The US Political Spectrum: 2010

Do you get confused when people use terms like “Socialist“, “Moderate“, “Democrat“, and “Tea Party“? Does it seem oxymoronic (with emphasis on the moronic part) to accuse someone of being a “Communist“, while emulating a “Fascist”  dictator like Adolph Hitler at the same time? Is the media “Liberal” or “Independent“? How come conservationists are hardly ever “Conservative“, and why are “Republicans” typically in support of big corporations instead of the Republic? And do the “Progressives“ actually make any progress?

Here’s a handy guide to help you understand the state of politics–The US Political Spectrum: 2010. Now complete with a “Tea Party” addition and the actual definition of “Socialism”. Suitable for printing and saving, for those times when you are dragged into an impromptu civics debate, or start a drunken political argument at Thanksgiving dinner, or when you are simply taking in the latest punditry on either FOX News or MSNBC. It’s YOURS FREE–just for reading Voting Mad!

Going from LEFT to RIGHT, here’s what it all means, including some key players and controversies. Refer to the chart above, and see if you can figure out where you fit into politics as we know it in modern day America:

COMMUNISM: Putting the fear of Karl Marx into people from around 1917 until the day the Berlin Wall fell, Communists were the boogey-men of the infamous Red Scare in the 1950s. Derived from the word commune, Communists believe in advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Unless you are a party boss, in which case you live like a king while destroying your political enemies. The USSR was the mother-of-all Communist regimes, until they decided to embrace mafioso-style corruption, wear western clothing, and experiment with Democracy. Now they are broke, less powerful, and more strung out on Vodka and prostitution than ever before. But hey–at least they have a whole new generation of rich oligarchs who are living proof that if you can make it in Russia, you can dominate anyone anywhere. About the only legitimate Communist countries left now are China and Cuba. China is now a global economic powerhouse and basically the lien holder of the entire US of A, while Cuba boasts some of the best public education and healthcare in the entire world. But just try to buy a home in either one of those countries and you risk your life, or become indebted to a black-market warlord. Famous Communists: Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and anyone who marched against the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

SOCIALISM: One might be brainwashed by now to first think of Barack Obama as a Socialist–after all, such geniuses as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity all said he is because he wants to make healthcare affordable and lower taxes for the middle class. But read the definition of socialism and you’ll see this can’t be so: a political and economic theory of social organization advocating the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. “Regulation” seems like a pretty smart word. So does “community”, and “organization”. But not if you are rich. Then those words start to mean “rules for other people to live by”, “those people outside my fence”, and “unions=death to the individual”. Socialism’s core aims to protect and serve everyone equally. If “Protect and Serve” sounds familiar, it’s because that phrase just happens to adorn many publicly-funded police cars in many towns, cities, and rural counties across America. Having publicly-funded (ie: funded by taxes) municipal services are a foundation of American life. Famous Socialist programs: the United States Federal Government, police, fire and rescue services, the military, education, bridges, roads and tunnels, sewers, Federal Parks, Social Security and Medicare, the Post Office, scientific research funding grants, and coming soon to a President’s desk near you…healthcare industry reform!

LIBERALS: Archie Bunker hated Liberals. Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh hate Liberals. Liberals even hate Liberals. A Liberal is someone who has made too good of a living to be a Socialist. Not necessarily rich, but not angry enough to protest either. A Liberal is the conscience of the Democratic Party. Liberty, or liberte as in “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”, French for “Liberty, equality, fraternity (brotherhood)” is the whole reason America has for being in existence. It’s so bizarre that some Americans hate the French (see Conservatives and Tea Party), when you consider that they helped save our butts in the Revolutionary War and influenced the essence of our culture. A Liberal hates killing people so much that they want to outlaw guns completely, they want to end the death penalty, and they are anti-political assassinations–even for people like Saddam Hussein. But don’t mess with abortion rights! Liberals are everybody from the welfare queens to gay couples to Greenpeace donors to San Francisco Mayors to blue collar workers to Riesling-sipping adjunct professors at New England Universities. Famous Liberals: Al Gore, George Soros, Hendrik Hertzberg, Howard Dean, Kweisi Mfume, Arianna Huffington, Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman, Tavis Smiley, Teresa Heinz-Kerry, Tom Daschle, Tom Hanks, and every single goddamned page ever published by the New York  f***ing Times!

