There are Four Basic Categories

Through my own observation and experience, I think I have discovered something about people. There are four identifiable classes of people when it comes to political viewpoints.

There are Secular Liberals, Religious Liberals, Secular Conservatives and Religious Conservatives.

It seems pretty clear these days that the Democrats have been taken over by the secular liberals, which might be the simplest explanation for why they haven’t been winning elections. Because, whether this group likes it or not, the majority of Americans don't see the world the way they do.

Republicans seem to have an ongoing battle happening between the religious and seculars. My view of the seculars is that they're mostly represented by the capitalists and CEO's, whose main objective is keeping the government from meddling in their business. Religious conservatives are in a battle for the party, with a somewhat more moderate view on the economic issues but firm belief in protecting traditional values and culture.

The best way I can think of to define these categories is through the following examples:

1. There’s a guy on the streetcorner with the sign, “Will work for food”.

· Secular Liberal: Ignores him, thinks “The government needs to do something about that”.

· Religious Liberal: Gives the guy a dollar, thinks “Poor guy, the government should do something to help”

· Secular Conservative: Might yell out he window, “Get a job!”. Or might consider calling the police to arrest him for vagrancy. Thinks the guy’s a fraud anyway.

· Religious Conservative: Most likely to hand him a sandwich or a card with directions to the local soup kitchen where she volunteers a couple times a month.

2. A 12-year-old girl comes to the person for advice, because she just got pregnant and is afraid to tell her parents.

· Secular Liberal: Will encourage the girl to get an abortion, support her in keeping it from her parents, and might even offer to drive her to the clinic.

· Religious Liberal: Is very conflicted, because they feel empathy for the girl’s situation but don’t want to force their religious views on her. This type might just suggest that the girl make whatever decision she feels is best for her.

· Secular Conservative: This type isn’t going to be terribly sensitive to the girl’s feelings, and will probably tell her that if she doesn’t tell her parents immediately that he will. He will strongly encourage her to have the baby and give it up for adoption.

· Religious Conservative: Will be very understanding of the girl’s dilemma, and will support her and maybe even help her with breaking the news to her parents. If the parents are unhelpful, demand she abort the baby, or disown her, this type will make sure she gets into a pregnancy care program that will help her through the entire process.

3. The Iraq War

· Secular Liberal: Is still hung up on their belief that Bush “stole” the 2000 election, and still views everything Bush does as tainted or illegitimate. Tells everyone that “Bush lied” to get into the Iraq war, but actually agitates against the war in hopes it will somehow lead to Bush’s impeachment and a chance to get a Liberal back into the White House.

· Religious Liberal: Is a hand-wringer about all of the Iraqis killed in the war. Doesn’t support the Iraq war because of generally pacifist philosophy, feeling that we should reach out to our enemies to make peace or trust God to protect us.

· Secular Conservative: Believes we haven’t done enough in the Iraq war, that we should have used overwhelming force and dealt more firmly and harshly with the so-called “insurgents”. Believe Iraq is an example to the region of what will happen to rogue regimes that sponsor terrorism, which will force the other members of the “Axis of Evil” to think twice before helping Al Quaeda and other organizations attack America.

· Religious Conservatives: Are somewhat conflicted about the Iraq war because of its pre-emptive nature, but trust the President to be pursuing the right policies to protect our country from terrorist attacks.

4. Oil and Energy

· Secular Liberal: Feels hatred and anger against the evil oil industry that is “raping the planet” to enrich themselves. Hates rich people who drive Hummers and Navigators, guzzling gas and polluting the air. Will go to any lengths to prevent oil drilling in the ANWR, not to protect the wildlife and environment there, but because they feel it’s unfair to allow an oil company to increase their riches by getting a sweetheart drilling deal from the Texas-based Bush administration. The wealthy part of this group buy a hybrid automobile for show, but have the gas-guzzlers in their garage and use more energy to heat and cool their California mansions than the average American can imagine.

· Religious Liberal: Thinks that Americans are wasteful of God’s resources and we should do more in caring for the planet He gave us. Have gullibly bought into the fallacious arguments made by the Secular Liberals (who know better) that the beautiful ANWR reserve will be blighted and wildlife wiped out by the irresponsible oil companies.

· Secular Conservative: Completely support oil exploration and drilling wherever it may be found. Don’t believe there are any environmental concerns that are relevant, but know that the best short-term path to American energy independence is full exploitation of our own untapped domestic supplies.

