So I have had a lot of time to think over the past few months. Much of it has made me go deeper within myself to find what is important to me. So, I wanted to take this effort a little further and I choose to work with Claude (Anthropic’s AI LLM) in order to interview myself using Claude to direct the questioning and then summarize my beliefs. It’s not perfect but it is a good start and base to work on.
The Initial Prompt
The first prompt I gave to Claude was the following (please reuse it if you want to try a similar exercise):
I'm looking to make a clear list of personal morals/beliefs that relate to political policies. I would like to treat this like an interview that at the end the results can be summarized. So please start asking me questions.The Summary Afterwards (aka TLDR)
This is the summation that Claude did after all of the questions and follow-ups were answered. Because the summary isn’t perfect I will insert additions in square brackets [example] as absolutely necessary for correcting context.
Your Political Principles Summary
Core Values
Everyone deserves equal dignity, respect, and legal treatment, along with equal opportunity.
Unequal results from differences in drive and ability aren’t automatically unfair, but everyone should have the basic necessities of life.
Government should provide public goods that benefit society as a whole.
Rights and freedoms come before public safety when the two conflict.
Policy should be evidence-based and science-based, with transparency and accountability for institutions.
Economy and Taxes
Taxes: Progressive, because the same tax bite hurts lower earners’ standard of living far more. Close loopholes for individuals and corporations, and make sure large accumulated wealth contributes fairly.
Business power: Large companies have too much power, and deregulation has gone too far, especially in banking and finance. You see regulation and a healthy economy as compatible.
Labor: Raise the minimum wage to a living wage, with strong worker protections. Support transparent, accountable unions, and state laws that back them rather than right-to-work laws.
Retirement: Social Security and Medicare are essential. You’d lift or remove the payroll tax cap.
Housing: Mainly a supply problem. Ease zoning and permitting barriers to denser and cheaper housing. Homelessness is solvable with enough resources, plus stronger mental health and addiction support.
Healthcare
Healthcare is a right. A public option is the starting point, aiming for universal coverage so “uninsured” disappears.
Coverage should include mental, dental, hearing, and vision care, plus prevention (vaccines, nutrition and exercise guidance, weight-loss and substance abuse programs).
Cover only evidence-based treatments. Chiropractic and acupuncture stay outside the system until they meet those standards.
Healthcare shouldn’t be a for-profit business.
Education
K-12 stays public. Universal pre-K should be available but not mandated.
Cover tuition at public colleges and vocational schools for those who want to attend, and improve guidance for students before [high school] graduation.
Support variety among public schools (magnet, at-risk programs) if it doesn’t undermine other schools. Oppose vouchers.
Curriculum should be evidence-based and historically accurate. Students are taught and tested on it, and families can teach their beliefs at home.
Justice and Public Safety
Strong rule of law and support for law enforcement, with real accountability for overreach and corruption, and more transparency.
Better training for officers, de-escalation, and social workers or mental health responders for calls that fit them.
Punishment proportionate to the crime. No cash bail: release pending trial, with detention only for people who pose a danger.
Rehabilitation works when the person is willing, backed by stronger drug treatment and mental health care. Addressing root causes is the best way to reduce crime.
Oppose the death penalty. Civil asset forfeiture is a horrible precedent.
Drugs
Legalize recreational marijuana and regulate it like alcohol and tobacco.
The war on drugs has done more harm than good, and you hope research into therapeutic uses of currently taboo substances continues.
Harder drugs: treatment-first orientation, with no position on the legal status of possession or sales (see the flag below).
Environment and Energy
Climate change is extremely important and under-addressed, and the burden belongs mainly on businesses, not individuals.
Regulate carbon output, subsidize clean energy, and research low-emission materials like cement.
Build more nuclear plants using newer, safer designs. Protect public lands and natural resources.
Immigration
Immigration is a net benefit. The current system is broken and needs a full overhaul, with an easier process and a much shorter path to citizenship.
Admit anyone who wants to come except criminals and terrorists, with screening on arrival and ongoing monitoring through regular meetings with an immigration officer.
