Alright, I know I will get flamed probably on both sides, but I'll press on with it anyway.

First off, contrary to popular belief, the board does not lean to the right. That is probably hard to grasp to most of the blind people on the board. TheNeo was right talking about those who come here to bash Bush/repugnants/right wing daily. Yes, I do bash Bush, but my reasons are my own.

This is for the one person who is sure to call me a repugnant. Just because someone does not agree with you does not make them a repugnant. It is narrow-mindedness/idiocy that would make someone view opposition this way. To dehumanize, which is what you are doing, someone for not agreeing with you is simply lame. My best friend and I disagree completely about everything in politics, but do I have to call him names to get my point across? No...and neither should you. Guess what, people are set in their ways and no matter how much effort you put in, you probably won't change them.

Conservatives are not facists. Liberals are not Communists. At least not all of them are. Most of the American population is moderate liberal/conservatives...not extreme. The extremes for either side are the ones who are wrong and dangerous.

Bush is not always right. The very vocal right here needs to understand this. Inversly, Bush is not always wrong. The populated left here needs to grasp that one as well. Besides, Bush has lately seemed like he is starting to lean more and more left. Spending like a drunken sailor, immigration reform, and waffling on the homosexual marriage (if you don't think so, where has he been since the SoU address. He hasn't been touching that issue.). The more conservative side of the board should be growing tired of his indifference this election year.

Also, for the right, you cannot deny there being some serious shady dealings and truly wrong things coming from this adminstration. Enron, Patriot Act, (Don't spin it, Bush signed it into law) and Intelligence failures are just a few.

Also, on the subject of Bush, maybe the biggest conspiracy of them all is that he might not have been a devious prick when he was younger. And even if it isn't, if you had that type of privledge, you cannot tell me you wouldn't use it. It's not like he killed anyone.

WMDs was not the only reason for war, but it was the selling point. It was the rallying call for this war.

The President did terrorize his own people. Listen to 2003 SoU address, look at every time he mentioned a WMD. It made we people scared that Saddam/Osama has a stockpile of ICBM and Bombs laced with terror on them. Also, what is coming out of the Department of Homeland Security? There are warnings about people carrying coffee cans and almanacs. Read that last sentence again. WE ARE SCARED OF PEOPLE CARRYING TIN CANS AND A BOOK.

Liberals, racial profiling is the best system for catching international terrorist. I don't think the 80 year old grandma getting searched for trying to board a plane is going to get those people slipping through the crack.

Affirmative Action is wrong. It was started with good intention but has been bastardized to the point of reverse racism. Speakin of reverse racism, it is bad to be a white person this day and age. If anything, we white people are slowly becoming a minority.

Flat tax rate across the board is a damn good idea.

Deficit spending should only be allowed in extreme cases. A war we picked is not a valid point unless it means our very survival.

The best choice for a Democratic nominee was Dean. He truly was a Washington outsider. The second best choice is Edwards. He is charismatic enough to pull off beating Bush. Kerry is not the best choice for the nominee.

Oil is not just a concern for the Republicans. Democrats care about it too. It is scary/sad that our entire economy could be seriously damaged just because some nations decided to make the Euro the oil currency.

Our government does not care about the post peak oil situation. If so, they would be pressuring the corporations to find better sources for energy other than petroleum. To preserve our way of life, we must find a way to not use gasoline and oil for automotive transport and home heating. We must hold the petroleum for the useful things like the plastics that come out of the production of Crude. In the long run, plastics are more important than gas.

Washington needs a huge enema. Our leaders simply do not care about us and our way of life. For the most part, they are all agenda monkeys for their own party and own "special" interest.

Seperation of Church and State sounds like a groovy idea, but it will never work in this country because there are too many religious people in this country. This country may or may not have been founded on Judeo/Christian beliefs, but the majority of the current people in this country are of a Judeo/Christian belief structure.

Even though I'm not a fan of it, is there really anything wrong with gay marriage? Are we afraid of them having favorable stats in their marriage. Also, lets call a spade a spade. Civil unions are gay marriages without the name and the glamour. If anything, homosexuals should make a civil union into a marriage type event. Get the justice who signs your paper to come over to a KC Hall to sign it there. Have your friends, family, cake and beer there as well. You can have an event with a civil union, you just won't have the name it.

And the last thing I want to bring up here is that above all else, is that we need to be true to ourselves and think about the issue. Don't attack/accept the issue just because the party of your choice supports it. That is truly servile and wrong.

(edit) Izzat better Saph?

[Edited on 2/19/2004 by OXmanK]

Crap, I accidently posted this in the wrong forum. Could a mod please move this to political mudpit?

All of that is just your opinion. And, most folk don't follow party. Just like you, they truly believe their opinions to be facts.

A nice sized portion of people on this board follow the party of their choice and do not take things issue by issue. They never criticize the people of their party for doing something wrong, but turn around and complain that a politician of the other side did it. Clinton/GWB/WMDs is a perfect example of it.

"Flat tax rate across the board is a damn good idea."

I agree. This would eliminate the IRS, which would decrease government size (always good) and save money.

No loopholes, no breaks, just tax.

Ignore my smart mouth Ox. I agree with some of the things you said specially..."And the last thing I want to bring up here is that above all else, we need to be true to ourselves and think about the issue. "

But, I still disagree that people follow parties. Folk tend to swing to the party that follows closely with their beliefs. If you ask me we should do as Jon Stewart suggested the other night and storm the Bastille. Kick all the bastards out of our government.

[Edited on 19-2-2004 by Fry2]

That is it, Saph, but I don't think anyone can really like everything their party does. That's why I put that part in there. That comment was directed at the board, not the population in general. I really do think that there are some here who follow their party so much that they do not question any part of their agenda.

Republicans: Bush's Immigration plan

Democrats: Repealing all of Bush's tax cuts.

Those are just a few examples. There are other things that the people should truly be against, but are not. Again, look at the Bush/Clinton/WMDs thingy.

In 1998:

Republicans: Clinton is only bombing Iraq to draw attention off of the Lewinsky scandal.

Democrats: The Iraqi's have been stymying the Weapons Inspectors leading us to believe they have WMDs. Therefore, they are a threat.

In 2003:

Republicans: They do have Weapons. We should invade and overthrow Saddam.

Democrats: They do not have weapons. This is a flimsy reason to go to war.

Actually, Dean and Gephart were the only ones talking about repealing all of the Bush tax cuts...and they are no longer running. They have to repeal some of them, but at the same time, spending is out of frickin control. And it isn't good spending either.

At this point I don't think it matters who is elected we're screwed either way. Still, I'ma vote dem because I my beliefs are liberal. Besides that, Bush is incompetent. If the republicans would've voted for McCain in 2000 I'm pretty sure I'd be really ready to vote republican. A few months back I was ready to vote for Bush...but, he pulled that Pickering fiasco and the Gay marriage debate came into play. I have to go with the libs this time around. But, I'm open depending on the issues of the day. The mudpit is confrontational so issues get blown up and folk take strong stands. Don't read too much into it.