I was just checking out the issue platform comparison for Kerry & Bush on msn this morning and I still don't know who to vote for. I've never been real big into politics but am trying to educate myself so I can pick a candidate. I was 19 for the 1996 election but didn't vote. In 2000, I was leaning towards GW but didn't end up voting because I had brake problems that day and there was a bad storm. I didn't think 1 vote would matter much but it almost did. Anyway, I seem to flip flop on issues quite a bit so maybe I should vote for Kerry. I just have trouble sticking with my opinion sometimes when I hear both sides state their case. My parents are Democrats and vote regularly but don't debate the issues much. My mom voted for Gore and dad for Bush and I'm not sure how they're leaning this time. Some of the issues and my opinions about them: Abortion: Kerry - I see both sides of the issue and lean towards the Democrats. I don't consider this issue to be very important in my overall selection of a candidate. Budget: Kerry - It just seems like the Democrats are more fiscally responsible. If my salary doubles over the next 20 yrs, I want my purchasing power to also double. red55 was debating with some of you (martin and others) awhile back and he was making a little more sense. I'm not an economist but I can see how an out of control deficit could create a lower standard of living. Death penalty: Kerry - If there had never been evidence that proved a wrongfully convicted person's innocence, I would think harder about this one but it seems like it happens all the time. Still, it's not important to my overall selection of a candidate. Economy: Both have items that make sense. I like Kerry's incentives for the manufacturing industries and especially the credits for small & mid-size businesses to give employees affordable health care. Also, ending the tax benefits for companies that have operations overseas. I like that Bush is addressing possible reforms to get rid of frivolous lawsuits (Mike69?) and the pursuit of opening more foreign markets to free trade. Energy: Both are obviously devoting attention to this increasingly important area. I see that Bush is for drilling in the Alaskan refuge area and Kerry is against it. Can someone tell me a little more about this? Also, Bush wants to protect the MTBE folks and Kerry doesn't. I don't know a lot about these area but hopefully will before the election. Gays: Kerry - Another area I won't consider very much for this particular election. Kerry believes gays should not allowed to be married but should get the same benefits (tax breaks, etc.) as married couples. This seems to make sense but I've heard both sides give compelling info on this issue. Health care: This is a HUGE issue to me and I'm not sure which side I agree with. Kerry's proposed tax credit for small/mid-size companies (see above) sounds good but the potential cost is potentially $895 billion. Bush supports the medical savings accounts which are good but I think can be "use it or lose it" deals. At least it is with my company. I welcome more feedback in this area because it could matter with my overall selection. Homeland security: Both consider this an issue deserving of major attention and rightfully so. I think both sides have good plans and it will be an improving system whether Bush or Kerry win the election. It was a bad system before 9/11 but has been improving since. Illegal immigrants: Neither side stood out for me but I heard recently that 2.4 million illegal immigrants enter the country each year from Mexico. That seems like a freakin lot of people. I guess neither side consider this a problem. Social security: Bush - Wants to give younger workers the option to put part of their payroll tax into a personal retirement account (in exchange for smaller fixed benefits). Kerry is against this. With the uncertainty of the program in the future, I'm not sure if this would even matter but I like Bush's plan on this one. All in all (for me), I think it comes down to foreign policy. Shortly before the 2000 election, GW was on Letterman and I think Dave asked him about a U.S. embassy that was bombed somewhere in Europe (or maybe Africa) by terrorists. GW had no diplomacy in his response. It was basically if a terrorist has no regard for human life, then we will have no regard for his. While I like that we have gone ahead with our agenda even though other nations have expressed concern, I'd still like to remain on good terms with most of the other civilized nations out there. I'm not sure if this is possible but there's a part of me that wants to see if Kerry can repair relations while remaining tough. There's also a part of me that is a little fearful of Kerry's group letting public opinion decide our actions. Sometimes the best course of action isn't the most popular. If any of you have more info about any of the above, feel free to respond. I realize there are many more in GW's corner around here but Crawfish has made me lean towards GW more than the Republicans. I just can't stand that hateful debating that always ensues. If some of these promises probably won't be followed through on, let me know why you have that opinion.
When I first started really following this election, I believed homeland security and the war on terror really weren't the main issues of this election. I thought that both Bush and Kerry would handle these similarly, as I believed any reasonable person would do. After hearing all of Kerry's flip-flops, I don't think the guy can be trusted to protect America, and I now believe this is the only issue of this election. I do agree all the points you mentioned are important, but I think they are outweighed by this one primary issue. I see it as an election between a man who is willing to form a plan he believes is right and stick with it, through ups and downs, for what he believes is the good of America. I see Kerry as someone who will change his mind at the first sign of trouble, and all our efforts to this point would be wasted. I have confidence in Bush in this matter not because he necessarily has the knowledge or experience to best deal with this, but because he has surrounded himself with capable people such as Colin Powell and Dick Cheney who do have the experience, and he is willing to listen to them when making decisions. I don't think Kerry will surround himself with the right people who can direct him to make the decisions that are in our best interest. One of the Fox shows last week had the guy (I forget his name), who they said will most likely be Kerry's Seretary of State. He was some former UN ambassador and seemed to be completely incompetent in my opinion. One thing I do believe is certain, the state of world affairs isn't going to improve much over the next four years. In the past few days, North Korea has threatened to nuke Japan because of our presence there, and the Iranians have tested missiles that are nuclear capable and have the ability to reach not only Israel but the UK as well. I do not believe John Kerry is capable of making the hard-line decisions that must be made to counter these countries threatening moves. Sorry I couldn't address the points you made, but to me this election is about one thing and one thing only, the defense of America.
