Middle to left?

Although I do not have a lot of experience, and lack a lot of necessary knowledge to fully align myself with one political party or another, I do have a general idea of where I stand. I have grown up in a fairly liberal household. I believe this has influence my views but when I look at issues on my own, I still seem to have a fairly liberal view point. I am by no means, however, 100% liberal on every issue.

I fully support gay rights, and am pro-choice. I also support the decriminalization of marijuana, which is a very debatable matter between who supports it, but does seem to generally be a liberal point of view. I believe pretty strongly in gun control. My views on the death penalty are not as black and white. I am also more in the middle when it comes to affirmative action and food stamps as well.

In general, I believe that people should be helped if they need it (economically), but should not become entirely dependant on the government to help them, for then they are just taking advantage of the government, and people who are working hard to pay taxes that benefit them. Socially I believe, in general, that people should be protected and able to depend on the government because the government should work to protect individual rights, as long as it does not infringe on a person’s safety (like possession of guns).