Let's get a poll up in here!

I guess it's only fair that I post my own answers now. This is an email I sent to my dad after he forwarded me an editorial about why President Bush needs to stay in office. "I agree that this election has the potential to determine the fate of the nation. The view that the article takes is that the only way for America to be great is by beating other nations into submission and jamming Democracy down their throats. The view I take is that we are a nation that is scorned, sneered at, and in some cases hated throughout the international community. Whether or not we consider ourselves great is pretty irrelevant when we have no international support save for Great Britain. This election could herald the change that could launch America back into the realm of being a responsible world power, not a big fat bully. It's time to stop turning our backs on agencies we helped create (the UN), and start embracing international cooperation. We just can't do it alone. Turning President Bush out of the White House is not signaling that we won't accept leaders who have to make difficult decisions. It's yelling loud and clear that we voters, as the true owners of America, are sick of being lied to. We will no longer accept veiled reasoning and half-truths from the lips of men who harbor decades old vendettas. We will no longer accept knee-jerk reactions and cavalier proclamations as foreign policy. Turning President Bush out of the White House signals that we're ready to return to a period of diplomacy where, if we need to go to war, we go, but we do so with the support of our allies--idealogically and financially. Terrorist organizations are not afraid of President Bush. Did his war bring Saddam Hussein to justice? Yes. Did it also spur the creation and metastasis of terrorist organizations throughout SIXTY Middle Eastern nations? Yes. The absolute truth of the matter is that Iraq was no more dangerous to us when we invaded than was Turkey, Jordan, or Syria. It was our disruption, our pot-stirring that created the structural and social unrest needed to let terrorist groups regain a foothold. Did we get rid of Hussein? Yes. Did we create hundreds of mini-dictators in his place? Yes. The ousting of President Bush does not indicate that our administration is toppling. It indicates that Americans are ready to forge a new path and make actual change, rather than holding onto something that "kinda sorta wasn't too awful I guess". Americans historically have made difficult decisions, and this is no different. We man-handled Iraq into a regime change, and now it's time for voters to look upon our own society and undertake that process at home. Bush supporters proclaim their fearlessness, but how brave is it to cling to a system--a person--that doesn't work, and that made things worse not only abroad, but sweepingly so across the nation? It IS time to be brave, and cut the cord to the familiar, the usual, and the stagnant. This article looks solely at forein policy, and I wonder if that's because it's clear, even to the author, that the state of the American economy, job market, and education system is in shambles thanks to four years of half-hearted attempts to fix things. Numerous presidents presided over tragedies and recessions. This president is the first in 70 years to have a net loss of jobs. FDR was in the White House during Pearl Harbor, a similarly devastating attack, yet he still ended his fiscal year with jobs CREATED, and no major impact on the deficit. This president couldn't manage that and has sunk the United States into a multi-TRILLIAN dollar deficit after inheriting a multi-BILLION dollar surplus from the Clinton administration. This president also signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which has lofty goals but lacks the funding to do anything more than shut down schools that desperately need aid. The Act is designed to increase funding to the best performing schools (and thus decrease funding to the worst). The problem with this is that the schools with the worst performance are the ones who need help the most. Chicago Orr, a school where the football players share not only helmets and uniforms, but also books and school supploes--under NCLB, this school deserves less funding because it doesn't do well on standardized tests. Stevenson, on the other hand, where softball players can afford not only their own bats and gloves, but their own personalized catching gear--under NCLB this school deserves an INCREASE in funding because its predominantly white student body has a stellar record on standardized tests. Beyond secondary education, colleges and universities across the nation have had tuition spikes that are historically unheard of. Missouri in particular has averaged a 50-60 percent increase in tuition, when Pre-Bush, the average was in the 20-30 percent range. Where is the money for education? I wonder if it has anything to do with the trillion dollar defense budget that Bush has wrangled together. In one of the debates, President Bush was asked what he would say to a worker whose job has been outsourced. The President replied, "Now he can go to college." Besides the condescending, elitist nature of that comment, I wonder how this laid-off manual laborer can afford the tuition that's breaking the banks of employed couples across the nation. This election is absolutely crucial to the future of America. We can either continue to bully the international community (creating worse problems than when we started), as well as ignore the state of domestic affairs, or we can elect change. We can be courageous and take a stand against the lies, the broken promises, and the stalled progress that we've come to expect from the Bush administration. It's now time for MY generation to stand up and accept the political responsibility that we've long abdicated. Change is in the air, can you feel it?" Two issues I didn't mention in the email are women's issues (not just reproductive rights, but equality in the workplace) and human rights issues (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender discrimination). Both of these topics are serious voting issues for me, and Bush doesn't really give a **** about either one.