Immigrants can work and are treated like citizens except for voting. They register whether they intend to seek citizenship.
People already here outside the system get a way in and can declare their intentions.
Heavily penalize employers who hire people outside the system, with jail time for repeat offenders.
Asylum seekers are treated like other immigrants, with an outside sponsor required if they can’t support themselves.
No position stated on numerical caps.
Foreign Policy and Defense
Audit the military so spending is accountable, and decide what to trim afterward. Keep a reasonably ready active force and reserves.
Use force only for defense and protection of allies, not imperialism. You oppose the Iran war of choice and “policing actions” in Venezuela and the Caribbean, and you support helping Ukraine.
Foreign aid is a major good, and you see the USAID cuts as likely deadly.
Trade: favor free trade, accept targeted tariffs, oppose blanket tariffs, and prefer sanctions as the tool for curbing bad behavior.
Rights and Freedoms
Strong constitutional rights and utmost privacy. State surveillance, including data passed on by companies, is dangerous and prone to misuse.
Bodily autonomy, including reproductive rights. Strict separation of church and state.
Free speech, limited only by incitement of violence. Private platforms and advertisers may set their own standards and impose consequences.
Stronger gun regulation without general confiscation: registration like cars, insurance, and removal only where the law already provides (felons, domestic violence).
Equal dignity and marriage freedom for all orientations and genders.
Democracy and Government Integrity
Voter ID is fine if it doesn’t disenfranchise eligible citizens. Mail-in, early, and Election Day voting are all valid. Move Election Day to a Monday or Friday and make it a national holiday.
Reduce money in politics, including the rulings allowing near-unlimited spending.
End gerrymandering with independent boards. Replace the Electoral College and first-past-the-post (ranked choice or similar), and oppose closed primaries.
Term limits, including for judges, with an advisory role afterward. Age limits are worth considering.
Fraud convictions immediately disqualify. Require disclosure of financial interests and tax filings, divestment while in office, and neutral medical screenings for top officials in the line of succession.
Technology and Media
Regulate tech where products endanger citizens, such as engagement algorithms that harm children.
Optimistic about AI. Safety testing should be continuous and evolve with the technology, but no specific guardrails now, since the field moves too fast and use limits may be futile.
Nationwide data privacy law giving people control over their data.
Online information bubbles driving tribalism are bad.
Other
Animal welfare: Animals should be treated well, though you remain an omnivore.
Agriculture: No position.
Flags for Review
1. Hard drugs. You confirmed “treatment-first” and then said to leave hard drugs open. I’ve recorded both as one position: you lean toward treating addiction as a health issue, but you haven’t decided whether possession or sales should be decriminalized. Correct me if you’d rather drop the treatment-first label.
2. Possible tensions:
Immigrants treated like citizens in every respect except voting, alongside ongoing monitoring and sponsor requirements for some.
No cap on immigration, alongside a system that screens and monitors. This works if the system can handle volume, which is a practical question you haven’t addressed.
3. Claims worth testing against opposing sources. Several positions rest partly on empirical claims:
The projected death toll from USAID cuts
Ranked choice moderating politics
Regulation not harming the economy
The Electoral College’s origins
Data center opposition being mostly NIMBYism
The deadliness of cuts to foreign aid
You mentioned that opposing arguments are hard to take seriously. Checking these against the strongest counterarguments would show which of your views are solid and which need refining.
4. Areas with no position: agriculture, immigration caps, and hard-drug legal status.
The Whole Dialog
Here is the whole conversation as a PDF. It is 19 pages long so I don’t recommend printing it but it should be searchable if you are trying to find a specific topic or question.
My Conclusion
I think this was a good idea for me to explore some of the big issues of our day and make me think through them and get my internal thoughts down on “paper”. I know there are topics that didn’t come up but I believe this covers at least 90% of the policy ideas floating around in my head. Many of my ideas are not fully thought through and even more of the policies have nuance that can’t just be summed up quickly. This is where thoughtful discuss with others would come into play. I may revisit all of my ideas in the future to see if these policies still make sense or if I have changed my mind or if there are new considerations that need to be addressed.