I'm for balance and pragmatism. Sometimes government is required, sometimes the free market is required. Sometimes efficiency is not the end goal. Generally government should stay out of people's personal lives. I do believe in a strong safety net and a generally free market. But there should always be room for exceptions.
I also believe that 99% of the hot button issues are being pushed by the higher ups merely to get people arguing about issues they normally wouldn't care about while corruption, poorly implemented systems, and failures get swept under the rug.