Open Discourse

I looked through a few pages of P&L and I didn't see a post about discussing political ideologies and what they mean to the people who follow them. This is something I'm really interested in because these are the beliefs in HOW we should solve problems which will help us to better understand where each of us are coming from when we're communicating.

I'll go first! I'm a left libertarian which, to put it bluntly, means that I want ALL the people to have ALL the rights and I want small government that only serves our needs for infrastructure and defense. I also believe that any disagreement can be settled with a conversation because the whole point of having a conversation is to reach an understanding or common ground, they're not supposed to be transactional and "winning" an argument should never be held in a higher priority than understanding each other. We're all human beings and this is everyone's first time on Earth and first time at life, so let's act like it.

Some of my more controversial opinions are:

The stock market is broken and does not serve the vast majority of America and therefore should either be destroyed or rebuilt entirely from the ground up to actually create value for Americans instead of just creating value for banks, big corporations, and financial institutions like hedge funds.

There should not be any billionaires because they did not build the infrastructure they're profiting so greatly off of compared to everyone else working for them. All they have is a vision, usually not even a good one, and money to pay other people to do all of the actual work and labor to produce the thing they profit from so greatly. Trickle-down, eh?

Human is the race. Skin color and bone structure differences are purely from the environment in which those humans adapted over thousands of years, this is called ethnicity. The insistence that there are different "races" of humans and using that to 'other' people is categorically xenophobic. Humans today look different from humans only 200 years ago, hell, even 100 years ago. This one is not actually an opinion, just a little-discussed fact. We are all in the animalia kingdom. Humans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

If a crime does not hurt someone else, impede on their rights, or disturb their livelihood, it should not be a crime.

I'm okay with paying taxes to a government that actually puts the people first, rather than its own agenda and I would gladly pay higher taxes if it leads to a better quality of life for everyone.

I fundamentally believe that almost every person on Earth wants to go through life and do the least harm they know how to do, at the very core of their being. I know there's a lot of content online about violence, anger, hatred, and pain, but there are over 8 billion people in the world and we all have access to the Internet. You don't hear about the normal things happening, only the things that are exciting because that's what generates money from your attention. That's what all of these social media platforms and news networks, especially in America, are vying for - your attention.

This post is for everyone to comment on! Like I said, I want there to be understanding and common ground reached. Your life and your information are the most valuable things you have as a person in this world. Please protect your privacy and don't give out too much information.

Thank you for reading! I'm looking forward to some good discussions and getting to know all of you!

Edit: I corrected a spelling error I caught, I had typed 'animimalia' when I meant 'animalia'.

Edit 2: I updated the title to show the intent I want to have for this thread.

You forgot any spirituality. 

I personally have none as I'm an atheist but a lot of people were indoctrinated so deeply as children that they cannot live without some form of God in their life. 

Then there's all those who are fully religious. 

All fine and dandy. 

Pay taxes. No exemptions. 

All religions are belief systems. Entirely optional. 

Parents should be banned from mitilating their children because of some sort of flimsy religious reason. 

If a grown man wants to chop off some dick skin let them. Babies have zero agency. Leave them unsliced. 

All children to have self determination regarding going to places of worship. 

This would require massive investment in social clubs and activity centres so religious parents could drop off their kids on the way to prayer or condemning other religions or some happy clappy demon scaring. 

I enjoy your intro to P&L, very solid and polite, thoughts on Healthcare, child care, mental care, dental care, college, military budget, enforcement budget, enforcement tactics, for profit prisons, chances of our next election, foreign intervention, gun control, housing costs, rental costs, UBIs, abortion, trans rights?

I'm an atheist, the US is secular, spirituality is dumb, I prefer cut, I like the way my dick looks, I got my son's cut so they'd have nice looking dicks too, it's just a hospital procedure, that bris shit is weird though.

