Liberal or Conservative? (by Tim Cox)

Is Tim Cox a liberal or a conservative? It's a common question, and I've actually been called both, but the answer is not a simple one.

Many of my views will become very clear if you read my book, Get Out Of Our House: Revolution! But, the most important point to this question is that my views do not matter. Each person will define their own platform by the way they answer the questionnaire, and each pool of ten will determine which person and whose answers can best represent that pool. What I or any other person in America believe, beside the ten people in each pool, is completely irrelevant.

I believe our founders intended exactly this when they created the House of Representatives. Their stated objective was to allow the people of each district choose a single person who could represent their views when laws were being debated.

To get back to the question, which I am about to answer, please recognize that I am not asking anyone to support my beliefs, nor am I attempting to change yours. To those who disagree with me personally on any issue, but are not able to understand that our differing views are irrelevant, this system is not for you.

I am generally conservative and have voted for Republicans more than I have voted for Democrats, but I would never consider myself a Republican. I believe the concept of two parties is fundamentally flawed, and that views vary by issue not by candidate or party.

Let me give a few examples. I favor the smallest government and fewest regulations possible. I believe strongly in the right to bear arms. I am a Christian and believe we have the right to say a prayer before a football game or hang the Ten Commandments on any wall we choose. I favor lower tax rates. I do not want open borders. I believe school vouchers and a completely private school system would be better than a government controlled education system. I despise the Endangered Species Act and the way it is manipulated to prevent growth and progress. My core belief is that government tends to mess up just about everything it gets involved with. Does that make me a conservative or a Republican? Perhaps, but consider my liberal side.

I support use of the birth control pill, which are abortifacients, and therefore by definition must say I support abortion for the first couple of months. I believe we should end our dependence on foreign oil and invest significantly more than we do on cleaner fuels and the environment. I believe we should spend more on welfare and help teenage unwed mothers get their life in order, though I don't like the way it is handled by the government today. I believe we should limit the amount of money a person can inherit in a lifetime to $11.5 million, and that the rest of a billionaire's estate should be returned to their favorite charity or the government at time of death - large inheritances have led to an out-of-control aristocracy in America. While I favor having a strong military, I do not believe we should spend more money on it than the rest of the world combined. I do not think it our duty to police the world or to nation-build like we are doing in Iraq; that money is needed in America. I support the government providing health care vouchers to all Americans, but not running the health care system.

There are many other issues. On some I lean left and others right, but I think you can agree that I do not fall into either the Republican or the Democratic camp. I further believe that most of you are the same way. One of the premises of GOOOH is that you must consider each issue individually, and if you can get enough people to define their own platform, those who best represent the views of their district will bubble to the top of the system, assuming they have the communication, interpersonal, leadership and other skills they need. In issues where the chosen person's views do not align with the desires of his district, he can use the Override capability to change his answer to support the desires of the people he represents.

At the risk of being redundant, let me point out one last time that my personal views are not relevant in the system. I have inherent trust in the goodness of mankind, and believe by building an unbiased process the right people will be sent to Washington to represent we the people.