This is true until you try to enshrine your beliefs about abortion or homosexuality into law. If you try to make abortion illegal, so that they are unavailable even to those who disagree with your world view, then you've crossed a line, because if you think abortion is wrong, you can always choose not to get one. As far as homosexuality goes, I believe the conservative stance against homosexuality is purely based on religious beliefs that are not shared by all Americans, so if you try to legislate against gay rights, that is bigotry. Live and let live.

I think whoever posted this debate got their ideologies mixed up. Have you ever looked up the word "liberal" in a dictionary?

Family planning is a very personal decision that should be left to women. I laugh at the so-called "small government" conservatives who think the government interfering in family planning decisions is small government. As Dee Snider said when the issue of censorship came up, "If you don't like the music, don't buy the record." the same should go for abortion. If you think abortion is wrong, don't get one.

While I am certainly not a church goer, I am a believer, and I believe religion is a genuinely good thing. It gives people a moral compass and a reason to lead good lives. Imagine if we never had the Ten Commandments. Imagine if no one had ever said the words, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Imagine if people thought life was meaningless. We would live in an even crazier world.

Now, religion does have a dark side. It can create extremists, oppressive theocratic regimes like the Taliban and dictators. I believe religion is like alcohol. In moderation it can make you feel good, but too much can, and does kill. Religious zealots leave nothing to interpretation and tend to believe their way is the only way, not just for them, but for everyone. And because of this, they also tend to condemn those who don't share their views. For instance, I was raised Catholic, but I am pro-choice, as have taken more flack for that than I care to remember from fellow Catholics as well as the religious right. That brings me to another issue. Religion, especially in America, has become unbelievably politicized. The Christian right are America's Taliban. They believe in the legitimacy of killing and/or intimidating people (like Dr. George Tiller), and would gladly see America discard the constitution and become nothing less than a theocracy.

So, religion... Good. Religion politicized and corrupted... NOT GOOD!!! But be that as it may, I'm glad religion exists, and would not want to live in a world without it.

Ok I'm a liberal (yeah, I said that. I'm sure I'll hear from some Tea Partiers later) so my feelings on the subject of patriotism are pretty strong, particularly, the accusation that, because I'm a liberal, I'm somehow less patriotic. One of the most common misconceptions about liberals is that we are not proud of our country and we want to model it after Europe. his is far from true for most of us. At the same time, when I get hate mail from conservatives, they always make a point to say how great America is, and they're absolutely right about that. So what separates liberals from conservatives as far as national pride goes? Conservatives (from whom most of the patriotic boasting comes) prefer to tell the world what they can learn from America. Liberals, on the other hand, prefer to tell our fellow Americans what they can learn from the rest of the world. As America has moved further to the right lately, many conservatives seem to think it wrong for her citizens, to criticize her. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been called a traitor, a communist, or a socialist, or some other epithet because of my views on universal healthcare, gun control, and workers' rights (principles that every other developed nation in the world have found a way to embrace). My point is, we as a people need to understand that, while America is a free nation, our freedom is not unparalleled. While we have a generally good healthcare system, it is not nearly as good as in some other countries. And if it can be done in Europe and Canada, it can certainly be done in America, the richest most powerful country on earth. And the lack of progress to this challenge is why liberals tend to be far more critical of America, than conservatives. It's not a lack of patriotism; in fact, it's quite the opposite. It's a belief that we, Americans, can make our country an even better place to live. We do have a lot to be proud of, yes. But we still have a lot to learn.

Actually, when America was first getting started, that was how it was done. Under the Articles of Confederation (a small government conservative's wet dream), the federal government could only collect taxes on a voluntary basis and had no power to regulate businesses. Very few states were willing to contribute taxes and the lack of regulation of interstate commerce caused many quarrels between states. In fact, because of this and many other problems, the Articles only lasted 8 years before they were replaced by the constitution.

Spending in and of itself doesn't create debt; spending money you don't have creates debt. Part of the reason we have such a huge deficit is 1: We don't collect enough revenue. 2: we have WAY too many programs that we don't really need (why do we have the NSA and the DHS, for example? They do the same job). I personally think we need to do a few things to lower the deficit.

1: Raise the top tax rate. From the the mid 1950's to about the late 1960's, the top tax rate was 90%. We have seen deficits grow to gargantuan levels since Nixon started the trend of lowering that tax rate. Honestly, I wouldn't be against a combination of a flat and progressive tax system, such as having a flat tax rate from, say, somewhere above the poverty level up to, say, 200,000 per year, thus reducing the burden on the middle class and still increasing revenue.

2: We should reform our tax system. Close the loopholes that the rich and big businesses have been using for decades to skate out of paying taxes, thus ensuring that EVERYONE pays their fair share. Revoke all or most of the tax breaks on which politicians keep waisting our money (because believe it or not, tax breaks cost money too). In fact our government spends more money paying for all those tax breaks than they actually take in in revenue. Sad thing is, America actually has one the lowest overall tax burdens in the world. As of 2006, only 3 countries had a lower overall tax burden than us: Turkey, Mexico and South Korea.

And finally 3, we need to cut spending, especially military spending (we spend as much on our military as the rest of the world COMBINED). Getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan would go a long way in doing this, and before you go and threaten my life, I should say that I'm also a service member. I also wouldn't be against a PARTIAL privatization of social security and medicare.

As far as the government's involvement in anti poverty programs, I believe the government should continue to help the poor, but do so in a way that puts the poor on track for getting out of poverty and staying out, such as investing in poor neighborhoods and schools, hiring more cops to keep neighborhoods and local businesses safe, thus bringing jobs back into these neighborhoods, or starting education and/or job training programs. Current programs ignore the root causes of poverty and just give the poor money, and they give them barely enough money to survive, thus they become dependent and still without a permanent way out of poverty. As Frederick Douglas put it (though he was talking about slavery), "they strike at the effect, while leaving the cause unharmed."

I am very distrustful of big business to do these things though, because the crash and recession have shown me one thing. The private sector is about PROFIT, NOT PEOPLE, and thus cannot be trusted to do what's best for the people. As a medical professional I am in favor of universal healthcare because I feel that it would make healthcare into what should have always been, a service that people depend on for their very lives. The fact that the healthcare in America is mostly for-profit makes America the only country in the world where people go bankrupt solely due to medical costs.

And lastly, about that "socialism" crack... get over it. The cold war has been over for twenty years. Also, you shouldn't use that word if you don't know what it means. Taxes, though inconvenient, are not socialism. Every developed economy on earth has taxes. If you think taxes are wrong, move to country that doesn't have them. I guarantee you wouldn't be happy.