I'm an almost 34-year-old white guy. I've got a wife, a two-year-old son and a mortgage. We don't make enough money to qualify for the Alternative Minimum Tax, but we're comfortable. Oh, and I live in North Carolina.

Here are some of my core beliefs: I believe that global free trade--with or without environmental and labor "safeguards"--is by far the best policy. I believe that outsourcing and even the shift of manufacturing to other countries is, indeed, a good deal for most Americans. I also happen to believe that the trade deficit is almost meaningless in this era of floating currencies and a global economy.

I believe that running up the national debt during recessionary times is a responsible act. I believe that a good deal of our national resources ought to be spent combating terrorism. And I do, indeed, believe that most of Iraq is better off now that Saddam Hussein has been evicted from his palaces.

All that said, you'd figure me for a sure-fire George W. Bush man, right? Of course not. For starters, there are plenty of issues (gun control, health care, immigration, overall tax policy, abortion, energy policy) where I don't see eye-to-eye with the guy. Truth be told, I really can't imagine voting for a Republican presidential candidate any time in my lifetime--though I make no promises.

"How can that be?" you might well ask. Certainly as an ardent free-trader, I ought to have some sympathy for Republicans. Well, yeah, but most Democrats support free trade as well, even if they occasionally spout off protectionist nonsense. For that matter, George W. Bush has enacted many more protectionist policies than did Bill Clinton. But the only time he mentions this is when he's scooping up loot in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.

And that deficit thing? How can I be so hypocritical as to criticize the Prez for his whopping deficit spending when I'm in favor of such things during recessions? Well, there's the fact that he spent very little money on the people hurt by the recession--say, the hundreds of thousands of factory workers here in North Carolina who likely will never again have a job with comparable pay. And those unemployment extensions? They ran out ages ago.

True, I don't care much about the trade deficit. But barring gigantic tariff increases (which would certainly drive us right back into a recession), there's very little we can do about that sort of thing. And I would argue that there's very little we need to do about it. We've had a massive trade deficit for nearly three decades. That's enough time for long-term effects to show up. They haven't. The days of the cross of gold and the silver-tongued orator (ah, that old time populism!) are over.

My own personal belief is that I don't need a whole lot of help from the government. I'm happy to pay what taxes I owe, even when I think they're being dreadfully misspent. That's democracy for you. I don't vote my pocketbook and I don't vote based on my own personal interests. If I did, I suppose I'd vote Republican. But I think that sort of political judgment is selfish. I believe that our society ought to compel our government to do what is best for the most people. If that means breaking down trade barriers and allowing outsourcing to occur, so be it. If that means enacting a single-payer national health care program, so be it. If that means taking a certain drawl-impaired cowboy out behind the bar and whacking him over the head a few times, so be it.

I know, Adam Smith would call me a moron. If I fail to act in my own self-interest, then the market (the "voting market," in this case) can't function properly. Well, fuck Adam Smith. He was a smart guy, but even capitalism can't exist in a vacuum. Theory is grand, but it isn't worth a damned thing if the real world starts with different assumptions. And in the real world, we're spending ourselves into a hole trying to catch sand in a sieve. Which, among other reasons, is why I'll be voting for a certain blue-blood from New England in the fall.

That's right. The one who knows how to speak English almost as well as he speaks French.

Jon Worley bought five bucks worth of carrot cake muffins at his neighborhood's MoveOn bake sale this weekend.