DEMOCRATS: This is the “left wing” of politics. The Democratic Party is one of the world’s oldest political parties and is the party with the lengthiest record of continuous operation in the United States. Thomas Jefferson helped create the Democrats in opposition to the Federalist government and Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal policies. Democrats opposed a national bank and wealthy interests. Most people think of liberals when they think of Democrats, however most of the history of the racist south is told by Southern Democrats, or “Dixie-Crats”. Lincoln was a Republican after all. LBJ was the guy who really changed the identity of the Democrats by getting so much accomplished in his one lone term. And he did it with Socialist entitlement programs like Social Security, and by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he predicted would “…sign away the South for 50 years.” But LBJ also oversaw some of the worst moments and bloodiest mistakes of the Vietnam War. Democrats today are an odd bunch because they don’t know if they need to be Liberal, Progressive, Independent, or what they call “Blue Dog”. For example, President Obama is a Progressive Democrat. Joe LIEberman was almost the Democratic Vice President of the USA, but then he became an Independent who votes “NO” with the GOP on healthcare, and votes “YES” to war. Vermont’s Bernie Sanders is an Independent, but sounds like a Liberal and caucuses with the Democrats, and Evan Bayh is a Blue Dog Democrat, otherwise known as a Conservative. Bill Clinton was a Democrat’s Democrat-smart, tough, and real like FDR. But he was also like JFK in that he couldn’t keep his pants on. Speaking of not wearing pants, John Edwards could have redefined what it meant to be a Democrat–self made, defender of the poor, smart, southern, and rich enough to empathize with a Republican base below the Mason-Dixie Line. But John Edwards would have destroyed the party if he and John Kerry would have been elected in 2004, just like how he destroyed not just one but both of his families, and earning himself a lifetime spot in the  “WTF Were You Thinking” hall of fame, right next to disgraced ex-Governor of New York Elliott Spitzer. The Democrats are always the smartest people in the room, but too stupid to pay their whores to stay quiet.

PROGRESSIVES: Most people don’t know that there already was an established Progressive Party, which was founded in 1912 by none other than President Theodore Roosevelt. The Progressives trace their political roots back to workers’ rights and the emergence of Union protections and safety regulations. They are more conservative than Liberals, despite their name. When one thinks Progressively, one usually thinks of innovation and invention, and you know, progress. You would not expect Progressives to be the most centrist democrats, but they are. What makes them this way are their unquenchable thirst for making bi-partisan deals and working with their political enemies. Is that progressive? Is that their radical idea–make friends first, then ask for votes on legislation later? I don’t know why these folks are called Progressive. They’re no more Liberal than a Liberal, and they believe in a women’s right to choose, laws against concealed handguns, healthcare reform legislation, gay marriage, and financial regulations. Sounds almost like a real Liberal. But Progressives are different from Liberals. Liberals get things done, progressives make talk shows about getting things done. For example, the most famous Progressives are all on TV: John Stewart, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow,  and David Gergen are some of the best-known and most Progressive thinkers out there. By contrast, there is not one single politician who would call themselves a Progressive right now without running the risk of ending up like Ralph Nader-he speaks the truth, but you don’t want to be caught hanging out with him.

INDEPENDENTS: Independents are the middle finger of the political spectrum. An Independent effectively says “I have no party loyalty”, and in a close vote I can put you over the top or ruin your dream. Independents tend to caucus with Democrats, but as referenced above this is not always so. JoeLIEberman is an Independent ex-Democrat who caucuses with the GOP. Vermont’s Bernie Sanders is an Independent and is more Liberal than most politicians anywhere. And New York City’s lovable Mayor Michael Bloomberg, self-made billionaire and media mogul, got elected as a Republican because there were no openings to challenge the party structure for him to run naturally as a Democrat. Now he is an Independent and the city has never been in better shape. And to think that this party was started by a spandex-wearing ex-pro wrestler in Minnesota named Jessie?

