jimsjournal
Avoiding discussing current events -- 05/12/04

I've been avoiding discussing current events here.

That's rather ironic since if you were to look at my list of blogs (and such) that I read, you would notice that a significant number of them primarily discuss current events. And, indeed, I have been known to vent a political rant from time to time.(Note: the link is to an updated list, but I still have some links to sites that discuss current events and politics, etc.)

For weeks now I have mentally composed a few comments on various contentious topics, but when I actually sit down at the keyboard, I seem to have no desire to rant.

Not even to pontificate....

And my wife could tell you that not only am I known to rant at times, I am at least as likely to pontificate as I am to rant.

If you were to look through my entries for 2000 you might note that I seemed to prefer McCain over the other candidates, that I was quite contemptuous in my opinion of Bush (exceeded only by my utter disdain for Gore). When the election came, I voted for the Libertarian candidate. (No, I don't remember who it was and it's not worth looking it up.) My daughter voted for Nader, as did my wife. (I believe my daughter-in-law also voted for Nader but my son went Libertarian.) Yes, you're right, we're not exactly in the political mainstream.

After 9/11 I was impressed by President Bush's calm but determined leadership. I strongly supported his actions to depose the Taliban in Afghanistan. When the confrontation came with Iraq, I supported military action to depose Saddam.

Bush should have a lock on my vote in November, right?

But I oppose so many of his other policies, from his blocking of stem cell research to his stand against same-sex marriage. I approve his tax cuts, but deplore his failure to cut bloated government spending. His prescription drug plan is hideous, fiscally irresponsible, unmitigated pandering for senior votes. The Patriot Act? Some provisions make sense but others (in my humble opinion) give too much power to the federal government to intrude in our lives. (Those gung-ho conservatives who love the Patriot Act should stop and ask themselves how they would feel if Janet Reno were still Attorney General?) Besides which, any law which has to be given such a cheap infomercial name should automatically be suspect. How about the airport security farce? How about immigration policy? How about a willingness to tamper with the Constitution in an effort to pander for the votes of the Bible-thumping bigot brigades. How about the fact that Ashcroft seems to think we have already defeated Al Qaeda. Well, he must, because he keeps babbling about the War on Drugs and wanting to waste federal government resources to attack California cancer patients who are using pot to mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy. (Somebody should point out to him that we are in the middle of a real war.)

So does that make a decision easier?

Well, consider his opponent. Kerry. Oh, c'mon, get serious. Kerry? Not on a bet.

I'd vote Libertarian again rather than vote for Kerry.

If Lieberman had won the nomination, I could understand voting for him. But he didn't. (Considering how much influence the ranting moonbat loonies have in the Democrat primaries, he didn't have a chance. That's not to say I am a fan of his, merely that he was the only acceptable candidate.)

So I honestly do not know how I will vote.

I support same-sex marriage. I support stem cell research. I think the senior prescription drug plan should be scrapped immediately. I support cutting the billions of dollars of pork barrel spending in the federal budget (I support cutting a lot more than that, but that is a beautiful place to start). I think No Child Left Behind is a farce. It is not likely to accomplish any of its goals and it is a horrid intrusion of federal bureaucracy into things that should be left to the states and local governments. The "War on Drugs" should be dropped, totally scrapped. The federal government should worry about defending us from the jihadists who want to destroy us and forget phoney wars on drugs and wars on porn and wars on fast food.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

So... that's why I have been avoiding discussing current events... talking about current events leads to political questions... which leads to the the November election... and what an abysmal choice.... very depressing.



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