Posted on 09/30/2012 8:23:03 PM PDT by robowombat
These are my very sincere personal reasons for having no current intention to vote for Mr. Romney in November. I post this because I 'went off' at another thread because of my love for OUR country and contentions there by a Poster still that our President is a Muslim and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. That level of absurd rhetoric and direct lying continues to create Divides instead of Common Grounds, and totally on purpose. That is not acceptable in a free country.
In stating these, I preface by saying quite clearly that I do not believe at ALL that the Democratic Party has all, or even necessarily most, of the right, or optimum answers, policies, or ideas.
But I demand cooperation and compromise, and see, still, absolutely no desire,even, from the GOP for compromise. That is arrogant, especially with the recent track record during the prior 2 GOP Administrations. The Parties need each other, period, because it is well proven that NEITHER has the optimum answers alone.
Neither.
When that becomes clear to All, we will move forward again...together.
1.We are in wartime. We are normally very averse to changing leadership during wartime. Given the extreme nature of certain elements of the GOP and the history of Mr. Bush, I see nothing at all 'better' about Mr. Romney internationally and am impressed with the rise in our international 'status' again under Mr. Obama and I approve of his actions in Pakistan re Bin Laden, in Libya, and in staying out of Syria for now. I'm not certain how I feel about Afghanistan and I am perfectly ready and willing to continue to listen to all pleas and plans for more immediate withdrawal from there.
Our current President has built and re-built international relationships absolutely obliterated by the Bush Administration. I have no reason to believe Mr. Romney will continue that nor any reason to change from the President whose Admin has accomplished that in a rather remarkably short timeframe given that our international approval rating was at its lowest ever by 2008.
Whether some of you like it or not, that international cooperation is absolutely essential in the modern global world and will become absolutely more essential in the coming years. The days of 1950 are over; the U.S. cannot choose its own path only, world-wide. Cooperation is required if for no other reason than that we cannot DO IT alone.
2.The base of the GOP has always been its Moderates, a 'center-right' leaning, if you will. And that is the base for which I voted until 2004. However, the extreme elements of the GOP that have arisen in the past dozen years and seem to be getting worse, are the most harmful elements in the United States to our own future. Again, these are all my OPINIONS, not to be blasted as 'socialist' or any other label or term.
Note that I did not say that many things the tea party (when it becomes a party, the words get capitalized) is trumpeting are wrong; it is their approach and methods and expressed hatreds that I denounce. It is not proper, fair, nor accurate to continue to label our President as a 'socialist'. Neither he nor the Democratic Party are 'the enemy'.
While of course these groups are not supported by most of the GOP voters, it IS documented fact that the violence created by extremist groups such as white supremacists is on the rise; literally those groups have risen in number a few hundred times over what they were and those groups number far more variety than merely white supremacists.
This should upset and frighten all of us, given what we all see elsewhere in the world when violence erupts inside a country.
Violence within our own Country against our own Citizens is not a Solution, and does count as treasonous behavior, and suggestions of revolution and the rise in these violent groups can generally be traced to those we all would call 'right-wing' extremists. Those are not elements from the thinking of the Democratic Party, which is certainly not 'right-wing'. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are hate-mongers who fit into this element.
3.Compromise is the key to our government working. The GOP has refused, far more than the Democrats, to cooperate at all for the past 4 years, and Mr. McConnell's statement remains in bold-face type in many Citizens' minds, that the major goal of the GOP from 2008-2012 was to insure that Mr. Obama is a one-term President. He and his Party have certainly followed that credo for 4 years, paralyzing our government, all while offering nothing of substance in counterpoint, merely anti-Democratic rhetoric.
4.Health Care Reform has long been needed in this country. Costs are too high, and pre-existing conditions prevented coverage before for millions of Americans, among other ills of the past system.
Hillary Clinton (her political party is of NO importance here!) was squashed like a bug in 1992 when she initiated health care reform efforts and that squashing was not led by the Democrats. Nothing happened for reform in the Bush years, 2000-2008. And then the GOP absolutely and totally refused to even discuss the matter, even though the current reform includes many of the GOP's own thoughts from the past and even after Mr. Obama offered to take the entire PLAN off the table and engage in PUBLIC discussions.
