[Coda]

I'm not particularly fond of any of the US parties either, and my opinions are pretty scattered between them. If I had to pick one I'm closest to, it's probably libertarian, but (1) odds of a libertarian holding office are pretty low, and (2) I still don't agree with them across the board.

Fiscally I'm pretty moderate -- I think that taxes should be raised, especially for households that make more than their local standard of living, in order to pay for government programs, but I think that a lot of government programs should be scaled back so that the budget can focus on taking care of people.

Which means that in terms of government responsibilities, I'm fairly liberal -- the government should spend more on education and more on health care in order to provide for the less-fortunate, more on domestic energy research, and less on military and luxury. (IMO: The President and Congress should enjoy a standard of living that matches the majority of the population instead of the upper class.)

But in terms of social policy, I'm solidly libertarian. Protecting the rights of citizens to the fullest possible extent is paramount, and the government should minimize interference in individual lifestyle except where necessary to protect public health and education. The only major exception I have here is gun control; I think that the right-wing stance of ready access and the left-wing stance of prohibition are both unrealistic and misguided, and the solution is going to require careful consideration of who's simply going to ignore the laws because of cultural history.