GET LABELS READY FOR THESE OPINIONS

The older I get the more I appreciate the signature toast of the late Ed
Ball, "Confusion to the enemy." In that spirit, I offer what hopefully will
be my annual column to muddy the waters for those who insist on pinning
political labels on everyone.

This stems from my increasing unhappiness with the growing partisanship
raging through the land. Boiled down, it comes to this: "If my side does
it, it's right; if your side does it, it's wrong."

The basic foundation to such a political philosophy is the use of labels;
it greatly simplifies things. Once you afix a label - conservative,
liberal, environmentalist, developer - there is no need to read the fine
print, 'cause you know all you need (want) to know.

So, get your labels ready, here's some of what I believe:

Like most good conservatives, I think abortion is the killing of innocent
human life and should be outlawed. Unlike many conservatives (but like a
growing few) I also think capital punishment is wrong because the system is
so flawed it leads to the killing of innocent human life.

Like most good liberals, I support strong environmental regulations to
promote clean air and water. I reject a growing movement on the
conservative side to assert a "right to pollute."

Like most good libertarians, I think marijuana, at the very least, should
be legalized, with legalization of other drugs seriously considered.
Opponents on both the right and left complain that this will result in
widespread drug use, and they are right. Problem is, we already have
widespread drug use, and our destructive, expensive and futile war on drugs
compounds the problem by filling the jails and spawning drug crime that
blights communities. We should empty the jails of drug "criminals" and
invest the savings in education and rehab.

Like most conservatives used to, I support a balanced budget and paying
down the national debt. Today, the roles seem to be reversing - those on
the right (at least in Washington and among the intelligentsia)
increasingly say deficits don't matter, and those on the left say deficits
are out of control.

Like many conservatives, I favor the flat tax, which almost every
entrenched interest opposes, no matter what everyone says (my proof: Do we
have a flat tax?). I also favor ending the double taxation of stock dividends.

Like most liberals, I think government at almost every level spends too
little on education, especially on students from low-income homes. But I
also think we should allow more flexibility and experimentation in public
schools to address those problems.

I could support school vouchers, but not the way we do it in Florida. Under
my win-win plan, vouchers would be worth, say, 70 percent of the state's
per-pupil expenditure, with the other 30 percent staying in the public
school. That way, both sides benefit. Example: If we spend $5,000 per
student, a voucher would be worth $3,500 at a private school, and $1,500
would stay with the public school, effectively raising per-student
spending. It can't be that hard to track the students to make sure the 30
percent stays with the public school that voucher student would have attended.

I have been a registered Republican since I was 18, but have voted for
Democratic, Republican and third-party candidates (I voted for Ross Perot
twice out of exasperation with both parties). Today's Republican
politicians seem interested mainly in power and rewarding those who fund
their campaigns, while the Democrats seem mainly interested in reflexively
opposing whatever the Republicans propose. The only thing stopping me from
registering as an Independent is that I could vote in virtually no local
primaries.

Like many conservatives and some liberals, I support the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein by military force, but only if we don't do what we are doing
in Afghanistan, which is to renege on promises to help rebuild the nation.
Saddam has got to go, but there's no point if we're going to let Iraq
dissolve into civil war and let another dictator take over.

Finally, I believe the designated hitter should be eliminated, and pitchers
forced to learn to bunt again.

News Journal Opinion Editor Wernicke's column runs Sundays on the Opinion page.