[HighStakesPro]

Abortion is slightly different than the other issues because it is less of an argument between individual libert and government authority as it is between whose individual liberty is more important, the mother's or the fetus's. Some of the issues like legalization of marijuana and underage gambling/drinking aren't as hotly contested because they don't involve life or death cases, except in the case of medical marijuana. Therefore, politicians don't have anything to gain by taking contrarian stances on these issues because if anything it will hurt their chances of getting re-elected. It is the same with the death penalty: going on record as opposing it is political suicide, so dissenters keep their mouths shut. I am sure that in particular the issue of the legal gambling age has been discussed on here but since I am relatively new I will open up a new thread to discuss it.

I'm glad I started this thread, gained some valuable insight from others who both agree and disagree with my point of view. However, as I feared, someone like JackWhite would come in and attack everyone who he disagrees with and start labeling people and parties as liberal and conservative, as though it was two sides waging war against each other, and furthermore framing the discussion as a clash between Democrats and Republicans.

These are just political parties comprised of people with very roughly similar ideologies, but it seems like he makes an effort to perpetuate the idea that Democrats are liberal and have one set of beliefs and Republicans are conservative and have an opposite set of beliefs; I was specifically trying to avoid the debate between one party and another, because all the parties are are groups of politicians who use clever rhetoric to syphon off tiny bits of the people straddling the political fence and recruit them to their ranks; they do not represent a pure ideology, only what will further their own agendas. I explained my position as to how government should be involved in people's lives as clearly as I could in a previous post: government's purpose should be to improve the populace's general quality of life, not tell them how they should live their lives. Collecting the optimal amount of taxes provides funds which can be spent on productive ventures to improve society without having too significant an impact on people's finances so that they cannot fully enjoy these improvements. If I want to committ suicide, I should not be barred from doing so by the government because some elected lawmakers have arbitrarily decided that it's immoral. That is for me to decide, not them. I hope these examples sufficiently illustrate my point of view on the ideal role of government.