Let me help you with some basic positions that I hold.
Immigration: I think that we need to secure our borders to stem the flow of illegal immigrants first and foremost. Secondly, I think that it's is an impossible task to round up an estimated 23 million illegal immigrants and deport them... let alone the fact that many of them have been living here in the US for a couple of decades since Reagan signed an Amnesty bill in 1986 (legalizing 1.7 million immigrants). I don't think another amnesty bill makes any sense either... so I agree with Obama when he says that we should have a policy that brings them out of the shadows and make them get into the line like everyone else while realizing that we can't just deport them all due to the logistical nightmare that would be... not to mention that it would defeat the purpose of getting them to declare themselves. It's a common sense approach and I support it.
Bailouts: I agree that some of the bailed out companies were too big to fail... their failure would have caused the crash of the entire economy... that said, TARP was passed under the Bush administration and the last congress and I don't think it was simple to change it into something more acceptable. I think that the bailout has produced positive results in the end... but yes... I think it could have used alot more thought and oversight.
Stimulus: I think that the stimulus was necessary as well to attempt to stem the tide of job losses. Spending is what drives our economy... neither corporate spending or consumer spending we showing signs of increase (the opposite, in fact) so the government was really the only alternative to increase the flow of dollars into the economy. If the government had implemented a spending freeze, we would have definitely seen a depression, according all indicators. I think this argument over unemployment money by some governors is ridiculous... I suppose they would rather have the unemployed on welfare or living in tent cities.
Spending in general: I would prefer that we not be in debt... that said, I think that Obama inherited a huge freaking mess on alot of fronts (including a $1.3 Trillion deficit) and spending money, in an attempt to stem the economic downfall, was the lesser of 2 evils. Obama said it himself... if he had it to choose... he would have chosen not to spend the money... but he felt, I believe correctly, that spending was the way to prevent a disaster. The most important part will be whether he follows through with his promise to cut the deficit in half. He really hasn't increased spending as much as you probably think he has... alot of the money showing in his budget is because he is including items that the Bush administration didn't show in their budget (the wars for example). EVERY president for the last 29 years (except for Clinton) raised the debt as a percentage of GDP. The test will be whether or not Obama is able to gain from the spending and bring it under control before the end of his term.
Abortion: I don't support abortion as a means of birth control. I think that it should be illegal except in the case that it saves the mothers life, rape or incest.
Gun Control: I support the right of citizens to bear arms... I don't support the right of citizens to possess any type of weapon unchecked and as such I support a ban on true assault weapons (not just because they are semi-automatic). The theoretical argument that possession of such weapons allows people the freedom to protect themselves against government tyranny is ridiculous in this day and age... unless the military is on the side of the people or a huge majority chose to have armed conflict with the government, this is "pie in the sky" reasoning. The risk of criminals gaining these type of armaments is far greater than the benefit of possessing them, as a right.
Health Care: I support a public option (alternative insurance plan that is a non-profit GSE that does not stifle private competition) and I support the presidents plan to modernize the industry. Our current health care system is insane... but the bottom line is that unless we do something about illegal immigration, any health care plan is going to be fucked.
The Wars: I think we need to get out of Iraq... we can't afford an extended occupation and I think that has contributed to our current economic condition. We have no business trying to run that country. As far as Afghanistan is concerned... I think we should secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and get the fuck out. Logic and history says that we can't win a guerrilla war anywhere and our continued occupation is really just seeding more enmity. We have special forces teams and high tech surveillance capabilities that they will nenver have in our lifetime (hopefully). We should use that to our advantage and do precision strikes as needed... policing the territory is just a fools errand.
Iran: I see nothing wrong with talking to Iran... I think it makes alot more sense to escalate diplomacy over sabre rattling. As long as Russia is not joining us in working to curb enmity toward Israel, we are really just playing a game of chess with them. I have no doubt that Russia is playing both sides here. We should just invest in an ambitious missile defense system and let them play their games. If we spent as much on Israel's defense systems as we spend on conflicts they would have nothing to worry about.
Energy: We need to ween ourselves off of our insatiable thirst for oil. It makes sense on so many levels. Our continued investment in oil is our plan for our own demise. We have plenty of Natural Gas and Coal right here in the US... not to mention the entire Mississippi and other large rivers that we could use to provide more than 70% of the nations electrical needs if we invested in it. Add solar, wind, thermal energy, tidal energy and bio fuels to the equation and it adds up to no reason why we shouldn't make a national effort to do it. I don't see any reason why the government couldn't subsidize conversions of existing vehicles to Natural Gas instead of subsidizing oil companies... it
costs under $4,000 to do it. lobbyists are the only real reason I think it's not happening.
Torture: Waterboarding is torture... pure and simple... it has been considered torture for decades... using torture lowers us to the level of our enemies when we should be separating ourselves from them. I support prosecutions of the people at the top who ordered it and the lawyers who falsely justified it. What separates us from the people we have convicted of war crimes? They also had justification.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin
If you want more... let me know.