Ok seriously, this goes out to all my dems in da hood.

Stop ripping on the south. If you ever want your party to get anywhere again, you need to stop insulting people who are religious or conservative.

I'm not religious. I don't believe that there is enough evidence to conclusively state that there is or isn't a god.

However.

Intelligent people can and have come to the conclusion that there is. Saying that religion is a regection of logic is false. Most religions have evidence to support them. Most followers of religions are reasonable people.

On the other hand...

Secularism has become the new orthodox religion in this country. Yeah, thats right. My opinions are considered close minded, uncultured, and wrong by a good portion of blue states and the media. Kerry would probably agree. I'm sure that Micheal Moore would.

Truth is, I think the Republican party has become more open minded than the Democrats by far. When I say open minded, I mean that in the real sense of the phrase, not the liberal one, and when I say liberal, I mean that in the political sense of the word, not the real one. Confused yet?

Let me explain.

See, the Democratic party has been hijacked by the most open minded (liberal) individuals, such as Micheal Moore. These guys basicly say "We are so reasonable, that anyone who disagrees with us must be a religious/bigoted zealot." disagreeing with them means you are blinded by right wing propoganda/are a hick/don't know what you're talking about/omfg teh religionzorz.

I don't think I'd have nearly as big a problem with liberal philosophy if I had the right to disagree with it.

I think to be a total idiot I'll back up my opinions with facts, something Micheal Moore seems to forget a lot of the time. (documentary my ass)

The Democratic convention had absolutely no speakers that broke with the party line. Every speaker was pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, etc. Regardless of how you feel about those issues, it makes you wonder what will happen when you DO disagree with the party.

On the other hand, the Republican convention had pro-lifers, pro-choice, pro and con gay marriage, etc. I like being able to have wiggle room on individual issues. I can pick and choose what I want to believe and actually have a chance of influencing individual politicians with my opinion, rathing than being forced to take a party line.

Hilary Clinton. BAM!

Bi-partisan left wing orginizations.

for example the ACLU, criticized by the right and defended by the left.
The ACLU has become a warped mockery of a free speach orginization. They protect the rights of anyone who has nothing to do with religion. Recently they said you cannot say that intelligent design is a scientific theory in schools. Intelligent design simply states this.
"The universe is complex and difficult to understand. However, when things are discovered they are simple and elegant. This would lead some to believe the universe is created by a higher power, which may or may not be divine."
Outlawed. Gone. Can't say it. It violates our civil liberties.

This was brought up because intelligent design was taught at some school somewhere. Well, not so much taught, but the teachers said, "Intelligent design is one alternate theory to evolution. If you're interested you can stop by the library and look at this book, called "Of pandas and people."" (The book was banned from the library too by the way.)

The theory of evolution is a nice theory, I believe it, it passes the common sense test. It is however, only a theory. We could have come out of apes from a yet unfound biological function. Science as we know it could be a sham. How would you know? Todays orthidoxies are tomarrows failed experiments.

My point is, shouldn't people have the freedom of speech to talk about God? And above all else.. shouldn't the ACLU be protecting that?

Is saying the south is stupid and thats why bush won open minded? or is it just... open minded...

Maybe, rather than insulting the majority of the country Democrats could try discussing issues more often. I have never heard ANY politician describe in detail their plans to do ANYTHING. All I hear is character assasination. If someone has a good idea I don't give a flying fuck who they are, what they're wrong about, or anything else. A good idea is a good idea. If I heard actual discussion from either party I'd jump over there in a minute, but so far I'm resigned to hating one party less beacause democrats' way of character assasination is a bit more... sickening. 

It drips with hypocracy... saying the right is some giant behemoth that will crush mankind with religious zealotry.

