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Petey's Political Views
My Political Ideology
My political ideology is based on liberalism which has as its basic concern the development of personal freedom, religious toleration, government by consent, and, especially, economic freedom. I believe the individual is the most important unit of the society. Consequently, the individual's rights are the most important. Only if the individual is truly free, can the larger units of a society (such as businesses) be free. If people in western countries generally don't feel good, it is because their freedom is unnecessarily limited by their governments. The mission of a selfless government is to make itself obsolete.

Below you will find "snippets" of my views. Please, note that these views apply to Europe (EU) only — I may have different views pertaining the US as my primary desire is balance and equilibrium. These are my beliefs, not an endorsement of any behavior or political movement. And however carefully thought out, they are merely a scratch on the surface...
 

Economy and business

  • taxation must be optimized and simplified: income taxes must be lowered and a flat income tax should be considered; consumption taxes such as VAT and environmental levies imposed on products and services are a better way to direct consumer behavior; unnecessary taxes such as taxes on inheritance must be abolished
  • social security and other forms of monetary welfare benefits must be as low as possible
  • the operation of businesses must not be restricted by any means as long as they don't hurt consumers or the environment; e.g., opening hours must not be restricted

Labor market

  • the labor market must be as free as possible: both hiring and firing of people should be easy
  • the rights of labor unions must be radically reduced and, e.g., illegal strikes must bear severe repercussions

Personal freedom

  • human liberty and freedom must never be limited if there is no direct harm to others or the natural environment
  • consequently, for example, the use and production of all drugs for own use must be legalized; the liberalization of drug policies must be started immediately (click here to understand why)
  • a human being has the right to full control of his body — in addition to the other basic inalienable rights in this section these include abortion and the right to die (euthanasia)
  • all people were created equal and the protection of equality must be strongly enforced to maintain the functionality of a society; social discrimination should be banned but that based on individual merit or wealth should be allowed

Government and immigration

  • bureaucracy and red tape are the curses of the EU; smaller government means lower taxes and less hassle
  • almost all services produced by the government can and should be outsourced — private organizations produce services more efficiently which results again in lower taxes
  • health care should be accessible to everyone but not necessarily free; also, e.g., smokers can pay more
  • legal immigration into the EU and the free movement of people within the EU must be promoted; however, illegal immigrants must be thrown out of the EU for good and tracked with a common computerized border control system

Education and religion

  • basic education (grades 1-12) should be mandatory and provided for to all by the government; private schooling should be available for those who are willing to pay for it
  • minimal tuition should always be charged at university or vocational level; private universities offering better quality education can charge more
  • religion and government should never be mixed especially not in schools; the Nordic state-church system must be abolished

Other

  • environmental protection starts with the individual — reduce, reuse, recycle!
  • war is never the best solution to a problem nor is the violation of basic human rights the educated way to do things — the years after 9/11 have changed the world for the worse, greatly because of the two morons in the picture in the center of this page; let's try to make this world a better place to live together


 

Human Rights

People are victimized, mugged, tortured, killed, discriminated against, and even labeled by their own friends based on their race, color, national origin, religion, age, handicap, gender, and sexual orientation.  This must stop!!

Now, in the beginning of the 21st century, we must at last take measures to battle the violations of human rights which occur in EVERY country, EVERY day of the year.  We can no longer stand silently watching hatred take over this world.  Take a stand, FIGHT BACK!!

These organizations can help:

   

©2002-2006 Peitso H. Laurinen.