[Unit 5302]

Quite frankly, I think the Libertarians are nuts. According to their website, I'm more liberal than conservative and "Centrist." According to my political compass, I'm just about dead center. -0.75, 0.31 (liberal/conservative), (liberatarian/authoritarian), respectively. I'm apparently neutral-good in my alignment.

The fact that democrats vote against republican bills or republicans vote against democrat bills has nothing to do with having different values or ideas. It simply confirms my ascertations. Democrats and republicans alike approved the invasion into Afghanistan. Gore would have done the same because the American people demanded it. It's nearly polictical suicide to go against such a movement.

I agree, democrats would not have invaded Iraq because their leadership would not have wanted to invade. That's just it, though. Republican and democrat policies are simply handed down by a few in the leadership position, and the rest of the lackies get in line. I submit Norm Coleman MN, Ralph Hall TX, Rodney Alexander LA, Michael Decker NC, and Brad Ghormley TX. They're all representatives that have switched sides in the past few years. Most noting that they expected greater cooperation for doing so, and they're all party line followers. So they followed the democrat party lines one day, and the republican party lines the next.

So while I indicated there is little difference between the two, it's more of at an individual level, but somewhat the same at a high level as well. Interestingly enough, abortion rights and homosexual issues do not concern me so they're mute points. Regarding economic issues, it's basically 2+3 = 5 vs 3+2 = 5. The republicans have a reputation for being staunch spenders, thrifty by comparision to their democrat counterparts. The republicans favor smaller government and lower taxes while democrats favor larger goverment and higher taxes (currently bordering on socialism). This administration has dramatically increased the size of government along with pushing through every spending bill they could. It's like a kid with a credit card, literally, as borrowing and increasing the national debt has hurt the value of our currency in the world. So, unfortunately, the differences between the parties seem very much to be religious issues.

That being said, I'm not attacking any party any more or less than the others. There is no need to defend Bush, a particular party or any other cantidate to me. It doesn't matter anymore, anyway. What matters is next time. Like anything in life, you just do the best with what you have.

My comments about the conservative right doing all it can to seize power politically to further their religion onto others are correct. While Mr 5.0 may indicate there is a less sinister reason behind the growing movement (everybody pushing for what they want being natural), it does not lessen the impact on non-Christians. It may be worth noting that Christianity is not doing as well as some other religions in the US in regard to recruitment of new members, and I have to wonder if that's why it feels a little more like a Chinese finger trap. As power slips away, the tighter and more extreme the hold gets. One point. The churches and not the federal government need to determine who gets married as marriage is most definitely a religious ceremony. I think the God of Abraham made his position abundantly clear in the Holy Bible. If the church is truly following that word, then it shouldn't allow gay marriage. Quite frankly, I think the government should pull the tax emempt status of any "Christian" church that does allow it, unless that church comes up with a new religion they practice because it's obviously not Christianity. That's pretty much a different topic altogether, though.

It's probably unfair to single out the right wing nut jobs or the liberal pinkos as being the direct cause of the problems in the US as groups. I feel a large part of the problem is people not caring enough about what is important, and too much about what isn't important.

It certainly seems as though people are a LOT more concerned about what other people are doing, than what they are doing themselves. I'm sure Mr 5 0 will agree there is a dangerous nanny-government movement that is very popular in the younger generations, very much influenced by the liberal teachers union and educational circles. It's not the federal government's job to regulate hobbies because they might be dangerous to the hobbist. It's not the federal government's job to control the dispursement wealth or services. I don't need a ordinance telling me what color I can paint my house or how many stalls need to be in my garage or a law saying I can't jump the wake of another personal watercraft for that matter. It's nobody else's business. Even though I like the fact that our government does look out for people across the globe a little, if I want to feed the black hole for money in Africa to combat AIDS, I can do so with my own money. I don't need the federal government to increase their contributions on my behalf.

In the case of Cuba, you'll get no disagreement from me that Fidel Castro is an oppressive and generally evil dictator. Cuba's no worse than China for that matter. The fact they pointed nuclear weapons at the US apparently only concerns us because they were nearby. Tough rocks. China and Russia, probably even North Korea have nuclear weapons pointed at us too. John F. Kennedy was the worst US president in the last 100 years, if not the worst this country has ever seen. The reason I state that is his blatent disrespect for other countries nearly got us into a giant nuclear war, and the US invasion of Cuba by the CIA was irresponsible, and nothing more than flexing US muscle at a small island country to our south. I will concede that the Castro regime basically stole technology factories and land from US companies refusing to give it back, but a 50 year embargo? Quite frankly, it would seem as though Castro was well advised to point nuclear weapons at us since we tried to invade his country. Mr 5 0, you point out that our embargo of Cuba is nearly meaningless because everybody else trades with them. I think that speaks volumes in itself. Cuba is a global leader in pharmeceutical and other biotechnology. That biotechnology IS a threat to US pharmeceutical companies, and combined with the money US companies and wealthy political figures were out back in 1959 is 95% of the reason any US embargo. Neither am I grossly ignorant, nor am I lacking political understanding. There is definitely a mutual distain between the Cuban and US governments as there has been for over 45 years now. We just apparently have a very different view of why things turned out they way they did.