe is trivialized when standardized rules and regulations are (supposedly) derived from it.
The war in Iraq?: based on a big fat lie. What bothers me most about wars is that regular people are/let themselves be conned into believeing they are "fighting for their country" when, most of the time (and this is certainly one of those times), they are sent to die because their leaders are greedy/idiots and have 0 respect for (human) life.
Bush?: I have absolutely no respect for him. He represents everything I despise.
Downloading music?: when CDs are ~$20? yes. In any case, it's a great tool to finding new music, even if you end up downloading just a few songs and then move on to buying the CD. I have certainly bought more CDs once downloading appeared on the market. Currently I have about 10 CDs I would buy in a second if I had $. I know they would be good investments, because I already heard 99% of the songs therein contained.
The legal drinking age?: I was talking above about rules and regulations and the fact that I agree that we need them. There are some silly ones out there, though, and they breed hypocrisy. I'd rather have young people educated about the dangers and responsibilities of overindulging than point blank restricting anything.
Porn?: to be quite honest, (at any given moment)there's a short list of people whom I would like to see naked. There's an even shorter list of people I would enjoy seeing getting it on with each other. On the other hand, sometimes it is interesting to see what people might come up with. Aside from that, whatever floats your fleet.
Suicide?: hmmm...this is an emotional subject and I can't just say yes/no and certainly not "live and let live", heh. Maybe live and let die? seriously, I can't give an answer here.