Kerry. My reasons are my own.

Go Bush!

I will vote for Pres Bush and have worked on his campaign all summer. My primary reason is that he is stronger on terrorism. I beleive that Kerry came back from Vietnam with a fundamental mistrust of U.S, military power. Thats not what I want in a president in these times. Plus the economy is improved (all that about outsourcing.....I hope you realize the U.S. benefits FAR FAR more from jobs coming into this country much more than we lose jobs. Its been proven countless times in numerous studys). I also am pro-life and would never never vote for anyone who approved of partial-birth abortion which is nothing short of murder.

You missed the point. He returned with an understanding of war. Something Bush and Cheney will never have. something my dad had after WW II and never wanted my brothers to know.

Kerry.... he is the right man to turn this country around from the sour turn it took for years ago. We cannot afford 1) 4 more years of lost jobs 2) 4 more years of alienating our allies 3) 4 more years of secrecy over everything the administrative branch does 4) 4 more years of handing over big tax breaks to the wealthy while building up huge deficits for our children to pay off later. 5) 4 more years of handing over lucrative no-bid contracts to big GOP contributors like Halliburton, who then don't do the work they've been paid to do. 6) 4 more years of lying by our President (about "bad intelligence", about the cost of the medicare bill, about :Mission Accomplished", about his military record..... (the list is just too long to keep going)) 7) 4 more years of a man who will not take any responsibility for his failures (in the economy, in foreign policy, in the war on terror, in health care, in the environment....) 8) 4 more years of tax loopholes for companies to ship jobs overseas. 9) 4 more years with 44 million americans without health insurance (the number of the uninsured in this country is equal to the total population of OK, CT, IA, MS, KS, AR, UT, NV, NM, OR, WV, NB, ID, ME, NH, HI, RI, MT, DE, ND, SD, AK, VT AND WY--that's 24 states). 10) 4 more years of monetary aid to states being cut, forcing the states to cut services and education, which have all but eliminated any benefit from the tax cut for working families. I am not better off than I was 4 years ago. This country is not better off than it was 4 years ago. Time to turn the tide.

Did you know that the number of 44 million without healthcare is way off?! The number includes people that change jobs from one company to another, that means they may be without a policy for 30 to 60 under a new employer. How many people do you suppose changed jobs last year? My daughter changed jobs for better pay two times last year, therefore she was counted twice. But only went without insurance for 30 days in between each job change. Again, I say for a much better paying job, as a single mother. This is an awesome country under W's direction! My family has been blessed under his leadership and very fortunate to have him as our Prez. Anyway...The number is WAY off, don't be deceived. Thanks,Sally (the Lone Republican in the liberal Montgomery County, Maryland)

I am voting for Bush!!! I use to be a liberal then I had two beautiful babies. I started thinking what was best for them. I matured. I am pro life. Pro marriage ( between a man and a woman) I am for civil union though. I am pro military ( building it up not tearing it down) I did do research and picked my choice. I am not just a republican I go by the issues last time I voted for a dem for governer because george ryan was dirty. I want someone who will lead us. I just don't feel Kerry can do that!!