You know what? I had a big long post about this, but I'm done. I'm sick of the lies, I'm sick of the fear-mongering, I'm sick of being told "get used to it, it's the way it is" - what the * ever happened to the American dream, where anything is possible? What the * ever happened to separation of church and state ("We invaded Iraq because it was God's plan")? What ever happened to the family values that Republicans and conservatives claim to cherish (McCain slapping the future-husband of Palin's daughter on the back as if to say "Way to go, knocking up your UNDERAGE GIRLFRIEND!" What if the roles were reversed, and Obama's proverbial 17-year old daughter was pregnant by her boyfriend? He'd be out of the race in a hurry, that's what.) Why is it ok?
This is just ridiculous. How does McCain's tax proposal propose to help the middle class when it doesn't actually cut their taxes? What about Palin's plan for Alaska - trickle down economics??? I thought that went out in the 80's when it was
discovered that IT DOESN'T WORK!
And about the subject of HOPE. Here's how I see it: you can either have hope or despair. When you attack the idea of hope, you reinforce that McCain and his cronies are only selling despair. So I ask you, what is wrong with hope? What is wrong with seeing that there is a problem, finding a way to fix it, and *ing fixing it? Obama inspires, while McCain instills fear - there's a big difference in ideology there. Don't take that to mean that Obama doesn't take the threats that face this country seriously, he's just not going to blindly attack without reason or cause, then occupy for years and years without need.
Energy: fund alternative energy development, since oil is now not only rare, but also in greater demand than ever before due to the industrialization of China and India. If you reduce our dependence on oil (altogether, not just foreign), then you reduce global demand. If you reduce global demand, you reduce price, or at least keep it at the same level as demand continues to grow internationally. If other countries adopt alternative energy sources, then global demand is lowered that much more. This problem is the easiest to solve, and it doesn't even involve drilling, not even in ANWR!
Terrorists: Seek them out and eliminate them. We have the greatest military in the world, and yet we cannot follow a man into a cave. Also pretty simple to solve.
Education: focus on student needs, not end results - instead of a war on drugs and illiteracy, we have a war for oil. NCLB has to go, now. Education is the key to life and success. Find me a profession that is as necessary as educators, but as badly paid for their efforts - I dare you. Not gonna happen, and once again, our focus needs to change. Support your educators and you support your children, your country, and your future. Not difficult - seeing a trend?
Gah, whatever, I'm just REALLY glad some of you can't vote, you scare me.
Oh, one more thing. Some of you have this notion in your heads that if we support welfare and healthcare, that suddenly we'll be socialist and things will be awful and the lazy people who currently work will just quit their jobs and live at home off of welfare. You people are nuts. Have you ever been suddenly unemployed and tried to keep up the same standard of living - having to support two or more people on the minimum wage income of just one? It's just not possible. Sure, everybody wants easy money (where do you think "work smarter, not harder" came from?), but people aren't going to abuse the system because it works better. If it works better, then those who shouldn't be on welfare will be prevented from being on welfare - pretty simple, again. Look at the facts, think about it, and see that this is just another topic where government officials who make entirely too much money have been trying to scare you into letting them keep their jobs or get promoted into higher paying jobs. You fully admit that there are some people out there who genuinely need welfare, or who should have healthcare coverage for their families but can't afford it - why should they continue to not have the same opportunities as those of us who have jobs and healthcare?
Do you regularly spit on bums? Do you think they're evil horrible people because they don't have jobs and they're just abusing the system? Do you really think they ENJOY the way they have to live? Man is not evil on the whole, my friends. As with everything, there are parts (of the population) that have no ethics and truly are evil. Even those people pale, though, in comparison to indifference. Seeing inequities and doing nothing about them - not even CARING - is the true evil this world faces.
Ok, so it turned out long anyway, sue me.