Remember these? For those of you who don't or who weren't around when they were a regular fixture, welcome to the return of the Sunday Poll Question! Every Sunday (or most of them anyway) I will ask a question. It may be funny, thought-provoking, inane or deep. There is no right answer; only your answer. And mine, of course, because it's not fair for me to ask a question and not give you my answer, too. Knowing me, I do expect them to have a political bent over the next several months. You've been warned. As always, respectful debate and disagreement is encouraged and welcome. It starts getting snarky or disrespectful and I will delete your comments. (Although for the record, this has never happened with my regular readers. Still, I feel it's only fair to spell out the rules ahead of time, 'cause that's how I roll.)
And away we go...
Generally speaking, I am pretty liberal. I'm not the most liberal person I know ~ and generally, I'm more liberal than not. However, every now and then, I surprise people.
Question: What is the topic where you tend to surprise people because you feel, think or believe a way that tends to deviate from your "normal" patterns, political or otherwise?
Pobble Answer: Immigration laws. See, I happen to believe the only place any of us has a right to live is the country of our birth. No other country is obligated to take us in. Every country has the right to secure its borders however it sees fit; keep out whomever it chooses to keep out; and deport anyone who hasn't or doesn't respect the laws of their new, chosen country. I may disagree with a country's immigration laws. I may think it is unconscionable for a nation to keep out left-handed red heads. I do, however, believe that a country has the right to keep them out. And yes, this also means I believe that a country has the right to deport anyone who is unwilling ~ or even unable ~ to conform to the laws, expectations and mores of the country. Again, I may disagree with the laws, expectation or mores ~ however, I support a country's right to impose them on immigrants. If a person does not want to conform to their new society, perhaps that new society isn't where that person truly wants or needs to be in the first place.
Your answer...
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
14 comments:
I agree with you Pobble. And I'm pretty liberal too.
OK. First, loved the previous post and it's those kinds of tangents that I find myself involved in as well (whether that be an internal monologue or said aloud).
Now, it's good to see the Sunday poll back around again. On this issue, I tend to flip-flop around, although I do believe that wherever you chose to reside that you must conform to the laws of the land or you don't get to cry when you're deported or thrown out. The mores is a little dicier for me because there seems to be a gray area as you want to express your individuality as long as it doesn't harm others.
I'm a left-libertarian who loves watching Obama's progress, and I'm pro-life. I hardly talk about it just because it stirs up so much shit and I find abortion disgusting. But there it is. My focus isn't so much on ending RvW (though I want to see that), but changing the culture. To that end, I love seeing Juno, new mothers winning the NYC marathon who trained while pregnant, the NCAA allowing pregnant students to retain their scholarships... I believe in prevention, too, which is why I hate abstinence-only sex "education."
I think opposition to abortion goes well with being (mostly) pacifist and against the death penalty. But you see what it gets conflated with in the real political world--gay-hating and keeping womens' legs shut. I'd love to see a new paradigm. (Did I just use that word? I did!) I resisted the label "pro-life" hard for a while, but I think that in a truly just society, women would never have to feel a need to, as a friend of mine who regrets her abortion once said, "choose between my baby's life and mine."
Sorry you asked yet? :-)
Yay for the pole return!
I think it may surprise some people when the find out about my Christian tendencies. I tend to be very libral and feel VERY strongly that it isn't good to force ones beliefs on others no matter how strongly one may feel or even believe in. So when people find out that I go to church or pray for them they are a little thrown off, as Christians usually project a more millitant attitude.
Crackerdillio- Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where there was no need or reasons to resort to abortion?
Traci ~ Why am I not surprised you're pretty liberal?
$$ ~ Glad to know I'm not alone with the internal monologues! And you're right about the grey area around mores. For me, though, that is part of joining a new society ~ no one gets hurt or affected, fine; it starts affecting your new environment, the State has the right to require you stop.
CrackerLilo ~ You're right; I'm surprised. Personally, I would LOVE a world where abortion is a nonissue (that new paradigm you mentioned.) Until it is, however, I remain a staunch supporter of Roe v. Wade. And even if we ever get to the point where this new paradigm exists, I still don't want anyone legislating my body.
Graziella ~ I remember my initial reaction to someone who was as openly Christian as you are. Having learned you in the opposite direction, I can see why some people would be surprised at how Christian you are if that wasn't what they knew first. And yes, it would be lovely to live in a world where abortions were a nonissue ~ so long as it includes a world where no one legislates my body. ;)
Since I am also a Christian, many seem to be suprised that I support the legalization of prostitution and gay marriage. I figure what two grown adults consent to do is their business and I see no difference between buying a woman a gift to get her to sleep with you or just handing her the $50. Women sleep with men quite frequently to get what they want. I don't see how the exchange of cash makes it more evil than his paying her electric bill or buying her a car.