· Religious Conservatives: Are environmentally sensitive, and support research on alternative fuels. But also understand that responsible oil exploration and drilling are necessary to help keep a strong economy and reduce reliance on foreign oil.

5. Taxes

· Secular Liberal: There are two groups inside this category: the rich SL and the rest of the SL’s. The rich support high taxes and soaking the rich, but most of them don’t care because most of their fortune is already well-hidden from the government in offshore accounts. The non-rich SL feels the rich are given special treatment by the Republican-run government and don’t think that it’s possible to raise taxes on them too much. But the non-rich SL also thinks they pay plenty of tax already.

· Religious Liberal: This group is made up of mostly lower to middle class people who are attracted to the rhetoric from their SL friends. Therefore they support soaking the rich, but would prefer to avoid higher taxes on their own families. On the other hand, if a liberal president or congress came to them and told them their taxes had to go up to help the poor, they would happily support the increase.

· Secular Conservative: This group firmly believes that tax cuts benefit everyone. Cutting taxes and social programs are certain to stimulate the economy, because letting people keep more of their own money directly translates into more consumer spending on products and services. That creates jobs and reduces the need for social services for the poor.

· Religious Conservative: This group supports the “Fair Tax” plan or flat tax plans, and are tired of the political favors and complexity of the existing tax code. The RC views social programs as the responsibility of each citizen, and that the government does a very poor job of actually addressing issues of the poor. This group is much more likely to donate the highest amounts of money to charity and actually participate in community programs that help the poor.

6. Gay Rights

· Secular Liberal: This is the category where most gays live. They have been on a crusade to force American society to not only accept, but embrace the gay lifestyle. And for the most part, they seem to have succeeded through constant political activism and the significant contributions of their primary employers in the entertainment and media industries. SL’s see the legalization of Gay Marriage as the ultimate measure of their success in this crusade, but have yet to think through all the consequences of full marital rights and consequences.

· Religious Liberal: These people belong to “progressive” churches, or organizations within their denominations that are pushing for more understanding and recognition of gays. They ignore teachings of their faith that denounce the gay lifestyle, choosing instead to believe that our society is simply more enlightened and the faith can accommodate new social norms.

· Secular Conservative: This group’s philosophy on gay rights says that gays have the right to do whatever they want with other consenting adults behind closed doors, but they don’t have the right to push their sexuality into the rest of our faces. SC’s say to gays, “Do whatever you like in private, but don’ t expect special rights and privileges just because of your sexual behavior.”

· Religious Conservative: Religious conservatives continue to believe the teachings of their faith, that sex outside the sacrament of marriage is a sin. They feel sorry for gays, who they feel have been misled or entrapped by sexual predators into the lifestyle. They feel anyone who feels they are a homosexual can change their orientation through counseling and communion with God. They are appalled that one of their faith’s most important sacraments is being debased through it’s misuse by the Gay Rights movement.

There are plenty more issues I could do this with, but have spent enough time on this post already. The summary of these categories, as I see it:

The Secular Liberal: Is or was most likely of all these groups to have been a drug abuser, has socialist and/or communist sympathies, is either perpetually broke and blames rich people for it or is a very wealthy heir/heiress or entertainer that feels guilty about it, is or has been sexually promiscouous, and despises religious people they think want to "judge" them.

The Religious Liberal: Is in search of a better world and believe the government can implement idealistic and sensitive policies to help achieve it, believe in God and profess a strong personal spirituality but shun the staid traditions of organized religion in favor of new liberal-minded movements, want to protect animals and the environment, want workers to be paid a fair wage and think CEO's make obscene amounts of money and get too many tax breaks, are generally pacifists and think all conflicts can be resolved through understanding and diplomacy.

The Secular Conservative: The ultimate capitalist, tends toward a libertarian philosophy of extremely limited government, firmly believes in strong national defense and infrastructure but supports very little governmental social programs, thinks people need to be self-sufficient and accountable, have no use for crazy environmentalists and animal rights activists, and fight for low taxes and minimal government regulation.

The Religious Conservative: Feels that America became great because of its strong foundation of freedom and moral values, supports free trade and capitalism but with boundaries that protect people and the environment from abusive or unfair practices, believe it's the responsibility of the people and not the government to care for the poor, support fair and simple taxes, and hold great fear that they will soon be persecuted by an increasingly secular society that seems to hold them in contempt.

Which category best describes you?