MODERATE: Moderates are often referred to as RINOs (Republican In Name Only), and are viewed as equals to the Liberal by traditional Republican standards. Moderates are not typically extreme, partisan, or radical. They do not always vote with mainstream Republicans, and are always thought of as the only ones capable of preventing legislative gridlock. Moderates are really the best examples of open-mindedness, fairness, and bi-partisanship that we have  in this country. Moderates are the voices of reason, the champions of compromise, and the defenders of rational discussion. Examples of Political Moderates: …

REPUBLICANS: The Grand Old Party. The Party of Lincoln, and Reagan…and Nixon too! And Gingrich and Karl Rove. George H.W. Bush and his boy W. Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover. And Ford. John McCain was the darling of the political Right in 2008 until he picked a more conservative running mate named Sarah Palin. Then he was exposed as a nitwit with shoddy judgement. A Republican believes in “America..love it or leave it.” Republicans believe they are the true patriots of this country. Republicans think that smaller government is the way to go, and free markets need to be free. Because freedom is everything. That’s right, Republicans believe no government should ever be able to take away your freedom and they are against government intervention of any kind. To a Republican government is the enemy of freedom, and that government should stay out of the lives of ordinary people. Unless those ordinary people want an abortion, or are gay and want to get married. And Republicans believe that government has no right to regulate guns, healthcare, or even the banking sector. But they go full-contact government to make sure the pledge of alligience always includes the line “under God” or that coins minted by the US Treasury always include the phrase “In God We Trust”. So it’s tricky with the Republican party. They are against government intrusion in our lives, but are actually for government intrusion when it comes to sex and religion. So if you run a huge bank or a corporation that ruins the lives of thousands and millions of people because you were allowed to run wild and unregulated, then that’s just free market capitalism. But if you are a homosexual that wants to get married to your partner of 30 years because you love each other, that is a threat to the very fabric of American life and the Government needs to step in protect the people of this great land. Republicans: God, Guns, and Good-Ol’ Hypocracy.

CONSERVATIVES: A Conservative is a Republican on religious steroids. Conservatives can quote the bible better than they can quote the Constitution. And Conservatives love to rationalize their decision making process by tracing everything back to God. Conservatives don’t want things to change, and would prefer it if this country stayed exactly the way it was–the way it was in 1850. Gays can’t get married in the US because the bible says so. Conservatives believe in the institution of marriage for heterosexuals only. They believe that homosexuality is a sin, but infidelity is just an indescretion. After all, men have been cheating on their wives since before time. It even says so in the bible. Score one for the conservatives. Mark Sanford, John Ensign, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Larry Craig (who cheated with men, and therefore may not be eligible for the Conservative Unfaithfulness Exemption), David Vitter, Dan Burton, Dan Crane, Henry Hyde, and Mark Foley have all claimed to be “Family Values Conservatives” and then they cheated on their wives. Gays can’t get married, but these guys can all go out and cheat on their wives. The only thing Conservatives don’t conserve is semen.

Tea Party Conservatives: These are Conservatives on LSD. They have delusions of the US government taking over. They believe in death panels, and they believe Sarah Palin would make a great President. Tea Partiers are scarier than a Hells Angels biker rally because they are just as psychotic and they believe they have God on their side. They talk about starting a revolution again, and they hate Obama with a passion. They are anti-immigration, anti-taxes, anti-globalization, and anti-intelligence. The Tea Party worships Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, FOX News, and believe they aren’t just entitled to their own opinions, but their own facts as well. The Tea-Party calls Obama’s healthcare reform both “socialized medicine” and “Nazi healthcare”, which if you look up at the spectrum chart I have provided you will see that is impossible. So it appears the Tea Partiers are also apparently anti-education as well.

FASCISM: Far out on the fringes of the political Right are the Fascists. Fascists believe in purity of the nation and strive for one-party rule over a homogenized population. That’s where Hitler and Mussolini came in. Hitler believed that one party could rule a nation of Aryans, and ultimately take over the world to create one human race. Sounds a little like Reagan’s casting call for the “Morning In America” commercial he put out in 1984. But Ronald Reagan was no Fascist. At least Fascists care about their own people. Reagan didn’t seem to give a damn about anyone.

So that’s our blog post on The US Political Spectrum: 2010. Check back in 10 years and we’ll see what the political landscape looks like. Unless we’ve all killed each other by then.

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Leading Off, Playing Center…Barack Obama

President Barack Hussein Obama (P)

Teddy is dead. Half of Massachusetts is Red. The Democratic Party had a Super-Majority for all of President Obama’s first year, and they couldn’t get healthcare reform done. 59 Democratic Senators can’t do any worse than 60 in this case.

Most US polls show that people like and respect Barack Obama. The rest of the world gave him a Nobel Peace Prize. Barack H. Obama was elected as the 44th President of The United states because most people on planet earth believe in his desire and ability to make the world a better place.

