Pro Life. Pro God. Pro Gun.

I was behind a pick-up truck at a stoplight, and the above bumper sticker was proudly displayed in the top corner of the window. "PRO LIFE. PRO GOD. PRO GUN." These are all reasonable positions for someone to take, and I certainly have no problem with sticking your beliefs on the back of your F-150 for all to see.

The issue I have is that these three stickers were not sold separately. It is a single sticker with all three positions. And trust me on this - the church or gun shop where this sticker was purchased did not offer any other permutations of these three options, besides the exact three shown. This is an example of an ideology setting your beliefs. It's probably a safe bet that this guy is also not a big proponent of same-sex marriage, or doing anything about climate change.

My personal preference is to choose my positions on an individual basis. I would generally rather talk with someone who held some of the sentiments above, over someone who held all three. Even though this means such a person can probably never run for President. But I don't find supporting some of the positions, and not others, to be any sort of profound contradiction. I suspect that puts me squarely in the minority - it certainly does among people that I interact with. And I'm proud to say that I've actually changed my position a full 180 degrees on at least one of these three topics.

My challenge to you is to think about where you would stand on a list of issues, such as the three stated above. If most or all of your principles fall in line with a particular ideology, consider whether you want to be a person who can walk into a shop and purchase everything you believe on a pre-printed sticker.