The GOP refused. That shows no desire for cooperation and no concern with health care reform that was required and still is. The facts are that literally millions of Americans are now receiving care they would not have received before. It boggles my mind that so many seem to ignore that.
I am not at ALL saying I believe that 'government control' or mandates re health care is my method of choice, but something had to be done, and something was done, despite the GOP.
Could it/would it be better if there had been cooperation from the GOP? Undoubtedly.
5.The financial bailouts have had varying degrees of success/failure, to date. However, Detroit is quite happy and so is the U.S. auto industry, at least. The banks and financial institutions continue to run somewhat amok; I am not willing to have them sink on the 'principle' that the Federal Government should not become involved when its citizens need help. Again, something had to be done, and something was done, again over the refusal of the GOP to help.
Would cooperation and compromise, again, have led to better solutions? Quite likely, sure.
6.I am very much impressed and happy when leaders from either Party show flexibility; however, Mr. Romney's very clear history is one of what, IMHO, must be characterized more as 'waffling' than flexible, i.e. blowing with the political wind rather than him being a man of certain convictions.
7.Taxation Laws in this country are arcane, confusing, slanted, and ridiculous. We all know that. Yes, I am an advocate of a simple, flat tax and (speaking of smaller government) essentially the total elimination of the Internal Revenue Service and all the infernal sub-groups that spend wasted employment doing nothing productive, but merely adminstrating a system that can be stream-lined quite easily and needs to be..... but that is not important here.
What is important is that those below the level of 'rich' continue to pay a higher percentage of their wages and income in taxes than the rich do. This clearly robs us all of billions of dollars in tax revenue. The Rich and their unfair tax breaks are being supported by the GOP.
Simply put, it is not in ANY way 'fair and equitable' to have lower tax rates for those who make more money and income!
I see absolutely no reason for the cap on Social Security contributions at $110,000 income, and removal of that cap would generate more BILLIONS in revenue to SAVE that Social Security system, but, again, that is another issue.
But the GOP staunchly refuses to even discuss taxing the wealthy at a higher, fairer rate than currently. This to me is absurd, and the 'investment in business will go down' argument is poppycock perpetrated by the Rich who unfairly and greedily wish to have more, more, more with no concern that Others get less when that happens.
The TRUE base of our country, the 'working people', are squeezed more and more and more every year, and this is neither fair nor anything but disastrous for the future.
8.Energy...this Nation needs to become energy-independent. I have seen far more efforts from the Democratic Party than the GOP to attempt to make this happen. The very philosophies of the GOP seem far more 'in bed' with Big Oil and I have not agreed at all with most GOP positions in terms of their non-efforts toward solar, wind, and nuclear power, let alone ethanol. All they have produced is empty rhetoric while deflecting any and all actual concrete efforts to create new energy sources here that can and will provide new jobs HERE.
I reluctantly agree to more oil-drilling within our own territories; however, I want a cap on that drilling based on a very clear PLAN to wean us eventually from oil, also, but the FIRST priority, IMHO, is to become independent, so if that requires some more drilling here, I will live with that temporarily in order to achieve the first priority which is energy independence.
Once that happens, the Middle East can do as it wishes over there, and we have no further reasons for troops, lives, and monies to be wasted there.
We must become independent and that has never been something touted and worked for by the GOP. I shall leave it to Others to speculate as to how much if any of that refusal to work for alternates is due to Big Oil influences on the GOP.
9.The GOP is purposely attempting to keep legitimate voters from the Polls under the guise of needing an i.d. card to prevent 'voter fraud'. The number of cases of voter fraud is laughingly small (fortunately) and these efforts are not even smokescreens but clearly intended to disenfranchise various minority groups that likely would vote Democratic. I do not care what happened in the past, I am centering on the ridiculous idea of pushing this concept through in a very few months; likely, I have no problem with the I.D. at all as long as that is phased in and not forced in so that the GOP can win the White House.
10.Mr. Obama was a rookie. All too many of his top people were rookies. I see nothing of 'leadership' in Ms. Pelosi, some in Mr. Reid, but neither of them have been able to bridge divides either and come across quite negatively often. Some of Mr. Obama's people had to be replaced, some of his initial ideas and methods were not efficient.
And as I made quite clear in his first year, I disagreed strongly with the concentration on the health care issue in that first year, at the expense of so many other areas not being able to be attacked that needed solutions also.
