Originally posted by: Craig234
Originally posted by: Arkaign
There aren't vile enough words in any language to express my wrath and disgust with that subhuman piece of garbage.
From a self-described conservative, did you vote for him in 2000 or 2004? Did you always oppose him, or what was the point where you begant to oppose him?
No, I live in Texas, so I got to see first-hand what a jerk he was up close and personal long before he became President. I didn't vote for him for Governor either.
I'm a conservative in the way that I don't think the government is very good at providing solutions for the most part. But I'm also a pragmatist, and realize by good example, that the gov't can (and should) perform many basic purposes, and things like our Military (political leadership notwithstanding) and Post Office do a fine job in general.
Socially, I don't believe the government should have many powers on telling people what to do/say/think, or how to behave. I believe that our freedoms should not be bent or ignored for political expedience or for temporary 'security', as the precedents set could bring dire consequences for more/all of us in the future. I believe the value of holding a generally high moral standard is much more valuable than the (possible) small gains of lowering ourselves to base and vile acts such as state-sanctioned torture. It's irrelevant how horrible the crimes of our enemies, by lowering our standards we only cheapen what it means to be an American.
Economically, I see evil on both sides of the fence. With the (R)'s for quite some time now, what you get is very high spending on areas with little recirculatory value in the general economy, combined with lower taxes / more exemptions for the rich, along with stagnant/reduced social spending. As the overall recipe is for higher deficits, I vehemently disagree with this approach. With the (D)'s of late, you see moderately high spending in areas with moderate recirculatory value, combined with lower taxes for the poor, and higher taxes for the rich, and slightly increased social spending. I am somewhat more inclined towards this approach, though it's still far from perfect. As both sides tend to favor huge pork spending and government waste, I have little confidence in the performance of either party in managing our economic direction. It's always spend now, pay later, damn the consequences, with little band-aids and fingers in the dam to hold back the inevitable. My ideal economic platform would be : massively reduced spending, combining/eliminating redundant or unnecessary federal agencies, giving more power to the states, much lower taxes for the poorest 50%, moderately lower taxes for the rich, and a 'don't tread on me' foreign policy where we never engage unless directly attacked. I don't mind focused and accountable military spending where necessary, and I strongly support paying for the college and training for our servicemen and women.
So you see, I don't see a good option either way, and as an economic conservative, with what is seen as liberal social values (weird that so many 'conservatives' seem to think the government should be poking it's face in our lives at every turn, and spending our money hand over fist in ill-conceived foreign disasters), I don't really have a viable candidate or platform to support. I'm much more offended by a fake 'conservative', than I am of an honest liberal. The liberal will tell you what he's about, the 'conservative' will tell you with a straight face that he's for lower taxes, smaller government, and more individual responsibility and freedom, all the while shredding the constitution, spending our children's money, lowering taxes for only the rich, and having an utter disregard for due process, a sense of honor, equal justice, or even accountability. So yes, I see Bush as a shit-stain on the roadmap of our tattered country's legacy, and I revile him with utter contempt.
I could name off dozens of people that would have done a much better job as Prez, you, Vic, even ProfJohn is capable of usually putting together coherent thoughts.