Please... the big debate over under god in the pledge of allegiance? Thats whats crushing you? Seems more like the secularists are forcing their view on America. Saying god is ambiguous, but saying there is no god is taking a view, a stance, and I resent having that view thrust upon me. Seperation of church and state means that religion has no bearings on how the government is run, not that you have the right to make people not say things you don't agree with. religion is arguably the biggest part of our county's history, what is wrong with keeping those traditions? why are they so vile we need to change them? why is the mere mention of something religious wrong? Why? because it's in an offical document? don't all of the documents banning the term god have the word god in it? so are those banned too? You can't tell me that you can't say god in the pledge of allegiance! The state doesn't have any power over the use of those words and therefore cannot mandate their usage or disusage. Blah blah blah. See, its annoying, and the entire discussion should die. People had no problem with the whole god thing for 300 years and now we are being so oppressed by the word god on our money. please. If somebody is being oppressed by the mere mention of god they need to toughen up a bit. I was told by employees of the state that emotional and physical abuse was part of the atmosphere of public schooling and to get over it. Did anybody cry foul? no. If you want something to get outraged about try that first, and then we can get around to the people being oppressed to a lesser extent.

I'm worried that people don't think for themselves anymore, because they can get credit for their open minded thinking by simply claiming allegiance to a political party.

So am I thinking inside the box, or just to far outside yours? Regardless, at least stop pissing me off, because the NRA has shotguns, and are apparently on my side whether I want them or not.

ROFLN00BZORZ SHOTPWNED!!!!!!!!!!!!11_2!!!!1

It's been a while since I posted. It's also been a while since I've been really angry. Leave it to election season to rub me the wrong way.

First things first. I'm a moderate, slightly conservative, and totally sick of both parties. My posistion is not that complicated. I think that conservatives get more things right than liberals. They don't win by a whole lot though, and I totally understand people who have different opinions from me. I only really feel strongly about economic issues, which makes it even harder to have a rational conversation with anyone. I want to keep my money. That is the long and the short of it. I'm willing to pay for roads being paved and all of that nifty stuff, but I want to keep my paycheck out of the hands of people who spend it on frivilous things like cat in the hat statues. You think I'm joking? Go take the time to see what your tax dollars are really spent on. You'll be suprised, I promise. There it is, my reason for being conservative. Plain and simple. I don't mind rich people having money. If they spend it frivilously, they suddenly have no more money. If they plan ahead and invest wisely, they get more money. If a poor man takes out a loan, goes to school, and gets a high paying job, he can pay back is loan and make money. This is, of course, a simplified verson of the process, and it doesn't always have a happy ending, but life's a total bitch, and we all get dicked over eventually.

 I don't know why, but plenty of people are under the impression that having computer skills, the ability to speak proper English, and overall intelligence is a bad thing. Since these people have been the bane of my existence, I hope they wind up in a sewer blowing their money on crack. These people will never get good jobs. These people will never understand economics. These people are weak minded sheep. Their understanding of politics is as follows

Republicans = No gays or minorities, rich people get money.

Democrats = Gays and Minorities will get candy, poor people will get money.

That is total bullshit, but what it means is that, depending on the racism to money ratio, they select their candidate.

Then there is the next tier of people. The people who are a cancer on society, and another reason I lean conservative. The die hards. Democrat die hards are just as scary as Republican die hards when it comes to idealogy. Most of the people who vote fall into this category. You basicly take the previous tier's understanding of politics, and then couple it with a religious fanaticism rivaled only by suicide bombers. Nothing you say will ever pierce the rock hard shell of their warped reality. Democratic die hards see religion as an offensive stain on humanity, Republican die hards see religion as the ultimate solution. Democratic die hards want to solve everything by talking. Republican die hards want to bomb everything. The list goes on and on but you get my point. Now, why does this make me lean conservative? For the most part, when I state my opinion, it is as middle of the road as possible. A litmus test to see exactly how people will react and to gauge how much I want to avoid talking politics. In the general situation, a democrat will personally attack me, while a republican will either plot my demise silently or attack my posistion. Let me give you some examples.

Me: "I don't mind orginized religion, it can do some good in the world"

Democrat: "you can't be serious. The church is only a tool to manipulate the weak minded.

Me: "But at its core, it teaches people a moral code to live by that is generally pure. Not stealing or killing and things like that."

Democrat: "You believe that!? You hate gays and don't believe in abortion!?"

Me: "Um... I don't think I mentioned anything close to that... in fact, thats only one religion, I never said I was referring to the catholic church."

Democrat: "You're obviously just a worthless fanatic"

Me: "Actually I'm an agnostic..."

