What Drives Your Political Views?

I've thought about it long and hard, used my personal experience, and tried to observe others' behaviors, and I've come to the conclusion that the two most important factors in somebody choosing their political color are faith and family.

I personally adopted my parents' political views, of the Democratic Party. I have few friends that disagree with the politics that their parents raised them on. What I find most interesting are my friends with parents of conflicting political views. A friend of mine has a conservative mother and a liberal father. She has adopted a mix of the two views, liberal on economic policies but pro-life.

I have other friends that are Republican solely because of the teachings of their church, or more specifically, because they see being pro-choice as against God's will and baby-killing. A friend of mine who is very strongly religious is also very conservative in terms of politics.

Does this mean that God is pro-life, against gay marriage, but also believes in a small government? Not quite. Does this mean that gays have to believe in strong government? No. Well, it shouldn't, but in reality, that's how it works. I've come to believe that both sides of the economic debate are virtually equal in their merit. Economics is based off of tradeoffs and when both sides are equally right and wrong, you have to find something other than economics to form your own views, unless you want to draw your beliefs out of a hat. People turn to how they were raised or their faith to decide which side of the aisle to stand on. Its a shame that people don't have the balls to be pro-life and in support of reasonable government control or Atheist but in support of a minimal government. George Washington warned us of the demons that are political parties, and here were are, in the modern day, with millions of people voting for an array of beliefs based upon a few - or just one, as is often the case with strong pro-lifers.

We live in a society in which people will happily vote for representatives that only agree with one belief of theirs. God help us all.