persona non grata

This is more or less a political blog. In comprehending another's argument, it's always helpful to understand where they are coming from, in order to see the argument situated from their point of view. Some people guard their commmitments, either because they aren't that firm in their convictions or because they are afraid of being "pegged" and dismissed before they are truly understood (when I don't "out" my philosophical or political persuasions, it's usually for the latter reason - people will tune you out because they already know what a "liberal" or "conservative" or "anarchist" or "Green" or whatever is). But, seeing as this is a forum on politics membered by people who luv politics, I feel it would be best to put my cards on the table so people can see where I'm coming from. My results from the Moral Politics survey are at http://heracliteanfire.vox.com/library/post/6a00c225246467604a00cd972f5b5d4cd5.html. First of all, I love ideas, love politics, love philosophy, and love humanity. I have a habit of sometimes taking an extreme position in order to push it until it breaks - so I may argue hard on things that I don't necessarily believe, play the devil's advocate and whatnot. I do, however, always return to my first principles - things I do "believe" (meaning "values I am commited to") - first being an intense respect for life, especially the individual human person, and stemming from that, rights to life and self-determination. Politically, my ethics coincide quite a bit with Catholic Social Teaching, with a healthy respect for the personalism of the Catholic Worker movement, and a smattering of Gandhian sympathies - a mix much like the early Green movement. I consider myself some variety of libertarian socialist and an ecosocialist. I have a fascination with utopian and dystopian novels and history of utopian experiments. My biggest political influences are: William Morris, Karl Marx, EF Schumacher, Peter Kropotkin, Paulo Freire, and Antonio Gramsci. Anyway, that gives you an idea where I'm coming from.