User:Klaus Vos
Contents |
[edit] About Me
- Generally Liberal
- Atheist
- A firearms enthusiast and supporter firearm rights but not to the extreme
- A complete nerd and proud of it
- Opposed to most affirmative action, I believe it promotes the idea that some groups are intrinsically different
- A supporter of LGBT rights
- Think we should just legalize weed already instead of pussyfooting around
- Bothered by the polarization of politics
- A supporter of our (the US) troops but not the wars
- Enjoy debate if it isn't just shouting dogma
- Former speech team member (Extemporaneous, which is politics)
- Enjoying making this list too much and stopping before it gets too long
[edit] About my Opinions
As I stated in the previous section, I generally view issues along liberal lines, but not always. I definitely support LGBT rights and find the legal distinctions between men and women in marriage is absurd. I love firearms and learning everything about their history and the technology behind them and I support the rights to keep and use them. I think abortion should be legal for at least most of a pregnancy and essentially all of it if the mother's life is in danger. Cannabis should be legal, if for no other reason than cost savings and tax revenue.
[edit] Firearms
I love looking at them, I love studying them, I love discussing them, and most of all, I love shooting them. Unfortunately, I cannot collect many (college costs a lot), but the few that I have are mostly historical military surplus. I support firearms rights, but I would not be opposed to a national firearms license system. I would be opposed to a national firearms registry, simply because of the effort and cost involved being insurmountable. I cannot stand being near most firearm rights "activists" because they have no idea how to debate or even coherently express their opinions. Instead, they tend to resort to overused sound-bites and talking points. I like the idea of concealed carry and think it is appropriate in many situations. I oppose open carry in most situations. All it does is show people opposed to and people on the fence about firearm rights than gun owners are dicks who can't be bothered to concern themselves with not scaring people. The only time open carry is really acceptable is in rural areas, in areas where gun owners congregate (like ranges), and on private property.
I base my support fore firearms rights on my own opinions about human rights rather than the poorly worded 2nd Amendment. I believe that the ability to protect oneself is a right that can only be lost if a person proves they are incapable of utilizing it properly (i.e. criminals). I also base it on some possibly flawed statistics that suggest crime goes down as gun ownership goes up. Because I have not researched these studies extensively, I try not to use them much.
[edit] Abortion
A seed is not a tree, paint is not art, and an embryo or fetus is not a person. That said, I do think a fetus has some value, though significantly less than a human. Abortion is a necessary evil that prevents children from being forced to live in poverty with a mother that didn't want them in the first place. It should not be normal birth control and the best prevention of it is adequate sex-ed starting in middle or high-school, which is something most schools do not currently provide.
[edit] Weed
Potheads are stupid. So are drunks, addicts, and smokers. I see cannabis as a mostly harmless drug provided you aren't driving high or anything stupid like that. The way I see it, the main dangers of cannabis are getting fat from the munchies and making people lazy, both are much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco's effects (although weed isn't the greatest thing for your lungs either). We spend way too much on jailing harmless potheads and chasing down drug gangs. The former could be completely eliminated by legalization and the later would be significantly reduced when legitimate growers replace the cartels as suppliers. The potential tax revenue wouldn't be a bad thing either.
[edit] Quotes
"Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known" -Carl Sagan
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." -Susan B. Anthony
"Christians often misunderstand atheists and their moral compass. Honestly, I'm more worried by people who are only good because of fear versus atheists who make the conscious decision to be righteous." -Richard Dawkins
If any of these quotes are out of context or otherwise incorrect, please let me know. I hate quote mining and I'd hate to be a perpetrator of it.