(Note: all italicized text taken verbatim from Wikipedia)
I believe government derives its legitimacy through the direct or implied consent of the majority with minority rights protected through the separation of powers and the Bill of Rights.
But within those constraints, the minority has a right to be heard and the majority has the right to decide even if I don’t like the result in one case or another.
Republic: A republic (Latin: res publica) is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter" – not the private concern or property of the rulers – and where offices of state are elected or appointed, rather than inherited.
Popular sovereignty: Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people's rule, is the principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People), who are the source of all political power.
I support liberal ideals of individual freedom and equal opportunity that is nonetheless mindful of its responsibility to conserve our common, inherited traditions of civic virtue, the support of families, and identification with a common American culture based on the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution rather than on race, ethnicity, or religion.
I reject ideas of either unrestricted individualism or totalitarian statism in favor of a pragmatic realism recognizing that the individual and their society are codependent entities. It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes mature adult individuals and families to maintain a village.
Individualism makes the individual its focus[1] and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation."[6] Classical liberalism, existentialism, and anarchism are examples of movements that take the human individual as a central unit of analysis.[6] Individualism thus involves "the right of the individual to freedom and self-realization".[7]
Civic virtue is the cultivation of habits of personal living that are claimed to be important for the success of the community. Closely linked to the concept of citizenship, civic virtue is often conceived as the dedication of citizens to the common welfare of their community even at the cost of their individual interests.
As a centrist, I possess both left-wing and right-wing tendencies and am unashamed of either. In a media environment that favors and amplifies dramatic conflict we should speak and act in ways that favor and amplifies the new “silent majority”: the non-extremist middle.
While the former’s focus on the clash of ideas is educational and makes great TV, it is the comparative silence of the middle which is making government difficult at the state level and all but impossible at the federal level.
Left-wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy and social inequality.
Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.
Right-wing politics hold that certain social orders and hierarchies are inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable,[1][2][3] typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics or tradition.
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization.
According to Quintin Hogg, the chairman of the British Conservative Party in 1959, "Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself".
I support incremental social reform both as a moral responsibility to our fellow citizens as well as a means of preventing (if possible) a violent, revolutionary reaction that may or may not bring about reform.
Violent revolutionary reform is hard to rule out considering America was founded on such a reform, but the situation should be at least as dire as that faced by the Founders. Simply failing to convince the majority of the wisdom of one’s ideas or the majority being politically outmaneuvered by a minority over this issue or that issue is not sufficient reason to bring about a bloodbath.
Social equality and egalitarianism are uncomfortable allies with liberal individualism. Realism demands that we recognize that people are not born equal, do not have equal opportunity, nor have equal ideas as to what constitutes “the pursuit of happiness.”
While recognizing this reality, society should still endeavor to develop “a more perfect union,” improve opportunity for the less fortunate through the provision of a sufficient safety net for the survival and dignity of those who face catastrophes beyond their control.
To the extent this can be constitutionally addressed at the state and local level, it should be. To the extent that the constitutional scope of federal authority and power can better address the issue as a whole, it should do so - using the “best practices” uncovered through state, local, and private efforts.
Progressivism is the support for or advocacy of social reform.
Pragmatism "emphasizes the practical application of ideas by acting on them to actually test them in human experiences".[4] Pragmatism focuses on a "changing universe rather than an unchanging one as the Idealists, Realists and Thomists had claimed".[4]
Incrementalism is the method of change by which many small policy changes are enacted over time in order to create a larger broad based policy change.
Reformism is a political position that posits that gradual changes within existing institutions can eventually change a society's fundamental aspects, such as its economic system and political structures.
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