Partly. I guess I need to tell the Steemit world a bit about myself. This is harder than I thought it would be, now that I am doing it, because I hold beliefs that are quite in the minority--so outdated they might be avant-garde, definitely not retro. Let's proceed and see how much comes out.
My name is Summer and that should give you a clue what decade I was born in.
Politically: Libertarian. I admire anarcho-capitalism, but can't quite subscribe because of my perception of the warped state of mankind. I.e. people suck, and therefore utopian experiments like communism and anarcho-capitalism would never work because the world cannot function ideally. So, what is the proper role of government? In my view, to protect private property rights, arbitrate civil disputes, and provide for a common defense. I'm constantly disappointed in my US government, which daily oversteps its constitutionally outlined authority.
Economically: laissez faire, Austrian school, free market capitalist. All other systems are theft and tyranny. What we have in America, where the corporations have a strangle hold on legislative and regulatory bodies, however, presents a dilemma: What remedy does a society have when it's market choices are blocked by corrupt legislation without resorting to the same crony tools of bribery and forced legislation? I.e., how can the corporations be held in check without fighting fire with fire? For example, I think GMO's would be labeled by free market demand by now, however lobbying corporations continue to successfully keep this information obscured. In this corrupt political environment, does a libertarian then support a GMO labeling law because it's the simplest way to combat corporations and get the info out there to consumers? I haven't solved this yet for myself, but would be tempted to support a labeling law. So, I'm a realist and pragmatist, although some might call me a hypocrite.
History should be studied and taught with a view to economics, which I believe is one of the primary drivers, yet is left out entirely as a theme in history books. Other drivers include philosophy, religion, and political ideas. I believe major events are mostly shaped and driven from these types of top down forces. So called "grass roots" movements are usually led by one or a few individuals who are coming from an inspiring set of principles, so there really is no such thing as a bottom-up, populist movement, in my opinion.
I abhor fractional reserve banking, fiat currency, legal tender laws, and central banking. That said, if America could get rid of these things, I'm not sure how we would fare in a world that universally embraces them. Central banks cause war and lead to endless wars, but if we got rid of our central bank, and ran out of money to defend ourselves (since our country is beyond bankrupt), would we simply be conquered by a nation that didn't have such scruples? And then where would our ideals be? It's a concern how to balance ideals versus reality. That said, I think America would do well to stop bombing people and policing the world.
On a micro-econ level, I observe the dis-incentivizing of labor through minimum wage laws, and robbing labor through "quantitative easing," and such. Most regulations seem to cause the exact opposite of what they try to achieve, causing people to be worse off. I could go on, but let's move on.
I have a strong faith in a divine creator. Order must come from order, in my opinion. It doesn't make sense that order could come from disorder and chaos. Life is too complex at the cellular level and works together too interdependently and intricately for those things to have evolved independent of each other. For example, just pause for a moment and consider why a spherical ball would randomly occur in a face, let alone develop camera properties to allow sight, not to mention the ability to interpret the images. Oh, and this must happen twice to get 2 eyes, that then produce depth perception. Statistically impossible no matter what length of time you have!
My faith is more complex than the above, but I will leave it at that. I will say nothing of organized religion, sacred texts, or free will versus determinism, as those are more touchier and lengthy subjects. Clearly, I am driven by moral principles that are shaped by my worldview and drive my social ethics. I regularly examine my life and principles and pity those who don't take time for self reflection or analyzing what philosophies they are influenced by, or buying into.
Socially: "conservative." Not a feminist, as in I don't subscribe to what I observe feminism is: trying to be men in lifestyle and role. I think women are very important and if they choose to be wives and mothers, then they should take those roles seriously and value their intrinsic importance. Those roles don't diminish a woman's intellect or other capabilities and I'm proud to say I am a wife and mother that loves exercising my intellect! Enough said. You can probably extrapolate the rest of my social views and this is getting long. I doubt anyone is still reading! By the way, I love reading and tv/movies/youtube, learning, cooking, swimming, dance, and taking long walks on the beach (LOL). All that good, incidental stuff.
Why am I on Steemit? I looked at it in 2016 and didn't really get it. Since then, it's making more sense as I've seen people doing it and making a success of it. I'm intrigued and want to explore this new platform. I'm always curious. Always want to learn more and make myself better. Always want to be good to others and make a better world. That's the core of who I am.
Cheers!