I can't tell you which way to vote...nor can anyone else, for that matter. We can only express our opinions on things. The final decision when you enter that voting booth on Nov. 2nd has to be yours. So the only advice I can give you is to pay close attention over the next few weeks to the campaigns...watch the debates and get a feel for which candidate best suits your needs. Then, just weigh all the pros and cons for each candidate, factor in what your gut instinct tells you is best, and cast your ballot. :usaflagwa :usaflagwa :usaflagwa :usaflagwa :usaflagwa :usaflagwa
crap, people were reading that? i think the thrust of my argument back then was that it was difficult to analyze exactly what a deficit does to the economy. because while debt may not be good for the economy (and i am not sure either way), it may be that lowering taxes is vitually always worth it, because of how taxing the people cripples the economy. i am not entirely convinced that a deficit hurts us at all, or if it does, does it hurt us any more than the lowering of taxes helped us? also, it is not as if kerry's health care plan isnt gonna cost a hell of a lot of money, so it isnt like kerry is so certain to lower the debt. his health care plan will cost a fortune for all of us. i am not an economist. i really dont know anything except i am convinced that taxes should virtually ALWAYS be lowered for everyone. also i know that the national debt sounds large, but it actually pretty small compared to the country's revenue, and that if an individual was carrying an amount of debt that large relative to his income, you would be totally unconcerned. i do not think i care how badly the government is in debt. all i care about is that they leave the people alone. if the government got so in debt that they were no longer able to provide lots of the services they currently perform, that would not be a problem, in my opinion. those services sould be delivered more efficiently by the private sector anyways. for example, if the post office went bankrupt, i would be more than happy to use fedex from now on. kerry has said he will raise taxes on the rich. he actually doesnt use those words, but he says he will "roll back" the tax cuts. it appears to me that this is a terrible idea, because the people who earn over 200 grand are the ones who are hiring others and running small businesses, and the less they are taxed the better. also kerry favors raising the minimum wage which i think runs completely counter to simple economics and hurts everyone. the market should self regulate. lets say i want to open a new small business. and i can hire 20 mexicans to work for cheap and get my business off the ground. the mexicans are poor and happy to work at my new business. and besides, nobody has a gun to their heads. if we raise the minimum wage, now i can hire less mexicans, and maybe with less employees i cannot properly run my business and my business may fail. so now the government has forced me to not be able to afford to employ as many people as i wanted, and of course my expenses are more, and that means my product will cost more, and i might not sell as much, and that is less money i could use to maybe hire more guys, which means my business has far less chance of surviving and expanding and employing people. and also i have to pay more taxes now, because kerry raised taxes on the rich! you seem pretty reasonable, that leads me to believe you will ultimately decide on bush. i am gonna address some other issues later today. great thread.