Now is the perfect time for him to leave the Democratic Party and start his own.

I have always believed in breaking the bi-polar mood swings this country suffers from being caught between a DEM vs. GOP, We vs. Them,  Hate vs. Other Hate. The only way to do that is to start a real 3rd political party in America. Joe LIEberman (i) has his ersatz independent Party (“i” intentionally lowercase). Obama can start the Progressive Party, as in President Obama (P).

Obama needs to get away from the entire congress and stand on his own personal principles and beliefs. The PEOPLE of America will re-elect him because he is brilliant, genuine, compassionate, and peaceful. He is a progressive person at a time when the “Progressive Party” agenda  needs to be distinguished from the centuries-old Democratic Party machine. But it’s not so much getting away from Democratic  ideals as it is getting away from the machine. The political machine in America is broken by political stalemate.

Two Democratic Party disasters occurred within 48 hours of each other: Scott Brown (R) was elected to replace the late Edward Kennedy (D) in the state of MA, and the US Supreme Court ruled that it was OK for Corporate America to give directly to Politicians’ campaign. Big sums of money. One MSNBC pundit said that Senators and Representatives would no longer represent states, but rather represent companies like GE and AIG and BP. He even suggested Congressmen and Women wear corporate logos when in session.

Senator Scott Brown is more an indication that there is an independent political growth in this country that has seeded and begun to crowd out certain legislators beholden to the left and the right. And Corporate America loves the GOP because of tax cuts and TARP, so can’t we just all recognize that that love exists? Let them give all the money to any politician who helps them out. If THE PEOPLE don’t like that politician they will vote with their wallets and spend their money with the companies that support the politicians that best represent them. Simple and honest. This Supreme Court ruling doesn’t bother me. As long as Obama gets out from in-between the Hatfields and the McCoys and leads the USA in his own direction.

Obama’s direction is very Progressive: Peaceful, Prosperous, Educated, Self-Sustaining, United, and Humane. The President of The United States of America is elected by all the people, supposedly because that person best represents what the country’s majority wants. Not to be the talking head of political party. If the people want something done then they will elect the person that will look at the other two branches of US government and say, “The people sent me here to sign this, and to veto that. You all figure out how to make it work in the US citizens’ best interests and show it to me when you’re ready!”

President Obama (D)–it’s time to become President Obama (P). Let’s get this party started already.

Dems=Canary, Mass=Coal Mine

Tonight...regress vs. progress

If Ted Kennedy were still alive this would never happen.

Democrats are on the verge of losing the one Senate seat they could always count on for the last 47 years. I don’t like to make predictions, especially when it comes to elections, but Martha Coakley is about to lose the Massachusetts Senate race to Scott Brown in a special election to replace “The Lion of the Senate”. This is unthinkable to most Democrats, but they had better start thinking the unthinkable and get used to it. We are witnessing the Tea-Partying of the USA.

Scott Brown was indeed endorsed by the Tea Party Republicans (a movement more than a political group), and that has helped him wipe out a double-digit lead that Coakley held just a few weeks ago. True, she ran an awful campaign, but this election will break the super-majority, filibuster-blocking, 60-seat Democratic party hold on the US Senate. And whomever ran Coakley’s campaign should be tarred-and-feathered for their lack of vision as to what this means for the entire country.

Healthcare reform? Dead on arrival. Scott Brown has vowed to vote against it. And the Democrats are acting like they’ve had spine-removal surgery performed on them by letting Joe LIEberman muddy the waters last fall when a bill should have been passed. Whatever happened to the Christmas deadline? Whatever happened to acting on a basic 51-vote majority? Why do Democrats play nice while Republicans play to win?

And now along comes a GOP Senate candidate about to steal a seat at the worst possible moment in our country’s opportunity to make some progress. Democrats took this race for granted. They figured that it would be automatic to keep MA blue. Well, this is gonna be a painful wake-up call.

Will it be the dreaded referendum on President Obama? Not likely. His 53% approval rating is the same as his popular vote margin when he won the election last year. But I do think this is the beginning of an anti-incumbent movement. And right now the Democrats are the incumbents. It’s 1994 again. Get ready to get nothing done for the next 3 years.

