What Do We Agree On?

There are over 37000 members of Daily Kos.  Of these, some are likely multiple accounts and trolls, but there are also "readers" of Daily Kos who are not members.  Clearly, there are enough people at Daily Kos that we cannot expect to have a very large amount of ideological conformity across all reasonable posters.  There is room within the Daily Kos tent for posters of various different ideologies.  For instance, there is room for people with widely differing positions on abortion, gun control, etc. here at Daily Kos.  However, there are some political positions which are not "acceptable" here at Daily Kos.  I intend to try to highlight some of them here, and would like your feedback on any other positions you do not think would be welcome at Daily Kos, as well as if you think I have made any mistakes on my categorizations of these positions.

1) The War in Iraq.  I do not imply that everyone here should oppose the war in Iraq.  However, I do feel that there are several aspects of how the war has been carried out that all of us should be concerned about.

• To date, over 18 months after the initial invasion of Iraq, no WMD's have been found in Iraq.  President George W. Bush specifically stressed the presense of WMD's in Iraq as a reason why immediate action must be taken in Iraq.  As there are no reasonable explanations for how Iraqi WMD's could have disappeared, there were significant failures in either intelligence gathering or the intelligence interpretation by the Bush Administration.
  
• The Bush Administration needs to be more forthright on the reasons it went to war, so we determine whether or not it was a mistake to enter into the Iraqi conflict.
  
• The actions of our troops at Abu Ghraib were outrageous.  We need to take steps to ensure that these kinds of actions are not repeated, and should not be "more outraged at the outrage" than at the actions there.
  
• All Americans should be proud of the fact that America has the finest military in the world and is staffed by excellent troops.  However, questioning the motives of those who lead them into wars is not contradictory with "supporting the troops", and is in fact essential when their main motivation for war has been thoroughly discredited.
  
• Regardless of whether or not he still has any power, Osama Bin Laden masterminded an attack on the U.S. which killed nearly 3000 people; and should be held personally accountable for his actions.

2) Health Care.  There is significant debate on what form government health care should take.  From a government-run single-payer health care system to a modification of the continuing policy, there are many different proposals.  However, there are some aspects of health care which we all agree on.

• The government is the only entity which can prevent the massive spread of communicable diseases.  Its duties in this regard include ensuring that all Americans have access to vaccines, and setting up quarantine settings in the face of such diseases as SARS.
  
• The AIDS crisis is one of the largest health care issues in America, and the world, today.  We need to continue to take a leading role in developing a cure or vaccine for AIDS, as well as promoting techniques to slow the spread of AIDS.
  
• All Americans should have the right to a certain level of emergency medical care, regardless of their ability to pay.  When they cannot pay, either private charities or the federal government needs to pay for such health care.
  
• As they are less able to take care of themselves, the government has a special duty to ensure adequate medical care for those under the age of 18.

3) The environment/natural resources.  We must be conscientious of effecting the environment too much, but we cannot be so careful as to stifle industry and greatly harming our standard of living.  However, I think that we all can agree that:

• The environment is one of our greatest treasures.  We should strive to protect it in as close to its natural setting as possible.
  
• In a properly maintained environment, a reasonable amount of hunting is not contradictory with maintaining equilibrium.
  
• We need to consider the environmental impact of new industrial plants and other construction projects; though this is not the only factor which must be considered.
  
• It is likely that in less than 100 years, supplies of fossil fuels will be signficantly diminished.  We should attempt to discover reasonably priced methods of energy generation not dependent on fossil fuels.
  
• Large amounts of pollution can significantly decrease the quality of life of those Americans who live downwind of those factories.  We should attempt to decrease the amount of pollutants released into the air.

4) Gay rights.  This does not mean support for "gay marriage" necessarily.  This does not even necessarily imply support for civil unions, although a large majority of Kossians would support either civil unions or more drastic measures, such as completely eliminating any government recognition of marriages.  However, I do not feel that anyone would disagree with the following:

• All people are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
  
• Some people are homosexual; and they did not consciously choose to be homosexual.
  
• It is not the role of the government to regulate the private affairs of consenting adults.
  
• People should be allowed to grant certain rights, such as visitation rights in hospitals, to whomever they love, and should not be restricted to their biological family or a spouse of the opposite gender.

5) Taxes.  This is many times the most visible part of government to people, mainly because it is most noticeable and most disliked.  There are various different types of taxes, and each have their pros and cons.  However, we can agree on some things regarding taxes.

• Taxes are necessary for many purposes, including maintaining our military, roads, schools, etc.  However, we must attempt to keep taxes as low as possible by eliminating government waste.
  
• Wealthy people, because of their greater ability to pay and because they have recieved greater benefits from society, ought to pay a larger portion of taxes than less wealthy people do.
  
• We should work to eliminate tax loopholes, because people and businesses should not be able to save money by hiring accountants to find flaws in the tax system to save money.

6) Republicans.  This is the most interesting one. Is Daily Kos strictly aligned with the Democratic Party?  Is it simply "Anybody who feels the Republicans are too conservative?"  Are "centrist Democrats" welcome here?  Would a "Democrat for Bush" be welcome here?  I don't think there is a consensus on this, and I won't venture to make a guess.  However, I think there is one point we can all agree on:

• There is a better path for America than the one we are currently on.