I'm a longtime Salon reader because I appreciate the quality of their articles.

From age 18-28, I was what I would consider a diehard liberal: believed in the civil rights crusade, wanted equality for all, wanted a peaceful foreign policy, wanted drugs legalized, and many other issues. I got that way by thinking.

Currently, I'm a third positionist. I agree with classical liberalism, which is to treat everyone fairly, but I reject all other liberal methods because history has shown us they do not work. Furthermore, as a family man, I have come to accept and relish the wholesome, simple, relatively homogenous lifestyle of the traditional European family, because history shows us this just works well. I got to my current state by thinking as well, and reading quite a bit of history, and works from ancient civilizations, specifically the Bhagavad-Gita, Herotodus, Marcus Aurelius and Plato's Republic.

I am fascinated by politics, because it is the way we're either going to save ourselves or die out into insignificance; like most good liberals, I believed and still believe that we're down a bad path, but I have changed my assessment of the methods we should be using. Instead of worrying about individuals, I now worry about the health of a civilization at large, because healthy people -- intelligent, not sick, of moderate self-esteem -- do best in a situation that doesn't try to fix them, but gives them the ability to succeed for good deeds and hard, intelligent work. I don't think our current society does that.

As a result, I'd have to say I'm a mainstream moderate dissident. My views are not radical, when you consider them as a scientist or philosopher would. They are not however designed to play into the identity politics that strengthen egos but weaken our chances for a healthy life. I remain a diehard drug legalization and deep ecology supporter, though I do not use drugs or alcohol.

As a person... well, who cares. I'm as boring as you are. Even the least boring person in this society, the most dramatic celebrity, is at heart boring. Deeds and ideas are interesting, but people are boring, at least until they're dead and you read a biography which showed how they were able to conceive their ideas and create their deeds. All else is silence.

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=22372