I'm a liberal, atheist, socialist, communist, Marxist, Constitutionalist, patriot, leftist, libertarian, dencentralist, AI and automation enthusiast, mixed economy capitalist, Trekkie, my ideology is turning the world into a million theme parks where everyone is a guest to all-inclusive resorts, and they're paid for taking care of themselves, their families,educating themselves, and participating in the community or sports, plays, journalism, art etc.

agree with you on the skin cutting.

if female genital mutilation for religious or cultural reasons is a crime then so should the mutilation of male born babies!

Ah yes, I left out religion and spirituality because they have no place in politics outside of the freedom to worship how each sees fit, so long as it doesn't impede or harm others, in my eyes.

Thank you!

Access to proper healthcare should be a basic human right and free for every tax paying citizen, based on needs. This includes mental health, pediatric care, dental, etc.

The current education system in the United States is broken and needs to be rebuilt. Books should not be banned, they should be challenged.

The auditing for our government spending in general is laughable everywhere because there are no real consequences for scoring poorly, this doesn't stop at the egregious defense spending we do. I'm not even talking about things like cutting edge technology or anything, I'm talking about the price of duct tape that they're buying from contractors. Go look it up, it's bad and has been bad.

I believe people are generally mature and cognizant enough to self govern, in all actuality. Crimes are committed by sick people who need help - they don't need to be shot at and killed when they're clearly unarmed or unable to cause harm as has been clearly documented by and of US police since at least the time body cameras started being a thing and since cellphones became ubiquitous. They don't need to be armed like SWAT. That's what SWAT are for. I don't know enough about the training programs across all of the US to be able to speak intelligently about it right now, it's something I'd have to dig into to give you an informed opinion.

Prison should be for rehabilitation with the goal of reintegration into society. It should not be for cheap and otherwise illegal labor as they are now.

As long as the electoral college exists as a lever, the popular vote is meaningless in federal elections. Go vote at your local elections for all seats, not just the big ones. Vote on issues, not parties. I encourage everyone to read about your local government officials and where they stand. They are supposed to be representing you to the rest of the government, so make sure to vote for someone who has your values and best interest at heart.

We should stay out of other countries unless atrocities are being committed. And even then, we should act ethically and not brashly.

I think guns are fine as long as we have better regulations like psych evaluations and regular, documented practice at an accredited range with staff to monitor and score you on a bi-annual basis for as long as you would like your license to own a firearm which should be graded by proficience. You should be able to demonstrate that you can properly care for, safely store, and operate the firearm(s) you do own. If you decide you no longer wish to maintain the license, then you'd turn in your firearms along with the license. It should be a simple process that can be hammered out with discussion, I don't have a fully formed idea of what the process would entail due to the needs of different geographical regions of the country (which really can and should apply to all things in regulation).

People before profits, always. Housing problems go beyond cost when you also have to consider city planning, infrastructure, inflation, cost of materials, and the list goes on. At this time, it is expensive to be an US citizen because of all of this inflation over the past several decades. Cost of living has been misrepresented for a long time in the US to make it seem like our pay disparities are normal, but no, everything has constantly been getting more and more expensive, especially since Reagan.

I don't believe in UBI. It isn't necessary when everyone's basic needs are met. We have the GDP to do it.

I have no problems with abortion from a rights standpoint, but I don't like the risks that can come with it, so I'd combat abortion with better sex education, better SA prevention and protection of the victims, and safer procedures. Abortion should be included with healthcare. I would even go so far as to contend that a majority of people who are against abortion don't even care about the child after it's born because look at our f**king foster care system.

Trans people are humans and are therefore deserving of all human rights.

All very common sense, real American ideals, I don't see why anyone would argue with any of it. I don't know about UBIs either, I think if we're job scarce we should pay people to participate in self improvement of various types so they don't just sit around and collect a check.

Absolutely! I'm a huge proponent for reinvesting into the people because the people are who create and build things. We're the ones who put intent, creativity, and love into the world. I believe that finding a good fit for people in their careers will naturally fill out needs for the rest of society because there will always be people who just want to help the communities that they care about without having to be told.