As for same sex marriage, my feeling is that we have to seperate from personal feelings regarding homosexuality and the fact that there are two people who love each other and are willing to commit to each other. I have gay friends who have been "married" for longer than I have. One couple for longer than I've been alive. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if one of them was in ICU not expected to make it and the other one being refused admittance because they "aren't family." It isn't about the right or wrong of their relationship, it's about the fact that they are people who love each other.
And BTW, two gay people being together longer than my husband and I have been do NOT cheapen my relationship with my husband. Nor does it make my marriage weaker. Last time I checked the heterosexual divorce rate was climbing ever higher long before gays were open and out in the public asking for permission to make legal unions. If my marriage fails, it isn't because of gay people.
And I'd like to legalize marijuana. It's the same classification drug as nicotine and alcohol (except nicotine and alcohol are proven MORE addictive and have physical withdrawal while THC does not). It also isn't the "introductory drug". I haven't enough digits to count the people I know who smoke pot for enjoyment. Every single one drank first and most of them smoked first as well. In fact, only one of them didn't smoke before trying pot.
Needless to say, these views don't go over very well at my Southern Baptist church. However, I can hold my own and have made people see that these aren't liberal views, they're common sense views.
I wonder what they would say about my gravatar... LOL!
Mine is punishing criminals. I do not believe in rehabilitation. Jail does not rehabilitate. Jail reinforces anti-social behaviour and allows criminals to meet other criminals and trade methods. I believe in consequences. Firm, unwavering, no excuses, same for everyone, consequences. Break a window - pay for it. Hurt someone - jail time. Mandatory. This is why rehabilitation doesn't work now. Consequences aren't consistent and offenders are constantly released with little or no real lesson having been learned.
I think people should be forced to vote. If they refuse, they should be fined or jailed. This authoritarian desire of mine runs contrary to most of my other very liberal views.
Krystal ~ Having been raised by Christians, but not knowing at the time they were uber-liberal Christians, I still default to your attitudes as being Christian ones. Sadly, I'm learning that people *would* be surprised by your leanings (my initial reaction to Graziella before I knew her well is case in point here.)
GOML! ~ Consistent, reliable punishment that is evenly meted out regardless of circumstance, based only upon the crime might actually work. Amazing it's not truly been tried.
D-Man ~ I want to agree with you here but I blew my restrict individual rights load on the immigration issue. ;) What I am vocal about ~ and have said to people's faces before ~ is if you don't vote, keep your damn mouth shut. You can't complain if you had no say in the result.
The death penalty. I do believe, as I learned from a young friend, that there are some people in the world to whom it should be said "You -- out of the gene pool!" Unfortunately, evil does live, and some people are born to be bad to the bone. The legal system has devised, over the years, some definitions of crimes against others deemed -- justly, to my mind -- to deserve taking the life of the perpetrator. Notwithstanding my view, I can understand the policies of such countries as are in the EU that abolish the death penalty. I sometimes have the same difficulty as the prosecuting attorney voiced in a recent homicide in this state (the young, pregnant, female Marine) after which the known murderer fled to Mexico apparently knowing that extradition for trial here would only occur on a commitment that the state would not seek the death penalty. The prosecutor said openly that he disagreed with and was frustrated by another nation usurping the law of our state.
Sorry I'm late to the party!
I was gonna mention that a woman's right to choose based on her own sense of morality, but you guys know that, so it's not a shock. Same thing with gay rights/marriage. No shock.
I'm with you on the immigration thing, which probable doesn't come as a shock.
So, I'm left with one thing - a national language. I believe that if you live in this country, you should speak English. I don't think that we should spend millions and millions of dollars making sure that the driver's test is in every language imaginable. The road signs are in English, except in the places where they also put up Spanish, which I don't think is right. I think that if you want the benefits of living in any country, you ought to show respect to that country by at least making an effort to learn the language. I think you'd be hard pressed to find another country so accommodation to its immigrant population. Either you learn their language or you flounder.
Might be controversial, or politically incorrect, but that would be the shocking thing about me.
PS -
Again, I didn't bother to proofread. Kindly imagine that the above post is free of typos and grammatically correct. Thanks.
Appsrus ~ Along with CrackerLilo, you do surprise me. I continue to enjoy learning about someone I have known most of my life. Here may be a surprise for you: I agree.
Jaded ~ For me, part of fitting in and meeting immigration requirements is learning the language of a country so I'm on the same page as you are on this one. Were there typos and grammatical errors? I, of course, didn't notice. ;)
Pobble, I tend to be more pro-strong military & more fiscally conservative than most liberals.
Also, I really wanted to respond to your take on immigration. I will agree that this should be true for "most" nations. I hold this country to a different standard, summed up by Emma Lazarus:
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be breate free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I life my lamp beside the golden door!"
Every time I hear someone blaming immigrants for our country's trouble, I envision lady liberty snuffing out her own torch.
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