How come this never happens to the GOP? They are political killers and that is part of their political DNA. They know when everything is on the line and they band together. I don’t live in Massachusetts, but a race this important should have been waged on a national level. The message should have been this simple: if Coakley loses, healthcare reform loses. If Coakley loses, the Democrats lose senatorial power. If Coakley loses, Ted Kennedy’s ghost loses. If Coakley loses, the Tea Party wins. That’s the kind of message that would resonate all along the Mass Turnpike, and straight out down Route 66 across the country.

So tonight we will lower the canary’s cage down into the mine shaft to see if there is a Republican gas leak emanating from the state of Massachusetts. If the Democrats come up dead, then they’ll have to look elsewhere for their political fortunes. Fast.

And that sound you hear will be the late, great, Ted Kennedy rolling over in his grave.

————————————

UPDATE @ 9:30PM, 1/19/10

Watching Scott Brown’s acceptance speech on TV. His supporters are cheering and screaming, but I can’t help hearing TMK doing a big underground spiral. Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling…American politics can be so heartbreaking.

Ok, I’ll say it: Al Franken for President (one of these days).

It’s time to take Al Franken seriously. It is for me anyway.

Al Franken was Stuart Smalley, and today he is the Junior Senator from the state of Minnesota. Although elected in 2008, he wasn’t actually sworn in until July 7, 2009. He was too busy defending his victory over wannabe chad-counter Republican Senator Norm Coleman. The GOP hates Franken so much. They hate how progressive he is. They hate that he’s another Harvard-educated liberal. He was born in ultra-liberal New York City, and raised in “St. Jewish Park” (St. Louis Park), MN. Franken is Harvard-educated (he majored in Political Science), creative, charming, famous, rich, adored by the millions of fans he’s entertained since the 1970s, and he’s Jewish.

He sounds like the GOP’s biggest nightmare.

I always laughed my head off whenever I saw Franken, I mean “Senator Franken”, do his Stuart Smalley routine. I always knew he was smart, and he really caught my attention with Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat, Idiot. He was good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it-I always liked him. But I didn’t realize he had guts.

And then he kicked lame Joe LIEberman’s butt back to his desk. Watch the 2.5 minute video HERE.

Al Franken told Joe LIEberman to sit down and stop talking about his self-centered, hypocritical viewpoint on healthcare reform as soon as he hit the customary 10-minute limit. He didn’t even give LIEberman a Hanukkah gift of an extra minute or two. I love it.

And get a load of John McCain acting all put off by Senator Al Franken doing what he had every right to do–deny LIEberman any extra time to speak by refusing to honor J-LIE’s request by unanimous consent. John McCain is Mr. Anti-Pork, and he talks about preventing waste, and then he wastes precious time on the tax-payer’s dime talking about procedure and proper behavior in the Senate, and BS like that, instead of talking about fixing healthcare. John McCain is the epitome of Old School, with the emphasis on old.

So Senator Al Franken has the brains, the guts, the politics, the money, the charisma, and the first real legitimate shot to be the first. Jewish. President. Ever. That’s my opinion. Would he be in the Democratic Party, or will he christen the Progressive Party? Will Obama give Franken Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency to re-capture the progressive wing of his base and win reelection, thereby allowing Al to gain incredible perspective and experience as the apprentice to the most powerful job in the free world?

From there anything is possible.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Sounds like that creepy voice from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, right? Well, that’s exactly what this first entry feels like–creepy.

Is anybody gonna read this blog except me? Am I gonna piss-off some gun-toting wacko (that didn’t take long)? Am I gonna write 11 entries and then get bored or distracted, and have this digital evidence to my lack of commitment left out there in the blogosphere for all eternity?

The only way to answer those questions is to just start wrting.

Voting Mad is a blog about politics, politicians, and their effect on people–specifically the American citizens. I have a point of view that will be the tone and personality of this blog:

• I have been Voting Mad since I cast my first vote for Dukakis in 1988–I wanted Cuomo, but he never ran.
• I think Voting Mad is perfectly okay–these are fucked up times in the good ol’ USA, and there’s a lot to be pissed off about.
• I Vote Mad because I won’t get on the demonstration line. I yell at the TV, not at town hall meetings. I agree with Peter Tosh when he said, “I’ve got no time for generals or funerals.”  I’ll write and I’ll donate money, but I’ll get involved from a distance that protects me from getting shot or arrested.
• I am an open-minded Democrat with many Republican friends. I am an extremely loyal supporter of Barack Obama and his policies, and passionately resentful of the disasterous W/Cheney administration. However, I am convinced that the USA would benefit greatly from a credible, independent, moderate, 3rd political party.

