As far as the attack, it's debatable whether people knew beforehand. If it weren't for that attack, most likely Bush would be tanking in the polls worse than he is. His ratings weren't all that great before it happened. Of course that attack has led to the biggest assault on our rights in the history of this nation. So yeah, he's handling it REALLY great. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img] Because of that attack we are now fighting two wars. One of which has all the lookings of a jungle country in Southeast Asia, but just covered in sand. We dropped the ball big time when we went into Iraq. Now we are trying to figure out how to get out of there.

A US puppet government will not last in that region. I give it a huge chance of falling into civil war if/when we bail out of there.

Bush handling the economy? Hahaha. I'll let you in on a secret. The President doesn't do much for the economy. The President gives a speach and Wall Street yawns. Any President for that matter. They try to say they have this huge impact, but I don't see it. The market cycles. Up and down. It will have mild reactions to world or national events, but those are usually short lived. The one who has the power in the economy is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, currently Alan Greenspan. When he talks before Congress Wall Street listens. That man has the capacity to sink stock markets with his words.

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Environmental extremists like John Kerry are more likely to shut down ORV parks. Tough to deny this given his record. It seems strange that so many people on this board are fans of John Kerry. This may be a minor issue but I'll bet it's fairly important to some of the ATV fanatics on this board. I'm not a Bush fan, but like all elections, it's the lesser of two evils.

I'm a libertarian but why waste your vote on someone who will get less than 1% of the vote? To make you feel good? Yeah, you'll feel good but so what? You haven't changed anything. Vote for one of the two parties who actually has a chance of winning.

 

The economy was already starting to tank at the end of Clintons term. Bush inherited a bad economy going into it. Having your favorite riding spot shut down is a real posability if Kerry is elected. During the Clinton administration there was a record amount of land snached away from the public. I don't think either one of them is perfect. But Bush is the lesser of two evils IMO. And as was stated, If you don't vote for one of the 2 main parties, you might as well throw your vote in the wind. It may not be right that it comes down to a 2 party system, but thats reality.

 

Grn & Performance, if you are unhappy with the "two" choices you have then DON'T vote for them! People thinking like that are the reason why we have such a false dichotomy in elections. If people would open their eyes and look at all of the candidates they can choose from we wouldn't be stuck in such a rut.

As far as voting for a candidate based on one issue, that's insane. You should pick a candidate based on the whole of their platform.

You know, I've heard everyone go on and on about the closing of areas. Why has the Bush Administration not tried to reverse this? Really, why not? Most likely cause it's easier to complain and use it against people than fix the problem.

The only way you throw your vote away is by not using it and not voting. Your vote makes a statement no matter how small you think it is. To me, someone voting for a third party candidate is making a bigger statement than "the lesser of two evils." It's having enough fortitude to stand up and say I don't care what people say, I'm going to vote for someone else other than the two yahoos that have been put up.

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Okay, you have made a statement by voting 3rd party. So what? You've lost the election. And it does not matter what you stand for if you lose! Like I said, you can feel good about yourself for doing it but you have done nothing to move things politically one way or another by voting for someone who gets less than 1% of the vote.

 

So you would rather vote for someone who doesn't stand for what you believe in? Sorry, makes no sense.

Personally I think the political parties should be abolished. They are only exclusionary to the process. But then people might actually have to think about what they are doing rather then check all (D) or (R) as appropriate.

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Actually I would rather vote for the Libertarian. But since the Libertarian doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of winning, I pick the R or D who is CLOSER to my beliefs. I agree with Bush about 60% of the time and Kerry the other 40% so I'll go with Bush. I've never seen a candidate that I agree with 100% of the time.

But then again, most people don't vote issues so this stuff doesn't matter to most people. They vote for who is better looking, a better speaker, or more charismatic. Sad but true.

 

Not to pick on you but I am just using you and myself as an example........

This is the biggest problem..... If only people would stop doing this and vote for what they truly believed in and stop letting the presidency be bought we would be far better off.

There is 73 people running for president if we would stop letting ourselves be spoon fed by the media on who has a snowballs chance of winning. They would have to change the way they try to swing our votes.

America needs to wake up and vote the direction they want our country to go! Not the way our media is making us believe it has to go!

The R's and D's have been buying the presidency for years.

If everyone would research every candidate out there, I promise you, you will find someone who believes the same way you do on a lot more issues than the R's and D's do. unfortuantely this is a dream too many people will continue to vote the way the media and their parents have raised them to vote.

But if enough of us would start voting the way we truly believe others will follow. But it does have to start somewhere.

Why not this year and why not with you?

Go ahead and flame me if you like..... I am still challenging you to do your research and vote your values and stance on the issues!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

I was going to vote bush until I did my research and found someone who believes more like I truly do not just close enough to appease me.

 

Sidewinder: EXACTLY! This is what I've been trying to say all evening.

This site was a link from my County Elections Website: Vote Smart

I just wish they had a thing where you could fill out the form like the candidates have (it's mainly whether they agree with statements with some yes/no in there as well) and then do search and rank em.

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I did a search on google for presidential candidates and spent a whole day going thru and reading their stance on every issue imaginable..... needless to say that was tedious and exhausting but in the end I was excited to know that their was a candidate who fit what I was looking for to a T.

There was a ton of ones who were a waste of my time but they have every right to run... Just because they dont fit what I am looking for in a president doesnt mean they wont fit what someone else is looking for in a president. That is what is so great about this country. But if we dont protect and respect what we currently have we are going to lose it.