Had the GOP cooperated in Health Care Reform, however, they all could have moved on far faster than in year Two to attempt TOGETHER to solve more problems.
After 4 years, however, my preference is to continue what at least has been some progress because I happen to believe in Mr. Obama's international approach far more than a strict hard-line, militaristic one. He has proven he has the courage to make the Big Decisions. I have no reason, based on what he has said, that Mr. Romney would be nearly as efficient nor able to work with the very complex series of inter-laced situations and peoples and world situations. I want to build on the new relationships, not destroy them or have to start over yet again, internationally.
We NEED international cooperation, period.
Those are my feelings as of today. I am not at all 'against' the GOP, nor anti-GOP.
My complaint is that the Party for whom I voted rather consistently until 2004 has become controlled not by its Moderate Base but by its right-wing elements and that limiting the thinking and policies to such right-wing solutions only is not what will work in 2012 and indeed what would harm us for years.
That is my single most over-riding reason, maybe, to strongly desire NOT to vote for a Group that I see as far too limited in thinking and scope, far too inflexible, and far too full of itself with no track record of its own success.
Those elements have a very narrow view of the world, and of our country, and all too many have a problem with the current and growing non-Caucasian make-up of our Nation. They must live with it, not attempt to change it, for it is no one's fault that non-Caucasian births outnumber Caucasian births.
It is not 1950, but that ultra right-wing element seems to wish nothing but return to 1950 and its policies. I shall ignore for the moment that the Civil Rights act was not passed until 1964, and what that alone says about the 1950 mentality.
We have grown to a Nation with 300,000,000 Citizens who are more diverse in make-up than ever; a melting pot we have continued to be.
Each and every one must be considered equally, and on that there can be no compromise.
Bigotry against ANY group of our Equal Citizens cannot be tolerated, no matter how it is couched, and while the word 'bigotry' is quite a strong one and not to be thrown out lightly, IMHO there are far more examples of various sorts of racial and ethnic bigotry among the ultra right-wingers of the GOP than anywhere in the Democratic Party.
One Citizen, one vote. That is who we are, no matter the make-up of our Citizenry. Again, there can be no compromise on that basic Principle of the United States of America.
If you are still “trying to dialogue” with irrational folks you are wasting time. I believe the book refers to a “strong delusion”. You are seeing it. If these folks could be rational they wouldn’t be libtards.
Moderates. Nothing but lying, manipulative, bottom feeders.
Idiot dem, and probably a professional O campaign water polluter:
http://deadskirts.com/superboard/search.php?search_author=Sandi
It seems like social media generator spew.
Sounds like something written by Charlie Crist or Colin Powell.
No matter who is elected my fear is that we will be attacked at home more and more. One because they don’t fear bo and two because they will resent the gop being in power removing their adoring dem fans from power.
happy when leaders from either Party show flexibility
When you stand your ground for your beliefs and ideas, no matter how right or wrong they may be (or someone thinks they are right or wrong), at least you show character and not that of a spineless jellyfish.
She’s probably a liberal plant pretending to be neutral, however the end goal is clear. To get those undecided voters to stay away from the polls and casting a vote for Romney.
Oh, Cripplecreek has correctly pointed out that no one is more of a purest than the "Moderates".
They could never support an Honest to G-d Conservative, mostly because they are liberals who want to sound "Intellectual" by being "neither right nor left"
(GAG!)
The only moderate instinct stronger than the instinct hate conservatives is the instinct to compromise with the left.
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!
-- B. Goldwater
contentions there by a Poster still that our President is a Muslim and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. That level of absurd rhetoric and direct lying continues to create Divides instead of Common Grounds, and totally on purpose. That is not acceptable in a free country.
Right, all must believe, agree, or else.
Sickening Swill.
I will call your attention to this thread as an example of worshipping at the altar of overgeneralized thinking-—to the point of abysmal self-delusion. But you have to know, for some, the self-delusion is a more powerful drug than those Neanderthals among us who like coherency and logic. By the way...for me, that doesn’t necessarily mean details. I’m a data deleter - I like specifics but I’m not fond of details; nor do I retain them well. If that makes any sense.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2938493/posts
Definitely a plant. It’s that weird thing with her just like Obama - all the paperwork is there ... sort of ... the credentials ... but not really ... the story ... but it’s not a true story ... and the more you look into it ... the more it looks strange, gappy, and changes shape ... and the more the other side scrambles to adjust the story even as you’re investigating it ...
