Kade,
I couldn't help but notice how your responses are usually on the defensive, with occasional jabs to posters for being stupid, dogmatic or not being substantive.
Why don't you give some solid reasons for supporting Obama?
It's hard to respond to so many negative and oft ridiculous posts. I do have to be defensive, it's easy to send someone a volley of misguided and absurd one-liners that distort reality, and often they require time to dissect.
I like Obama because I think he is honest.
I do believe he will end the war.
He believes in market solutions to most problems.
He is a masterful politician (figure this out for your self, ie why this matters)
He is a strong defender of civil liberties, free speech laws, second amendment rights, and many other individual liberties, including ones retained by the people, reproductive rights, civil unions, etc.
He also has no real plan to increase the budget, rather to spend the money elsewhere, notably away from massive defense spending. (education, science and research)
His middle of the road take on faith is going to be required to heal some of the deep wounds this country is taking from the culture war.
He will end faith-based initiatives
He wants to end affirmative action. (as noted in his book)
I agree with the type of judges he considers paragons of justice, (Brandeis, Blackmun)
He promises to end no-bid federal contracts.
Voted to end the debt limit increase.
If he does not overturn the executive orders and the Military Commissions act and the Patriot Act in his first few weeks in office, then I am wrong about him.
So, there you have it. Am I happy with my choice? No. I am weighted most on two issues, the loss of privacy and civil liberties, and massive defense spending. Those two issues determine my choice for president.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think I recall you saying that you are a conservative Republican. If that is so, how on earth could you support Obama? He's a big government socialist.
Please explain your rationale. Thanks.
I am a proud liberal (some here say I'm a classical liberal, although I'm not into playing word games) and I've never said otherwise. I would never put the moniker "conservative" in front of my name. Conservative to means stands for stagnation.
I've given my reasons, and although they might not entirely outweigh the negatives, I don't like my other two choices. If Ron Paul ran a third party, that would change things.
I know that criticism of the campaign is not well taken here, but I thought that Ron Paul and his campaign missed a golden opportunity, and place most of the blame on his impotent campaign managers.
This thread was about Obama grassroots.
He does have a strong grassroots movement. They go door to door and teach people how to vote in caucuses. They have used technology to organize, and they have taken over many of the college campuses in this country. You can give the credit to the media, you can blame whoever you want, but Obama does have a real grassroots, and it is strong.
I've not said anything that wasn't true. If anything we should be respectful of where we are willing to distort reality for our own causes.
The founding fathers were almost never in agreement about anything. It took over a year of fighting just to agree to declare independence; WHILE blood was being shed in Massachusetts!
The arguments between the Federalists and the Anti-federalists mirrors todays arguments. Who is to really say what side is 100% right. I tend towards moderation and common sense. I think the federal government is a powerful tool for progress, but I think it belongs to the people, first and foremost, and I think it needs to be tightly bound by principles that promote liberty and freedom for individuals.
For instance, I support federal money for technology and research. So did Jefferson.
I support the disarming of the federal reserve and I support the end to corporate welfare before the end of social welfare. (one costs nearly a trillion, the other a few billion)
I think judicial review has saved this country. I think it is wrong and should not be necessary.
I believe freedom is maximized by allowing the most possible on local levels, and then I read about some backasswards Kansas town injecting their kids with the plague, or some moronic local police force strip searching 15 year old girls.
This is a complicated world. It would takes years to explain what I have learned in my travels. I was born in Virginia, and I've lived in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Indiana, Florida, and Rhode Island. I've been educated in the South, the West Coast, the Midwest, and the North.
I don't know the answers, and I don't pretend to... I know what I'm willing to fight for, and it isn't the garbage that is this current administration, and it isn't what McCain is selling.
Does that answer your questions? But please, continue to employ the one-liners.
