I thought I’d throw up some bullet points on my political perspectives, because, although I would describe myself as a conservative, there are various ways in which that might be misleading, particularly in the US context.

• I was (with caveats) in favour of the invasion of Iraq, and on balance I still think it was the right decision
• I think the Bush administration has been culpably incompetent (and radically anti-conservative) and Bush and Cheney should be impeached
• I think the Bush administration has been actively evil in its support for torture and that Bush should be excommunicated from the church
• I firmly believe that the truth about 9/11 has not been told, though I am not persuaded that Bush was personally involved in that (I have only come to negative conclusions about this subject, not positive ones)
• I do believe that radical Islam poses an existential threat to Western Civilisation. I see the standard left-wing consensus – such as it is – as manifestly inadequate for defending western civilisation, and this is one of my main objections to Obama (for an example, see the treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
• By the way, in case it isn’t obvious, I believe very strongly in free speech
• I believe that the Bush administration, whether by active design or inadvertence, has laid the foundations for a new feudalism in the United States
• I think there is a non-trivial possibility of a far-right Christian fascist autocracy forming in the United States within the next ten years, and a similarly non-trivial possibility of Civil War. My main reason for thinking that those things won’t happen is that the suffering will hit the cities more than the countryside, but I could easily be wrong
• I find Obama’s vote on abortion abhorrent, unconscionable and unfathomable
• I am in favour of stem cell research
• I find McCain’s position on Georgia (shared by Obama) unrealistic and seriously frightening. I would certainly not invite Georgia to be a member of NATO (an institution that is now past its use-by-date)
• I think the United Nations is, by and large, a waste of space
• I am strongly in favour of full secular equality for homosexual couples (and I’m phrasing it that way because ‘marriage’ raises theological questions that are a red herring here)
• I don’t expect any politicians to be saints; it’s just a question of the degree of corruption. I find it remarkable how little investigation there has been of Obama’s background, competence and voting record which seem to me to be much worse than Palin’s
• I don’t think either candidate has a clue about the nature of the storm engulfing the US economy, nor do I think there is much that either candidate can do about it. I still think the fourth turning is a very good guide to what we are seeing
• For all his faults – and his faults aren’t lonely for long – I see McCain as more able to exercise an independent perspective than Obama. I’m not convinced that there is anything there with Obama, that is, anything which marks him out as something other than a product of his context
• I think that George Romero is a prophet, particularly of the US