It's amazing what we humans can do if our survival needs are met.

Bump

I'm encouraging everyone to participate here! I think thoughtful conversation about values is just as important as current events. This is where we can come together to understand each other by being real about what we each care about and discuss the ideas we do and don't agree upon.

I understand that abortion can have some religious overlap with it and that that's unavoidable. I still believe we should all be open to understanding each other. To those against abortion, I would ask you what are you doing for your neighbors who are struggling to take care of their families? Especially in the last 6 years since the Fed started printing money to stop the economy from crashing due to a stupid government decisions under the Biden administration with a mixed House and Senate which has now put us in a period of hyperinflation, which has been even further accelerated during the Trump administration so far via tariffs, spending on other countries, spending on frivolous things like a f**king ballroom in the f**king White House, blocking the release of the Epstein Files - we only have 1% as of 12/19/2025, but I digress. I didn't like Biden either, but it wasn't like this.

Feel free to disagree with any of my points there as open discussion! I'm willing to check your sources! I will also provide sources for anything you think sounds wrong.

The Epstein Files reference is tangentially related because I've been seeing how much the bullshit has ramped up to sow discord and chaos amongst us since December. We're starting wars, kidnapping leaders, moving in big oil to control the output, etc. The bullshit has just been ramping up faster and faster since then. That's all I'm trying to point out.

Edit: corrected spelling

 I also believe that any disagreement can be settled with a conversation

"I think you deserve less rights"

"I disagree I'm a human being"

"f**k you" says the understanding human being, shooting you dead instantly

you sweet summer child

You can think of me as naive and write me off, if you like.

I'll ask you this: why do you think extremists exist in the first place? I believe it's due to mental health issues that can be resolved with proper care and attention.

bigotry is inherently irrational. To blame it on mental illness is a cop out, the same one repeated ad nauseum about mass shooters (when they're white). Material conditions play a far bigger role in radicalization but one thing you'll learn is that some people just hate with no reason and thus you cannot reason them out of that.

Some of these conversations have been going on for decades, some were already considered "settled" in the recent past. Your milquetoast idealism falls flatly on its face, ironically the paradox of tolerance is already well understood, settled.

Yours is a frankly dangerous belief, to marginalized communities. Your "color-blind" platitudes regarding race are entirely superficial and dismiss the material realities and needs of discriminated groups. It is the very same idea the right is using to target equalizing and protective measures for said groups.

Labeling my beliefs as dangerous and milquetoast without discussion is wild to me.

Poor material conditions lead to unrest, which I will contend is a mental health issue that can be resolved by having ones needs met. The people who you say hate for no reason are not mentally well. They are not the norm in society anywhere which is something you'll learn when you travel to other countries and meet people from all walks of life in your own communities as well as outside of them. Social connection builds big bridges as long as each side contributes.

I'm not offering platitudes, I'm offering information. Fear comes from ignorance meaning that hate can be combated with information.

I'm not unaware that there are people who are already radicalized, but having more of these conversations is the point. I am an example of humanity's response to the radicalization. These conversations will never be settled as long as there's any human suffering that can be prevented. We live in a time of abundance, but we pretend it's scarcity and allow people in power to continue to oppress us.

I walk the walk and practice what I preach. I've made mistakes, but I'm learning from them. This is everyone's first time being alive so there's no reason to discourage open discourse.

So what is your suggestion if not to better educate and treat these people? Rehabilitation is possible for anyone, and I think it's unnecessary to just label people as evil for life. They're ignorant, confused, manipulated victims of their propaganda and religions, and social constructs.

Couple of questions. Given that you want small government:

You say "The stock market is broken and does not serve the vast majority of America and therefore should either be destroyed or rebuilt entirely", who will do this?

You say "There should not be any billionaires", who will prevent this?

Oh, wait. You say "I'm okay with paying taxes to a government that actually puts the people first". Congratulations, you're not a libertarian. You're a social democrat.

You must be relieved. It's well known that Libertarian first principals is eliminating the legal age of consent.