Well, it is official. George Bush has been chosen by the masses to lead our great country for another 4 years.
This election seemed like a civil war of sorts, between various cross sections of our country. There was a lot of backstabbing, hate mongering, negativity and political bashing that will take years to overcome. I do think that this country is bitterly devided across the spectrum, more so than in any time that I remember in my life. There are so many issues that people are so passionate about, and while that is a good thing in certain circumstances, this void is so large that it seems, at least to me, that there are two completely separate kinds of people that call this great country home.
Some of my values are as follows and yes, I consider myself liberal, and am not afraid to voice my opinions.
-Separation of church and state (I believe that we MUST keep these separate. A leader can not lead, GUIDED by FAITH as the current president has said he does)
-Gay Rights (I believe people weather they are gay or straight should have the same rights, equal rights, under the law. They should be able to marry..not just civil unions but legitimate church sanctioned unions and equal benefits under the law)
-Stem Cell Research (I believe that we need to do all we can to further medical advances to help eradicate diseases across the world)
-The Right to Abortion (I won't get into this one)
-Tax breaks for the middle and lower classes so we can stop living from paycheck to paycheck
(I believe that anyone who makes 60,000 Dollars or more a year should be required to shoulder a bigger burden of the taxes to make our country run efficiently. And those that are in the 100,000 Dollar or more a year should be responsible to pay a "Rich person penalty" to be given to those that make less than 40,000 Dollars a year so they can pay their bills and go out to a restaurant once in a while)
-Universal Health Care for the same (paid for by the people who make the bucco bucks)
-Stronger Social Security and Medicare benefits for the elderly (Does anyone realize how hard it is to live on 900.00 a month, esp. when that is their total income!) FYI: There are close to 70 Million "Baby Boomers" getting ready to retire and their social security benefits will be their only means of income....
-A free College education for all people (or at least the lower classes)
-An open Government with less secrecy (there is too much we are not being told. Does anyone think that "we the people" are really in charge of our government. There is not enough accountability...I will say no more on this).
-A dedicated urgency to the protection of our environment and the planet as a whole (before it is too late)
-Repeal of all "Right to carry laws". People don't kill people contrary to popular conservative belief.....GUNS do!!
-And last but certainly not least because there are many more things I am passionate about: Stopping the "Right Wingers" from forcing their "values" on the rest of the population!! Stop the "morality call". Let individuals choose what is morally right and wrong for them. We are not the pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock. Enough already!
I voted for the other guy (Senator John Kerry) not so much because I am a democrat, but more so because I felt (and do still feel) that this country needed a change. A new direction so to speak, one that Kerry talked about that actually sounded like he and his group could possibly pull off. Though I do not agree with some of their issues, I feel there platform was the lesser of two evils.
And....I have never voted before this election as politics have really never interested me all that much, but there was so much that was being talked about this time...the state of our country, the war in Iraq, 911, and on and on..that I felt I NEEDED to make my voice heard. And I did. Rather loudly in some circles.
So hear I sit, contemplating the next four years for this great country of ours. I worry that the war in Iraq is out of control, that Osama BinLaden has not been caught yet, the strife of all the people in the 3rd world countries such as Sudan and other areas of Africa, our individual rights are being taken away, a lot of the progress that has been made in the advancement of our world has been halted or reversed, such as our need to explore the cosmos, and last but not least, the growing poverty and unemployment of the people of this country continues to deepen and worsen, at least for some.
I am going to be cautiously optimistic that Mr. Bush can pull us out of, what I see as a downward spiral, and help bring the world and our country to be a more peaceful and balanced world. I don't see much balance right now anywhere and that is what worries me. He has a very formidable and daunting task ahead of him these next four years. I know there will always be war, famine, poverty and unrest in the world-at least in my lifetime.
I just hope that this administration can lessen all of that just a little in the next four years.
I also realize that many of the voters who support Mr. Bush are just as unhappy about economic uncertainties, lost jobs and the number of people who have no health insurance, as the people who voted for Mr. Kerry. Vast majorities of Americans want to keep the federal deficit under control, make Social Security financially sound, protect benefits like Medicare and Medicaid and lessen government intrusion into our daily lives.
And after reading the following article (which I think has a lot of valid points, and though a lot of it is one person's musings) I highly doubt that many (if none at all) of the issues that are important to me, and I am sure others, will be fully addressed in these next four years. But maybe, just maybe...our president will take a more moderate route the next four years and touch upon some of these things in a more positive manner.
If not there is always hope for 2008 I guess.
The mentioned article follows:
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The Red Zone
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON POST ONLINE
November 4th, 2004
With the Democratic Party splattered at his feet in little blue puddles, John Kerry told the crushed crowd at Faneuil Hall in Boston about his concession call to President Bush.
"We had a good conversation," the senator said. "And we talked about the danger of division in our country and the need, the desperate need, for unity, for finding the common ground, coming together. Today I hope that we can begin the healing."
Democrat: Heal thyself.
W. doesn't see division as a danger. He sees it as a wingman.
The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.
W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.
Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to trick us into war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an immoral position with no exit strategy, won on "moral issues."
The president says he's "humbled" and wants to reach out to the whole country. What humbug. The Bushes are always gracious until they don't get their way.
If W. didn't reach out after the last election, which he barely grabbed, why would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney calls a "broad, nationwide victory"?
While Mr. Bush was making his little speech about reaching out, Republicans said they had "the green light" to pursue their conservative agenda, like drilling in Alaska's wilderness and rewriting the tax code.
"He'll be a lot more aggressive in Iraq now," one Bush insider predicts. "He'll raze Falluja if he has to. He feels that the election results endorsed his version of the war." Never mind that the more insurgents American troops kill, the more they create.
Just listen to Dick (Oh, lordy, is this cuckoo clock still vice president?) Cheney, introducing the Man for his victory speech: "This has been a consequential presidency which has revitalized our economy and reasserted a confident American role in the world." Well, it has revitalized the Halliburton segment of the economy, anyhow. And "confident" is not the first word that comes to mind for the foreign policy of a country that has alienated everyone except Fiji.
Vice continued, "Now we move forward to serve and to guard the country we love." Only Dick Cheney can make "to serve and to guard" sound like "to rape and to pillage."
He's creating the sort of "democracy" he likes. One party controls all power in the country. One network serves as state TV. One nation dominates the world as a hyperpower. One firm controls contracts in Iraq.
Just as Zell Miller was so over the top at the G.O.P. convention that he made Mr. Cheney seem reasonable, so several new members of Congress will make W. seem moderate.
Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that "the gay agenda" would undermine the country. He also characterized his race as a choice between "good and evil" and said he had heard there was "rampant lesbianism" in Oklahoma schools.
Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said during his campaign that he supported a state G.O.P. platform plank banning gays from teaching in public schools. He explained, "I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade children."
John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion Christian conservative - or "servant leader," as he was hailed in a campaign ad - who supports constitutional amendments banning flag burning and gay marriage.
Seeing the exit polls, the Democrats immediately started talking about values and religion.
Their sudden passion for wooing Southern white Christian soldiers may put a crimp in Hillary's 2008 campaign (nothing but a wooden stake would stop it). Meanwhile, the blue puddle is comforting itself with the expectation that this loony bunch will fatally overreach, just as Newt Gingrich did in the 90's.
But with this crowd, it's hard to imagine what would constitute overreaching.
Invading France?
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The above quotes by some of our new "leaders" really frightens me. This lady seems to raise some very interesting questions. Where is the world headed in the next four years?
Time will tell.
Welcome to the "Republic"!!!
P.S.: How long did it take Rome to fall under Alexander the Great???????
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