VOTE TODAY

[armadillo76]

I tend to have libertarian leanings (even if the L party has a lot of whack jobs in it.)  Which means I like economic liberties, but I also value social liberties.  And that's my current beef with the Republicans.  I think pot should be legal.  I think prostitution should be legal.  I think gay marriage should be legal.  All of the above seem to me to be victimless "morality" crimes. (Hey open markets should extend to sex and drugs.)

The biggest problem we have now is that our political discourse pushes us towards demonizing those on the other side, when is reality, I suspect most Americans are centrists.  We don't want guns banned, but we don't want gangs to be able to buy AK47s at the minimart without ID.  We think abortion should be legal but discouraged.  We think some sort of safety net is important, but we don't want people living on it, and abusing it.

Can't we all just get along?  How about a round of kumbaya?

Geof

Well I agree with many things there. Drug legalization would be good (if the government is in charge of it I bet they can run it into the ground), legalized prostitution too and the tax income that comes along with that. Gay marriage being voted down in CA amazes me! In fact I can't see a good reason against it anywhere! That being said I don't think anyone in their right mind should get married, gay, straight or otherwise (I don't know what the "otherwise" would be but someone will tell me). I want my guns left alone (but you should know that fully automatic firearms, i.e. AK47, M16, not their semi automatic only cousins which look like them but do not function like them, have been under restrictions since 1934+/- and more so since 1986 and play almost no real part in day to day crime) and to not be automatically treated like a criminal for wanting to own them, shoot them, hunt with them or carry them for protection.
So in many ways I am conservative and liberal and I prefer to think my views make sense. I want to keep the nuts on both sides from running my life. The liberals decry the no fly list because it is secretive, very hard to get off of, hard to tell why people make it on there, foolishly enforced but they are willing to use it to keep people from buying guns! Hypocrisy. Dang, anarchy is looking pretty good.
What about the people in NYC (a pretty liberal place) who don't want motorcyclists to be able to use the HOV lanes even though federal law requires them to? What about the politicians that let insurance companies not cover motorcycle related injuries because they are "high risk?"
Ugh, get involved and make sure both parties know what is important to us.
Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, got to love one another right now!! (damn hippiesjavascript:emoticon(':lol:')
 :lol:

Okay, maybe we should talk about Tigers and leave the politics alone?
Sorry for the long rant. I know most people won't agree with everything and will hate me for one view I have.
AndyB, NH, 96 Steamer.

[JetdocX]

Just for the record....prostitution and automatic firearms are currently legal in my state.....I sure hope the Mormons leave us alone long enough to preserve this.

[Bruincounselor]

Okay, maybe we should talk about Tigers and leave the politics alone?
Sorry for the long rant. I know most people won't agree with everything and will hate me for one view I have.
AndyB, NH, 96 Steamer.

This is way too much fun.

I understand that there's been a run on firearms in the last week. It seems that folks think Obama is going to make them harder to get and/or raise taxes on them.  :lol: Of course they don't seem to understand how the government works - these changes require an act of Congress. Ignorant wussies. In the last 8 years we went form a budgetary surplus to the largest deficit ever seen anywhere. Even more alarming is that this ocurred in time of economic growth (Last 3 months notwithstanding). The Republicans are now the party of big government and even larger spending (I even heard a Republican strategist admit as much on "Meet the Press" or summat). Just the facts as I see 'em.

[John Stenhouse]

The choice in England at the moment, that is during the economic meltdown that we are in, is simple, cut taxes to get the economy moving. How it's done is what separates our parties.

Conservative= Cut taxes by making savings in other places
This makes sense until it's your fathers care home that closes to make the saving.

Labour= Cut taxes by borrowing more, the only trouble with this is sometime you have to pay it back


Liberal Democrat= Cut taxes by taxing the wealthy more and giving the rest of us a break.

The party in power is Labour so what they says goes at the moment! The Lib Dems aren't likely to get into power any time soon so their views don't count, which would you choose?

[abruzzi]

I'm not an economist, but I've heard the argument made that now is the best time for the government to borrow, because with interest rates so low, it's relatively cheap.

That said, all of the three options you lay out have bad sides, but cutting spending and services seems like a way to push the recession further.  Hoover's lackluster response in 1929-1932 made the depression of that era worse (or at least allowed it to spiral down.)

Geof

[cosmo]

Perhaps I could have been a bit clearer - all of my friends meant those whom I have known for years in a local (Chicago) motorcycle club. This is a club that used to be well-known (Jersypine Cruisers), but who has become kind of irrelevant, owing to not appealing to younger riders. Nevertheless, the opinions I cited are real, even to a WWII vet likening President-elect Obama to Adolph Hitler, when he really should have known better.
I work on the NW side of the city making deliveries (Wonder Bread); of those whom I know, only one voiced a Republican stance, a white woman who would only state she always voted republican regardless of issues.
As for me, I voted for Obama, and Kerry before him, my wish is for this country to get out of the Bush mindset and on to being a global-minded country, to better approach the future as a strong entity.
I beleive that Obama has the intelligence to understand this, and, more to the point, I believe that Obama has the intelligence to understand that it is not that he must know everything, but that he must surround himself with the best minds in their respective fields. Bush surrounded himself with those who simply told him what it was he wanted to hear, altering reality as was necessary. I do not believe that there has been another President who has had a group of advisors so willing to lie, nor do I believe that Obama will continue this disastrous trend.
As to the historical aspect of whether Republicans or Democrats are better for this countries economy, Arthur Blaustein wrote an article during the Kerry campaign that used the historical records of employment, GDP, job growth, inflation, etc., and found that in every case, the best management of this nation's economy has been the Democrats. I won't repeat an article that you can Google ( http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/19 ... laustein19 (http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/19/opinion/op-blaustein19) ).
As to the freedoms, the so called "morality" issues (drugs, prostitution, etc), I heartily agree with legalisation, as it has worked in other countries to lower crime and better serve the populace. On gun regulation, I work in Chicago, and cannot agree with the current level of freedom vs. the current level of killing. Do not give me the "protection" argument, as that has been proven many times to be fallacious. Your gun will be most likely used to kill you, or stolen and used to kill others, rather than to protect yourself. But, think of this not as a personal argument, instead, argue how regulation (or the lack) would help or hinder this country's moving forward on economic grounds. BTW, I HAVE known shopkeepers who have been killed, and it does no good to have a pistol within easy reach if your adversary comes in with a pistol already aimed at your head. No good at all.
Jeff

[aeronca]

the article you sited forgot to mention which congress was in.  the economy always will do better with dem pres. ang rep. congress. or vis-vers, but the article was obviously written with a bias for the left. as for race, you were the only one who brought it up. the ww2 vets you talked about will never change there views and there's no use in trying, so dont try and pin the race thing on only republicans. cosmo, you sound like a nice guy, and i would love to meet some day and have a beer with you, but lets face it, we all got different views. i like guns - you dont. i dont buy into socialized health care - you might. my bottom line has alway done better with a republican congress (regarless of the sitting pres.). i hope obama does well for the sake of the country, but if he doesnt, well, i guess we'll find out in 4 years.