My hope is that I can use this forum to get my churning-mad political views out of my system, and perhaps enlighten, entertain, or enrage a few readers here and there along the way.

Please send me comments–I might learn something.

Let’s get started: Joe Lieberman is an asshole.

Wow that felt good! But why would a Jew like me be mad at a Jew like Joe? Because Senator Lieberman is a traitor. The Democratic party made this guy. He was one Supreme Court disagreement away from being Al Gore’s Vice President. And now, when the Democratic party needs him to help push forward on a public option for healthcare reform he threatens to help the GOP fillibuster against it. What balls he has.

Yes I know, Joe is an “independent”. He’s not an “Independent” with an uppercase “I”, because there is no real Independent Party in America. You see, Bubbie Lieberman is what they call an “independent thinker”–beholden to no party. But shouldn’t I be lauding the guy for marching to the beat of his own Bar Mitzvah DJ? No. Joe likes to Caucus with the Democrats when it pleases him, and he likes his nice Homeland Security Chairmanship position (which he got by being in the majority party). But when we need this schmuck’s vote on a basic party platform issue he goes across the aisle. I’d have more respect for hm if he left the Democratic party and either became an out-of-the-closet Republican or started a legitimate Independent political party. Joe lost his Democratic cred when he supported John McCain, and it’s silly for Harry Reid to hold onto this guy so he can pretend he’s got a filibuster-proof majority. He doesn’t, and the healthcare debate is proving that every day.

Which brings me to a fundamental issue that will crop up in this blog from time to time: we need a real 3rd party in America. I don’t know that I would leave the Democrats for them, but a 3rd party will, as Rodney Dangerfield said in Caddyshack, “keep it fair.” Could I vote for Obama and an Independent congressperson? Definitely–all depends on the political views. But views are nothing unless they lead to action.

Regardless of party affiliation, I’d vote for anyone who believes in the following:

1. Keeping abortion safe, legal, and rare.
2. Outlawing 99% of the guns available. I am all for hunting, and self-defense. But only a criminal needs a semi-automatic weapon and armor piercing bullets. Find me a line in the Constitution about the right to pop a cap in someone’s ass and I might think differently.
3. Making Gay marriage legal everywhere. As long as two adults are in love with each other, what the hell is the difference? And none of this civil-union bullshit either. The divorce rate in the US is just over 50%, so there’s nothing so sacred about marriage anymore that two homosexuals are going to degrade the value of tying the knot. Heteros have taken care of that all by ourselves.
4. Make marijuana legal. Forget medical marijuana–I don’t want to pray for Glaucoma. I just want to smoke a bowl after a long day and not worry about going to jail. Is that too much to ask? Louis Armstrong once called a joint “a cigarette with a little booze in it”. Supposedly he smoked pot every day, and by any measure he had a pretty decent career. So can’t we just allow Phillip Morris and all the boys to mass-produce and market the product, then let the government tax the shit out of it so I can have the convenience of stopping by Dominicks on the way home to pick up a carton of kind bud? Let’s put the drug dealers out of business and let a real cartel like the tobacco industry take over.
5. Death penalty reform–I am confused. On the one hand, I’d execute a rapist myself and feel good about it. On the other hand, there’s a reason why The Innocence Project exists. There are definitely innocent people on death row, and there have definitely been innocent people executed by the government. What to do? If you could guarantee me that rapists and murderers would automatically NEVER be allowed out of prison, I could do without the death penalty. Lock ’em up and leave ’em there for the rest of their life. If Bernie Madoff can get 150 years for stealing money, how can a child rapist get out of jail ever? Kill ’em or keep ’em off the streets–let ’em back out if you can prove they’re really innocent.
6. Healthcare reform–end pre-existing condition exclusions, enact some measure of tort reform, and give me my fucking public OPTION. I may use it, I may not. But I want an option in case I ever lose my job. My family’s health shouldn’t be tied to my career anymore. And by the way, government-run programs work just fine for me–I’ve never had a problem at the DMV.

Well that’s enough for the first post. Hopefully someone made it this far and is willing to come back again for more. If there’s anybody actually out there reading this, I thank you for your time.