Tag: Politics

CNN.com – Navarrette: What really bothers immigration foes – Aug 11, 2006

Update to this post.

Aha! This guy agrees with me.  Many of the people opposed to illegal immigrants are using border security as an excuse to hide the fact that they just don’t like Mexicans.  Some people expressed fear that the immigrants were a threat to our security.  But when a proposal came out that satisfied their demands, they came up with new demands.  You’ve made our borders safe?  Now make sure that you give preference to English-speakers and skilled workers.

No, I’m sorry, you can’t do that.  This is America.  This is not English-Speaking-Skilled-Worker Land.  There’s no sign on the Statue of Liberty that says “You must be this Americanized to enter”.  If you want to hate Mexicans, fine, that’s your right.  But stop lying about it, and stop trying to pass laws so you don’t have to see them.  You can go live in your close-minded little world all you want, but stop forcing your racism on me and the rest of the country.

Democrats Scrambling To Organize Voter Turnout

It seems to me that, in the current political climate of 36% approval ratings, if you can’t get Democratic voters to actually get out and vote, then the problem is not with your voter turnout schemes.  The problem is that you have offered no compelling reason to vote for you.  “I’m not a Republican” is not a compelling reason to vote for you.

Maybe if Democrats actually focused on the issues.  For example, I’d love to see a Democrat with a real plan to get us out of Iraq.  But we have to finish what we started, first.  We can’t just leave while the country is still in disarray.  And what about the environment?  Health care?  The economy?  You can’t just claim that the Republicans are ruining everything and leave it at that.

It’s frustrating.  If the Democrats can’t take back the House and Senate now, when Bush and his supporters are so unpopular, then the party should be disbanded.

CNN.com – UK, Arnie in global warming pact – Aug 1, 2006 First Nick Saban, now the Governator?  Ahnold has now bypassed the President and gone straight to Tony Blair to make an agreement on global warming.  Everyone wants to distance themselves from an unpopular President.

“We see that there is not great leadership from the federal government when it comes to protecting the environment,” Schwarzenegger said. “We know there is global warming, so we should stop it.”

Great.  Stop global warming.  I’m all in favor of being more environmentally friendly.  But this reeks of “Please re-elect me, California” rather than any sort of real step toward anything.

And no matter how much I dislike the President, we can’t let being publically rude to him become a tool to win voters.  It’s like focusing on his poor public speaking – it ignores the real problems (Like his desire to take away all of our civil rights) and focuses on something highly visible, but not that important.

You may know that I’ve been trying to get a more balanced view of the news.  I realized recently that everything I read has a pretty liberal slant, and I want to see the other side.  Both because I agree with a lot of conservative ideas, and because seeing both sides of an issue helps you regardless of which side you’re on.

So tell me if I’m better off now – I don’t like reading either side.  I read the National Review, and all I hear is, “President Bush is doing the right thing, why can’t you stupid liberals see that?”.  Then I read the Daily Kos and I see, “President Bush is destroying the world.  Why can’t you stupid conservatives see that?”.  I’m sick of it all.

What happened to the idea of public service?  What happened to the idea that we’re going to do what’s right for the people, not what the leaders of the political party you affiliate yourself with think serves their interests.

When I first registered to vote in Maryland when I was 18, I registered as a Democrat, mostly because my parents are Democrats, and Maryland requires you to register with a party to vote in the primaries.  Did that mean that I was ruled by the Democratic party?  No.  It means that I chose to associate with them because, in general, their ideas matched up with mine, and they had a much bigger voice than I do.  Later, I considered myself a Republican, because my views changed, and now I agreed with more Republican ideas.

Today, I will not associate myself with either party.  Politics is too much about the party, and about the fighting for the superiority and power of one over the other, and too often the people are forgotten.

Bush Set to Use First Veto on Stem Cell Bill

I’m actually okay with Bush vetoing this bill.  I mean, he said in 2001 that he wasn’t going to expand federal funding for stem cell research.  At least he’s being true to his word.  I disagree with his 2001 decision, but at least he’s being honest and consistent.

I’ll discuss my views on stem cell research another time.  The real problem I have with this veto is this:

[This veto] would mark the first time the president has wielded a veto pen, putting him far behind his predecessors Bill Clinton (38 vetoes in two terms), George H.W. Bush (44 in one term) and Ronald Reagan (78 in two terms). To a large degree, the lack of a veto reflects the simple fact that Republicans have controlled Congress almost the entire time Bush has been in office and they have been reluctant to send him legislation that might be vetoed.

You know, the real failing of those who don’t like the President may not be that we allowed him to be re-elected, but rather that we haven’t managed to get anyone in Congress who both disagrees with him, and has the backing to do something about it.  If all of Congress is behind him, and at this point it seems like half of the Supreme Court is his nominees, it’s no wonder that he’s been able to do so many things that make so many people upset.

I thought midterm elections where when the party that opposed the President typically got some more control of Congress.  Maybe we were too busy crying about how poorly he speaks, or how he stole the election.

USATODAY.com – Fewer primary voters ‘define the range of choices’

I found this via Raising Kaine via Daily Kos.  3.5% of Virginia voters turned out to vote in the primary.  At the school where I voted, it was about 6%, which I thought was pretty terrible, but apparently we were ahead of the rest of the state.  Now, I know there’s a Republican incumbent, so the Republican half of the primary is pretty trivial.  But Virginia allows you to vote in either one.  Those who want Senator George Allen to retain his seat certainly could have decided which of the two Democrats had a better chance of winning, and voted for the other guy.

This seems to be either voter stupidity or voter apathy.  We have a President with a 36% approval rating.  If that doesn’t get people out to vote, what will?  Maybe we need to lose some more civil rights to the war on terror.  Maybe we do need a national ID card, something we’d be required to present all the time to prove our citizenship.  Maybe a draft, to send ground troops in to help Israel, or to invade North Korea.

It blows my mind that people don’t vote.  And then they try to use dissatisfaction with the government as justification.  If you don’t vote, then you don’t get to complain about the government.  I don’t care if George W. Bush himself comes to your house, installs a bug in your phone, and then kicks your dog.  I have no sympathy for you if you don’t vote.