Libya was just a case study.
I think Scott will win ... that what happened in 2010 and more recently in Wisconsin is not an odd political phenomena, it’s a reflection of government being so intrusive, so out of control, so .... stupid ..., that the sleepy 10% of the electorate whose vote is uncommitted say ‘enough is enough.’
Then they go right back to sleep. Which is another broader issue, and why Ryan was the right choice, but also why the history of mankind and politics is always a story of tragedy (or a comedy, if you have the advantage of being born 10 or more years after the last tragedy.)
At least this debate is some comic relief, but it’s comedic/tragic that it could be a deciding SC vote at least 2ce.
Back to the point - yeah - a plant no doubt :-) Enjoy the debate.
This narrative was embedded in a private e-mail from a family friend. I stripped out the personal parts at the front and the final graphs. The sender is someone who considers themselves a moderate Republican but is a liberal Republican. This is the story. The e-mail is from a woman who is a friend of my wife from when we lived in the DC area. She has two or three masters degrees and has worked as a reading teacher for students with learning disabilities and a school guidance counselor in several school systems in NE Maryland. Her husband was a fairly successful securities and stock and bond lawyer. He was not from an upscale background and was Baltimore City college and UMD Law. He died pretty suddenly in 2004 of a viral infection of the heart. He seems to have been a careful financial planner and left his widow and two children well provided for. His wife has pretty much always voted GOP except for Clinton the second time. However she came from a family that was pretty much all school teachers and administrators or some sort of ‘helping profession’ types. Her husband detested the Dems knowing what Baltimore city and county politics were like. He had a real hatred of the Delassandrio administration over something involving his family being screwed out of some commercial real estate through an eminent domain action which the city then gave to a connected type for a pittance. This woman has gotten steadily more liberal since her husband died and was quietly but fully supported BHO in ‘08 although she thins the GOP should have run Colin Powell as a ‘dream candidate’ matched with some ‘moderate’ GOP female. Obviously she got this screed from some of her liberal female friends . It merits an answer that is polite but damning and input from you all helps to clarify what goes back. In a conversation with her last winter she really is sold on the idea that the GOP has to be ‘open and inclusive’ in its policies. This is a small example of how the political universe is shifting. Here we have someone whose material interests and those of her children ,who are now struggling to get their footing in a terrible economy, will be harmed by the policies of the party she now supports due to how the Dems push their false narrative and implant memes. The electorate is polarizing not because we here want it to but because of the ideologization being relentlessly pushed from the left. Unfortunately as this documents use shows there are a lot of suckers who can be snared by the dems false narrative.
That is what McConnell said almost two years after Obama had been elected. Referring to the upcoming 2010 elections:
... We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”
NJ: What’s the job?
McConnell: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president. ...
McConnell went on to say:
... If President Obama does a Clintonian backflip, if he’s willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it’s not inappropriate for us to do business with him. ...
I don’t want the president to fail; I want him to change. So, we’ll see. The next move is going to be up to him. ...
Obama quoted McConnell out of context, and his people have been doing so ever since.
Source: Washington Post factchecker
Mr. Obama was a rookie. All too many of his top people were rookies.
I see somebody switched her "r" and "w" keys ...
Where's the video?
Soros funded Media Matters came right out with a statement saying this was all made up. Thus, I am inclined to accept the story.
Let’s put aside Obama’s religion, personally I find him to be more an atheist communist than a man of faith in anything - but I don’t care about the ‘why he does this or that’ as much as I care about the ‘what he does.’
I digress: The person says, about the so called poster (who may well be a straw man)
“That is not acceptable in a free country.”
This is the scariest, and dumbest notion I’ve ever heard ... in 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago we learned that we can not insult the ‘Prophet Mohammad’.
Now, we learn, from someone likely, and sadly, voting age, that nobody must stain the name of the Prophet Obama, Votes be Upon Him.
So much for the” free” part of “free” country. Sounds like an Animal Farm quote: ‘You can’t do this in OUR free country” ... 4 legs good, 2 legs better ...
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