The other day when President Bush was talking about Kerry and his flip flop position's while talking about the upcoming debates he said that Kerry could spend 90 minutes debating with himself :rofl:
Healthcare, abortion, gay rights, death penalty, energy concerns, Social Security are all important issues. And, most of them have been important issues since Grover Cleveland ran for President. Kerry/Bush can propose this or that but in 4 years when the next election comes up all of those things will again be the bases for important planks in each candidates' platform. But, as Marcm pointed out, the overriding concern at this point in our lives is the threat of terrorism. We know what Bush will do and that is to stomp them like cockroaches every time they scurry for cover. What will Kerry do? Who knows. Will he grovel and beg and make promises to get France, Germany and Canada to help us out? Will he come up with a "4 year plan" to get the troops out of Iraq, while the insurgents patiently wait out the "deadlines"? Will he wet his finger and stick it in the air to get the drift of public opinion before he makes any decision that could literally mean life and death for Americans in America. Do you want to take the chance that putting Kerry in the White House will be the right thing to do? Ask yourself this: How many terrorist acts have occurred on American soil since Bush stood in the rubble of the World Trade Center and proclaimed that we were at war with those who would do us harm? Let's keep it that way. :911:
First off - I congratulate you for giving this much thought to the election. I always felt that as long as people understood each side, I did not mind my side being in the minority. I just despise ignorance on issues and letting MTV tell you who to vote for. My opinions on the following subjects: Traditionally this has NOT been the case. Democrats are known for doing the old tax and spend (something Kerry will be high on). This is one area I fault Bush A LOT, and I wish he would get back to the true conservative message of small government. However, I cannot help but feel a lot had to do with 9/11 and trying to get the economy stimulated. This is an excuse, but I hope he reels in the spending on his second term. If you want to decide how to spend your money and not let the government decide, then you should lean to the right. This comes down to letting environmental wackos control your party. Instead of reducing our dependence on Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria etc. we should drill on our own land. However many democrats are scared that it may kill a moose or an endangered fish, so they put that above our national interest. A HUGE step to getting this country's health care cost down is getting rid of frivolous health care related lawsuits. There are MD's in several states who can no longer afford to offer certain services, b/c their malpractice insurance is in the hundreds of thousands. OB-GYN's are becoming extinct because of this. Look, MD's for the most part try to help people, but sometimes in health care the patient may not always make it. Or someone can second guess an MD's every move. As long as the doctor made an honest attempt to help, then the lawsuit amount should be capped. In cases where there is gross negligence, then those amounts should be allowed to be very substantial. A bill that said just that was not passed b/c of the heavy trial lawyer lobby that pays democrats a ton of money. John Edwards made his millions off of cases such as this. Yes Republcans have people in their pockets, but I think trial lawyers are destroying this country, and they clearly favor a democrat. It's damn shame neither party takes a stand on this issue. They are both vying for the up and coming hispanic vote, as they will take over blacks as the largest minority. With this, both parties tread on this issue VERY lightly, even though over 80% of Americans favor higher immigration control. Name me ONE other issue where Americans poll 80-90% on and neither party takes a stand on?? This also leads to higher health care cost, and not just my a little bit. The border states are getting raped as they cannot refuse service and illegals of course have no assets. That leaves you and me to pay much higher costs for services. :angry: As far as the whole tax breaks benefiting only the wealthy, this is a joke. I read where the top 5% of wage earners pay over 80% of the taxes in this country. Do they not deserve a break simply because they made it? I feel if you pay more tax you should have more tax relief. Another point to consider on this. Bush wanted each person who actually paid taxes to get a tax break, which came in the amount of $300 dollars. The Democrats up to their old tricks claimed they left out the poor, as they were getting no refund. They held the bill up until it was decided that the poor. i.e people who pay NO federal income tax would also get the refund. I always felt a refund was given to someone who actually paid for something first. I know this sounds harsh, but I am not into our government giving money away. A refund is one thing, an entitlement is another. One last issue left out is that of affirmative action and quotas. I do not feel that you fight discrimination by encouraging it. It should be illegal to discriminate against ALL people, not just minorities and women. Same thing with hate crimes. I do not feel it should be any more illegal to kill a certain minority than it is to kill me. I want justice for all, not mandated justice for a select few. Yes I know the whole counter arguments on these issues, but on principal I cannot support a party that divides us into races and genders. And John Kerry wants one America? These are my takes, and the reasons I am going to vote Bush. But whichever way you decide to go, I applaud your efforts to learn more.
"Budget: Kerry - It just seems like the Democrats are more fiscally responsible. If my salary doubles over the next 20 yrs, I want my purchasing power to also double. red55 was debating with some of you (martin and others) awhile back and he was making a little more sense. I'm not an economist but I can see how an out of control deficit could create a lower standard of living." WHAT? I've never heard that before. I have taken Economy and having a defecit isn't a bad thing. It's a good thing. It's just like you using credit to buy a house - without it, it would take forever to save that much money up first. I could go into more detail with it, but I think that gets the general idea of why it is a good thing. Bush hasn't taken the typically conservative route of lowering taxes and cutting government spending because he inherited a recession. Another part of Economy is that for the country to get out of recession all the sectors have to spend money, and the government is the biggest part of that. Had the government not started spending money the way it has, our economy would not be on the rise yet. The economy is a cyclical machine and will always go up and down, but policies such as these help keep it under control. Immigration won't be an issue in this election because GW is from Texas and knows how nice it is to have every lawn in texas always be cut nice. And Kerry is a liberal who would just as well support every immigrant that wanted braces rather than a single American mother of 2 who works 3 jobs to support her kids. I agree that this election comes down to foreign policy. Some people say: I don't like what Bush has done, let's see what Kerry can do. I say, who the hell knows what Kerry will do? He sure doesn't. How can you be the President of the greatest country in the world and not be able to make a stance on anything? I might not have agreed with all of Bush's actions, but I respect that he has stood up for what he believes is right even when many critized it. I am glad you have taken it upon yourself to start getting informed on the issues. This will be my first presidential election while I'm over 18, so I had to do the same thing. The more I listened to liberals, the more I realized I could never vote for someone who wasn't atleast close to the middle. The same goes for ultra conservatives - the difference is that Bush is fairly close to the center of the political spectrum.
