'Cause sometimes you don't like either one...
In response to Andy's question regarding why people don't vote against Bush, I can offer the following, at least for myself.
Bush has some pretty extreme positions and has made some egregious errors that keep me from voting for him. After inflicting the Patriot Act upon us, he still ignores the sieve we are currently using as a southern border. He appointed John "Holier-Than-Thou" Ashcroft as AG, which still irks me. He hasn't done enough on the domestic front apart from No Child Left Behind and Medicare reform. Those were a good start, but he needed about 5 more projects of equal stature in his 1st term. There are other Bush accomplishments that help to balance the bad, IMHO. Again, not enough to make me mark "R" instead of "L" on the ballot, but enough that marking a "D" is not an option either. Here's a list:
*Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline.
*Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
*Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches.
*Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child.
*Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
*Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
*Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems.
*Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. (this is worth a post in and of itself... stay tuned)
*Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
*Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).
*The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant.
(Source - www.dankoleary.com)
Now, these may enrage or appall you, but not me. And I'm voting for me, not you. Verstehen Sie?
The war is troubling. Deeply so. Even so, the unease I might have felt at the lack of WMDs disappeared instantly as soon as these horrible sights were unearthed all over Iraq. Saddam and his Baathist Bastards needed to go. Bush made it happen. There are free elections in Afghanistan now that the Taliban has been shattered. Bush made it happen. Were we misled about WMDs? Probably. Are Bechtel and Halliburton making millions? Definitely. Doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands of civilians are no longer being exterminated on a tyrant's whim. I dislike a prevaricating president, but I DESPISE a mass-murdering dictator.
If Bush is re-elected, or Kerry lawyers his way in, it will not be the end of the U.S.A. It will not even be the beginning of the end. When Jefferson triumphed over Hamilton, plenty of Federalists predicted anarchy, doom & gloom. When Lincoln was elected, states seceded not too long afterwards. Grant was a drunk. Cleveland an adulterer. FDR a closet Commie. Nixon WAS a crook. The U.S. has survived them all.
It all comes down to who best fits your vision of the future. Kerry would have us tapdancing to the UN's pennywhistle. Bush is too socially conservative. Neither one works for me. Right now, the only vote I can see casting is for the candidate that shares the majority of my views. This time around, it's Michael Badnarik and the Libertarian Party. Nope, they haven't a chance in hell of winning, but it's not a wasted vote. If that vote is seen as a de facto vote for the Bush administration, well, I can't polish someone else's rose-colored glasses, only my own.
Bush has some pretty extreme positions and has made some egregious errors that keep me from voting for him. After inflicting the Patriot Act upon us, he still ignores the sieve we are currently using as a southern border. He appointed John "Holier-Than-Thou" Ashcroft as AG, which still irks me. He hasn't done enough on the domestic front apart from No Child Left Behind and Medicare reform. Those were a good start, but he needed about 5 more projects of equal stature in his 1st term. There are other Bush accomplishments that help to balance the bad, IMHO. Again, not enough to make me mark "R" instead of "L" on the ballot, but enough that marking a "D" is not an option either. Here's a list:
*Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline.
*Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
*Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches.
*Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child.
*Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
*Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
*Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems.
*Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. (this is worth a post in and of itself... stay tuned)
*Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
*Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).
*The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant.
(Source - www.dankoleary.com)
Now, these may enrage or appall you, but not me. And I'm voting for me, not you. Verstehen Sie?
The war is troubling. Deeply so. Even so, the unease I might have felt at the lack of WMDs disappeared instantly as soon as these horrible sights were unearthed all over Iraq. Saddam and his Baathist Bastards needed to go. Bush made it happen. There are free elections in Afghanistan now that the Taliban has been shattered. Bush made it happen. Were we misled about WMDs? Probably. Are Bechtel and Halliburton making millions? Definitely. Doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands of civilians are no longer being exterminated on a tyrant's whim. I dislike a prevaricating president, but I DESPISE a mass-murdering dictator.
If Bush is re-elected, or Kerry lawyers his way in, it will not be the end of the U.S.A. It will not even be the beginning of the end. When Jefferson triumphed over Hamilton, plenty of Federalists predicted anarchy, doom & gloom. When Lincoln was elected, states seceded not too long afterwards. Grant was a drunk. Cleveland an adulterer. FDR a closet Commie. Nixon WAS a crook. The U.S. has survived them all.
It all comes down to who best fits your vision of the future. Kerry would have us tapdancing to the UN's pennywhistle. Bush is too socially conservative. Neither one works for me. Right now, the only vote I can see casting is for the candidate that shares the majority of my views. This time around, it's Michael Badnarik and the Libertarian Party. Nope, they haven't a chance in hell of winning, but it's not a wasted vote. If that vote is seen as a de facto vote for the Bush administration, well, I can't polish someone else's rose-colored glasses, only my own.
posted by El Capitan | 6:55 PM
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