Let the Republicans take the fall for what Bush has done. Vote for McCain.

Think about it….

http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=BS030017

Most everybody on this list says he’s such a neat guy. Maybe.
But what is it he plans to do once he’s got senatorial power? As I understand it, Keyes’s purpose is to smoke out his plans. The Illinois debates should be interesting. Has anybody seen a site where he is REALLY showing his issue positions?

Let me just say one thing to all those who are knit-picking at Kerry and Obama: Are you doing better now than you were when Clinton was in office? Pick Bush. Have things not changed or gotten worse for you than since Bush took office? Pick Kerry.

Too simplistic. Remember, the majority of effects you see now, are the results of decisions Congress and/or The White House made years ago. Add to that the fact that much of the praises/curses given to one party simply because they were in the Oval Office at a particular time really should be levied on the party that controlled Congress back when the decisions were actually made.

In response to your post, James, let me point out that there are no Libertarians in the Senate or House, and that Libertarian candidates in general barely register on the polling radar.

Here you’re ignoring a couple of facts: Libertarians cast over 1/2-million votes in Illinois during the last presidential ellection and there are over 600 Libertarian party members in public office. That’s much larger than any other “third party”. So the Libertarians aren’t as small as most Republocrats like to pretend.

You’re also forgetting that the federal government gave the DNC $40 million for their Convention and the media covered it at their expense (i.e. free advertising under the guise of news). The same is in the process of happenning for the RNC. Federal and State governments give money to the big two parties and candidates. State laws make it very difficult (and expensive) for non-Republocrat parties to get their candidates on the ballot. All of this leads to less time and $’s for advertising, evangelizing, so fewer people get the message, so fewer people vote non-Republocrat.

This is made even worse by the fools that waste their vote by not voting for the candidate they really want. If everybody I spoke to that preferred a Third Party candidate actually voted for them, the Third Party numbers would be much closer to being “viable”. Voting for “the lesser of two evils” is a double disservice. First, it adds to the delusion that the winner’s views are strongly supported (or that the loser’s views aren’t less appealing than they appear) and, second, given that (with the exception of the recent Florida vote) the closest state tallies have one candidate winning by tens of thousands of votes. So, if you voted for the losing lesser of two evils, your vote was definitely wasted and if you voted for the winning lesser of two evils then your vote was lost among the overkill. It’s a disgusting negative feedback cycle that unfortunately won’t change until Americans get disgusted enough, or actually work-up the intellectual courage to vote their conscious. There’s also a third group, that don’t want to waste their vote by voting for “The Loser”. That’s so moronic that just mentioning it is enough.

Now add in the incredibly low percentage of eligible voters that are actually registered and the incredibly low percentage of registered voters that actually vote. Give the embarrassingly small percentage of eligible voters that actually vote, there’s no way that you can say that the low number of votes for non-Republocrat candidates is any indication of the political leanings of the US population.

A very informal poll of everybody that I’ve encountered that doesn’t vote showed that essentially 100% didn’t vote because they felt it really didn’t make a difference. Both of the big two parties are concerned with making government bigger, consuming more of their income through taxes, using the government to force their views on everybody else, lie every time they’re speaking, squash small busineses, etc. One thing that really surprised me was the number of people that understood that corporate taxes are really personal taxes because they lead to lower wages and higher prices. If you just listen to the media, nobody understands that.

Anybody that manages to get on the ballots should be allowed to debate the other candidates, especially considering that Illinois is one of (if not THE) states with the most restrictive non-Republocrat ballot laws. The Republocrats should not be allowed to ignore and actively suppress Third Party candidates. I’m a firm believer that the poor voter turn-outs are due the candidates always being essentially the same warmed-over glop.

I wonder whether those of you who see no difference between the major political parties have been paying attention. The differences are vast

To what’s important to you, I guess so. But to a large number of people, both flavors of Republocrat are all about bigger government, more government intrusion, protecting their select favorite civil rights and ignoring the rest, saying they’re trying to help but only make the situation worse because the best and the brightest aren’t making intelligent decisions (the elected and politically connected appointed are making political decisions), etc..

During the Clinton era, they suppressed 4th Amendment rights in a misguided attempt to reduce crime in government housing. The Bush Administration has suppressed 4th Amendment rights in a misguided attempt to reduce terrorism. Both parties get us involved in wars protecting their buddies, but ignoring worse situations. Both parties have had us hypocritically supporting “The Good Guys” in one conflict, only to support, in a different conflict, the people that would have been labeled “The Bad Guys” in the previous one.

Believe it or not, to non-Republocrats, there isn’t a huge difference. Some say the difference is like the difference between cream of wheat and grits. Others say the difference is like the difference between cutting off every other finger starting from the right or starting from the left.

If what’s important to you is true freedom, getting back to the powers granted to the government in the Constitution and not those that they’ve usurped, government not trying to force their beliefs upon you, protecting ALL of your civil rights, etc. then there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two parties.

Instead, he chose to help inner-city Chicago as a civil-rights lawyer. Ignore his speech – research what he’s done. This guy’s the real deal, and you’re lucky if you end up having him represent you.

Thanks for your answer, I’m sure it is on the money. It saddens me, though, that the mainstream voters (both conservative and liberal) have moved so far away from the from the U.S. Constitution. Our founding fathers wouldn’t even recognize the America we live in now.