At this point my British literature teacher told the 40ish woman about to jump over the desk and strangle me to calm down. Another girl who had several re-elect gore buttons on her purse refused to talk to me after that, even though I was getting along with her up to that point fine.

Me "I dunno, I think bush is kind of dim"

Republican: *shrug*

Me "Bush is ok"

Democrat: "so wait... let me get this strait, you support the war, you don't mind that he gave tax breaks to the rich, and you hate gay people."

Me "Um, sort of, not really, and no"

Democrat: "ERROR, DOES NOT COMPUTE! so wait... let me get this strait, you support the war, you don't mind that he gave tax breaks to the rich, and you hate gay people."

Me: *runs*

Basicly, thats it. In my experience, republicans don't have screaming fits at me for saying moderate things. "I watch fox news" will get you lynched by a democrat, while "I watch CNN" will simply let a republican know that you watch CNN. To date, a republican has screamed at me because of my views. Democrats scream at me for other people's views. I cite Dan Feldman as an example. Dan is a total conservative. Many people disagree with Dan. I have yet to see Dan throw a raging fit because someone said "Kerry doesn't completely suck" and before you ask, someone did come over to me and scream at me for saying "Bush does not completely suck"

Then there are people who have a clue. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of disinformation about anything and everything having to do with the election, let me break down why I stand where I stand

Kerry is a confessed war criminal.
Kerry's plan for healthcare has failed elsewhere in the world and is especially bad for seniors.
Kerry has not convinced me that he truely stands for his platform
Kerry lies like a rug. These are real lies, not "intelligence was wrong lies" but deliberate, calculated falsehoods.
Kerry says that he sees no other way to solve our problem with our lack of troops other than a draft.  Therefore, he says Bush will reinstate the draft. So Kerry believes that a draft is needed, while Bush says it isn't.
Kerry is a Pussy
The world hated us before Bush, and they will hate us after Bush.

Bush misspeaks a lot. He used to be very articulate in his early years believe it or not, and some experts say it may be the onset of alsheimers.
Bush INHERITED a recession. A country's economy doesn't turn on a dime short of a monumental event like 9/11. It took years for socialist economies to start to falter in Europe, and it took eight years of Clinton to start to screw up the economy.
Bush made mistakes going into Iraq, but the war was inevitable. Based on worldwide intellgence (even from France) that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, Bush went into Iraq. There were some big screw-ups, but history has shown that situations like these will eventually work out. News articles in the 1940s regarding Germany are almost identical to the current ones regarding Iraq. That being said, there are some things that could have been done much better.
The current healthcare plan under Bush is failing and is especially bad for seniors.
Bush is a Dick.

Not exactly an all star line-up. I pick Bush over Kerry because despite what people are saying, I don't think he is satan incarnate, and I'd much rather not have Kerry for the sake of getting rid of Bush. Kerry has only convinced me that I can't trust him to do anything, while Bush is consistent in doing things that I feel apathetic about. He can try to ban gay marriage all he wants, it isn't going to happen.

Yeah, I know I seem really callous when I say I don't mind war, but let me put it this way. Saddam was a brutal dictator, that is for sure. The real question to me is, "was the sacrifice of the coalition troops less than the suffering and death Saddam and his heirs would have caused over their reign?" I think so, and therefore the war seems just. Less total suffering is good. Rooting out weapons, to me, would be a side benefit, because that means even less people suffer.

Are my views really that far out there? I don't know. I like to think that I'm close to the center, but I don't really know many hardcore Republicans, and I constantly find Democrats venting at me, accusing me of being racist, a bigot, an extremist, and any manner of things because I don't agree with them. I'm not a bigot. It would be silly for me to hate people based on something such as gender, race, or religion after feeling so persecuted myself for my own beliefs. Make no mistake, Politics is the new religion. I can go against a person's religion all I like, but going against their party is tantamount to heresy.
well, if you're reading this it means you're probably Jeff or Ronan. I have no idea how Jeff feels about politics, but I know Ronan probably wants to hit me with things at least a little. Oh well, at least they're reasonable people compared to the rest of humanity.

It really doesn't matter because I'm not voting this election anyway. No need to vote in NJ, it goes Democratic by default.

At least we can agree the electoral college is a shitty way to run an election.